JW Fraudster from "down under" - high profile

by sizemik 7 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  sizemik

  It's an interesting story . . .

  In 1992 Johnston, a Jehovah's Witness who sometimes preached door to door, had started with an improbable goal: He would make a fortune selling nothing more than a concept. It was a magic pill that cut emission and made fuel last longer. . . . The Sydney Morning Herald
  It was in 1992 when the "Firepower" magic fuel pill came to my attention. I was an active JW at the time . . . an MS and a business partner of a local Elder. My partner had purchased the product on behalf of our company and was using it in our fleet of vehicles. He suggested that we invest in the marketing of the product as a sideline, since it was "invented" by a brother. I declined, as I felt it was too extemporaneous to our industry.

  Soon after this, the product came under intense scrutiny by various industry authorities. Tests found that the product made little measurable difference and some results actually reported a slight increase in emission and fall in fuel economy. The product, along with it's "inventor" quickly dropped off the radar. A recent NZ Herald report notes the NZ history here . . .

  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/crime/news/article.cfm?c_id=30&objectid=10520833

  An XJW friend recently alerted me to the fact that the story didn't end there . . . and he has now come under more than just scrutiny. Continuing to operate out of Australia and in various other countries . . . he's finally hit the wall . . . almost 20 years later.

  http://www.smh.com.au/business/smoking-out-firepower-kidnap-extortion-and-money-long-gone-20100129-n41d.html#ixzz1YPOTctI8

  I don't know if he has remained a JW all this time . . . but the date of the article would suggest so. He is currently living it up in the UK, but I don't know how long he's been there. There has even been a book written about him . . .

  Firepower: The Most Spectacular Fraud in Australian History

  http://books.google.com/books/about/Firepower.html?id=wmbOdDZv4NwC

  It makes you wonder where he got his inspiration . . .

  Have any of our Aussie friends ever encountered Tim Johnson?
• 

  JW83

  haha
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  AndersonsInfo

  After reading about this fraudster, and two other recent posts here on JWN about Australian JWs who are just, plainly put, crooks!, if I was a JW, I would never brag again about the moral and honest "brotherhood" of the Witnesses.

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/scandals/216050/1/Timothy-Brachmanis-Con-Man-Extraordinaire

  Barbara
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  karter

  I remember Johnson from his days here in NZ he had a bissness called 'Everyday brushers".

  He seemed to me like a decent sort of guy.

  However that was some years ago .

  Karter.
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  jwfacts

  I know of Firepower. My boss at a software company bought a lot of shares in the company around 2005 and encouraged me to as well. Luckily I did not have enough money. At the time I didn't know it was a JW behind it. Only once it was revealed as a scam did we find out he was a JW. It did no got down well with my boss, who already hated JWs after the elders kept calling me a work regarding disfellowshipping me, and he would hear me talking to them on the phone.
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  finallysomepride

  I remember Johnson from his days here in NZ he had a bissness called 'Everyday brushers".

  Everday Brushes was a legite business in NZ, my father was once a salesman for them, I would say that this Tim Johnson was probably just a salesman & not the owner.
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  inordiNate

  Sounds like every other brother in my old KH.
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  smiddy

  Were`nt we all fraudsters peddling the watchtower door to door (albeit innocent victims ourselves )

  smiddy