Welcome back to the “Where are the Heroes?” podcast series. I am Beau Johnson, the author of The End of Justice.
Based upon what we have learned about the Government’s case against Orlando Carter, we can only reach but one conclusion. No innocent American should ever endure his experience. No one should suffer the abject indifference and heightened arrogance of public officials who knowingly or unknowingly abuse the criminal justice system.
There are grave foundational problems in America. Many of them originate within the minds and hearts of public officials who often act without regard to basic facts and truth. Sadly, facts and truth are secondary to their ulterior motives. For example, nothing can excuse FBI Agent Kevin Gormley from failing to adequately investigate PNC Bank’s false claims.
Stated simply, a great injustice occurs when little men with over-sized egos seek glory instead of grinding through the rigors of significant details to achieve verifiable and veritable conclusions to criminal cases.
We now know what is indisputable regarding the Federal Government’s case against Orlando Carter. PNC Bank lied about a $4 million loan obligation. Orlando never had this financial liability with this financial institution. There is no need to reiterate the amount of evidence in our possession that supports this fact. Suffice it to say that PNC Bank made false claims which the FBI did not thoroughly investigate.
This brings us to the next phase of the criminal case against Orlando Carter, the submission of the Gormley’s “facts” to Gregory Lockhart, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio. Lockhart’s assistant, Richard Chema, handled the case against Orlando Carter.
Just to clarify for this audience, the US Attorney should not gratuitously accept the FBI’s investigative conclusions as true. Rather the Department of Justice, through the US Attorney, is expected to conduct its own competent and comprehensive investigation. Even when the US Attorney does not conduct such an investigation, it is deemed to have been done, nonetheless.
Did Lockhart and Chema conduct an independent investigation? No.
Did Lockhart and Chema investigate PNC’s allegations? No.
Did Lockhart and Chema seek the assistance of the Department of Treasury? No.
Did Lockhart and Chema conduct a forensic financial audit? No.
Since Orlando was convicted of a crime related to an alleged $4 million obligation, we must conclude that Chema failed to determine the facts and truth. For Chema relied upon a piece of paper signed by James Smith which was not legally or financially binding upon either Orlando Carter or his company. Chema asked and the court permitted the jury to see a document that was pitched as a guaranty of a loan. Nothing could have been farther from the truth.
Chema’s submission and the court’s acceptance of this “guaranty” as evidence of a $4 million loan obligation cannot be reconciled.
Orlando’s situation was made even more difficult since his defense attorneys did not verify the existence of the alleged $4 million loan obligation. They merely questioned the Government if the loan existed. When they received an affirmative response, they did not pursue the matter. This must be viewed as gross negligence as well. Defense attorneys are often culpable for grave mistakes and incompetence. This is exactly what happened with Orlando’s lawyers.
Let’s pause to appreciate Orlando’s desperation before the trail began. The FBI, DOJ, and Court accepted that Carter had a financial obligation to PNC Bank without his defense attorneys investigating and refuting this false claim. Consequently, a black man sat alone as the legal system allowed a jury to believe that the fictious loan was real.
Chema’s failure to dignify Orlando’s potential innocence is monumental. For, Chema effectively defeated truth as he cemented into the court a lie which became central to the “the record.”
This record is what the government and courts rely upon as finality for the preservation of a conviction. Thus, when a defendant makes a righteous, post-conviction challenge, the prosecutor and court summarily dismiss such attempts by asserting that the record is established. The record is final. The record proves guilt. The record is truth.
Over the years, Orlando has challenged his conviction repeatedly only to have the government and court argue that the established record confirms his guilt.
But what if the record is based upon a lie?
This brings us to a very significant point. We have heard of innocent people being exonerated when DNA proves they did not commit the crime. DNA evidence is irrefutable. Blood, saliva, hair, semen, and much more are insurmountable proof of innocence and guilt.
Now let’s ask an important question. Is the absence of banking instruments and corporate resolutions authorizing a loan the equivalent of a lack of financial DNA? In other words, if Orlando’s physical DNA was not at the scene of a murder, rather, if he was at home with his family, does he not have an alibi? Now, if James Smith said that he saw Orlando commit the murder, does this make Orlando guilty? Or does it make the witness a liar?
If a bank claims that someone has a loan, the financial DNA must be the signature of the authorized principal upon a credible banking instrument. If the FBI does not ask for the certified and authenticated loan documents from PNC Bank with the signature of the authorized creditor, then the FBI accepts PNC’s false accusations as real. In such a scenario, isn’t the Federal Government ignoring the absence of financial DNA? If the Department of Justice does not ask the Department of Treasury to confirm or deny the existence of the loan, isn’t the Federal Government rejecting the financial DNA and accepting PNC’s lies?
Ultimately, the existence or absence of financial DNA is the proof which refutes the flawed conclusions of the “court record.” The DNA, or lack thereof, is a means to establish truth.
It is tragic that the government’s investigation advanced from the FBI to the DOJ without confirming the $4 million loan obligation. This passing of this baton, as it were, was a result of either the height of haughtiness, depraved indifference, or gross incompetence. Regardless of the motivation, the Federal Government’s conduct is negligent. Orlando was a victim of a thoughtless indictment and jury trial.
Not one government official dared to question a billion-dollar bank’s representations and reputation. Nobody challenged the FBI’s ironclad conclusions. The US Attorney’s assertions prevailed uncontested. Everyone, except Orlando Carter, drank the Kool-Aid. It was too easy not to partake.
I used the word thoughtless deliberately. The Government’s case against Carter was prosecuted with thought. No thought was needed by Richard Chema to accept the document signed by James Smith as proof of a $4 million obligation.
The defense attorneys’ one chance to destroy the prosecution’s theory that there was a $4 million obligation was wasted when they accepted the government’s representations that the loan was real. The “court record” established during the criminal trial was a mockery of truth.
Judge Sandra Beckwith ensured that what the prosecution needed for a conviction was accepted for the jury’s consumption. In fact, the alleged $4 million loan guaranty signed by James Smith, which was not at all binding upon Orlando and his companies, became, according to Beckwith, the “centerpiece” of the trial. Yes. Let’s weigh this idea for a moment. The guaranty of a non-existent loan became the centerpiece of the court record. If the loan did not exist, the guaranty did not exist either.
The once solid legal construct that was once American Justice is often nothing but an illusion, a delusion, a smorgasbord of hollow and false theories advanced by glory-hungry officials. Public officers knowingly or unknowingly weave an impenetrable tale of fiction. As the tale is passed from one officer to the next, both fact and truth are either never unearthed or they are completely ignored. To be sure, fact and truth were defeated.
I never intended to offer a blow-by-blow explanation of the Government’s unjust criminal trial against Orlando Carter. We know what happened based upon the conclusions reached by FBI Agent Kevin Gormley and Assistant US Attorney Richard Chema.
Should we fault the jury? Most Americans sit in judgment as jurors without knowing the full extent of their authority. Why would we expect jurors to challenge the facts and law? Like most jurors, they are spoon-fed lies while the judge states the laws that were supposedly violated. As such, the jury had an easy burden. They choose a simple yes or no to guilt.
Can you imagine the grand jury or petit jury questioning Richard Chema as to whether the “guaranty” signed by James Smith was invalid? No. Not at all. Not in America.
Equal to the inadequate and embarrassing investigations by the FBI and DOJ, the criminal trial was a sham. To expect Judge Beckwith and the jury to have acted as a checks and balance against such reckless disregard for an innocent man’s life is to expect decency and fairness. Such commodities are often lacking in the criminal and legal systems. The government’s case against Orlando Carter proved as much.
I have often explained to others that the justice system is a system and nothing more. That is to say, the system is not a composite of independently minded professionals seeking to act righteously and honorably. Rather, these professionals often graft themselves into an already established mentality whereby the process and current results become the priority. After all, the path of a boulder rolling downhill cannot be easily altered. Whatever immoral and unethical act that is advanced within a criminal case is often done with little to no rebuttal. Though officials may feign fierce independence, invariably they advance what others have culled from flawed theories plagued by flawed evidence.
In the end, there is either the choice to preserve the system of injustice or to act as a maverick for truth. Rarely will the valiant knight appear, that lone force who will defy injustice in the name of truth. Promotions within the system are not often secured by such a path. As such, the system and its unjust theories are to be preserved at all costs.
The preservation of the collective efforts in the Government’s case against Orlando Carter became strikingly evident to me on October 22, 2018.
By the time I had received the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency conclusion that there was no $4 million loan obligation, which included PNC’s admission that no such loan existed, I held a genuine belief that Orlando now possessed new evidence and the requisite financial DNA that no crime had been committed. I prepared to seek his exoneration.
Given the social climate at the time, as there was increased strife concerning injustice against minorities, I joined forces with members of the Baptist Minister’s Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio, and wrote to the current US Attorney, Benjamin Glassman. To his credit, Glassman agreed to meet with us.
On the morning of the 22nd of October 2018, James Chisley, Doc Foster, and I waited for Glassman in his conference room in downtown Cincinnati. We had new evidence from the OCC with PNC’s admission. Forearmed, we prepared a formal request that the DOJ review the case with the aim of exonerating Orlando Carter.
Glassman entered the room with Kenneth Parker, who was the Chief of the Criminal Division, and without hesitation and having already received a copy of the OCC letter from us by mail, Glassman stated that any evidence of a $4 million loan obligation had been shredded by the DOJ.
I was shocked by Glassman’s declaration, and I immediately responded that this was not possible.
The situation was surreal. Sitting before us was a US Attorney who lied about something that the DOJ could not have done. The US Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio had just lied about the most significant fact of all.
As is evident by the affidavit I signed after meeting with Glassman, which you will find below, I asked him how evidence of a loan could be shredded when it never existed. I handed him the OCC letter and other admissions by PNC Bank which proved there was no loan. I then explained that records in any criminal case could not be shredded if there was ongoing litigation and the case was less than ten years old. Orlando’s case met both conditions.
First, as is stipulated by the attached regulations governing the handling of documents, the Government is prohibited from destroying files in any manner not circumscribed by law. Based upon this point alone, Glassman’s deceit was transparent. More importantly, I knew Glassman wanted to avoid the significance of the OCC findings. The best way for him to do so was to discredit the OCC. The OCC could not be credible if he declared that the actual evidence was destroyed. If any agency was wrong, it had to be the Department of the Treasury and the OCC and not the Department of Justice.
We must recall that this is a system, the legal system. Glassman was not prepared to be a maverick. He was not willing to act with the character and integrity necessary to weigh the possibility that other officials had made egregious errors. Glassman, the top prosecutor for the Southern District of Ohio, the one person with the responsibility to pursue the truth, decided to preserve flawed efforts and conclusions of those who decided wrongly years earlier. In other words, Glassman acted cowardly and chose to preserve an unjust conviction that had been secured by cowards years ago.
Glassman’s deceit is even more problematic since the US Attorney has the official responsibility to represent the Federal Government with respect to findings issued by other agencies. Thus, Glassman had the incumbent burden to serve as the spokesperson for the Department of Treasury and the OCC. Let me explain.
The Government cannot be divided on any issue. If there is division, it must be resolved until a unified representation is attained. Since there is only one Federal Government, it must speak with one voice. Given Glassman’s responsibilities as spokesperson for the United States, he should have at least stated that he would confer with the Department of the Treasury to ascertain the substance for the OCC’s determinations. He should have made some effort to clarify why the OCC differed from the DOJ regarding the alleged $4 million loan obligation. Shamefully, Glassman did nothing of the sort.
Now, you might be wondering why the US Attorney and his assistant did not reason that if the OCC, with PNC’s admission, stated that a $4 million loan never existed, how could the record within the court support that the loan was real.
The answer is simple. Both Glassman and Parker did not have the wisdom, character, and integrity to act independently in the name of truth and justice. Lacking the necessary mettle to right a wrong, they advanced the wrong until they had compounded the situation with an even greater wrong. Their choice would be laughable if it were not so tragic.
Attached you will find a letter that we sent to Glassman after that October 2018 meeting. I also attached Glassman’s response.
In addition to lying about something the DOJ could not have done, what did Glassman do? He referred us back to the court record. Yes, the record, that coveted record. He reviewed the record and determined that the record was sound, and Orlando was guilty.
A word of caution is needed. If you read Glassman’s review of the record without first reading our letter with a filter that there was no $4 million loan obligation, you will, like a salacious soap opera, be drawn into details that otherwise have no relevance to Orlando’s innocence. In other words, Glassman’s review of the record can only be deemed credible absent a $4 million loan obligation. No different than cheap gossip about a false accusation that a married man is having an extramarital affair, we can either fall prey to the sensational or ignore such unfounded trash outright.
Since there was no loan, Glassman’s response concerning the record should not be considered credible. For, without a $4 million financial obligation, the Government never had jurisdiction to file criminal charges against Orlando Carter. Consequently, there is no basis for gossip and lies, much less guilty verdicts.
Dominic Mango is a lawyer in Columbus, Ohio, who has helped Orlando for years. Dominic began to fully appreciate the key deficiency in the Government’s case after speaking with Theodore Johnson, a Certified Public Accountant. Both men conferred with each other after the criminal trial when Johnson conducted a forensic financial audit. Johnson concluded that neither Orlando nor his company had a $4 million financial obligation with PNC Bank.
Knowing that PNC Bank admitted to the OCC that there was no loan, Dominic Mango wrote to then Acting US Attorney, David DeVillers, in June of 2020. Dominic explained Orlando’s concerns and asked for a meeting to resolve the matter. DeVillers did not make himself available.
How is it possible for a lawyer like Dominic Mango to have such a simple and clear understanding of the dilemma with the Government’s case, but the US Attorney does not? Moreover, why does the US Attorney ignore the obvious? Is it because the “record” cannot and will not be altered? Why does the US Attorney refuse to consider “new evidence” in the form of financial DNA that would exonerate an innocent man?
Let’s consider an age-old query. What motivates humanity? What moves man to choose as he does? Is it fear? Greed? Before our meeting with Glassman in October 2018, did Glassman have a fear of further harming Orlando? Or was he fearful of upending the entire record as established by previous officials? Would such a move be uncomfortable for him among his colleagues. Did he contend with greed as he weighed the glory that he might receive by exonerating an innocent man? Or did he covet the idea of appearing strong while rejecting the OCC conclusions and PNC’s admission that there was no $4 million loan?
I stated at the beginning of this podcast series that I have every intention of holding Benjamin Glassman and Kenneth Parker accountable for their lies. Glassman lied to the people of Ohio. He lied as a lawyer. He lied as an officer of the court. Benjamin Glassman lied as the top law enforcement officer of the Southern District of Ohio.
Not only did Glassman refuse to cooperate with the Department of the Treasury by confirming or denying the OCC findings and validating PNC Bank’s admissions that there weas no $4 million loan, but he also refused to serve as the spokesperson for the Federal Government at the most extraordinary opportunity.
A prosecutor’s ultimate responsibility is to seek the truth. His goal is not to seek or preserve convictions. In Glassman’s calculus, truth was neither part of the equation nor the answer.
As unbelievable as it is, during a time of tension among minority communities across the United States, Glassman rejected his chance to become a hero by acknowledging the inherent wrong done to a black man who was innocent of the alleged crimes.
Given Glassman’s intransigence then and now, for I have asked him to correct his mistakes, let us ask if there is a solution? If there is no solution then, as I did with Bill Demchak, CEO of PNC Bank, I will invite Benjamin Glassman to this podcast to prove that the loan documents were in fact shredded. The Government is required to document what is shredded and when the destruction occurs. Or Glassman can explain why he lied about the DOJ shredding evidence of a $4 million loan obligation. Since I know with certainty that the evidence was not shredded, Glassman can either concede that he made a mistake or state that he misspoke. He can then call upon the current US Attorney, Kenneth Parker, to revisit the OCC findings and PNC’s admission that there was no $4 million loan obligation.
Will you do this, Mr. Glassman? Will you do the right thing? As the former top prosecutor for the Southern District, will you finally seek the truth? I assure you that remaining silent would be a mistake. For I will never let this issue go. I will pursue this matter until you admit to your lie or until the system holds you accountable for your cowardice and lies.
To put it plainly, Glassman can prove that the DOJ shredded evidence of the $4 million loan documents or he can help Orlando Carter secure his long overdue exoneration.
I will support the claim that Glassman lied with an additional development. Within the US Department of Commerce is the Minority Business Development Agency. Rafael Underwood is the representative of the Department of Commerce for this agency in Ohio. He is the Case Manager for CBST Acquisition LLC, which is Orlando Carter’s company.
Mr. Underwood submitted an affidavit into a court case in 2022 that indirectly involved CBST. Underwood stated that he conferred with the OCC within the Department of the Treasury, which is something Glassman did not do during his review of the criminal case.
Underwood stated,
PNC Bank’s claim that it originated an authentic debt with CBST in the amount of $4 million… is false and deceptive and should be deemed a fabrication. The alleged demand made upon CBST for payment related to a $4 million loan guarantee was a fabrication. There never was an underlying $4 million loan or loan guarantee upon which PNC Bank could have made a demand.
Underwood continued
Because the alleged loans and loan guarantees in the amount of $4 million… were fabricated by PNC Bank, I conclude that any and all parties, including law enforcement authorities and court officials, that relied upon information, statements, and documentation provided by PNC Bank executives and attorneys which alleged the origination and existence of loans or loan guarantees in the amount of $4 million between PNC Bank and CBST have been deceived and defrauded.
Based upon what PNC asserted in a separate court action that indirectly involved CBST in 2020, Underwood, given his review of correspondence from Butler County, shared that,
PNC Bank did not originate two loans with Butler County, as PNC Bank claimed on April 7, 2021.
Underwood concluded by stating,
Because PNC Bank did not originate… loans with the Butler County, Ohio municipality, I conclude that PNC Bank’s claim to the U. S. District Court on April 7, 2021 that “CBST and somebody” guaranteed loans made to Butler County is deceptive, misleading and was made for the purposes of deceiving those who relied upon such claim.
Yes, we have the Department of Treasury stating in 2017 that there was no $4 million loan and the Department of Commerce doing the same in 2022. Underwood’s affidavit should scare the hell out of the likes of Glassman and Parker. Both men made grievous errors when they stated and advanced the lie that the DOJ shredded evidence of the non-existent $4 million loan.
What Glassman and Parker fail to appreciate is that there are now two separate federal agencies that have refuted the determinations of the FBI and DOJ. As is oft stated, a house divided cannot stand.
When Dominic Mango wrote to David DeVillers in June of 2020, he stated,
We are asking that your office take the time to review the inexplicable, above referenced cases, specifically as it relates to the lack of any “debt” or “loan” previously claimed to have been “verified” by the FBI. We are asserting herein that, it not only never existed, there is not only no evidence to support its existence, but more so, the evidence known to the government at the time of the prosecutions above (and currently) supports, if not wholly confirms the absence of any such “debt or “loan”.
Mr. Mango then states,
As your office was aware and the letter notes, bank executives “restructured” transactions to “elude improprieties” per bank internal emails. Compounding the “improprieties”, the FBI has failed to provide the requested certified and authenticated bank records by National City Bank kna PNC Bank related to CBST Acquisition LLC (“CBST”) which it has claimed authenticates a $4 million debt.
The enormity of Glassman’s lie is beyond comprehension when we consider that he could have agreed to, at a minimum, investigate the OCC’s findings to justify possible exoneration.
Man has the power of creation and destruction. Glassman could have supported the new evidence and PNC Bank’s admission to secure Orlando’s freedom. Glassman could have used his position and power to acknowledge the mistakes of previous officials. Glassman could have done the right thing.
“Oh the tangled web we weave when we first we practice to deceive.”
I know of attorneys who practice delivering their arguments to their children before they express them in court. Glassman could do the same now as he considers correcting his mistake. He could present his children the following:
My dear children, listen to what I am about to share with you and then answer a simple question.
1) A big bank said that a man had an obligation for a loan and stole the money.
2) The police, prosecutor, and court believed the big bank.
3) Even though the man said he was innocent, no one listened to him.
4) The jury believed the big bank and court sent the man to prison.
5) Ten years later, another government agency found out that the loan did not exist.
6) Even the big bank agreed with this new conclusion.
Now, here is the question. Should I listen to the new agency and bank that there was no loan and help the man get out of prison?
Glassman, I encourage you to ask your wife this question as well. Ask her if she would respect you more if you recanted and retracted your lie that the DOJ shredded evidence of the $4 million loan. If your wife does not yet know of your lie, perhaps it is time to share it with her and gain her insight.
What Glassman should understand is that his lie is not going away. Someday he will be forced to address it. And, as I shared with PNC Bank CEO Bill Demchak in the second episode of this series, no one is committing a crime by asking for the truth or for companies and governments to do right. There is no actus reus or mens rea by seeking Demchak’s and Glassman’s cooperation. No one is at fault for telling the public about PNC’s false allegation and encouraging people to use a different bank. It is not slanderous, libelous, or defamation to expose Glassman’s lies and ensure he never serves in public office again.
To the contrary, were Demchak and Glassman to assist Orlando Carter resolve this issue once and for all, everyone would benefit. As it stands, Glassman’s unwillingness to correct his mistake would be foolish, just as Demchak’s silence is unwise. If PNC Bank and Glassman lose business and opportunities because of their recalcitrance, they only have themselves to blame. They are the ones committing and foster crimes and immoral and unethical acts.
Most Americans do not likely understand that government officials are protected from punishment for their mistakes by what is known as sovereign immunity. Even when the mistake rises to the level of gross negligence, whether intentional or not, these officials are usually not sued. In fact, the government cannot be sued unless the Government grants its permission. That’s right, the government must agree to be sued for negligence.
We know that Glassman’s lie about shredding evidence of something that did not exist was intentional. Bluntly, Glassman intended to lie about destroying what was not real. But the added query is this: Did Glassman choose not to investigate the OCC findings and PNC’s admission that the $4 million loan did not exist? Of course. That he acknowledged the OCC determinations without acting on them is the same as the government acting on the $4 million loan obligation that does not exist. Both are absurd and both rose to the level of gross negligence.
Let’s ask Glassman to consider his children once again. Glassman, suppose your child was accused of doing something wrong at school and was punished. However, let’s suppose that you found proof that the basis of the wrong did not exist and the accuser agreed with the new finding. In such a scenario, would you seek your child’s exoneration?
Truth and life. That is what we are talking about here. Truth must mean something and there is nothing more precious than life in truth. To ignore truth is to destroy life and the lives of others. When this destruction is done with callous disregard, and the person causing the destruction is protected, there exists a most severe divide between reality and fiction, with the fiction often in the form of a tragedy.
Glassman, you have a chance to make amends before this issue mushrooms into something you cannot ignore. Discretion is the better part of valor.
In the next episode I will explain in detail the words and conduct of both Glassman and Parker. The story is simply incredible.
Until then, may truth reign supreme.
Where Are the Heroes? Episode 6