" ... Today, you're reading about the Shriners' secret sub-group, the Royal Order of Jesters and prostitution. ... the Secret Order of Brothers in Blood or S.O.B. ... What we do know is that three Jesters were convicted after getting caught in an FBI human trafficking sting for taking illegal alien prostitutes to their weekend parties. .. "BY SANDY FROST
From http://sandyfrost.newsvine.com.
Sep 19, 2009
I was puttering around the other night and got the urge to find the Jesters most recent tax returns. I found them on Guidestar and armed with a yellow highlighter, sticky notes and legal pad, began scanning the categories, dollars and answers reported.
My brain started screaming "WTF?" until I got up and started pacing around as I couldn't believe what I was reading.
You'd fall asleep.
I was nearly running in place.
Over three years ago, I was contacted by a Shriner who'd been working with a former IRS agent. He asked me to investigate his own because expert analysis of Shriner tax returns revealed "discrepancies."
This all started with allegations of the misuse of charitable donations, retaliation and tax fraud.
We're WAY beyond that now.
So, the Shriners sued these guys, my sources, for defamation after one claimed the charity was being investigated by the state of Pennsylvania. The Shriners, among other things, tried to get their paws on otherwise protected communications between me and the whistleblowers to see if they were telling me what to write and/or if they were writing articles for me.
What a public insult.
Then, I began wondering "What are the Shriners so desperate to hide?"
The lawsuit was settled out of court and today, you're reading about the Shriners' secret sub-group, the Royal Order of Jesters and prostitution.
I've been at this since April, 2006, digging into all sorts of documents as well as countless tax returns and have reached a bizarre conclusion that ends, for the first time, at a dead end.
Well, except for an unfounded rumor.
Based on officers named on tax returns as well as in a secret directory, my bizarre conclusion is that:
The Shriners are controlled by their secret sub-group, the Royal Order of Jesters. And Jester tax returns reveal that the Royal Order of Jesters is controlled by their secret sub-group, the Secret Order of Brothers in Blood or S.O.B.I.B.
I have no idea what this means except for the possibility that the Shriners are controlled by a bunch of guys who belong to a nationwide group described by a U.S. Attorney as having members who get prostitutes for their weekend meetings.
Or if the unfounded rumors are true, the Jesters are controlled by a bunch of guys who have a thing for menstrual blood. Or girls. Or maybe both. But really, I have no idea as this is just a wild rumor.
Interestingly, the Jesters report on their latest tax return that they spent over $13,000 on "Rituals."
What we do know is that three Jesters were convicted after getting caught in an FBI human trafficking sting for taking illegal alien prostitutes to their weekend parties.
One of those caught, a former judge, will soon be heading to federal prison for 18 months. He pleaded guilty to violating the Mann Act and got a reduced sentence for cooperating with an investigation into the Jesters for the sexual exploitation of minors and travel out of the country for those purposes.
He's a S.O.B.I.B. too.
We also know that the former fishing tour operator who took 19 Jesters fishing on the Amazon was indicted by the Brazilian federal police last April for allegedly providing underage prostitutes for his North American fishing clients.
Per "Newsitorial: Schair's Failed Application for Habeas Corpus Confirms Indictment, Implicates Jesters":
"A failed application for habeas corpus has made public a court file that details the evidence for which former fishing tour operator Richard W. Schair was indicted by the Brazilian federal police as they investigated the sexual exploitation of minor Indian girls living along the Amazon. The file includes a client manifest that names three members of the Shriners secret sub-group, the Royal Order of Jesters (ROJ)."
Schair had sued a competitor for defamation for alleging his involvement with prostitution. A witness list for the defense names 19 Jesters who were expected to testify about their first hand knowledge of fishing trips to Brazil and sex with underage prostitutes. Eye witness depositions in the case testify that the Jesters asked to be called "Masons" and asked for girls over 13.
One must first be a Master Mason to join groups like the Scottish Rite, the Knights Templar and the Shriners.
One must be an invited Shriner to join the Royal Order of Jesters.
And at this point, I have no idea about how a Jester joins the S.O.B.I.B. or what they do at their meetings other than meet as "Brothers in Blood."
As evidence mounted against him, Schair paid the defendant $15K to settle out of court.
One guy on the witness list, Samuel "Scutter" Newton of Las Vegas, Nevada links this case to the Jester National Court, as he's listed on their 2007 tax return as an officer.
A comparison of the Jester's national officers to a secret directory reveals that eight out of nine national officers are also members of the S.O.B.I.B., including Newton, who is named on both.
All the officers listed on the Jesters' 2006 tax return are also in the S.O.B.I.B. and all but two listed on the 2005 tax return are in the S.O.B.I.B. including:
William Siders
Robert M. Haynes
John T. Stafford
James M. Lake PRD
Taylor E. Best
Gary Martin
Dennis R. Schueler
Raymond Grannis
Paul A. Stradman
John T. Stradtman
Robert C. Davis
Alex Rogers - Business Administrator
Now, back to the tax returns.
Nonprofit groups file tax returns like everyone else because they're corporations, just nonprofit. That means they don't make any money and no one is supposed to benefit. These groups get these tax breaks because they're supposed to benefit society like helping the needy or finding homes for animals.
The Jester's exempt purpose is:
"Promoting fellowship and fraternalism and extending assistance and good cheer to others." Management by Mirth reports that:
* Eleven out of twelve of Shriner Hospitals for Children (SHC) trustees are Jesters.
* Fourteen out of twenty one of those listed on the SHC 2006 tax returns are Jesters.
* Nine out of fourteen of those listed on the 2006 fraternal tax return are Jesters.
This could help explain the hospital's financial woes that nearly led to closures. Which, for those faithful Shriners who have dedicated their lives to supporting the hospitals, was worst case scenario. The last Shriner national convention saw a vote to keep the hospitals open as well as throw out former SHC CEO, Ralph Semb.
An internal investigation investigated Semb and Imperial Treasurer Gene Bracewell and, among other things, recommended that they be reprimanded for lobbying on behalf of a fundraiser who kept $43 millin out of $47 million raised for the hospitals.
Last I knew, both were Jesters and Semb's pictured here in the S.O.B.I.B. directory.
Now, the Shriners are made up of two nonprofit components, a 501c10 fraternity made up of members and a 501c3 charity of 22 hospitals that provide free medical care to burned and crippled children.
Same for the Jesters, who somehow convinced the IRS to grant them a 501c3 charitable classification for operating a "museum" out of their new headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The Marion county assessor rejected the Jesters application for a property tax exemption because they didn't buy it but on appeal, the exemption was granted because executive director Alex Rogers convinced the tax board that the Royal Order of Jesters was an appendant group of Masonry.
So, what kind of a museum lists it's worth as $1.4 million but has no employees, phone or computers; nor does it pay for utilities?
The museum's directors all are in the S.O.B.I.B. including:
Hugh Libby
Ray Thagard
George Burt
Ray Grannis
James White
Henry Everett
Here's the S.O.B.I.B. Toast:
"A Few Good l\len and A Few Good Times"
To the Chap who seeks
Those of his kind
Who treasure the drink
And savor the wine.
An Evangel of Mirth
Time and again
Found in the company
Of a Few Good Men.
A Toast to the One
Who reveres the food.
Cursed by his wife in "surly" mood
For quite often he's mocked
By those who malign
That Fellow who cherishes
A Few Good Times.
So here's to our Order
And those we call Brother.
To the bond that binds us
One to the other.
For there are "Traveling" groups of admirable intent
With glossy mottos and rhymes
But as for us, it's the simple notion
Of a Few Good Men, and a Few Good Times.
A copy of the S.O.B.I.B directory, including members' pictures and contact information, can be found here.
All copies of material reprinted or duplicated from "by Sandy Frost" must include the following credit line: From http://sandyfrost.newsvine.com. Copyright (c) 2009 by Sandy Frost. Used by permission.
http://sandyfrost.newsvine.com/_news/2009/09/19/3291484-tax-returns-reveal-jesters-controlled-by-secret-order-of-brothers-in-blood-jester-officer-links-national-court-to-fishing-tour-operator-indicted-in-brazil-child-sex-case
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