It turns out Macciello has good reason to back off the gold claims.
A few days later, Adkins is confronted with the fact that he had been less than candid about his relationship with Macciello. That prompts him to open up. And what he says demolishes Macciello's claims of gold-mine riches.
PHOTO BY TED SOQUI
Joshua Macciello says the Chinese New Year delayed his money transfer.
PHOTO BY TED SOQUI
Joshua Macciello
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First off, there are no mines. The gold is in the ground. Adkins was tasked with determining whether it would be profitable to try to extract it. Asked again about Macciello's assertions that there are "mines" worth "billions of dollars," Adkins says. "That's totally bogus as far as I know."
"This guy sounds like a real flimflam artist," he adds.
Adkins also supplies the name of the person who hired him to do the appraisal.
Sterling Griffiths is in his 70s, and lives in Portland. In 2005, the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services ordered Griffiths to cease and desist from promoting a multilevel marketing scheme. The outfit, called the Redwood Trust, purported to offer "humanitarian grants" to participants. Griffiths is now "managing partner" of Golden Oasis, an entity that consists of himself and a friend.
Reached at his home, Griffiths is extremely reluctant to talk about gold claims.
"I don't want to raise any red flags," he says. "I do not trust the government. They're trying to make us all slaves."
He does not want to talk about Macciello, either, although mention of his name draws a strong reaction.
"He's been ceased and dismissed!" he says. "We're through with him! We have nothing to do with him! He does not have our gold claims. He does not have nothing to do with us anymore."
Griffiths said he acquired the claims about eight or nine years ago. With the price of gold reaching new heights, he has begun to investigate whether it would be feasible to extract the gold from black sand. The project would require a lot of up-front capital, which he does not have, so he has been looking for financing.
He says he heard about Macciello through a broker. Macciello said he could help raise money.
"He never came through," Griffiths says.
Macciello apparently has been using the report Griffiths commissioned to pitch investors. But Griffiths is adamant that Macciello has no right to his claims.
Even if he did, it's not at all clear what the claims are actually worth.
"If you could get 100 percent of that, it's up in the billions of dollars," he says. "But how much you can get out, nobody knows."
Macciello ordered the Weekly to cease contact on Monday, Feb. 27, copying his attorney, Todd Bonder, on the email. In a phone conversation with the Weekly, Bonder explains that he has been hired to facilitate Macciello's bid for the Dodgers.
"All the indications are that it is legitimate," Bonder says. "Josh seems to me to be a man of means. ... Ultimately, it comes down to put up or shut up at the end of the day."
Bonder says he's quite confident that Furrow and Myung Ho Lee will arrange to transfer the $2.2 billion to an American bank account by the end of the week. He is so certain, in fact, that he accepts a bet. If the money doesn't materialize by Friday, he will owe the Weekly $5.
Myung Ho Lee has a colorful background. He is not on the Forbes list of Korean billionaires, but a quick Google search shows that he used to manage Michael Jackson's financial affairs before the two had a falling-out in 2001. Lee made a number of headline-grabbing allegations against the pop star, including that he hired witch doctors and paid hush money to his ex-wife. Jackson's lawyers claimed that Lee stole millions from Jackson. Lee filed a $12 million lawsuit against the singer, which was resolved in an out-of-court settlement in 2003.
Lee re-emerged in March 2011, in a press release from a company called Colorado Rare Earths Inc. According to the release, Lee's company — Union Financial and Investment Corp. — had agreed to partner with the company to provide precious minerals to Korean companies. But the press contact on the release tells the Weekly the deal never went through.
With Myung Ho Lee now Macciello's last possible source of billions for the Dodger purchase, and the clock ticking away on the promised money transfer, the Weekly attempted to reach him.
The phone number that Macciello scratched out does not work. It begins with an 822 area code, which does not exist. After some research, it becomes clear that 82 is the country code.
An assistant answers the phone in Korean but switches effortlessly to English and gives Lee's cell number.
Reached on that number, Lee says he's in a meeting. Asked if he's involved in the Dodger deal, he says, "I'm not at liberty to confirm or deny that at the moment."
Are you a billionaire?
"Far from that," he says. "I would not characterize myself in that fashion. Talk to Fred about this, please."
An hour later, Macciello sends another email. The subject is "cease and desist."
"[Y]ou came to my home to get information out of me, and I told you then that Myung Ho Lee was not to be bothered and you chose to ignore me," Macciello writes. "This is my final warning [sic] if I hear from any of my partners, colleagues or anybody involved that you are asking about me I will be forced to sue you for damages."
