KDLT followed up on the Madville Times scoop on the Annette Bosworth-Chad Haber raffle scam with an interview with cheated ticket holder Nathan Fluit Thursday evening. Preventive Health Strategies, Annette Bosworth's non-profit agency that runs intertwinedly with her medical practice, sold tickets for multiple raffles in 2012 and 2013 but has held no drawings and given no refunds.
Yesterday KDLT ran this misleading headline: "Bosworth Responds to Land Raffle Story."
- Annette Bosworth did not respond to the raffle scam. St. Paul political operative Nate Johnson, who is drawing a paycheck from Bosworth from whatever portion of her Senate campaign donations Chad Haber hasn't already spent on the family electric bill, sent KDLT a statement.
- Nate Johnson did not respond to the raffle scam. Johnson wrote, "The issues related to Preventive Health Strategies are issues for the non-profit, and not the Bosworth for Senate campaign," before diverting into the standard political "Vote for Annette" claptrap. We hear here the same malarkey that Joop Bollen uses to get out of legal trouble by claiming that he is not the same entity as any of the corporations that he manages solo.
For the record, I placed calls late Thursday afternoon to all three of Annette Bosworth's organizations: Preventive Health Strategies, Meaningful Medicine, and the Bosworth for Senate campaign. I left voicemails at each number. I have received no response, not even from Nate Johnson (and, Nate, you really should call, since I can explain to you how you're going to lose money working Bosworth... more below!).
Meanwhile, after spending yesterday hip deep in blog repairs and phone calls with sources, here's more that I have learned about the Bosworth-Haber raffle scam:
Out-of-State Ticket Sales: Annette Bosworth and her husband, Preventive Health Strategies president Chad Haber, sold 500 tickets in their first apparently successful land raffle, giving away 160 acres of their parents' farm in near Plankinton, in Aurora County. At least 75 of those tickets went to out-of-state buyers. Another 18 on the list I'm reviewing have no address or phone information, making it difficult to determine their location.
Far fewer tickets were sold for the Bosworth-Habers' second round of raffles for 75 acres in Moody County, Harley Davidson motorcycles, and a Polaris four-wheeler. However, I have communicated with one out-of-state buyer.
Bosworth and Haber's raffles have all required authorization from the Secretary of State, since they have sold tickets statewide. Operating solely under the authority of the state of South Dakota, Bosworth and Haber have received no legal permission to engage citizens of other states in their raffles. Bosworth and Haber have skirted that rule by taking out-of-state ticket buyers credit card information by phone or mail, sending those out-of-state buyers e-mail receipts, but holding the tickets in their office. As long as those physical tickets don't cross state lines, Bosworth and Haber may be in the clear.
Where'd the Money Go? Preventive Health Strategies held its only raffle drawing at a great publicity-generating event in April 2012. Immediately thereafter, Preventive Health Strategies made a deal to purchase 75 acres in Moody County (legal description: in Egan Township, southern 1/2 of the southeastern 1/4 of Section 35-106-49) for its second raffle. PHS advertised an alternate prize of $250,000 cash, suggesting the purchase price. PHS made a down payment of $120K on the Moody County land, then struggled to come up with the rest of the cash by the agreed final payment date in June. PHS was only able to finalize the purchase with an emergency loan from personal friends of PHS.
It feels rather Ponzi-esque to raffle off one chunk of land, then turn around immediately and buy another. Whether that's a legitimate use of non-profit funds or not, the Aurora County raffle had placed $500,000 in PHS's hands, on land that was already in the family and thus didn't require further expense or payback from their checking account. Making the payment on the Moody County land should not have required any emergency infusion of cash.
But wait... June 2012... what were Annette and Chad doing with their money in June 2012?
Oh yeah: Chad and Annette were posting photos of the expensive fishing trip they took their three boys on to Alaska. Couple thousand in country, airplane tickets for everyone, restaurant chow for three hungry boys, having to shut down the revenue-generating clinic while the doctor's gone... boy, that had to be tight for a family that had to sell its house and live in a borrowed RV by the end of the year. Where on earth does a family get cash for such luxuries when, as I've heard from more than one source, they were having trouble writing checks for their own employees?
I find it incredible that it has taken KDLT and the rest of the press this long to smell the fish in the Annette Bosworth-Chad Haber traveling medicine show. Let's hope that now that cheated ticketholders are speaking up (I've spoken with three), media pressure will bring this medicine show to a merciful end.
p.s.: Bosworth and Haber have responded to questions about the raffle scam... sort of. When KDLT talked to cheated raffle ticket holder Nathan Fluit Thursday, their screen cap of Bosworth's website showed the link to the "I'm Giving Away the Farm!" raffle at the top.
By yesterday afternoon, that link was gone.
The raffle info and rules are still on the Meaningful Medicine website as of this morning. Save your copy now!
Thanks CAH for being on top of things.
Nice work, Cory. Too bad some of our state's professional "journalists" can't turn out these stories-and they wonder why dead tree journalism is sprawled in an alley somewhere, coughing up blood.
One thing I'm not entirely clear on: they used part of the money to "buy" land they already owned? That would be a classic Double Shuffle!
What a train wreck! Seriously though being very skeptical I'm wondering who in the state GOP recruited Annette Bosworth to run for Senate? Did Annette and Chad come up with this pie in the sky idea themselves to run or was she recruited via indirect means by another Senate candidate to create a diversion to help secure his own chances to win?
I've never considered Bosworth as a serious candidate and have a feeling she and Chad will be pre-occupied with other things after her campaign has ended. These crazy fringe wingnuts like Gordon Howie and his blogsite today comparing Obama to Hitler which just further eliminates any sense of credibility. Regardless I will pray for them to see the light and shed all of their anger, hatred and see God's love.
I believe if one looks up "grifter" in the dictionary, one will see accompanying photos of Chad and Annette.
Things don't look as good for the young Dr. today, now that they're on TV and everything. They probably should hold that drawing pretty fast so they can put this all behind. I wonder if those children see this stuff on TV and if it makes them confused.
Mr. G, perhaps if you arranged a dinner with Aunt Mitzi, she could better help us understand the campaign mission of meaningful preventative bullshit strategies.
Jim, Perhaps I'm a littler slower than usual today but who is Aunt Mitzi? lol
Jim, all women become like their mothers, that is their tragedy.
I believe it was reported she had gifted some of the land that was raffled, and wasnt completely happy about it. I don't know any of that for certain.
Chad could probably clarify.
"Jim, all women become like their mothers, that is their tragedy."
Nope. Some get a lot better. Maybe that is thanks to their father. Who knows.
Cori,
I can find nothing that would prohibit her from using the money she raised with a lawful raffle to send members of the military on a fishing trip. The ADANG might have said something to her about using them in her advertising, because she shouldn't have done that. Think it was all BS on her part because if she had worked as close with them as she says she did she should have known the name of the organization she was going to help. The organization is not the Wing Security Forces Battalion, it is the Security Forces Squadron. Been wrong before and I'll be wrong again but I would bet everything about her raffle is a scam made worse by her attempting to use SDANG to further her scam.
After reading the post on the Dakota Press Release Outlet - formerly known as the Dakota War College - it looks to me like the Bosworth/Haber tandem is fixing to accuse a former employee of stealing the raffle money from some allegedly locked desk. You know, the same one they accused of stealing information that was posted on this blog. According to the spin they appear to be about to release, they're not the perpetrators of some raffle scam. They're the victims of a thief. Right now they're getting their p**p in a group to come out with this sob story.
Poor dr. Boz, victimized yet once again.
I really can't wait to hear this one. Powers shouldn't tease us like that.
It's a movie quote, Mr. Wiken. Blew right past you dinnit?
Why didn't the Bosworth/Haber tandem come out with their sob story about their victimization sooner? It does take some time and thought to concoct a theft scenario like this. They have to come up with some explanation about why they didn't report the theft to the police at the time they claim it happened. And they have to come up with some explanation about why they didn't follow through on the lottery itself or provide any information to ticket holders. There are a lot of things to think about when one is writing a true crime novel that starts with the proposition that the butler did it. There are tracks to cover and documents to manufacture. Even Lex Luthor can't develop a plausible, compelling and impenetrable victim story in a day. Look at how long it's taking for the EB-5 story to develop.
Read PP post. Guess they are going to say Cory stole the money, as well as all the email addresses (which kept them from notifying buyers), and likely transferred the title to the land (so they had nothing to raffle off) and, while he was at it, made up Facebook posts of a nonexistent Alaskan vacation. Oh, and that before that, he manipulated the 2008 financial collapse solely to get Obama elected. Busy guy.
She's been so busy teaching her kids gun safety and reading them the bible in their van/home down by the river and speaking in DC and putting out videos and defending herself before the medical board and taking Alaskan vacations that she just hasn't had time to go after the thief of the money or even report the theft to the police.
DWC is doing just what they need to do, start explaining and talking themselves into a corner.
As these two scandals evolve we are fast approaching what Woodward/Bernstein stage of "un-deniability deniability". When that starts, crap happens.
It appears that Powers is pretty gleeful with his forthcoming revelation, two days, I'll never get any sleep.
I hope he gives us enough notice to arrange bail money for Cory!
When this is all said and done, I hope they don't have to sell their van "down by the river" too...??...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nhgfjrKi0o
So Dak politics - always entertaining, and makes MN politics lame in comparison. Beats a Vikings football game too.
In fairness, we don't know if they will claim it stolen, but I wouldn't be surprised. ...and Nate, unless there are two annettes, this is a problem for her.
The accusations Chad Haber getting Pat Powers to hint have absolutely no bearing on the facts at hand:
(1) Chad and Annette sold raffle tickets.
(2) Chad and Annette didn't draw for the raffle prizes.
(3) Chad and Annette didn't give back the money.
1+2+3 = Chad and Annette have some 'splainin' to do. To a judge.
Nothing will come of Pat's hints. It's part of Chad's SOP: throw things at the wall, see what sticks. He used the same thinking to come up with tying the scam raffles to "supporting the troops": he was just looking for a meme that he though would get attention. Consider: PHS's major mission activity was trips to Haiti to provide medical assistance. Why not just run the raffle to raise money specifically for that purpose?
Joseph, you raise a distinct possibility, that the DoD cease-and-desist could have just been related to advertising... but what about this: could there be some regulation that prevents soldiers, as employees of the government, from accepting large gifts like a free trip to Alaska?
Jim: two Annettes? Only her psychiatrist knows for sure.
Cory
So long as it is not a bribe it is ok, with the exception of foreign governments. Happens a lot and it does not matter the size of the gift but the intent. Still think it was a scam all along, had no intents of doing something for the troops, and DOD never said anything to them. Happens.