Not sure if this is of interest to you but here is a response to this stuff on the internet.
First of all I find it quite ridicules that I have to respond to all this nonsense on the internet but since people seem to believe whatever is posted there then here we go.
Why I changed my name:
Everyone thinks if you changed your name you did it because you are hiding from the law or something in my case I have never had more than a parking ticket. I changed my name because I entered into a monastery and all monks are required to change their name because they are leaving the “old self” behind and now a new person as a monk. I was also quite happy to change it because my old name reminded me of my father whom I did not respect so I was happy to not carry on his name. I went into the monastery because I was dealing with issues and I wanted to be a better person by practicing virtues. In this vein I gave away all my money, started two charities one called Petroleum Foundation of America and the other Renaissance Worldwide. As a monk we did service to the poor in creating soup kitchens, working in shelters, and retirement homes. We also build many homes for the poor and build many medical facilities and schools for the poor especially in India. In addition I also consulted for many oil companies around the world while in the monastery which provided income to employ many of the monks and nuns in the monastery as well as support the charities I was working on.
That I was investigated by the FBI:
This is just silly, the FBI came to my house one day and asked me some questions as to why I and my staff were making phone calls to various countries and why I was traveling to them. I simply told them I was in the oil business and I had to do these things for my business so once they understood this that was the end of it.
Law Suit by IHS:
As part of a service to our clients I posted on the Ciglobal website where the various oil companies could get access to oil and gas data. Actually I was doing a favor to these vendors by generating them business, however I did not have any of the myself I simply told them where to get it. However IHS saw that I was posting their data online and assumed that I was selling it which was not the case. They filed a law suit and I tried to tell them that this was all just a misunderstanding but they are a big company and I did not have the money to fight it so I just let it go to default because they were going to get a judgment to stop doing something I was not doing in the first place. I think they realized that all this was really just silly and embarrassing and they never did anything about the judgment nor did I do anything about it. In my entire life I have only been sued once and for such a silly matter and I have never sued anyone until recently had to sued these people trying to smear me with false postings on the internet.
That my company was doing some scam–
This has got to be the most silly accusation of all, these people are posting that we took money to go to Iraq but never went there. They know this is false and we have mountains of proof that it is. We have piles of newspaper reports, TV and radio clips of me and my associates being all over Iraq risking our lives to make a success for these guys who are now posting all this false stuff on the internet. They did not properly support us so we went to look for more support and they decided they wanted out of the venture so we agreed to give them their money back but it was not quick enough for them so they decided to threaten an internet smear campaign unless we paid them more, and quicker. I was unable to do so, so they have posted all this nonsense.
Other claims-
As for the other claims on the internet, I am not going to address because it is just silly, these guys have invented fictitious people to say bad things about me but all of the I.P. addressed have been traced back to their computers.
The idea that you can extort or blackmail people by twisting the truth or simply by posting false information on the internet is a very sad affair and it can happen to anyone. If anyone has any questions about my past or present or anything about my life they are welcome to call me 310-531-7600. I am proud of my life, I have gone to great lengths to be a good, kind and caring person and not ashamed of anything. I am just sorry that people will stoop so low as to destroy another’s person reputation by committing fraud to get money, I can only pray for these people.
A law suit has been filed against these people because a great deal of damage has been caused by them for both my business and personal life and I have no choice but to stop it because again, you can write almost anything bad about someone and for some reason everyone believes it. If any of these things they say are true they have an opportunity to state it in a court of law but if they continue to act as they have they will commit a criminal offense in committing perjury.
I do not know if this was necessary but I thought I should clear the air.
Here are the guys behind all of this:
- Mike Hepworth
- Rick Brown
- Basil Botha
- Raul Sanabria
- Alpha Resources Management, Inc.
They also have a company called Northern Iron Corp., Condor Precious Metals, Firesteel Resources Ltd., G4G Resources and Hepworth + Co.
Thanks,
William ‘Wil’ Divine
Wil Divine of Concessions Int. 