Time Line – The Federal Case
for Conspiracy to commit fraud and grand theft against Green Hills Software and
parties including Dan O'Dowd, A. Craig Franklin.
1966 – Craig Franklin graduates
from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics
His
first job was at NASA in Los Angeles. He
moved on hold jobs in software companies on both
coasts over the next twenty years. These
include Data General, SAS, Institute, heading compiler
projects and then as head of R & D Departments at many software
companies. Each time he will receive large stock options. Each time he will leave without exercising
those options.
He
never filed a tax return, leaving each company when his wages are garnisheed. (Source, his admission to Melinda Pillsbury-Foster, facts in
evidence at the time, and IRS records.)
1979 – Liberty Services
Company
founded by Craig Franklin to go bankrupt and provide the Libertarian Party with
computer power. Around 10 affluent Libertarians invest. The company goes bankrupt. Craig
never provides the investors with the paperwork so they can write it off their
taxes. Ten years later the issue
still takes time at National
Committee Meetings.
1982 – Franklin moves from North
Carolina to Los Angeles, working for a start up there. This does not
pan out and he moves on the next year.
1982 – Green Hills Software
founded in Glendale, California.
Partners
were Glenn Hightower, Daniel O'Dowd, and Carl Rosenberg. Rosenberg was bought out in the late 1980s in a move by Hightower and O'Dowd. Rosenberg's
present company is
http://www.aleutia.com/.
1983 – Franklin moves on to
another series of companies in Northern California and on to MicroTech. He
again receives stock options which he will sell back, never exercising.
1983 – November 19th,
Justin Duncan Foster is born in Canoga Hills, CA. Craig Franklin is his biological father. (See announcement)
1986 – Green Hills Software
Craig
Franklin is hired as Advanced Products Development Vice-President. His pay is a draw against commissions.
1987 – Craig and the IRS
Melinda
sends Craig to Doug Thorburn, her tax accountant, to have his past returns
filled out.
Contact
Information: P.O. Box 7301, Van Nuys, CA 91409 818 360-0985
June
21, 1987 – Franklin and Pillsbury-Foster are married. (Exhibit
1989 – Green Hills Software
moves to Santa Barbara.
1993 – Craig Franklin and Melinda
Pillsbury-Foster move to Santa Barbara with the children who Franklin has named as his natural
offspring in his will. (see Craig's
will)
1990 – 1997 Garnishments by IRS
and CFB [Records from the IRS]
1996 – July 5th –
Agreement with Brown & Associates between that firm and Craig Franklin for representation regarding his unfiled
tax returns. Three pages. The document shows that Franklin's problems were of long
standing. He paid $2,000 cash for
services costing $7,500. The document shows that the
liabilities as $175,000 from years 1974 – 1995 for the IRS and $50,000 for the Franchise Tax (SBOE) for
years 1974 – 1995. Also included are
dates by which Franklin agrees to pay subsequent amounts as
work is completed. No work was done because, according to Brown & Associates,
Franklin refused to give them any information.
Shows the existence of the problem
with Franklin's non-filing of tax returns.
(See
Brown & Associates)
1996 – Early October – Melinda
Pillsbury-Foster will testify to the following:
Craig comes home in high
excitement, spending hours discussing the stock options that will now be
offered to employees. Craig has frequently expressed anger that he
was not offered stock options upon being
hired since this was been standard, he
says. When he comes home one day in
early October he is excited, showing
her a stock-option agreement he rewrote
and signed and which, he says,
he handed to Dan O'Dowd. It is a copy.
Franklin also told Pillsbury-Foster he was the first to sign and deserves more options than any other
employee. Over the coming months he becomes increasingly critical of Glenn
Hightower, who, Franklin says, is unwilling to, “give him what he is worth.”
Craig says that, according to O'Dowd,
Hightower does not think he is worth
much.
1997 - February 3rd –
Letter to Ron Taylor, Servicing Center, UC Lending, regarding RE: Loan # 038808828016. Communicating when payment will be made,
explaining Craig's diabetes.
Franklin
came down with diabetes at that time.
(See Letter to Ron Taylor)
1997 – February – Pillsbury-Foster
suffers what appears to be a heart attack, losing consciousness with severe pain in her back and left arm
while talking to the State Franchise Tax Board.
1997 – February 4th –
Letter to the State Franchise Tax Board from Pillsbury-Foster regarding Craig's
Taxes.
Informing
them that the unfiled returns will be done and Franklin will be brought into compliance. Pillsbury-Foster ignores
an eye infection to finish the work needed.
(FTB
Feb. 4, 1997)
1997 – February 6th –
Letter to World Savings, Customer Service Research, PO Box 659558, San Antonio, Texas 78265-9558 regarding
Loan No. 4909453 and asking for copies of form 1098 for years 1988 - end of loan.
The
family home in Sepulveda was finally being sold. It had been badly damaged during the 1994 Quake on January 17th
so its immediate sale had not been
possible until it was repaired.
(World
Savings Feb. 6, 1997)
1997 – March 12th –
Letter to Dr. Franklin, Craig's father, explaining what is happening regarding
the taxes.
(Letter
to Dr. Franklin, 1997 - IRS)
1997 - April 10th - Letter to Mr. Marshall Lassiter, California
State Franchise Tax Board
(818)
556-2905, (818) 556-2971
Subj.: Tax Levy, Craig Franklin, SS Number
554-68-5888 request to remove tax levy.
All
of the past returns had been done and mailed.
(Letter
Lassiter, remove Tax Levy)
1997 – April 24th – Letter
to Brown & Associates 9920 S. La
Cienega Blvd. #501 Inglewood. CA 90301. (Letter to Brown &
Associates)
Letter
demanding the returns of fees paid by Franklin when the firm failed to act due
to Franklin's not providing
information.
(Letter
to Brown & Associates)
1997 – April 30th – Fax
Transmission to Mr. Marshall Lassiter explaining why there should be no tax liability because of Franklin's
disability.
(Faxed
Letter to Lassiter April 30, 1997)
1997 - April 30th – Letter responding to Mr. Marshall Lassiter of the IRS sending him
the letter from Dr. Marquart.
(Response
to Lassiter April 30, 1997 )
1997 – April 26th - Letter from Dr. Marquart to the IRS
regarding Craig's disability.
(Marquart
Letter)
1997 – May 1st – Debts
of Franklin and Pillsbury-Foster.
(Debts
Feb. 97)
1997 - May 14th - Letter to the Chief of Collections,
Internal Revenue Service, Fresno, California.
Regarding:
Craig Franklin, SS. 554-68-5888 and his inability to file taxes and status as a
disabled person. Included in mailing the letter from Dr.
Marquart.
(see
May 14, 1997 Chief of Collections and Marquart Letter)
1997 - June 23 – Letter to Dear G. L. Joly, regarding Craig Tax
Non-filing
(1997
- June 23 – Letter to Dear G. L. Joly,
regarding Craig Tax Non-filing)
1997 - July 16 – Letter to Fred Arras, Chief Joint Compliance Branch,
Internal Revenue Service
Demand
that all monies be returned because of the Franklin disability in filing his returns.
(Letter
to Arras 7_97)
Over the next several months all
of the money garnisheed by the IRS is returned. Franklin's relief over the
problem of the IRS began to turn sour. The IRS no longer threatens him but in
his mind his wife is now the authority figure.
Craig begins to increase his contact with Morgan Pillsbury, soliciting
her support for a divorce. He creates a
scenario that justifies what he is about to do.
At the same time he demands of Melinda that they stop supporting Morgan
and tells Melinda to cut Morgan's allowance.
1997 - September 27 – Arthur's
Motorcycle Accident, Santa Barbara, CA
Arthur
collided with an automobile and was thrown 300 feet. He was in a coma for several days at Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital
on Patterson. His right wrist has a
compound fracture, his face was broken in
the sinus area and the mandible. His
front teeth were broken and he lost
two side teeth on the upper left. His
eye lid on the left was almost entirely detached and the eyes damaged. His
brain suffered several internal hemorrhages.
1997 – November – Franklin asks
Morgan Pillsbury to help him find a divorce attorney.
(Morgan
Pillsbury Transcript, page 22)
1997 – December – Document,
Hightower vs. O'Dowd, AMERICAN ARBITRATION ASSOCIATION
No. 72Y 180 0960 98 (PROPOSED) INTERIM AWARD
From
page 4 of the document:
“Dan
O'Dowd decided some time in 1997 to make an offer to buy Hightower's shares. He informed his top management
(Vice-Presidents Craig Franklin, David Chandler, and John
Carbone) of his intent late in 1997 and announced his plan at a Company meeting on January 21, 1998.”
EXHIBIT
- AMERICAN ARBITRATION ASSOCIATION No.
72Y 180 0960 98 (PROPOSED) INTERIM AWARD
1997 – December 25th –
The Franklin – Pillsbury-Foster Family flies to Hawaii to celebrate Christmas.
1997 - December 31st – Pillsbury-Foster drives Craig to the
plane. Craig is returning before the
rest of the family to Santa
Barbara. With him he took the $200
worth of Kona coffee Melinda had bought for presents for people at Green
Hills.
(Chronology,
Record of checks written, 1st quarter 1998)
1998 - January 1st – Craig files for divorce in Santa
Barbara. Jacqueline Misho, Bar Number
101112, was his attorney, found by
Morgan Pillsbury, the daughter of
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster. Morgan
accompanies Craig and Misho to the family home where Misho goes through
Melinda's personal papers, removing
some of these. This is theft on the part
of both Franklin and Misho.[Exhibit Morgan Pillsbury Affidavit, 2009]
1998 - January 7th -
Pillsbury-Foster returns home, pays bills, including Craig's credit card
bill for $1,300.00. She
had his dry-cleaning done, packed his
bags, took him to the airport. Franklin will be out of town for nearly two weeks.
She is unaware of any problem.
(
Record of checks written, 1st quarter 1998)
1998 – January – During this
period the creation of false stock option agreement by Ruth Fisher, an attorney in Los Angeles, takes
place.
From
Transcript of phone conversation, page 6:
“CF:
Not Ruth...no, no, no. Jackie took care
of it. Ruth was not...Ruth was working
for Greenhill not for me. Jackie had some language put into my stock
option, said, “future, future, future”
said it three times, future. The Judge
ignored it.
MP: Is that legal?
CF:
A Judge can do pretty much damn well what they please..
MP:
No, I mean what...when Jackie put in “future, future, future.”
CF:
Yea...absolutely legal. That's the way
they're supposed to handle it in the first place.
MP:
She did that with Ruth Fisher, right?
CF:
No...she did it with Dan! She gave it to
me, I gave the language to Dan, no fingerprints were on it.”
(Source: Morgan Pillsbury, phone transcript)
1998 – January 18th –
Arthur's Birthday. The whole family goes
out to Mimosa, a local restaurant, for dinner and then to the movies. Melinda and Craig hold hands.
(Source: Eye witness accounts by Dawn Pillsbury,
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster, Justin Foster and Arthur
Foster.)
1998 – January 21st –
Document, Hightower vs. O'Dowd, AMERICAN ARBITRATION ASSOCIATION No. 72Y 180 0960 98 (PROPOSED) INTERIM AWARD
From
page 4 of the document:
“O'Dowd
told the Vice-Presidents and later told the employees of Green Hills at the January 21, 1998 meeting, that it was his
intent, after he acquired Hightower's shares, to sell them back to the Company for his cost; the effect of this
transaction would be to make the employees
options worth almost twice as much as they otherwise would be because approximately 30,000,000 of about 65,000,000 shares
of Green Hills could have been retired.
1998 – January 21st –
Craig returns home to scrounge through the refrigerator. He complains there is no meatloaf. He takes a bath and changes his clothes, leaving
the dirty ones in the hamper.
(Source: Eye witness accounts by Dawn Pillsbury,
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster, Justin Foster and Arthur
Foster.)
1998 - January 22nd -
11:35 Thursday night – Craig calls to tell his wife he is divorcing her. She
has just finished putting away
his clean clothes.
(Source: Melinda Pillsbury-Foster)
1998 – February 8th –
Statement from Jack Dean on the Libertarian Party of California Convention.
Pillsbury-Foster
was a state officer of the LP for six terms, served as LA County Chairman its first year and ran an office from
1980 – 1983. Franklin was never active
in the LP in California. He donated $1,000.00 to the LPC in 1998. He
gave Michael Emerling Cloud six
thousand, check in record, and at that time was paying Morgan Pillsbury
$5,000.00 a month.
(Financial
records from the divorce, Morgan Deposition, Statement from Jack Dean LPC 1998)
1998 – February – Melinda has a
second heart incident and goes to Cottage Hospital and is kept overnight.
1998 – March 10th –
Melinda Pillsbury-Foster is deposed at the office of Jacqueline Misho 800
Presidio Avenue, Santa
Barbara, CA. Her physician had advised
against this because of her irregular heart
condition. Dr. Danson, 216 W Pueblo St # C, Santa Barbara, CA 93105, (805)
682-1934
The
deposition goes on all day.
Pillsbury-Foster is forced to look at tiny print she can no longer read because of her eyes.
1998 – Mid-March – Franklin calls
the family home and asks if Arthur can have lunch with him. At the
lunch he explains to Arthur why he can never be happy living with his evil
mother.
(Statement
of Arthur Foster after he recovers from suicide attempt.)
1998 – March 22nd –
Arthur Foster shoots himself through the brain while staying with his
biological father, Ron Foster,
in Reseda, CA.
(email,
instructions to Ron Foster sent before Arthur arrived.)
1998 – March 25th - Court Document, Court of Appeal of the
State of California, Second Appellate District, Glenn Hightower against Daniel O'Dowd in Los
Angeles dated September 3, 1999.
From
page 6 of the document:Dan O'Dowd,
“locked
Hightower out of the company, denying him access to the company and its computers and requiring that he
coordinate any contacts with Green Hills' employees through corporate counsel. Indeed, in a March 25, 1998 letter to
Hightower, O'Dowd advised that “Any attempt
to enter any of the company's premises without prior arrangement with Tim
Buynak [corporate counsel]
constitutes trespass. The local law
enforcement authorities have been so informed.”
Thus, at the very point when O'Dowd's imminent buyout offer created an urgent need for Hightower to have unhindered
access to the company, O'Dowd denied him that access and required him to go through counsel for any information
he needed.”
1998 – June – Pillsbury-Foster is
informed during an appointment with her ophthalmologist, Dr. Stuart Winthrop, 515 East Micheltorena
Street, Santa Barbara, California, 93103, (805) 963-4272, that she needs a corneal transplant due to the
damage to her eyes. She tells him what
happened the previous year.
1998 – June 26th -
Court Document, Court of Appeal of the State of California, Second Appellate District, Glenn Hightower against Daniel O'Dowd in Los
Angeles dated September 3, 1999.
From
page 7 of the document:
“O'Dowd,
on June 26, 1998, triggered the buy-sell option by sending Hightower a
written offer to buy his shares for $47 million. Hightower believed that this offer was an
unreasonably low one and immediately requested access to Green Hills and its records,
officers and employees to prepare due diligence materials for prospective financiers.”
The
document goes on to say that such access was denied for a month.
1998 – July – Due diligence
investigations begins for the potential buy-out of GHS by Glenn Hightower conducted by Wayne Weisman of
SCP Private Equity Partners, a public company listed
on the New York Stock Exchange.
(see
Declaration of Wayne B. Weisman)
1998 – August 5 – 6th,
Representatives of SCP travel to Santa Barbara to conduct interviews of “various
employees of Green Hills, in furtherance of our due diligence efforts.”
(Declaration
of Wayne B. Weisman)
1998 – August 12th –
From Court Document, Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles, Case No. BS053127, December 15, 1999. Glenn
Hightower against Daniel O'Dowd in
Los Angeles.
From
page 10 of the document:
“Mr.
Weisman declared that “[b]ased upon the threats of resignation by the Company's
employees, and their apparent
unwillingness to provide us with full and complete information about the Company, we concluded that we
could not effectively complete our due diligence and thus could not proceed with the transaction.” When he testified, Mr. Weisman stated that given the mass threats of employee
resignations, Safeguard's concerns about due diligence became “superfluous.””
1998 – September 4th,
Law suit filed in Superior Court of Los Angeles, California.
Declaration
by Wayne Weisman filed by Applicant Glenn Hightower against Daniel O'Dowd.
(Court
document Case No.: BS 053127, Glenn Hightower vs. Daniel O'Dowd)
1998 – September 17th -
Court Document, Court of Appeal of the State of California, Second Appellate District, Glenn Hightower against Daniel O'Dowd in Los
Angeles.
From
page 11 of the document:
“...the
trial court granted a preliminary injunction that prohibited O'Dowd from taking
any steps to acquire Hightower's
stock.”
1998 – October 27th –
Letter to Health Care Providers regarding the theft of reimbursed money stolen by Craig Franklin and Ron Foster.
(Health
Provider Reimbursement Ltr 27_10)
1998 – October 30th –
Request for Police Report, Reseda, California,
(Request
for police report 10_30)
The strategy adopted by Franklin
and by O'Dowd was to stall until conditions allowed them to gain their ends by
any available means. This is the
classical, “Throw shit in the air and see where it lands Strategy.”)
1999 – April 6th –
Letter to Charlotte, Service Representative, Fax: (559) 241-1106 Aetna regarding
overpayment due to two primary
insurance policies for Arthur.
Because
Craig never paid support in a timely fashion, he was caught up only twice in
the whole of the period of
support, and was often tens of thousands of dollars in arrears. When I discovered
that there were two primary policies, Craig Franklin and Ron Foster, I
contacted them and discovered how
I could get the previous bills paid so that I would be reimbursed. Craig
and Ron, they, the 'members,' kept the
refunds for themselves though I had paid the bills. The court refused to take action.
(Aetna
letter April 6, 1999)
1999 - September 2nd – Email responding to Craig Franklin by
Pillsbury-Foster. Demand to see Justin, their minor son. Franklin received no custody or visitation. Craig suggests that the son, seriously depressed, should be
emancipated so he can work for Craig at GHS.
1999 – September 3rd –
Court Document, Court of Appeal of the State of California, Second Appellate District, Glenn Hightower against Daniel O'Dowd in Los
Angeles.
From
page 5 of the document:
“It
is Hightower's belief, based on the evidentiary matters he presented in support
of his application for a
preliminary injunction, that O'Dowd, in 1997, embarked on a plan to freeze Hightower out of any share in such a
public offering by acquiring his stock at a fraction of its value. Basically, Hightower claim is O'Dowd planned
to, and did, make a low offer for Hightower's
shares and then take such action as would prevent or preclude Hightower from effectively taking advantage of his
reciprocal right under the Shareholder's Agreement to purchase O'Dowd's shares for that price. The declarations and documentary evidence
submitted by Hightower tended to
prove:”
The
document then goes into the means used to leverage the purchase of the company
by O'Dowd using company
assets.
1999 – Advocates for
Self-Government Conference.
In
a phone call Franklin admits the fraud against Pillsbury-Foster in phone call from 770-997- 1100, Room No. 806.
(Morgan
Pillsbury Deposition)
1999 –
December 15th – Court Document, Glenn Hightower vs. Daniel
O'Dowd. Hightower's Opposition to O'Dowd's Motion for Order Dissolving Preliminary Injunction.
From page 1 of the
document:
“O'Dowd's now seeks
dissolution of the preliminary injunction even though the arbitration has not yet been concluded.”
2000 - January 24th – Petition to Court in Santa Barbara
From
Dewey and Todd to Judge Anderle Case No. 233136 transferred to Case No. 222675
Charges
of conspiracy
2000 – July – Letter to Creditors
sent because of nonpayment of support by Franklin.
(see
letter)
2000 - August 4 – Tried to
exercise 100 of my shares. Was told I
could not do so. Source of belief I was
granted only options: Franklin's
statement to me during December, 1999. Could not read at the time.
(see
letter)
2000 – December 20th –
Deposition of CRAIG FRANKLIN , taken at 9:10 a. m., Wednesday, 20 December 2000, at 1430 Chapala
Street, Santa Barbara, California, before Mark McClure, C.S.R. 12203, Certified Shorthand Reporter in and for the
State of California.
Present: Todd Porter, counsel for Melinda
Pillsbury-Foster, Jacqueline Misho, counsel for Craig Franklin.
From
page 10 of the document:
“THE
WITNESS: Let me read the title of it,
please.
I
am producing a document entitled “Green Hills Software., 1996, Employment Agreement Stock-Option Plan, and
Stockholders Agreement.” There are 15
pages to the agreement, and three
pages appended to it, one page of which is the stock-option exercise form, and two pages of which are entitled,
“Certificate.”
BY
MR. PORTER:
Q. What you produced – does it include a copy of
your signature which you just provided
to me and I will have marked as Respondent's 5?
(Respondent's
Exhibit No. 5 was marked for identification, a copy which is
attached hereto.)
THE
WITNESS: There is no signature on the
document that I produced.
BY
MR. PORTER:
Q. Did you produce a copy of the document which
contains your signature?
A. No, I did not.
Q. Am I going to get a copy of that today?
MS.
MISHO: We don't have that document. If you read the trial transcripts and the depo transcripts you would know that we
are not in possession of that document.
We never have been.
MR.
PORTER: Have you made any attempts to
retrieve that document?
MS.
MISHO: Do you mean as in a thorough
search and enquiry with respect to all of the
things in his possession and in the possession of his attorneys, accountant,
employees and agents?
MR.
PORTER: Including Green Hills Software,
the company that he is the vice president
of.
MS.
MISHO: That's not his employee, his attorney, his agent or his accountant.
BY
MR. PORTER:
Q.
Mr. Franklin, did you keep a copy of the document which you signed? In other words,
the page that you signed? Did you keep a
copy of that?
MR.
PORTER: The page of this 9 –when he
signed the stock-option agreement in 1996, the
one referred to in Mr. Speich's memorandum, I'm asking whether or not he kept a
copy of what he signed.
THE
WITNESS: By “a copy,” do you mean a
Xerox copy?
BY
MR. PORTER:
Q.
Yes, a Xerox copy or a photocopy.
Yes?
A. No.
Q. Who did you hand that agreement to?
A. My best recollection is that I handed it to
Dan O'Dowd.
Q. Do you recall when you handed it to Dan
O'Dowd, approximately?
A. Not at this moment.
Q. What is your best memory of what was
contained – strike that.
You
drafted the amendment?
A. I did.
Q. Did you draft it on a home computer?
A. I drafted it on a computer at Green Hills
Software.
Q. Okay.
Do you have a copy of that amendment?
A. I have just testified the answer to that
question.
Q. No, I don't think that you did. I think I asked you whether or not you had
kept a photocopy of your
signature page.
My question to you now is whether or not
you have a copy of the amendment that you
prepared?
A. I don't know.
(There
follows a long and tiresome attempt to avoid producing the draft revision of
the Stock-Option Agreement
written by Craig Franklin. Eventually Franklin says,)
THE
WITNESS: The Amendment, to the best of
my recollection, dealt with the issue of how
to arrive – excuse me – of describing a process, or a formula, for computing a
number of stock options that I would
eventually be allowed to exercise. And
the – this is as I understand it –other
employees were going to be subject to a formula that said take your annual
salary –let's say $70,000 a
year. All right, you get 70,000 shares.
They vest over a period of time, according to
certain rules and so on, and the option exercise price is a dollar.
I
thought my long years of service to the company should be taken into account,
so the amendment had one
section or paragraph or sentence that used the same formulas as other people's – take my annual salary,
and so on – and then it has another section which said that my previous years of service would be
taken into account somehow.
I
mean, I don't remember the exact wording, but my intention there was that –
that they be taken into the – into
account. This is in effect a proposal
from me to Green Hills. That's pretty much all I remember.”
2001 – February 22nd – Transcript
from Deposition of MORGAN PILLSBURY, taken Santa Barbara, CA by
Consolidated Reporters Network. 50 pages. (excerpt from page 30 of document.)
Text:
“A Well, when we started talking again I told
her everything. I told her about what Craig had done, how he lied to
protect stock during the divorce, how he changed the stock options around. And I don't think she believed me, so I made
a recording of it.
Q And the reason you made a recording of it
is because your mother would not believe you because
of lies you told in the past?
A Uh-huh.
Q What lies had you told in the past?
A Too many to name.”
The law suit for (1)Battery,
(2)Fraud (Active Concealment), (3) Conspiracy to commit Fraud, (4) Declaratory
Relief, was filed in Santa Barbara by Todd A. Porter, SB # 48993 in
2001 – March 30th -
Settlement Agreement signed between Pillsbury-Foster, Green Hills Software,
Daniel O'Dowd, and Craig Franklin.
2003 - August 18th - 23
PM1:18:23 PM Pacific Daylight Time –
Email from Todd Porter to Laura Dewey regarding falsification of income by
Craig Franklin.
Text: “
Dear Laura:
The email follows our conversation regarding some ideas I've developed to flush
out the great likelihood that Craig has hidden his money, committed a fraud on
the court, and otherwise done everything in his power to thwart Melinda's right
of support.
In handling the trial for Melinda, you obtained for her an interest in certain
stock options, which were the security for a "nonrecourse" loan with
GHS. The terms of the deal are unimportant for this conversation, other
that to say, I refer to these stock options as the OLD options.
Subsequent to the divorce, I was suing Craig and GHS. I deposed both Mr.
O'Dowd, and Craig. What I learned is illuminating.
At the time of O'Dowd's deposition, he and Craig were negotiating a deal for
additional stock options, which I will refer to as the NEW options. This,
in and of itself is a form of undisclosed income. However, putting that
issue aside, they had gotten as far as a range for these NEW options between 400,00
and 650,000. [Note, I have sent to Melinda a copy of this deposition, I
have a certified copy here in the office as well.]
I also learned from Mr. O'Dowd the following important things. First, his
compensation agreement has never been reduced to writing. The way it
works is that Craig first has to submit a "commission report" to Dan,
which Dan then approved (or disapproves) and he is paid. Two things are
to be learned from this. The first is what Melinda has told us for
forever, is that Craig has control over when he receives his income, but virtue
of the fact (there may in fact be other ways) that it is HE who must first
submit the report to Dan to be paid. Second, the terms of his
compensation agreement can be discerned from the reports. Third, I
learned that there was a precedent for Craig to divert income to exercise the
stock option. This fact actually happened with respect to the OLD
options, and Dan detailed that occurrence in his deposition.
So, Craig lowered Melinda's support, by making a claim (false) that his earning
were down. What I'd suspect that you will find, is that A. A deal
was in fact consummated for NEW stock options. B. Craig may have
intentionally delayed submission of commission reports and/or C. Craig
had income applied towards the exercise of the stock options, which was not
disclosed to the court.
This is in keeping with Craig's character, his course of conduct, his
opportunity, and is consistent with his BIG year the next year. Also, his
claim of lower income is inconsistent with GHS financial results, which they
publish on their web site, showing earnings growth in EVERY year. See. www.ghs.com
So, my advice, would be to subpoena directly from GHS all of his stock options
agreements, all evidence of any payment to exercise any options (OLD or NEW),
all commission reports, and you will find, I'd bet, he's screwed Melinda, and
committed a fraud of the court. I'd seek the most severe sanctions
possible, and make this a part of an effort to extend support.
Happy Hunting,
Todd”
2004 – Court refuses to extend support despite gross violations of
procedure and support. Judge Anderle is the same judge who ruled that the stock
option fraud would not be heard.
2005
January 9 – Attempt by Harold M.
Heider to buy Pillsbury-Foster stock. [Exhibit]
January 18 – Letter from Buynak on
why the SA is valid and keeps me from getting money.
February 18 - Melinda is forced
out of the house she rented at 1107 Crestline Dr., through malfesence by the
court in Santa Barbara.
GHS is contacted by Robert Hughes,
acting as attorney in fact for Melinda Pillsbury-Foster to negotiate
mp3 recordings of conversations
between Buynak, Franklin, and Hughes
2006
March 12 – Letter from MPF to
O'Dowd for renewing options, from North Carolina.
Negotiations continue with GHS by
Van Hughes
mp3 recordings of conversations
between Buynak, Franklin, and Hughes
2007
Correspondence with GHS by Robert
Hughes
mp3 recordings of conversations
between Buynak, Franklin, and Hughes
2008
March 6, 2008 – Extortion letter
from Buynak on loans.
March 11, 2008 – Response to
Extortion letter from Buynak
June
12, 2008 - Revocation of POA, O'Dowd,
July 11, 2008 – Letter to Hazarian
and O'Dowd demanding information on GHS
September 9, 2008 – Letter to
Hazarian regarding demands for information
October 14, 2008 - Letter to GHS
from MPF on the SA
11/4/2008
– Letter to Buynak from MPF on the SA and his own liability.
2009
2003 - July 15 - Record Request Attachment 3 to Green Hills Software, Inc.
subpoena
..in accordance with the arbitration clause of the Shareholders
Agreement, Hightower filed an
arbitration demand against O'Dowd. The
demand alleged, among other things, that O'Dowd
had breached his fiduciary duties and the implied covenant of good faith and
fair dealing by deliberately
hamstringing Hightower's efforts to obtain financing, in an effort to buy Hightower's shares cheaply. Hightower sought a determination, among other
things, that this conduct
precluded O'Dowd's exercise of his buyout rights.
