Millionaire JW's....who happen to be fraudsters!!

by Loquacious 5 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  Loquacious

  Not sure if any of you have heard about an Australian company called firepower which was run by a man named Tim Johnston. He basically started a company selling a miracle fuel pill that never actually worked while he collected millions of dollars, bought properties in many countries, antiques, paintings and jet setted around the world with his family. Investors have lost plenty of money and in some cases their life savings. Investor losses are estimated to be 100 million. He is currently banned from leaving Australia as investigations are under way.

  His 2 daughters have been called the Hilton sisters of Perth (but better looking!) which prompted a negative comment from Paris Hilton herself.

  A book has already been published titled "The most spectacular fraud in Australian history".

  He was born into a Catholic family but he and his wife are currently JW's (not sure about the daughters).........for how long I dont know. It must be embarrassing for the local JW community here in Perth to see articles about this fraud with the witnesses mentioned.

  I will try to scan an article onto this soon tho i'm still a little illiterate when it comes to computers l

  You can type firepower fraud wiki which should send you to the wikipedia site or type Tim Johnston jehovah, which seems to bring up some articles.

  Cheers.
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  recovering

  Johnston fights for $2m in art

  SEAN COWAN and GARY ADSHEAD, The West Australian November 28, 2009, 2:43 am
• Antiques and paintings worth up to $2 million are at the centre of a tug of war involving besieged Firepower chief Tim Johnston and entrepreneur Warren Anderson, whose family company made an estimated $20 million from the failed fuel technology company.
  If successful, the items could become a target for anyone seeking Mr Johnston's assets, including a bankruptcy trustee or Firepower's shareholders.
  
  The Johnstons' obsession with antiques is borne out in dozens of letters between Mr Johnston, his wife and Mr Cook in 2006 in which they discussed buying pieces worth up to $580,000.
  
  Mr Johnston also commissioned works.
  
  "Can you please send Vlad some money before Xmas towards the orientalist painting he is doing for you - the one of the beautiful slave girl with lion by a bed with the king and an attendant," Mr Cook wrote in December 2006.
  
  "She is looking good. Such an orientalist temptress.
  
  "Vlad loves painting her - passion in every stroke, of the brush that is."
  
  Mr Cook spent hours researching items for the Andersons, the Johnstons and the Johnstons' daughters, and travelled to Europe with them twice on buying sprees.
  
  On one occasion he was funded by Mr Johnston.
  
  "What a great and rewarding experience," Mr Cook wrote after one trip.
  
  "The bodyguards, the chauffeurs, the hotels, the meals etc."
  
  In one letter about an Ashoka-cut diamond ring, Mrs Johnston gushed to Mr Cook about her recent trip to Italy with daughter Emily.
  
  "Lago Maggiore was fantastic," Mrs Johnston said.
  
  "Emily got a beautiful Valentino gown for her ball so she was chuffed."
  
  Mr Cook told * _The West Australian _ *yesterday that Mr Anderson was one of Australia's biggest collectors and had given Mr Johnston sound advice on antiques.
  
  "But it's very sad when good friends fall out and I have no understanding of any financial arrangements between Mr Johnston and Mr Anderson," Mr Cook said.
  
  While spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on pieces from Russia, France and Italy, including a commode worth $37,000, the Johnstons were busy overseeing the construction and purchase of a luxury Bali villa at Nusa Dua.
  
  This was done with the help of former WA police minister Gordon Hill.
  
  But all of this was done while travelling extensively, in either first or business class, trying to secure contracts for Firepower's bulk fuel additive.
  
  They were also networking with celebrities like Russell Crowe and former Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh.
  
  Also among the documents obtained by _The West Australian _was evidence of Mrs Johnston's commitment as a Jehovah's Witness during several family crises and conflicts with other church members.
  
  "You will be humbled, Jehovah does not sleep, you might be fooling the elders because you . . . don't want to get disfellowshipped, you are treading and playing a very dangerous game," she wrote to a fellow Jehovah's Witness who was involved with Firepower.
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