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The Brenda Martin Case
Right from the day this story began to get attention in the Canadian media I found it fascinating, and still do, that one character who was so peripheral that I didn't even give her a name in my novel is currently its biggest source of publicity. To all potential purchasers of my novel: Read this website first. There is nothing about Brenda in the book.
Updates are at the bottom of the page. To skip there directly, follow these links:
May 7 08 - One Golden Goose Left
May 6 08 - Abide By Common Sense? After all this time?
May 1 08 - Evidence? Lo Siento, but That's Classified
April 22 08 - The Stupid Beauty Pageant, and What About Rebecca?
April 21 08 - Hello, USA? This is the Puente Grande with your wakeup call...
March 26 08 - Bribery? Surely not... ?
As time went on I ended up wishing the entire TriWest scenario would go away. My first attempt at literary immortality isn't tremendously well crafted, hampered as I was by a need to not only write an entertaining book but to provide insight into the day-to-day workings of the TriWest Investment Club, two goals that aren't mutually exclusive but which if accomplished successfully would point the book in two different directions. Beyond that I never wanted to be identified by my involvement with TriWest.
That was, however, before Brenda and Rebecca were arrested. If there is anything I can do to help these two out I feel I should do it.
Brenda Martin is a Canadian woman who was arrested on February 17, 2006 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on charges of financial crime when it was discovered by the authorities that she worked for the TriWest Investment Club and received a large payment from Alyn Waage, TriWest's founder, upon her leaving his employment. As of this writing in March 2008, over two years later, she is still imprisoned without a trial or sentencing. Her lawyer recently attempted to get her released on the grounds that her rights were violated immediately upon arrest because the authorities did not provide a translator, but this defense was rejected and Brenda remains in jail.
I have said since the beginning, and continue to do so, that there is more to the Brenda Martin case than the public could know from reading the articles and tv segments regarding this story. You must ask firstly why it is that Brenda is being held in Mexico when every single other person of interest in the TriWest case was expelled from Mexico to face sentencing in Sacramento. Alyn Waage, his son Cary, Mike Webb, eventually Keith Nordick, everyone. In fact all countries concerned agreed to have the principals in the case transferred to Sacramento for sentencing, Mexico included. So why is it that Brenda is in jail in Mexico, when as I said, every person of interest is there... except one.
Rebecca Roth is also serving time in the same jail as Brenda. Rebecca worked for Alyn as well. According to Rebecca's sister, Brenda gave Rebecca up in exchange for leniency. The problem is, the evidence against Rebecca is no more compelling than it is against Brenda, because Rebecca too received a lump sum payout later in 2001 when it was obvious that Alyn wasn't getting out of jail to continue running TriWest.
So now the Mexicans are stuck with two women who have banking records that really lead them nowhere. Brenda's case is linked to Rebecca's by the same case number, and that number is the same as Alyn's. Brenda applied to have her case number separated from Rebecca's but was denied. So in an effort to use the weight of Alyn's guilt against these two women, the Mexicans have created a situation where if they release Brenda they must release Rebecca, and that is why her human rights defense didn't fly.
The only reason that makes sense to me regarding why the Mexicans would have arrested and held these two for so long over nothing more than an entry in their bank account statement is that they are hoping that there is a stash of Alyn's money out there which eventually one of them will lead them to. I just received an email from a reader last week in which he stated that finally there will be some victim restitution in this case. The figure to be disbursed? $6 million. Meanwhile in Puerto Vallarta there are many properties which were signed over to the US government which would easily equal that figure if sold. Alyn's house alone is for sale at $3.8 million, owned by a lawyer from - you guessed it - Guadalajara. In fairness this property was signed over to him in lieu of legal fees, but still... Six million dollars is all that's available out of the $60 million we took in as reported in the papers, double that figure if you ask any of us, and none of Alyn's properties have been sold. The whole situation smells like exactly what it is, and you don't need me to spell it out.
Neither Brenda nor Rebecca should be in jail. Brenda is telling the truth when she says she did nothing more than cook for us. She was too drunk most of the time to do anything else, though of course that's not the only reason. She was hired as a cook, and that's what she did. The deeper digging isn't needed here. Alyn's sister once told me that while Brenda was there she had no idea you could even buy fresh vegetables in Mexico because Brenda only served frozen ones. While doing an interview for Canada's W-Five TV show, interviewer Paula Todd asked me if I knew Brenda had started a frozen food business in Puerto Vallarta and I couldn't help laughing.
Martin is a Canadian but she is in another country. Canadians may not expect others who come to Canada to abide by Canadian laws, but Mexicans certainly expect people who go there to abide by Mexican laws. The Mexicans are a little confused at the outrage here in Canada. As far as they're concerned, they wouldn't think twice of a Mexican being jailed in Canada for breaking the law here, so what's all the fuss about there? Stephen Harper is right when he says Mexico is a sovereign nation and there's only so much he can do. And of the thousands of Canadians imprisoned in foreign countries, can he visit every one of them and make demands of the respective governments that they all be released? I do think that money is the Mexican legal system's motivation here, and I do think that Brenda and Rebecca (business owner and holder of a Mexican work visa and FM3 residency card) should either be released immediately or at most be expelled to their respective countries, but ultimately these decisions - like it or not - are up to the Mexicans.
Brenda Martin and her supporters, of which I count myself a member despite her vegetables, are on the right track in bringing international attention to this case. I also think, however, that Rebecca deserves at least equal concern. I have yet to hear Rebecca's comments on this matter, whether on TV or anywhere else, but when I do I will post them here.
I cannot stress enough the importance of looking beyond what is presented in the media.
UPDATE
Our old boss Alyn Waage went on record 2 days ago as saying that the reason Brenda and Rebecca are in jail is because he didn't cough up a payment he promised to the prosecutors. To those with undying faith in human nature this sounds abhorrent, but I can assure you it's got a ring of truth to it that's hard to deny.
Alyn always used to say that if you wanted something in Mexico, all you had to do was count pesos until you saw teeth. That smile meant you were in. Not all Mexicans are like this, but let's face it, even here in Canada or the States everybody's trying to get ahead and many resort to less than legal means to do it. There is abundant legitimate wealth in Mexico, but a little extra never hurt. Basically the Mexican government is convinced that there is more money to be made in keeping them than in letting them go. Economics can't get much simpler than this.
American media is finally waking up to the plight of Rebecca Roth, held in the same jail as Martin under the same specious charges. Canadian media has no interest in Roth, irrespective of whether Martin turned her in for lenient treatment or a reduction of her sentence. In fact it would obviously have damaged public perception of Brenda had it been common knowledge that she is accused of shopping Rebecca. I am now receiving emails on a regular basis from Americans and Canadians alike asking who Rebecca is, why nobody has heard of her when everyone has seen Brenda Martin on tv every week for the past two months, and what the Americans are prepared to do for her. For every television shot of Brenda becoming alternately irate and solicitous with both the media and the government, there is Rebecca quietly waiting her turn for fair treatment.
Brenda is found guilty by Justice Luis Nunez Sandoval. This is no surprise to anyone - including, I'd wager, her lawyer, despite what he's been saying publicly. It's not because she's actually guilty, but because it's the only option the Mexican system could have chosen to save face after holding her for two years.
In Mexico, the verdict and the sentence are handed down at the same time. Her sentence is 5 years and about $3,500 worth of fines. The best-case scenario for her now is to have her transferred to Canada and released for time served, which is not an option in Mexico.
Now, what about Rebecca Roth? She received a sentence of nine years.
Think about this for a second. The court in Sacramento handed Alyn Waage, our boss and the "mastermind" or "kingpin" of the operation, responsible for pulling in dozens of millions of dollars, ten years. Rebecca, who received a severance payment from Alyn and has receipts to prove that out of those funds she paid employees and various other business expenses, was given nine. The circumstantial evidence against Brenda and Rebecca was enough to convince the Mexicans that these two were guilty of helping Alyn launder his ill-gotten gains of (officially) $60 million... twenty-five grand at a time? Do I really need to go into any depth about how ridiculous this is?
Despite the cracks and flaws in our legal system, the 'evidence' cooked up by the Mexican prosecution would be laughed out of a high-school mock court, let alone be allowed to get through the security check at the courthouse. And the Mexicans said that because these two knew Alyn for a certain length of time, there is reason to believe they knew of his scam. I wonder what the statute is for a criminal spilling his guts to a friend. In their experience, does this happen after a month? Two months? Does the criminal not divulge his fiendish plan until six months have gone by? Whatever the official figure is, the Mexicans know it, and they used it against Brenda and Rebecca. Damn, I wish they'd tell me.
I've read a few discussion board comments about this matter. Not many, because for me this is old news (our boss was arrested April 19, 2001 - the first time, anyway) but I'm shocked and saddened at the ease with which people with no clue about the situation spout off their meagerly-informed opinions about whether these two are guilty. I'll say this; I find it ironic that the Mexicans threw Brenda in jail for money laundering but let her off the hook for her runny pozole. And Rebecca? She owned a boutique on calle Hidalgo and a house in Agua Azul inhabited by three chihuahuas. Maybe we all moved down to Mexico because we were sick of meagerly-informed opinions being tossed around internet discussion boards. I'm opinionated too, and have gotten myself into more trouble than out of it thanks to that trait, but I'd sure as hell do a little thinking and research before I put my name down as somebody willing to throw the switch on a kangaroo court's whim of a ruling.
Rebecca's boutique is at 227/8 Avenida Hidalgo, in Puerto Vallarta. The Canadian Consulate was at #226 during Waage's tenure in PV. Spooky trivia for you conspiracy theorists.
OH, THE BEAUTY PAGEANT...
Today is April 22nd. I finally saw a picture of Brenda at the beauty pageant. Yes, it really happened. Rebecca's sister wrote me about it last year. Does this suddenly mean that Mexican prison life is a Cinderella story? Did a security guard come up and place a slipper on her slender foot? Alas, no. However, many people seem to equate Women In Prison Beauty Pageant with Life Here At Puente Grande Is A Bed Of Copa de Oro. It was in fact something concocted to take the ladies' minds off prison life and the fact that somebody, somewhere, was posting an idiotic comment with no idea of the weight it carries.
'Til next time, I'll sign off before that person becomes me.
Well, Brenda's back in Canada.
Four days ago, I met a woman who was speaking Spanish to her three-year-old. She told me she'd left her native Mexico City for Canada two years ago. After a year and a half in Montreal she moved to Edmonton. Why did you leave Mexico, I asked?
"My father was kidnapped by the Mexican police three times," she said, "and I don't want this to happen to my children." She misses the weather, the exuberant way Mexicans greet each other, the family she left behind, real Mexican cooking, you name it. And all because the Mexican police are so rotten that she fears for her life and that of her children.
In September 2006 I shared a plane from Phoenix to New York with a man who was on the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce who told me of two people he knows whose children were kidnapped in Mexico and held for ransom - by the police.
This is anecdotal evidence, you might say. It has no statistical significance. May I point out, however, that statistics are composed of one incident after another to reach a total which then does indeed have statistical significance. And I am one person, a tiny drop in an ocean of countless millions who have heard both complimentary and frightening stories of dealing with the Mexican authorities. I was lucky enough not to ever get on their bad side while living there. Ironically it was only after I left that I learned I can never go there again. I got away with it twice in 2005, for what seems to be the last time I shall ever see it. If you'd like more anecdotal evidence, buy me a plane ticket to Guadalajara - or better yet, see it for yourself and collect firsthand evidence instead.
Every single online newspaper story I could find about Brenda is packed full of vitriolic comments from people who feel she has played the media and the government for too long, most of whom also found her guilty as charged. Aside from her guilt or innocence, the fact remains that you and I, Canadian taxpayers, just bailed her out of jail and shelled out for her flight home. However in order to illuminate things for people who have deluged me with correspondence asking what this situation is all about, I'll offer another few paragraphs for the time being.
Labeled by the media as an "insider" in Alyn Waage's TriWest Investment Club - although I'm really not, especially when compared to those currently serving sentences for their knowing part in perpetrating the fraud - you'd think that the majority of comments I receive about my book and this site would be in the negative. Curiously, only a few have been like that. Most of them are questions about what it was like, and none at all about Brenda herself. People are content to believe what they're told, whether it's to do with Brenda Martin's case or global warming or human rights issues or whatever. Life, however, is just not that simple.
It is difficult to imagine living in a society where there really are no boundaries at all as we know them. As children we crave them even though we rebel against them. The most successful and respected leaders are those who have clear rules and stick to them. I cannot overstate, however, how sheltered most Canadians are from the overwhelming worldwide prevalence of corruption, situationally-adjusted morals and values, and bribery as an acceptable necessity for getting things done, in an atmosphere of complete acceptance for this way of living. This shelter is a wonderful thing, truly a light in the darkness, but it makes it extremely difficult to accept that there are places where Brenda Martin and Rebecca Roth can be imprisoned because somebody somewhere felt like it.
On May 5, 2003, Alyn Waage signed a plea agreement 54 pages long. Much of that is taken up with lists of property and assets that he relinquished to the US. 23 bank accounts in Mexico, 23 accounts in Latvian banks, 26 accounts and/or financial instruments in Costa Rica, a helicopter, a yacht, a couple dozen vehicles, over a dozen properties... you know, the kind of stuff you have to turn in when you empty your pockets at the airport. This includes the house I used to live in, as well as 123 Paseo de los Delfines, where Alyn lived and which we knew as the Shack. It is now for sale at $3.5 million, down from the $3.8 asking price last summer. Is it the US government selling it? No, it's a Guadalajara lawyer, Marco Antonio del Toro Carazo. What about the rest of the property? The Mexicans never handed that over, either.
You'd think hardened felons like Brenda and Rebecca would have their names all over that agreement, right? And yours truly, while we're at it. I mean, this is the straight dope on the assets, after all.
Rebecca's name appears once, beside a bank account in Mexico about which the agreement clearly states "...the defendant (Alyn Waage) owns... or otherwise exercises dominion or control over..." meaning they weren't sure whether the account really contained Rebecca's money in the first place. Hers is account number 14 on the list, sandwiched between a girl who ran the data entry department and a guy who died in Costa Rica while wondering why the FBI would possibly want to question him. He was the first person to tell me that he thought TriWest was a scam.
The US took the money out of all the listed accounts years before these women were arrested, or at least I would hope they had the common sense to. And Brenda's name appears... nowhere. Neither does mine, I'm happy to say, though that hasn't stopped the Mexicans from ensuring that there are about a dozen ex-TriWest employees who can never set foot in their country again thanks to Alyn and our own innocent willingness to work for him.
From the best information I have available, both Brenda and Rebecca had their own bank accounts in Mexico, sort of like how you have your own bank account not owned by your employer, and those were the only accounts the Mexicans could investigate and seize without treading on American shoes by reason of them not being named in Alyn's plea agreement. Brenda and Rebecca were the only ones left in Mexico who worked for TriWest, so although they were lousy targets they'd have to do.
If Josef Fritzl had lived in Puerto Vallarta, the Mexican police would be rounding up all his neighbors and charging them with being accessories to Fritzl's crime of locking his daughter in his basement for 24 years. After all, they lived next door to him for over a quarter of a century. They must have known what was going on... right?
Evidence? We're sorry, but that's classified, whatever it was.
"You should abide by the laws of the country you are in" is the mantra of the dimwitted who choose to comment on news articles without knowing any facts in this matter. Of course you should. May I ask how that is supposed to help? And if doing so doesn't keep one out of prison, what sage advice would they put forth then?
Perhaps it's not all their fault. But you'd think with all the background information available, anybody wanting to comment on a news article could use the same internet connection to at least educate themselves before they spout off. What everybody is missing in this case is the damning, recurring question: Why didn't these two women get transferred to the US like all the others? And the answer is: THE U.S. DIDN'T WANT THEM. WHY NOT? BECAUSE THEY AREN'T GUILTY.
When Alyn was arrested, it was a huge show. The Mexican federales got involved, naturally, but also the Canadian RCMP (Alyn Waage was Canadian), the Costa Rican federal security force, Interpol, and of course the American FBI. The subsequent interdepartmental investigation took years of combing through banking records and company accounts. If Brenda and Rebecca were guilty, they would have been picked up by the Americans long ago. The US had no interest in either of them. Why not? Because in the four years their investigation spanned, from April 2001 until Alyn's sentencing on March 11, 2005, they determined that neither of these women were guilty of knowingly perpetrating the TriWest Investment Club fraud.
I'll grant you that a statement of their innocence from Alyn, the guy who executed the whole thing in the first place, might not carry much weight with the public or with the Mexican prosecutors. But if just a little digging brings up even one question in the mind of the average citizen, don't you wonder just a little how much more to it there might be?
Boy, those Mexican prosecutors are really ticked off! Now that one of their golden geese has flown north they've only got one left. But they're not taking it lying down. No, they're doing something about it.
Rebecca Roth's lawyer informed her that the prosecution is appealing the sentence. They want it lengthened. This will mean up to another year and a half in prison in Guadalajara with no chance of release or application for transfer back to the US. Unless she returns to the States she is already fated to serve more time behind bars than the founder of the fraud she's convicted of working for. Her lawyer is not allowed to see any of the documents they are preparing to use against her. Remember, in Mexico, justice is something that is done to you. If Rebecca had gone back to the States - or anywhere else in the world, for that matter - instead of trusting the Mexicans, she wouldn't be in prison right now. She'd be as free as you or I, because this case isn't about guilt or innocence in a seven-year-old fraud. It's about rounding up geese to cough up a golden egg.
One good thing about this: At least if she's in prison she can't meet up with a Mexican car accident.
When Rebecca was first arrested, I was asked to keep a low profile and not speak out on the issue. So I kept my mouth shut about it except for an article in Escape Artist in the summer of 2006 where I briefly mentioned the arrests. When CTV decided to whip up interest in Brenda's plight and they asked me to come to Toronto and shoot a segment, I decided to go. Now that she has been transferred back to Canada and will be a free woman any day now, Rebecca's camp has changed their opinion about going public. It hasn't done Rebecca any good to wait patiently and trust that justice would be served.
The first thing I did upon hearing through the ex-TW grapevine that Rebecca and Brenda had been arrested was to contact Charles Rusnell from the Edmonton Journal, who had tracked the story since Alyn's arrest in 2001. I asked if any of the contacts he'd made in Puerto Vallarta had informed him of this. He in turn contacted a journalist friend in PV but came up empty-handed. On February 23, 2006 he attached her response, which noted that the Federales had no record of arrests of people with their names, but that one can be held in Mexico for 72 hours before a record is made. His summation: "Doesn't seem like it is true." confused me. Two and a half years later, however, made wise by hindsight, everyone involved is left saddened and sickened by just how true it turned out to be.
Rebecca's case was mismanaged every bit as much as Brenda's was, but I was wrong in my assumption that whatever freed Brenda could be used to free Rebecca. She still sits in jail awaiting the day she can finally walk out a free woman.
I was asked to keep quiet about Rebecca's situation, which I did. Then I was asked to provide whatever help I could, which I did, but apparently I made the wrong suggestion and have not heard from her camp since. Nevertheless, if you are interested in doing your part to help bring her plight to the attention of those who can help I am sure that if you look for information about her on the internet you'll find something.
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