In the Sunday, May 31 article in the Los Angeles Times, a lawyer drove the format. We were told by the writer that the lawyer at the Times got cold feet about the article and forced the writer to cut it very short.
While the key lies of John Garcia's sales pitch to get clients have been the same for years and were recorded (you can see below the YouTube video with his lies) the writer allowed John Garcia to say that he would not have been so glib if he had known he were being taped.
First of all, John Garcia told us when he returned from Sweden in December, 2008 that a young man had asked permission to make a video tape of the presentation and Garcia granted permission. Back then John Garcia of Angel Strategies bragged, "It is already up on YouTube and I linked it from my blog." He said this with a big smile on his fact because we believe he was confident that this was great publicity for him. Therefore by pretending to the LA Times writer that he did not know he was being taped was a fabrication. We know that the SEC has talked with the videographer of that tape and we have spoken with him also. He told us that John Garcia of Angel Strategies had given him permission to make the video.
Second, John Garcia of Angel Strategies had some of the lies up on his PowerPoint presentation for the group to read. John Garcia was not being glib. John Garcia was prepared and he was repeating the lies because when John Garcia of Angel Strategies tells these particular lies people give him money.
Bruce Camber wrote this letter in response to the LA Times article.
John Corrigan, Business editor
Los Angeles Times, 202 West 1st St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012 T: 213.237.7163
To the editors:
We are very grateful for Alana Semuels work on the article, “Start up funding scarce?” The issue, of course, is not about the scarcity of start-up funding; it is about John Garcia’s deceit. Perhaps a better title would be “Angel or demon?”
The fact is that John Garcia of Angel Strategies lies about who he is and what he does, he entraps people, and then he steals as much of their money as he thinks he can take without getting prosecuted. John Garcia is a fraud.
John Garcia of Angel Strategies continues to lie about himself. When interviewed for the article, he tried to minimize his lies as “glib” comments. Far from being glib, his comments were willful, intentional deceit. Without their permission, he used the biographical information of very substantial people on his Web site – people so wealthy they are just beyond the reach of most of us – to make himself appear what he is not. That version of the Web site has been taken down; however, it is still accessible through the Internet’s archives.
Here is a key URL: http://tinyurl.com/JohnGarciaDeceit
Alana Semuels writes, “Many of Garcia's disgruntled clients concede that they should have been more cautious in signing the contracts with Garcia, but say they were won over by his charm.”
That is true. We were also all won over by those pages on his Web site and his other abiding lies. We have all heard these lies multiple times. In the article, it read: “In the video, Garcia said that 226 investors each put $1 million a year into an angel-investment fund his firm managed and that none of the companies it invested in had ever failed. Garcia also said that Angel Strategies was "probably the largest angel group in the world." These are among his blatant, consistent, and willful lies. Your readers really should hear and see him in action for themselves. The video is on the web: http://tinyurl.com/JohnPGarcia To read it, they would go to http://johnpgarcia.blogspot.com/
So, I think perhaps the most important statement in the article is this one, “Garcia later conceded that his comments were "glib," adding that he "would have been more careful" if he had known he was being videotaped.” Of course, he gave permission to a student, yet he never expected that this footage would be posted on the web for all of us to study those words and intent. We have all have had a chance to go over all of his nonsense just one more time. Garcia chose all those words very carefully; these are words that are part of his dark scheme to entrap. His words are all well rehearsed, the antithesis of glib. In that speech in Malmo, Sweden, John Garcia of Angel Strategies was working the crowd. John Garcia was doing what the thieves do on the web; he was phishing.
We learn as children, “Buyer beware.” And, learn we do. Throughout our life, we all get hooked by con artists and liars. Yet, John Garcia of Angel Strategies is diabolically smooth. He is after big sums of money, obviously hoping against hope that the only repercussion will be our personal animosity towards him and our feelings of stupidity for being duped.
For the last 15 years, we have traveled the country and the world looking for the best, most ethical people within business. These people would become the stars of our television series on PBS stations throughout the USA and on the Voice of America around the world. Nobody could ever pay or has ever paid to be on this show. For 15 years we been surrounded by very good people. As a result, we lost our chops for being able to discern the con man. To select a person for the show, we would interview as many as 40+ local business leaders to ask, “What about this person?” If there was ever a red flag, we would move on to the next. Obviously I made a huge mistake. I should have vetted John Garcia and the people listed on the web site of Angel Strategies as carefully as we have done our vetting for television series over the years. I should never have trusted my instincts.
My second mistake, actually a series of similar mistakes, was not responding to the red flags when each popped up. Once we begin to believe – the fish hook has been planted – we tend to continue to believe because we do not want to appear absurd to ourselves. And, there I stand.
Now, the most telling comment John Garcia of Angel Strategies makes is his admission of guilt. It is not about the entire debacle of his past five years, but just one small instance. Yet, this cunning use of self-deprecation, usually a rather endearing quality, is truly an analogue for this chapter of his life and maybe a pre-cursor of things to come. Within all the mythopoetics of John Garcia's mind, he was being profoundly honest when he was quoted as saying, "I personally feel guilty," he said. "The signs were all there." Yes, the signs are all there. He does seem to know a little guilt. In some of his last words to me, he said, “Maybe you’ll be the ones to stop me.” It felt more like an appeal, that he was just tired of being caught up and entrapped within his own lies, and he wanted a path to redemption. Perhaps this is so. I hope it is.
Though I invited him to go to church more than once, redemption can only begin with real contrition. I have not seen any interest from John Garcia of Angel Strategies.
So, again, I say, “Thank you for publishing the article. Thank you for opening the door so truth can come into the light.
Warmly,
Bruce
Robert Heaton wrote this letter.
To the editors:
I was disappointed by the story "Start up funding scarce?" published May 31st because it mis-characterized the basic issue.
John Garcia has no history of raising Startup funding, as the title implies. He ran a simple scam. He took money from investors and startups and pocketed it, without any intent to invest it or provide services: a down market version of Bernie Madoff.
I am shocked that the LA Times would present the story as an investment issue, given the detail information on the scam that is readily available.
Regards
Robert Heaton.
