Document text
Banking scam suspects ready for trial By Chris Bristol Two Klamath Falls men accused of participating in an elaborate banking scam that has been linked to militias and other anti-government groups were in federal court Monday, saying they are ready for trial in two weeks. Over the objection of federal prosecutors, Donald Harley Carter and Floyd Bradley Howe are representing themselves against charges they tried to buy real estate and cars worth more than $850,000 as part of a scam called "Redemption" that swept the country in 1999. Appearing before U.S. Magistrate John P. Cooney in Medford, the defendants said they were ready for the trial, scheduled to begin March 12. They said they needed no witnesses, relying instead on the government�s witnesses. Cooney has assigned two veteran defense attorneys as advisers. According to the indictment, Carter and Howe are accused of trying to defraud the federal government by printing and issuing bogus, check-like securities supposedly backed by the U.S. Treasury called sight drafts. Carter, 36, passed off four of the bogus drafts in July 1999, according to the indictment. The largest was written for $267,801.94 to Aspen Title and Escrow; the smallest was for $5,198 to D.W. Acceptance Corp. The other two were for $220,000 to Jackson County Title (the only draft issued outside Klamath County) and $76,523.47 to First American Title and Escrow. Howe, who turns 61 Thursday, issued two more drafts in August 1999, according to the indictment. The first was for $219,701.65 to West One Auto in Klamath Falls; the second was for $62,034.81 to Western Bank. The defendants produced the sight drafts after Carter attended a "Redemption" seminar in Spokane conducted by a man named Greg Williams, according to the indictment. Federal prosecutors were reluctant to discuss the case in more detail, but a Web site posted by a group called The Militia Watchdog had plenty to say. The group�s Web site described "Redemption" as the product of pseudo-legal and pseudo-historical doctrines that contend the U.S. government went bankrupt in 1929 and converted the physical bodies of the citizenry into assets, against which it could sell bonds. As a result, the theory holds, knowledgeable people can "redeem" themselves as assets. According to the Watchdog Web site, the "Redemption" scheme spread quickly in spring 1999, and sight drafts were spotted in at least 26 states. Much of the "Redemption" rhetoric is rooted in ultra right-wing teachings by militias and other anti-government groups, such as Freemen and the old Posse Comitatus, according to The Militia Watchdog. This is the second trial date for Carter and Howe, who left court after the hearing Monday and could not be reached for comment. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.