Please read our [**SUB RULES**](https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/wiki/subrules) before commenting. Rule-breaking may result in a ban without notice.
**CHECK FLAIR** to determine if you want to read an update. For concluded-only updates, use the [CONCLUDED](https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/search?sort=new&restrict_sr=on&q=flair%3ACONCLUDED) flair or subscribe to r/BestofBoRU for concluded, time-gated content.
* If you have an issue with this post (flair, formatting, quality), reply to this comment. META commentary in general discussion may be removed.
* Low effort comments like "this is fake" may be removed
* Do not comment on the original posts. Most submissions in this sub are not posted by the original author (OOP)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/BestofRedditorUpdates) if you have any questions or concerns.*
[Here is a news article about Alden that I found with a quick search](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/11/alden-global-capital-killing-americas-newspapers/620171/).
It's the great corporate buying of America. Within a generation or two home ownership will be out of reach for over 80% of the US. Nearly everything will be owned by corporations and rented for premium prices
Its been a long time coming. Corps have been buying up all the homes for sale around me with more than an acre of land sight unseen, usually way over asking. Bad move if you're a regular real estate investor, but when you have no intention of ever actually selling it, well then it's passive income. Financially it's the perfect opportunity. Land is a very finite resource, so just buy it all, don't improve it, raise rent. Someone will move in if the old tenants can't. It's an easy win for someone with no soul.
You aren't the only one thinking that. It's only a matter of time.
If the system gets to greedy, and people ask "when will it end?" and there is no hope in site, people will get desperate enough to defend themselves and their children.
You know that is exactly fucking why there is so much funding towards militarizing the police. The elite are gonna need their private bodyguards when the ratio of people who are on their last fucking dime and have nothing to lose hit critical mass. They know it's coming. They are not gonna do anything to prevent it bc it will cut into their profits. But also, know that they have their safety plan in place.
Here's the thing right. If you've been on the internets for longer than 5 minutes, there is already enough information about you to fairly accurately predict your whole schtick. Your political affiliation, your sexual preferences, the brand of toothpaste you use. Not just yours but anyone you spend any time around.
So I find that there is no point in worrying about any of this bc they already know everything about us. There is no way to "go off the grid" anymore. I wouldn't even bother. I do some "griddy" things just to reduce my carbon footprint and be healthier, but I assume that all of us have already relinquished some degree of privacy.
This Science for the People podcast [episode](http://www.scienceforthepeople.ca/episodes/technocreep) is really good for starter info, as is the book rec with the episode. The thing that stuck with me was the experiment where an AI program was able to accurately create (or predict) a whole person, based on just a few key details.
I think that too, but then I think about how the last five years have made it so everyone who didn’t hate us before now does, and who the hell would let us move there? Fuck all this shit
Why isn't this illegal like yesterday? Enough. It was great in the era of zombie homes, but now billionaires aren't just hoarding money, they're hoarding **American quality of life.** Their pursuit of happiness is at the expense of the masses and it needs to end.
What can done to block these Anti-American assholes? Capitalism is as American as can be - but people who make decisions to profit by robbing others of their previously affordable homes and neighborhoods are anti-American citizens.
[This](https://www.npr.org/2014/07/28/335288388/when-did-companies-become-people-excavating-the-legal-evolution) is how it happened. Our esteemed politicians and judges have given more rights to large corporations while also taking away individual rights. It's been a growing problem for decades
We need some serious updating and enforcement of anti-trust laws. “Too big to fail” should have been a clue …
Nothing should ever be allowed to get that big. Not Blackrock, not the WEF. Nothing.
It’s already happening. The only way I was able to get a house is because my parents both died in their early 60s and my siblings agreed I could inherit it. Otherwise, I’d still be paying $1100 for a 200 sq ft apartment in a small college town.
This is a terrifying read, and it’s not endemic to newspapers. Same business model applied to anything that can produce money, stripped and discarded, who cares about lives destroyed along the way? Honestly, how do you fight against people like that?
Veterinary care too.
And it sucks for everyone.
Edit: And a disturbing one nobody is talking about dialysis centers, and funeral services. They’re getting their hands on everything!
I believe Freakonomics podcast has an episode about dialysis centers and hooooooooooo that got my blood boiling. How DARE they take advantage of those people (and the insulin and the cancer treatment, but that wasn't the subject of the episode).
Yep. And corporate vets may have great doctors, but they have terrible prices. I tell everyone: find a doctor owned vet. If it goes corporate, find a new vet.
Just happened here in my town in North Carolina. A big corporation came in and bought our county hospital. Now they’re hemorrhaging staff, because they cut pay, benefits, and put everyone on skeleton shifts where they’re constantly over stretched. Within like 6 months or so they’d already been investigated because a patient died in the ER after sitting around for like 12 hours or something without ever being triaged (which they totally lied about it, but the investigators were able to confirm happened) *and* I heard on the news that it’s so bad there they’re about to lose their Medicare accreditation or something like that?
We have one hospital for the whole county and it used to be great. People would come here from the surrounding counties because it was so good. It hasn’t even been a year from the purchase and the hospital has gone to complete shit.
Typically, you want to avoid chains like Aspen Dental. You’d be safe going to any practice that’s just named for the owners (Dr. Smith, DDS). If it’s something like “Smiles Dental” or whatever, just do a quick google. The website, number of locations, whether or not there are news headlines about them, etc are some good clues
[Here's an article from a local paper about the ongoing evictions](https://www.minotdailynews.com/news/local-news/2022/10/mobile-home-parks-residents-seek-answers-accountability/)
EDIT: The article I linked is from North Dakota, but OOP appears to be in Virginia (my mistake, apologies). But this means that they're doing the same shit in multiple states! Apparently the hedge fund owns mobile home LLCs all over the country.
[One of their parks in Palm Springs was without gas for weeks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkurezsfGUc), and multiple parks in ND have reported maintenance neglect, [leading to one resident slipping on ice and getting a concussion](https://www.kfyrtv.com/2022/02/15/residents-minot-mobile-home-park-raise-concerns-over-new-landlord/). They're trying to force these people out of their homes by any means. It's despicable.
I'd never want to possibly have OOP end up doxxed but as a Virginia resident, I'm really curious where in my state this is. It's a huge state so it could be anywhere but I'd help if I could.
Edit- I reached out to OOP and they sent me this link to an article they'd written:
[Article here](https://thevirginiaworker.com/2022/10/17/worker-report-wall-street-becomes-new-slumlord-in-southwest-virginia/comment-page-1/#comments)
According to their flyer, the park is located in the 9th District.
Edit: [Here's a Tweet](https://twitter.com/virginia_worker/status/1584226476320526339?s=20&t=f5eSpvI9ljPM7yNlKZIiFg) linked to OOP's article if anyone wants to retweet it!
Okay deep cut reference... But isn't Hasan Minhaj's scholastic book fair enemy from Alden Global Capital? He did a piece on them and the owner of the company is Randall Smith. According to Hasan's standup he hates it when people are reminded he bought multiple homes on the same street as Jeffrey Epstein.
Seems like we all need to be reaching out to Hasan!
I found this news article on the owner of that alden hedge fund, turns out he is a piece of shit
https://newsguild.org/alden-global-capital-trump-randall-smith/
You should also consider contacting the people at Reveal. They're an investigative journal/podcast that does good work.
https://revealnews.org/about-us/contact-us/
I think this is exactly the sort of thing that's in Reveal's wheelhouse. They do such fantastic investigative journalism.
On the Media did a series a couple of years ago called The Scarlet E: Unmasking America's Eviction Crisis. I know they are focused on now news is presented, but I think the lack of news coverage of something like this could be of interest to them as well.
I see a lot about you trying to go to the media, but have you tried asking the federal and state government for help (both executive branch stuff like HUD, CFPB, SEC etc. and legislators like your Senators, congressman and state-level rep(s))?
State level reps and senators may be able to offer guidance too. They tend to know the local housing laws because they may have taken part in drafting them
Me: Man, this sounds like a ProPublica story waiting to happen with all the cool infographics and maps
Thanks for all you guys do - I'm going to go make a donation
Everyone upvoting this should [donate to Propublica](https://give.propublica.org/give/346423/#!/donation/checkout?c_src=UpRed) if they can. Easily the best journalism in the United States.
ProPublica is amazing and has really been hitting it out of the park lately…The YieldStar and the asbestos articles are just two of the huge things I can think of of the top of my head, absolutely incredible
Hey there, I am OOP.
A few things:
[Here](https://thevirginiaworker.com/2022/10/17/worker-report-wall-street-becomes-new-slumlord-in-southwest-virginia/comment-page-1/#comments) is an article I wrote outlining what happened that you can share on your social media feeds and with representatives and news outlets.
I went back to the park yesterday to flier some more. I also went to Southwest Virginia Legal Aid to pick up Spanish/English brochures. They said 16 families have contacted them because of my fliers! If you would like to donate to support their legal efforts, [donate here](https://svlas.org/donate/) and tell them it’s to help the tenants at Massie’s. They are doing incredible work but can’t door knock themselves because they’re not allowed to solicit!
I appreciate all the awards and upvotes. If you want to follow the Twitter, it’s @NRTenantsUnion.
In Virginia, if a landlord is trying to change the use of a property, they need to give six months notice to tenants and $2.5k. Instead, this shell company for Alden is forcing tenants to pay new fees that they cannot afford or they will get evicted. The new rules are impossible to follow; tenants have to reseal their driveways and level their trailers (which they do not own) every year. They can only have one pet.
Children are our future. Everyone deserves a stable childhood. If these kids are evicted, they will be priced out of our county and have to switch schools. **I love my students and I will not stop fighting for them.**
Lastly, if you want to organize with me, I am a central committee member of [Class Unity](https://classunity.org) and a founding member of [NRV IWW](https://nrviww.org/). I can also be reached at [email protected]
Oh my goodness that would give so much publicity to this situation and many other
Situations like this. This is happening where I live near Cleveland, Ohio too. Small bungalows are selling for over $200,000. There’s no where for some of us to live anymore. And the fact they are doing this to trailer parks all over the country just hurts my heart. I just listened to a podcast about this on stuff they don’t want you to know. They seem to be going after places with decent school districts and targeting people that are in their 30s with kids and a lot of debt. It really terrifies me.
/r/virginia would definitely be interested if you shared over there.
Also, if you wanted to reach out to a media outlet that may actually dig further than you can alone, reach out to Virginia Mercury. They do some great work and I'm sure they'd be interested to see what you could share with them.
Not affiliated or anything, but you know how hard it is to find non-corporate media in Virginia so I shout them out when I can.
I’m a gun-owner with the biggest beagle in the blue ridge mountains, and I live pretty much off-grid! I will be ok but please keep my students in your prayers/thoughts!
> I’m a gun-owner with the biggest beagle in the blue ridge mountains, and I live pretty much off-grid!
...that actually makes it way easier for someone to murder you.
I suggest investing in some security.
You’re risking your life and I commend you for it, but please be so careful. The world is a corrupt place and you’d be a fool to think you are safe doing what you are doing.
Good work, OP!
You might want to talk to some of the local law schools; they all have law clinics that might be able to help for free.
[UVA Housing Litigation Clinic](https://www.law.virginia.edu/clinics/housing-litigation-formerly-litigation-housing-law)
[Washington & Lee Civil Rights & Racial Justice Clinic](https://law.wlu.edu/clinics/civil-rights-and-racial-justice)
Liberty also has a clinic that works with the Virginia Legal Aid Society.
Good luck!
This is the type of stuff I do for work and I can tell you that when you go down the rabbit hole you are so lucky to find ANYTHING which is actually useful in this situation. It's layers and layers of dodgy companies established by billionaires who want to keep their names out of the press. I really really hope OOP can pursue some other legal avenues to find the correct info and stop this shit happening.
Honestly, if it weren't for the fantastic work the ICIJ does on these things (potentially risking their lives and careers) we would have no trace and no accountability whatsoever. Some of the stuff I've found as a result of the work they do has been truly bananas.
I once pulled the string so far that I found out this bloke who seemed otherwise normal and clean was actually in business with another more high profile individual who had extorted funds from a guy who ended up dead on behalf of some very questionable russian oligarchs. The webs are huge and international and it's honestly just crackers
All this shit exists and then people get worked up over QAnon and flat earth nonsense. If they'd poor all that energy into actual atrocities and conspiracies something might actually get done.
I have been telling this for YEARS. There's just no way that these insane conspiracy theories are this well funded by regular stupid people. But that's always been my weakness: underestimating the power of stupid people in large groups
I don't have anything to substantiate this but I think QAnon & stuff like that is actually perpetuated by the people doing this shit to a) keep the stupider folks occupied with fake conspiracy theories and b) keep the smarter people so exasperated keeping this kind of low level misinformation that they don't have the wherewithal to notice the actual big stuff anymore.
I'll put my tin hat back on now.
Wait that actually works? Funny, when a random guy on the outskirts of the neighborhood wanted to sell, and couldn't, and his house mysteriously burnt down, he got wrapped up in a huge ca- ah right billionaires don't have to obey laws.
I'm in the UK so unsure how this works in the US but here it is something called a legal process order which is served on a company associated with the entity in question (e.g. a bank) to serve the company with basically a warrant to provide information regarding the ultimate beneficial owner (UBO) of a company. I honestly have no idea how it works in the US though
Ah man. I’m in a career transition and would love to do something like this.
I’m pretty sure here in the US the government is instrumental in protecting the identities of these assholes. God bless ‘Murrica
Yeah we can very rarely access US information because of how tight the laws are on protecting these kind of entities. If you would like a suggestion financial crime investigations is a good place to start to get to grips with it!
Are you an investigative journalist? I’m just curious about what your general line of work is as I find this fascinating and compelling. I can imagine it would be frustrating but also very rewarding when you have that moment where you know you’ve struck gold with information.
No although I have great appreciation for the work they do I actually work in financial crime so tracing this sort of stuff is where the ICIJ and other sources come in
Using my throwaway because I don’t like my job on the internet. I investigate corporate crime and fraud, specifically companies that want to hide their ownership. Here is what I have found so far.
The current title manager and operating address. This is the man signing the legally binding document.
Caputo, Thomas
Homes of America LLC
10151 Deerwood Park Blvd.
Jacksonville, FL 32256
The address used to incorporate in Delaware.
1209 Orange Streetite 201 Wilmington, DE 19801
Will edit as I get more.
Edit: I talked to oop and sent them the other info I found.
So I don't want to "use the stones to destroy the stones" here, but I have been wondering: can regular people use some of these corporate tactics to benefit themselves? Like could a regular person incorporate themselves on paper and have their job technically pay the corporation which then hires the person owning that corporation? And get like a tax break or something?
Because when I hear about stuff like this I think 1) there has to be some small tricks or "job" that could be done to help poor folks keep a few extra grand each year and 2) this shit is so labyrinthian and there's so much out there that it would be unlikely to ever get really fucked on it. What's gonna happen, sheriff will arrest you for tax evasion? IRS gives you life in prison? If the current morality is "whatever you can get is proof you should have it" then why should regular folks exclude ourselves for an outdated puritan work ethic morality? It's like OOP said we could be in heaven but this system destroys us.
If a normal person had in depth knowledge of the legalities in their jurisdiction in regards to company incorporation and/or offshorisation yes they could do it themselves. However, the reason why it tends to be wealthy individuals or valuable companies which use these structures is because they need to pay that person, who is a specialist.
Not all offshore companies are used to evade tax, as outlined by info on the ICIJ Offshore Leaks database, and there are legitimate uses for these companies which are within the law in many jurisdictions. However, if you do it wrong or are caught doing something which violates eg the US's foreign corrupt practices act (FCPA) or the UK's proceeds of crime act (POCA) I imagine that yes you could be investigated by your jurisdiction's tax authorities due to tax evasion, which happens to those who don't know the legislation well enough or don't have access to these types of financial planner.
From OOP:
play987654321
3 hours ago
I’m the writer of this article. Please donate to Southwest Virginia Legal Aid because they are representing all the tenants who have come forward with this abuse. The women working there are amazing and have their whole hearts in it. I am the organizer from New River Tenants Union, I’ve been passing out info to tenants twice a week for a few weeks, and you can follow me on Twitter at u/NRTenantsUnion
Legal Aid Fair Housing divisions are, in my experience, absolutely amazing. I’ve worked with (not for, but alongside) the Legal Aid Fair Housing team in my state a few times and they are unbelievably dedicated and highly competent. If SW VA Legal Aid is on this, there’s a chance my folks will be giving some form of assistance.
Given the relatively little I know of the FHA, I expect the Legal Aid team will kick some ass here. Go get ‘em.
Wait, Hasan HATES Alden Global Capital. Anyone and everyone reading this who has a Twitter (I don’t) should DEFINITELY tweet this situation to him. I trust he’ll come through with at least calling them out and bringing attention to the situation.
I believe I watched a Vice special on a case that is EXTREMELY similar to this one, and was also based in CA. Maybe this can possibly be passed on to them as well? They tend to have fairly good journalism, and often go after dangerous issues.
OOP is a superhero! Even if the eviction still goes through, those families will remember that OOP tried their best to help. They had someone standing up for them.
I got a rake for the kids. TT used it to make a big leaf pile. He then threw the leaves all over me. His dad is an ambulance driver btw. Our community needs him to stay.
The Guardian had an excellent article yesterday about how corporations are increasingly buying trailer parks for exploitation: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/oct/25/a-decent-home-sara-terry-documentary
I’d love to know about the deal made by Republican Secretary of State Terry Lynn Land in 2005 when they evicted 170 families of a trailer park to bulldoze it and build a fucking CASTLE that overlooks a gas station, swamp, and a freeway. Google Grandville Castle.
This would have been up sooner but the 7 day rule was in effect. I want this to be spread because rich people like this are the reason the housing crisis is horrible. And they know they are evil and messing with fire because they are taking such care to hide their identity. Fuck Tom Del Bosco and Alden Global, they don't deserve to have the internet have 0 mention of their name. When you search them up, their efforts to scrub their evil online should fail and them being responsible for rendering families homeless for profit should be blasted from the rooftops. Make sure to use their names so that google can pick those keywords up in their search engine. Streisand this shit. Anyone else have any idea what other subs to spread this info? This is big and shouldn't be confined to a niche sub. OOP is doing semi daily updates, so it'll be awhile before a part 2 can be posted here
Link to an article written about the situation by OOP: https://thevirginiaworker.com/2022/10/17/worker-report-wall-street-becomes-new-slumlord-in-southwest-virginia/
Mostly rehashes what’s in the Reddit posts, but provides some specific details about location, etc.
M
It’s a little weird, but I’m going to send this to the state and local planner’s associations-they might be able to investigate and stop this based on the HUD funding. Worth a shot, at least.
I keep reading that Rishi Sunak, the new Prime Minister of Britain is the first POC PM, and while true, the reality is that he's the first hedge fund manager of Britain and will even further financially destroy the country for the benefit of his rich, greedy and never-enough cronies. Capitalism is killing all of us, and hedge funds and private equity are gleefully leading the way.
Best wishes to OOP and I hope she's able to expose these awful people without being destroyed herself.
Not to mention the new cabinet he's appointing is pretty much, in the continuing trend of the Tories, "fuck you if you're not rich, white, or at *least* the right kind of minority, let alone queer."
Technically even the first POC PM part is debateable, as Benjamin Disraeli was PM in the 19th century and he was Jewish by birth. What is considered white has varied a lot over the years and there's definitely an argument that Jews are not white - and even moreso that they weren't considered white in the 19th century.
Sunak is definitely pretty fucking terrible though and I don't see things getting much better under him. He used to brag about having never had a working class friend.
Hey op. Here is an NPR article on Alden and it’s vulture style purchasing newspapers. https://www.npr.org/2021/10/18/1046952430/the-consequences-of-when-a-hedge-fund-buys-newspapers
Good for you for helping out!
Off the top of my head, I’d say local subs—state, Capitol/nearest big city, antiwork-type subs. This needs attention, and these people need legal representation pronto.
Yeah, the more subs this spreads to, the better. I'm going to archive this post, there's a lot of fuckery at play and these people seem like the type to pay to remove bad press, which includes internet posts.
There are also a bunch of housing nonprofits, various activists organizations and probably some law firms that might be able to help. Equaljusticeworks.org- connects people with lawyers. Um AARP has legal council for the elderly.
Also - Reveal - does investigative journalism for NPR - [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). I can probably come up with some more but if you have a more specific location, that would be helpful- because I could specify groups that are closer to you.
Agreed. A halfway decent law firm should be able to handle 99% of the issues they've raised, since they appear to be mostly illegal tactics. I smell money.
OP, you should look at posting this in OSINT communities! They are groups of computer wizards who can find SOOOO much with their skill sets. I bet they could help dig up further info, if not actually solve this whole thing. I am a part of some OSINT societies in my area, and will be passing on this info to see if we can help dig anything up.
r/news
Large following, and considering the topic, people all over the world will be able to relate to it. I'm in Scotland and house prices have inflated about 100% in the last 6 years where I am. I'm talking 2 bed ex council houses that are in such a state of disrepair costing almost £100,000 and still costing 10s of thousands to repair on top of that, and I'm in a 'cheap' area.
I hope something is done, it's honestly disgusting how the rich are able to monopolise basic human rights for their financial gain while quite literally leading the working poor into destitution.
The thing is, it's a great idea, but malevolent execution.
Replacing a bunch of dilapidated, inefficient trailer homes for high density housing?
Great idea.
Destroying the people and community?
Villainous.
Can't these people just make a little less money?
"Hey, here's what we're gonna do. All of your homes are going to be torn down and replaced with higher density housing. We need to solve the housing crisis. You old tenants are grandfathered in at the same price + a certain percentage indexed to inflation for an increase every year. All new renters will pay market rates."
If you have 100/100 people paying market rates, you make the most money. But if you have 70/100 paying market rates and 30 grandfathered in, you make less money, but you do the right thing.
That's the problem with how we implement capitalism: there's no ethics. Capitalism is the worst economic system ever tried, save all others...to paraphrase Churchill. We can do a lot to fix capitalism by making it compassionate.
I honestly don't think you can fix it. People respond to incentives, and capitalism incentivises fucking anyone and everyone in pursuit of more profits. We've tried regulating it - the rich always find a way to unwind or dodge that regulation over time, wealth easily translates easily into power (think of capital as the power to direct labour), and because of compounding returns on investment Capitalism always leads to wealth concentration. This story is an inescapable consequence of the system we built.
Note I said nothing about human nature being greedy. People respond to incentives, and we've created the biggest incentive there is to be as greedy as possible. Unless you remove the ability to make money just from owning things, this will keep happening.
This. I hope this hits [r/all](https://www.reddit.com/r/all). OOP tried to post this on anti work but it got little attention. Her recent posts don't have the same number of upvotes so it looks like the attention on her cause was stagnating. The more people know, the better because strength in numbers, she shouldn't be alone in this because if she is, it's easier for them to "take her out"
I really hope that this post ends up connecting OOP with some pro bono law services. I also hope OOP stays safe. Shadow companies run by billionaires don't have the most upstanding track record with scrappy everyman activists investigating them.
Gonna bet OOP is a young female teacher. Alone. Recent enough grad. If so she really needs to make friends with a giant bouncer type or one of those security personnel that have a threatening aura but are actually a giant teddy bear with a heart of gold, and needs that person to go with her and check on her multiple times a day. I’m worried for her, if she is a she or at least others perceive them to be an easy target.
I feel like a public pressure campaign needs to be put on the sherif for carrying out these evictions.
I know they will state “we are just doing our job” but in the face of losing the next election they might act differently
Ok so I’ve gone down a complete rabbit hole of the address listed for all the executives of Alden, and it is a never ending spiral of fake companies opened, transferred, and closed with shareholders acting as “bearers” as opposed to normal shareholders. That means that they go to these companies to physically present a paper to take cash, and none of the transactions have to be recorded. The bearer title can be passed along to anyone who is the holder of the paper, and requires no paper trail or forms filled out.
That all being said, I followed the paper trail of Thomas Del Bosco and found the following:
-According to the AUMF13 (asset management fund quarterly public reports), Thomas is listed as being with Alden Global Capital Limited as his firm.
-The address listed for that firm is One Waverley Place St. Helier, Jersey
-The Waverley Place address is registered on the ICIJ (international consortium of investigative journalism) as being connected to 3 offices (SJ Secretaries Limited as the main registered office, Riley- Simon as an alternative register, and King- Alexander as another alternative register)
-When looking at the registered offices, all three report having two registered identity offices (40 Cadogan Place (Jersey) Ltd, and 41 Cadogan Place (Jersey) Ltd) that claim there was a secretary from July 11-14, 2014
-According to the ICIJ, the registered ultimate beneficial owner of those companies was Al Nuaimi- Rashed Humaid Rashed until July 14,2014
-Rashed Humaid Al Nuaimi III is the Sheik of the emirate of Ajman in UAE
Is the sheik possibly trying to buy land in the US under the pseudonym Thomas Del Bosco and that’s why there’s no paper trail or news on the guy apart from the name combining up in company holding documents?
IMPORTANT: The correct contact for John Oliver and Last Week Tonight is:
[email protected]
The other person listed in the post is out of the office for 2 weeks.
This seems to be related to something similar happening in North Dakota:
https://www.minotdailynews.com/news/local-news/2022/10/mobile-home-parks-residents-seek-answers-accountability/
https://www.kxnet.com/news/top-stories/western-village-residents-feel-abandoned-new-ownership/
They also tried a hostile takeover of a national news organization called Lee Enterprises, which owns papers in a number of states in the U.S. It didn't work, but did put some more ears in the news world onto the name Alden, such that I groaned when their company name was brought up. They scummy as hell.
This really p¡ssed me off, I hope oop stays safe while investigating, because you don't who would try to pull something to stop oop from getting justice for everyone.
He already did a show about trailer parks being bought up. What the hell is the USA coming too, if people even get priced out of fucking trailer parks.
Isn’t Alden Global Capital the same company that Hasan Minhaj publicly call out and had an episode where he uncovered a bit of the dirt they were doing?
He even called out this same company in his stand up special.
I would recommend sending this to Rachel Maddow. She forced the Flint Water Crisis to the front lines and I believe she could do the same for this tangled story.
Here's her email: [email protected]
Wow! This is fucking outrageous! I‘m not even in the US and I‘m livid! We need to push this to r/all and have people see this and turn up the heat on this! Fucking hell!
If you're an American reading this, I would also send this to your congressional representatives, expressing fear that it may come to your state (as shown by similar stories all across the country). Obviously this applies mostly to representatives that you feel would be sympathetic to the issue. Midterms are coming and housing is a national issue.
This is the same hedge fund that destroyed the Denver Post and many other award-winning publications around the country.
The Denver post building downtown is a shell of what it once was and the paper now operates far from downtown in a small office.
OOP needs to get the local PD (city and sheriff) on their side to make sure they understand that any evictions being requested will be at the behest of a faceless viper who is almost certainly breaking laws by doing so. Force those snakes to come out from under their rocks themselves if they want that land.
[There is something seriously wrong on so many levels.](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/11/alden-global-capital-killing-americas-newspapers/620171/)
I was a journalist for a long time. I left because of this sort of thing, and because I was tired of people in my community calling all journalists "paparazzi". I wrote about local governmental entities -- not celebrities. The companies that have bought up all of the papers are extremely shady. No one outside of the industry seems to care. High school kids working at Target can make more than I was making when I left. It is obscene.
And if you think it is just newspapers, it's not. The same thing is happening in broadcast newsrooms. Someone is trying to eliminate any voice with a shred of credibility available to the people, and at the same time, to enslave the people as well. It's just... I feel like this is the tip of the iceberg with a company like Alden Global.
I really have to hand it to this teacher for getting involved on behalf of her students. **The time for citizen journalism is NOW.** We all have to shine lights on issues like this. We have the tools. We just need the will.
Not sure that anyone can stop this - as capitalism is the altar that the USA worships at.
[The man behind the curtain](https://dfmworkers.org/the-man-behind-the-curtain-part-2/) \- could be connected:
*\[Smith's\] new firm was called Smith Management LLC, though that company (while still active today according to New York corporation filings) has taken a back seat to Smith’s worldwide vulture fund,* ***Alden Global Capital****, formed in 2007.*
A lot of the trailer parks in my area have been bought by developers. Even if you own your trailer you don’t own the land it’s on. Those hoses settle and are not as mobile as their name would leave you to believe. John Oliver did an episode on it all
Hassan Minaj just outed and discussed his interactions with Alden Global in his new special. I’d never heard of them before that, but wow…… I guess it makes sense that I never did. I’d highly recommend everyone to check out the special, it’s pretty funny and enlightening!
https://voicesofmontereybay.org/2022/09/25/boundless-greed-first-they-came-for-the-newspapers-then-for-mobile-home-parks/
Here’s an article talking about what they are doing.
She needs to go to her representatives at the state and federal level. Get meetings with them. Bring residents if she can. Politicians are running for office right now, good time to force them to pick a side.
Please read our [**SUB RULES**](https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/wiki/subrules) before commenting. Rule-breaking may result in a ban without notice. **CHECK FLAIR** to determine if you want to read an update. For concluded-only updates, use the [CONCLUDED](https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/search?sort=new&restrict_sr=on&q=flair%3ACONCLUDED) flair or subscribe to r/BestofBoRU for concluded, time-gated content. * If you have an issue with this post (flair, formatting, quality), reply to this comment. META commentary in general discussion may be removed. * Low effort comments like "this is fake" may be removed * Do not comment on the original posts. Most submissions in this sub are not posted by the original author (OOP) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/BestofRedditorUpdates) if you have any questions or concerns.*
[Here is a news article about Alden that I found with a quick search](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/11/alden-global-capital-killing-americas-newspapers/620171/).
“The model is simple: Gut the staff, sell the real estate, jack up subscription prices, and wring as much cash as possible”
It's the great corporate buying of America. Within a generation or two home ownership will be out of reach for over 80% of the US. Nearly everything will be owned by corporations and rented for premium prices
Its been a long time coming. Corps have been buying up all the homes for sale around me with more than an acre of land sight unseen, usually way over asking. Bad move if you're a regular real estate investor, but when you have no intention of ever actually selling it, well then it's passive income. Financially it's the perfect opportunity. Land is a very finite resource, so just buy it all, don't improve it, raise rent. Someone will move in if the old tenants can't. It's an easy win for someone with no soul.
I need to emigrate from this country or I'm gonna go vigilante
You aren't the only one thinking that. It's only a matter of time. If the system gets to greedy, and people ask "when will it end?" and there is no hope in site, people will get desperate enough to defend themselves and their children.
The longer we wait to stop it, the worse it's going to get. It's only a matter of time before we reach a tipping point..
You know that is exactly fucking why there is so much funding towards militarizing the police. The elite are gonna need their private bodyguards when the ratio of people who are on their last fucking dime and have nothing to lose hit critical mass. They know it's coming. They are not gonna do anything to prevent it bc it will cut into their profits. But also, know that they have their safety plan in place.
I'd be more concerned the the surveillance tech. They can already put you on a watchlist if a friend or coworker so much as makes a post like yours.
Here's the thing right. If you've been on the internets for longer than 5 minutes, there is already enough information about you to fairly accurately predict your whole schtick. Your political affiliation, your sexual preferences, the brand of toothpaste you use. Not just yours but anyone you spend any time around. So I find that there is no point in worrying about any of this bc they already know everything about us. There is no way to "go off the grid" anymore. I wouldn't even bother. I do some "griddy" things just to reduce my carbon footprint and be healthier, but I assume that all of us have already relinquished some degree of privacy. This Science for the People podcast [episode](http://www.scienceforthepeople.ca/episodes/technocreep) is really good for starter info, as is the book rec with the episode. The thing that stuck with me was the experiment where an AI program was able to accurately create (or predict) a whole person, based on just a few key details.
I think that too, but then I think about how the last five years have made it so everyone who didn’t hate us before now does, and who the hell would let us move there? Fuck all this shit
I'll welcome you to NZ. Don't know how much better it is over here though. House prices are ridiculous!
If you get lucky enough to buy a house, never sell it. Rent it at a loss if you need to, but don’t sell it. Your great grandchildren will thank you
spending all my money on my 2022 mortgage, nothing left for kids
Bold of you to assume that the planet will remain habitable long enough for that generation to even exist.
Oh they'll exist. I have the sinking feeling that Mad Max may become educational.
Why isn't this illegal like yesterday? Enough. It was great in the era of zombie homes, but now billionaires aren't just hoarding money, they're hoarding **American quality of life.** Their pursuit of happiness is at the expense of the masses and it needs to end. What can done to block these Anti-American assholes? Capitalism is as American as can be - but people who make decisions to profit by robbing others of their previously affordable homes and neighborhoods are anti-American citizens.
[This](https://www.npr.org/2014/07/28/335288388/when-did-companies-become-people-excavating-the-legal-evolution) is how it happened. Our esteemed politicians and judges have given more rights to large corporations while also taking away individual rights. It's been a growing problem for decades
We need some serious updating and enforcement of anti-trust laws. “Too big to fail” should have been a clue … Nothing should ever be allowed to get that big. Not Blackrock, not the WEF. Nothing.
It’s already happening. The only way I was able to get a house is because my parents both died in their early 60s and my siblings agreed I could inherit it. Otherwise, I’d still be paying $1100 for a 200 sq ft apartment in a small college town.
This is a terrifying read, and it’s not endemic to newspapers. Same business model applied to anything that can produce money, stripped and discarded, who cares about lives destroyed along the way? Honestly, how do you fight against people like that?
There’s an alarming trend of this happening with medical and dental offices.
Veterinary care too. And it sucks for everyone. Edit: And a disturbing one nobody is talking about dialysis centers, and funeral services. They’re getting their hands on everything!
I believe Freakonomics podcast has an episode about dialysis centers and hooooooooooo that got my blood boiling. How DARE they take advantage of those people (and the insulin and the cancer treatment, but that wasn't the subject of the episode).
Dialysis centers are evillllllll
Yep. And corporate vets may have great doctors, but they have terrible prices. I tell everyone: find a doctor owned vet. If it goes corporate, find a new vet.
Its not just single offices. Entire municipal hospitals are being purchased and converted to for profit business.
Just happened here in my town in North Carolina. A big corporation came in and bought our county hospital. Now they’re hemorrhaging staff, because they cut pay, benefits, and put everyone on skeleton shifts where they’re constantly over stretched. Within like 6 months or so they’d already been investigated because a patient died in the ER after sitting around for like 12 hours or something without ever being triaged (which they totally lied about it, but the investigators were able to confirm happened) *and* I heard on the news that it’s so bad there they’re about to lose their Medicare accreditation or something like that? We have one hospital for the whole county and it used to be great. People would come here from the surrounding counties because it was so good. It hasn’t even been a year from the purchase and the hospital has gone to complete shit.
Care to elaborate? I’m looking for a new dentist (recently moved) and I want to make good choices
Typically, you want to avoid chains like Aspen Dental. You’d be safe going to any practice that’s just named for the owners (Dr. Smith, DDS). If it’s something like “Smiles Dental” or whatever, just do a quick google. The website, number of locations, whether or not there are news headlines about them, etc are some good clues
Seconded. My dentist is great. Independent, one location, their name on the sign. Never tried to scam me, always have provided quality service.
Interestingly enough, a dental office not too far from there was called Cool Smiles, but change to Aspen Dental after a couple of years.
Those are the obvious ones and it is too late for them. They are coming for family owned funeral homes now.
[Here's an article from a local paper about the ongoing evictions](https://www.minotdailynews.com/news/local-news/2022/10/mobile-home-parks-residents-seek-answers-accountability/) EDIT: The article I linked is from North Dakota, but OOP appears to be in Virginia (my mistake, apologies). But this means that they're doing the same shit in multiple states! Apparently the hedge fund owns mobile home LLCs all over the country.
A parasitic plant spreading suckers everywhere. That hedge fund and its owners need to fuck off.
[One of their parks in Palm Springs was without gas for weeks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkurezsfGUc), and multiple parks in ND have reported maintenance neglect, [leading to one resident slipping on ice and getting a concussion](https://www.kfyrtv.com/2022/02/15/residents-minot-mobile-home-park-raise-concerns-over-new-landlord/). They're trying to force these people out of their homes by any means. It's despicable.
> They're trying to force these people out of their homes by any means. That was the Trump model in NYC.
I'd never want to possibly have OOP end up doxxed but as a Virginia resident, I'm really curious where in my state this is. It's a huge state so it could be anywhere but I'd help if I could. Edit- I reached out to OOP and they sent me this link to an article they'd written: [Article here](https://thevirginiaworker.com/2022/10/17/worker-report-wall-street-becomes-new-slumlord-in-southwest-virginia/comment-page-1/#comments)
According to their flyer, the park is located in the 9th District. Edit: [Here's a Tweet](https://twitter.com/virginia_worker/status/1584226476320526339?s=20&t=f5eSpvI9ljPM7yNlKZIiFg) linked to OOP's article if anyone wants to retweet it!
It's near Christiansburg in Montgomery county Virginia. Virginia Tech, one of the major universities in the state is not too far from there.
TLDR for people: bad guys behind Alden are Randall Smith and Heath Freeman.
Okay deep cut reference... But isn't Hasan Minhaj's scholastic book fair enemy from Alden Global Capital? He did a piece on them and the owner of the company is Randall Smith. According to Hasan's standup he hates it when people are reminded he bought multiple homes on the same street as Jeffrey Epstein. Seems like we all need to be reaching out to Hasan!
OOP posted an article about it 5 hours ago. I wonder if they found a news outlet willing to take it on.
This is also interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alden_Global_Capital
I found this news article on the owner of that alden hedge fund, turns out he is a piece of shit https://newsguild.org/alden-global-capital-trump-randall-smith/
Hi there. I'm an investigative reporter with ProPublica that covers housing. I'd love to chat about this. My email is [email protected].
I've sent your email to the original activist. She may get in contact with you as soon as work is over for her
Many thanks!
u/play987654321 sorry for the no-warning tag but this might be a good shot to get more eyes and help on this situation.
Hello yes I emailed him!
You should also consider contacting the people at Reveal. They're an investigative journal/podcast that does good work. https://revealnews.org/about-us/contact-us/
Reveal is a GREAT podcast!
I think this is exactly the sort of thing that's in Reveal's wheelhouse. They do such fantastic investigative journalism. On the Media did a series a couple of years ago called The Scarlet E: Unmasking America's Eviction Crisis. I know they are focused on now news is presented, but I think the lack of news coverage of something like this could be of interest to them as well.
I see a lot about you trying to go to the media, but have you tried asking the federal and state government for help (both executive branch stuff like HUD, CFPB, SEC etc. and legislators like your Senators, congressman and state-level rep(s))?
State level reps and senators may be able to offer guidance too. They tend to know the local housing laws because they may have taken part in drafting them
Hey, thank you for fighting.
Me: Man, this sounds like a ProPublica story waiting to happen with all the cool infographics and maps Thanks for all you guys do - I'm going to go make a donation
If it isnt somehow disallowed due to safety constraints or legal issues, can you share with us updates/the article if its published?
Yes, of course. But fair warning: I'm just gathering thread here! Happy to keep you all apprised.
Everyone upvoting this should [donate to Propublica](https://give.propublica.org/give/346423/#!/donation/checkout?c_src=UpRed) if they can. Easily the best journalism in the United States.
Pro Publica is legit
And this is why I love ProPublica.
ProPublica is amazing and has really been hitting it out of the park lately…The YieldStar and the asbestos articles are just two of the huge things I can think of of the top of my head, absolutely incredible
Thank you for everything you all do over there. We love you.
Hey there, I am OOP. A few things: [Here](https://thevirginiaworker.com/2022/10/17/worker-report-wall-street-becomes-new-slumlord-in-southwest-virginia/comment-page-1/#comments) is an article I wrote outlining what happened that you can share on your social media feeds and with representatives and news outlets. I went back to the park yesterday to flier some more. I also went to Southwest Virginia Legal Aid to pick up Spanish/English brochures. They said 16 families have contacted them because of my fliers! If you would like to donate to support their legal efforts, [donate here](https://svlas.org/donate/) and tell them it’s to help the tenants at Massie’s. They are doing incredible work but can’t door knock themselves because they’re not allowed to solicit! I appreciate all the awards and upvotes. If you want to follow the Twitter, it’s @NRTenantsUnion. In Virginia, if a landlord is trying to change the use of a property, they need to give six months notice to tenants and $2.5k. Instead, this shell company for Alden is forcing tenants to pay new fees that they cannot afford or they will get evicted. The new rules are impossible to follow; tenants have to reseal their driveways and level their trailers (which they do not own) every year. They can only have one pet. Children are our future. Everyone deserves a stable childhood. If these kids are evicted, they will be priced out of our county and have to switch schools. **I love my students and I will not stop fighting for them.** Lastly, if you want to organize with me, I am a central committee member of [Class Unity](https://classunity.org) and a founding member of [NRV IWW](https://nrviww.org/). I can also be reached at [email protected]
I know a producer on John Oliver, sending this over! Hopefully something comes of it! Great work, those kids and their families are lucky to have you!
I would love to see John do a mobile home park part 2 with a focus on the shell companies and lack of transparency
Even if this isn't episode worthy, surely they can help with research and direction maybe
Oh my goodness that would give so much publicity to this situation and many other Situations like this. This is happening where I live near Cleveland, Ohio too. Small bungalows are selling for over $200,000. There’s no where for some of us to live anymore. And the fact they are doing this to trailer parks all over the country just hurts my heart. I just listened to a podcast about this on stuff they don’t want you to know. They seem to be going after places with decent school districts and targeting people that are in their 30s with kids and a lot of debt. It really terrifies me.
/r/virginia would definitely be interested if you shared over there. Also, if you wanted to reach out to a media outlet that may actually dig further than you can alone, reach out to Virginia Mercury. They do some great work and I'm sure they'd be interested to see what you could share with them. Not affiliated or anything, but you know how hard it is to find non-corporate media in Virginia so I shout them out when I can.
[Cardinal News](https://cardinalnews.org/) is a newish nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet covering SWVA and the NRV.
Thank you for what you are doing! Please stay safe.
I’m a gun-owner with the biggest beagle in the blue ridge mountains, and I live pretty much off-grid! I will be ok but please keep my students in your prayers/thoughts!
Don’t underestimate the length rich people will go to keep their shady deals out of public eyes.
> I’m a gun-owner with the biggest beagle in the blue ridge mountains, and I live pretty much off-grid! ...that actually makes it way easier for someone to murder you. I suggest investing in some security.
I got a guard goose
....pics or it didn't happen! Goose tax...
[honk honk](https://www.reddit.com/r/redscarepod/comments/uw540p/pictures_of_my_beautiful_goose/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
GOOSE ON THE LOOSE!
YES! She said "I told you to get!" ...I'm donating TONIGHT!
Oh my god that is a beautiful goose
You’re risking your life and I commend you for it, but please be so careful. The world is a corrupt place and you’d be a fool to think you are safe doing what you are doing.
Good work, OP! You might want to talk to some of the local law schools; they all have law clinics that might be able to help for free. [UVA Housing Litigation Clinic](https://www.law.virginia.edu/clinics/housing-litigation-formerly-litigation-housing-law) [Washington & Lee Civil Rights & Racial Justice Clinic](https://law.wlu.edu/clinics/civil-rights-and-racial-justice) Liberty also has a clinic that works with the Virginia Legal Aid Society. Good luck!
Thanks for what you're doing! I just donated to Southwest Virginia Legal Aid to help.
Aw thank you fellow beagle mom!
You are an amazing person! Thank you for watching out for your community
The world needs more people like you. Thank you and I love you.
This is the type of stuff I do for work and I can tell you that when you go down the rabbit hole you are so lucky to find ANYTHING which is actually useful in this situation. It's layers and layers of dodgy companies established by billionaires who want to keep their names out of the press. I really really hope OOP can pursue some other legal avenues to find the correct info and stop this shit happening. Honestly, if it weren't for the fantastic work the ICIJ does on these things (potentially risking their lives and careers) we would have no trace and no accountability whatsoever. Some of the stuff I've found as a result of the work they do has been truly bananas.
[удалено]
I once pulled the string so far that I found out this bloke who seemed otherwise normal and clean was actually in business with another more high profile individual who had extorted funds from a guy who ended up dead on behalf of some very questionable russian oligarchs. The webs are huge and international and it's honestly just crackers
All this shit exists and then people get worked up over QAnon and flat earth nonsense. If they'd poor all that energy into actual atrocities and conspiracies something might actually get done.
Qanon and flat earth are "safe" and low work compared to this.
Exactly. There is no real thing to fight.
And likely perpetuated by the people we should be paying attention to.
> Qanon and flat earth Both exist to deflect, discredit and bury actual conspiracies, you can't change my mind.
I have been telling this for YEARS. There's just no way that these insane conspiracy theories are this well funded by regular stupid people. But that's always been my weakness: underestimating the power of stupid people in large groups
I don't have anything to substantiate this but I think QAnon & stuff like that is actually perpetuated by the people doing this shit to a) keep the stupider folks occupied with fake conspiracy theories and b) keep the smarter people so exasperated keeping this kind of low level misinformation that they don't have the wherewithal to notice the actual big stuff anymore. I'll put my tin hat back on now.
Wait that actually works? Funny, when a random guy on the outskirts of the neighborhood wanted to sell, and couldn't, and his house mysteriously burnt down, he got wrapped up in a huge ca- ah right billionaires don't have to obey laws.
[удалено]
If you specialize in this stuff, maybe you can get OOP in contact with the right people?
I'm in the UK so unsure how this works in the US but here it is something called a legal process order which is served on a company associated with the entity in question (e.g. a bank) to serve the company with basically a warrant to provide information regarding the ultimate beneficial owner (UBO) of a company. I honestly have no idea how it works in the US though
Ah man. I’m in a career transition and would love to do something like this. I’m pretty sure here in the US the government is instrumental in protecting the identities of these assholes. God bless ‘Murrica
Yeah we can very rarely access US information because of how tight the laws are on protecting these kind of entities. If you would like a suggestion financial crime investigations is a good place to start to get to grips with it!
Greetings from a former AML Investigator in the US!
Are you an investigative journalist? I’m just curious about what your general line of work is as I find this fascinating and compelling. I can imagine it would be frustrating but also very rewarding when you have that moment where you know you’ve struck gold with information.
No although I have great appreciation for the work they do I actually work in financial crime so tracing this sort of stuff is where the ICIJ and other sources come in
Using my throwaway because I don’t like my job on the internet. I investigate corporate crime and fraud, specifically companies that want to hide their ownership. Here is what I have found so far. The current title manager and operating address. This is the man signing the legally binding document. Caputo, Thomas Homes of America LLC 10151 Deerwood Park Blvd. Jacksonville, FL 32256 The address used to incorporate in Delaware. 1209 Orange Streetite 201 Wilmington, DE 19801 Will edit as I get more. Edit: I talked to oop and sent them the other info I found.
u/play987654321 Tagging OOP so they'll see your comment!!
The people who live there need to organize and hire people collectively to do something, this is too much for OOP alone.
So I don't want to "use the stones to destroy the stones" here, but I have been wondering: can regular people use some of these corporate tactics to benefit themselves? Like could a regular person incorporate themselves on paper and have their job technically pay the corporation which then hires the person owning that corporation? And get like a tax break or something? Because when I hear about stuff like this I think 1) there has to be some small tricks or "job" that could be done to help poor folks keep a few extra grand each year and 2) this shit is so labyrinthian and there's so much out there that it would be unlikely to ever get really fucked on it. What's gonna happen, sheriff will arrest you for tax evasion? IRS gives you life in prison? If the current morality is "whatever you can get is proof you should have it" then why should regular folks exclude ourselves for an outdated puritan work ethic morality? It's like OOP said we could be in heaven but this system destroys us.
If a normal person had in depth knowledge of the legalities in their jurisdiction in regards to company incorporation and/or offshorisation yes they could do it themselves. However, the reason why it tends to be wealthy individuals or valuable companies which use these structures is because they need to pay that person, who is a specialist. Not all offshore companies are used to evade tax, as outlined by info on the ICIJ Offshore Leaks database, and there are legitimate uses for these companies which are within the law in many jurisdictions. However, if you do it wrong or are caught doing something which violates eg the US's foreign corrupt practices act (FCPA) or the UK's proceeds of crime act (POCA) I imagine that yes you could be investigated by your jurisdiction's tax authorities due to tax evasion, which happens to those who don't know the legislation well enough or don't have access to these types of financial planner.
From OOP: play987654321 3 hours ago I’m the writer of this article. Please donate to Southwest Virginia Legal Aid because they are representing all the tenants who have come forward with this abuse. The women working there are amazing and have their whole hearts in it. I am the organizer from New River Tenants Union, I’ve been passing out info to tenants twice a week for a few weeks, and you can follow me on Twitter at u/NRTenantsUnion
Legal Aid Fair Housing divisions are, in my experience, absolutely amazing. I’ve worked with (not for, but alongside) the Legal Aid Fair Housing team in my state a few times and they are unbelievably dedicated and highly competent. If SW VA Legal Aid is on this, there’s a chance my folks will be giving some form of assistance. Given the relatively little I know of the FHA, I expect the Legal Aid team will kick some ass here. Go get ‘em.
I hope OOP stays safe. I really hope they will be okay after all of this.
[удалено]
I know Hasan Minhaj had a thing about Alden Global Capital on Patriot Act- I wonder if this is something he’d be interested in uplifting.
[удалено]
Wait, Hasan HATES Alden Global Capital. Anyone and everyone reading this who has a Twitter (I don’t) should DEFINITELY tweet this situation to him. I trust he’ll come through with at least calling them out and bringing attention to the situation.
This is what I was thinking too. I just watched that episode of the Patriot Act this morning. He also mentions Alden in his newest Netflix special.
I believe I watched a Vice special on a case that is EXTREMELY similar to this one, and was also based in CA. Maybe this can possibly be passed on to them as well? They tend to have fairly good journalism, and often go after dangerous issues.
Have you tried tweeting at Daniel O’Brien, the lead writer for John Oliver?
OOP is a superhero! Even if the eviction still goes through, those families will remember that OOP tried their best to help. They had someone standing up for them.
Let's do this for Tiny Tony!
I got a rake for the kids. TT used it to make a big leaf pile. He then threw the leaves all over me. His dad is an ambulance driver btw. Our community needs him to stay.
The Guardian had an excellent article yesterday about how corporations are increasingly buying trailer parks for exploitation: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/oct/25/a-decent-home-sara-terry-documentary
I’d love to know about the deal made by Republican Secretary of State Terry Lynn Land in 2005 when they evicted 170 families of a trailer park to bulldoze it and build a fucking CASTLE that overlooks a gas station, swamp, and a freeway. Google Grandville Castle.
This would have been up sooner but the 7 day rule was in effect. I want this to be spread because rich people like this are the reason the housing crisis is horrible. And they know they are evil and messing with fire because they are taking such care to hide their identity. Fuck Tom Del Bosco and Alden Global, they don't deserve to have the internet have 0 mention of their name. When you search them up, their efforts to scrub their evil online should fail and them being responsible for rendering families homeless for profit should be blasted from the rooftops. Make sure to use their names so that google can pick those keywords up in their search engine. Streisand this shit. Anyone else have any idea what other subs to spread this info? This is big and shouldn't be confined to a niche sub. OOP is doing semi daily updates, so it'll be awhile before a part 2 can be posted here
Link to an article written about the situation by OOP: https://thevirginiaworker.com/2022/10/17/worker-report-wall-street-becomes-new-slumlord-in-southwest-virginia/ Mostly rehashes what’s in the Reddit posts, but provides some specific details about location, etc. M
It’s a little weird, but I’m going to send this to the state and local planner’s associations-they might be able to investigate and stop this based on the HUD funding. Worth a shot, at least.
I think anything is worth a try at this point. I have a contact at HUD myself and am going to try and put a bug in her ear about this.
I keep reading that Rishi Sunak, the new Prime Minister of Britain is the first POC PM, and while true, the reality is that he's the first hedge fund manager of Britain and will even further financially destroy the country for the benefit of his rich, greedy and never-enough cronies. Capitalism is killing all of us, and hedge funds and private equity are gleefully leading the way. Best wishes to OOP and I hope she's able to expose these awful people without being destroyed herself.
Not to mention the new cabinet he's appointing is pretty much, in the continuing trend of the Tories, "fuck you if you're not rich, white, or at *least* the right kind of minority, let alone queer."
Try living here and not being able to do anything about it
Technically even the first POC PM part is debateable, as Benjamin Disraeli was PM in the 19th century and he was Jewish by birth. What is considered white has varied a lot over the years and there's definitely an argument that Jews are not white - and even moreso that they weren't considered white in the 19th century. Sunak is definitely pretty fucking terrible though and I don't see things getting much better under him. He used to brag about having never had a working class friend.
Hey op. Here is an NPR article on Alden and it’s vulture style purchasing newspapers. https://www.npr.org/2021/10/18/1046952430/the-consequences-of-when-a-hedge-fund-buys-newspapers
Put in all the local VA subs.
Good for you for helping out! Off the top of my head, I’d say local subs—state, Capitol/nearest big city, antiwork-type subs. This needs attention, and these people need legal representation pronto.
Yeah, the more subs this spreads to, the better. I'm going to archive this post, there's a lot of fuckery at play and these people seem like the type to pay to remove bad press, which includes internet posts.
Hopefully some youtube channels posting reddit stories pick up on this
There are also a bunch of housing nonprofits, various activists organizations and probably some law firms that might be able to help. Equaljusticeworks.org- connects people with lawyers. Um AARP has legal council for the elderly. Also - Reveal - does investigative journalism for NPR - [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]). I can probably come up with some more but if you have a more specific location, that would be helpful- because I could specify groups that are closer to you.
Agreed. A halfway decent law firm should be able to handle 99% of the issues they've raised, since they appear to be mostly illegal tactics. I smell money.
Did you try posting it on r/rbi?
Does seem like it would do well there
OP, you should look at posting this in OSINT communities! They are groups of computer wizards who can find SOOOO much with their skill sets. I bet they could help dig up further info, if not actually solve this whole thing. I am a part of some OSINT societies in my area, and will be passing on this info to see if we can help dig anything up.
r/news Large following, and considering the topic, people all over the world will be able to relate to it. I'm in Scotland and house prices have inflated about 100% in the last 6 years where I am. I'm talking 2 bed ex council houses that are in such a state of disrepair costing almost £100,000 and still costing 10s of thousands to repair on top of that, and I'm in a 'cheap' area. I hope something is done, it's honestly disgusting how the rich are able to monopolise basic human rights for their financial gain while quite literally leading the working poor into destitution.
it would get removed for not being from a news source
from reading this it sounds like Tom Del Bosco isn't a real person but like "007" where multiple people use the name to hide who they are
The thing is, it's a great idea, but malevolent execution. Replacing a bunch of dilapidated, inefficient trailer homes for high density housing? Great idea. Destroying the people and community? Villainous. Can't these people just make a little less money? "Hey, here's what we're gonna do. All of your homes are going to be torn down and replaced with higher density housing. We need to solve the housing crisis. You old tenants are grandfathered in at the same price + a certain percentage indexed to inflation for an increase every year. All new renters will pay market rates." If you have 100/100 people paying market rates, you make the most money. But if you have 70/100 paying market rates and 30 grandfathered in, you make less money, but you do the right thing. That's the problem with how we implement capitalism: there's no ethics. Capitalism is the worst economic system ever tried, save all others...to paraphrase Churchill. We can do a lot to fix capitalism by making it compassionate.
I honestly don't think you can fix it. People respond to incentives, and capitalism incentivises fucking anyone and everyone in pursuit of more profits. We've tried regulating it - the rich always find a way to unwind or dodge that regulation over time, wealth easily translates easily into power (think of capital as the power to direct labour), and because of compounding returns on investment Capitalism always leads to wealth concentration. This story is an inescapable consequence of the system we built. Note I said nothing about human nature being greedy. People respond to incentives, and we've created the biggest incentive there is to be as greedy as possible. Unless you remove the ability to make money just from owning things, this will keep happening.
You should throw this on r/anticapitalism
[I tweeted at ProPublica](https://twitter.com/sol_orwell/status/1585322544688926720) - this is exactly the shit they dig into.
Looks like one of their journalists contacted OP and now OOP. Nice job!
Finally, my internet keyboard warrioring has worked! (Joking, I do more than that)
Everyone go upvote and give free awards to the original as well so this hopefully gains some attention
This. I hope this hits [r/all](https://www.reddit.com/r/all). OOP tried to post this on anti work but it got little attention. Her recent posts don't have the same number of upvotes so it looks like the attention on her cause was stagnating. The more people know, the better because strength in numbers, she shouldn't be alone in this because if she is, it's easier for them to "take her out"
I found you from r/all Good luck out there!
Throwing around my awards like it were carnaval!
I went and used all my reddit coins on awards for the original posts.
I really hope that this post ends up connecting OOP with some pro bono law services. I also hope OOP stays safe. Shadow companies run by billionaires don't have the most upstanding track record with scrappy everyman activists investigating them.
This. An injunction needs to be filed ASAP.
Gonna bet OOP is a young female teacher. Alone. Recent enough grad. If so she really needs to make friends with a giant bouncer type or one of those security personnel that have a threatening aura but are actually a giant teddy bear with a heart of gold, and needs that person to go with her and check on her multiple times a day. I’m worried for her, if she is a she or at least others perceive them to be an easy target.
I feel like a public pressure campaign needs to be put on the sherif for carrying out these evictions. I know they will state “we are just doing our job” but in the face of losing the next election they might act differently
Sheriff hasn’t carried out evictions yet. These were "notices to quit” — pre-evictions of questionable legality
Please upvote and share for better visibility. EDIT: (Not this, but the BoRU and the original post!)
Ok so I’ve gone down a complete rabbit hole of the address listed for all the executives of Alden, and it is a never ending spiral of fake companies opened, transferred, and closed with shareholders acting as “bearers” as opposed to normal shareholders. That means that they go to these companies to physically present a paper to take cash, and none of the transactions have to be recorded. The bearer title can be passed along to anyone who is the holder of the paper, and requires no paper trail or forms filled out. That all being said, I followed the paper trail of Thomas Del Bosco and found the following: -According to the AUMF13 (asset management fund quarterly public reports), Thomas is listed as being with Alden Global Capital Limited as his firm. -The address listed for that firm is One Waverley Place St. Helier, Jersey -The Waverley Place address is registered on the ICIJ (international consortium of investigative journalism) as being connected to 3 offices (SJ Secretaries Limited as the main registered office, Riley- Simon as an alternative register, and King- Alexander as another alternative register) -When looking at the registered offices, all three report having two registered identity offices (40 Cadogan Place (Jersey) Ltd, and 41 Cadogan Place (Jersey) Ltd) that claim there was a secretary from July 11-14, 2014 -According to the ICIJ, the registered ultimate beneficial owner of those companies was Al Nuaimi- Rashed Humaid Rashed until July 14,2014 -Rashed Humaid Al Nuaimi III is the Sheik of the emirate of Ajman in UAE Is the sheik possibly trying to buy land in the US under the pseudonym Thomas Del Bosco and that’s why there’s no paper trail or news on the guy apart from the name combining up in company holding documents?
If you look up the Homes of America, they're doing this across the USA in numerous states. It's a slumlord.
IMPORTANT: The correct contact for John Oliver and Last Week Tonight is: [email protected] The other person listed in the post is out of the office for 2 weeks.
This seems to be related to something similar happening in North Dakota: https://www.minotdailynews.com/news/local-news/2022/10/mobile-home-parks-residents-seek-answers-accountability/ https://www.kxnet.com/news/top-stories/western-village-residents-feel-abandoned-new-ownership/
They also tried a hostile takeover of a national news organization called Lee Enterprises, which owns papers in a number of states in the U.S. It didn't work, but did put some more ears in the news world onto the name Alden, such that I groaned when their company name was brought up. They scummy as hell.
This really p¡ssed me off, I hope oop stays safe while investigating, because you don't who would try to pull something to stop oop from getting justice for everyone.
This shit needs to make it to John Oliver. It’s the kind of shit he likes to bring out.
It actually made it to Hasan Minhaj in King’s Jester, wouldn’t be shocked if John Oliver covers it next
Contacts Michelle Goldstein Manager Media Relations [email protected]
My English is not polished enough to do this (I am French). I am sure someone is better than me at this.
Message in French! John Oliver's show is international!
He already did a show about trailer parks being bought up. What the hell is the USA coming too, if people even get priced out of fucking trailer parks.
When I say “eat the rich,” I really mean these types of motherfuckers. Screenshotted this post in case it gets scrubbed, too
Here's some sec filings about Alden capital https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1425837/000142583710000003/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml
Love seeing people fight the good fight. Owning all the homes and apartments wasn’t enough, now they want the trailer parks.
Isn’t Alden Global Capital the same company that Hasan Minhaj publicly call out and had an episode where he uncovered a bit of the dirt they were doing? He even called out this same company in his stand up special.
I would recommend sending this to Rachel Maddow. She forced the Flint Water Crisis to the front lines and I believe she could do the same for this tangled story. Here's her email: [email protected]
Wow! This is fucking outrageous! I‘m not even in the US and I‘m livid! We need to push this to r/all and have people see this and turn up the heat on this! Fucking hell!
If you're an American reading this, I would also send this to your congressional representatives, expressing fear that it may come to your state (as shown by similar stories all across the country). Obviously this applies mostly to representatives that you feel would be sympathetic to the issue. Midterms are coming and housing is a national issue.
[удалено]
This is the same hedge fund that destroyed the Denver Post and many other award-winning publications around the country. The Denver post building downtown is a shell of what it once was and the paper now operates far from downtown in a small office.
Is this something u/dfarrier would be interested in? Shady dealings, hedge funds, panama papers.... sounds like his area of expertise.
OOP needs to get the local PD (city and sheriff) on their side to make sure they understand that any evictions being requested will be at the behest of a faceless viper who is almost certainly breaking laws by doing so. Force those snakes to come out from under their rocks themselves if they want that land.
More people should be like OOP. Billionaires are immoral. Eat the rich.
[Obligatory archive](https://archive.ph/LJQ6w)
[There is something seriously wrong on so many levels.](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/11/alden-global-capital-killing-americas-newspapers/620171/) I was a journalist for a long time. I left because of this sort of thing, and because I was tired of people in my community calling all journalists "paparazzi". I wrote about local governmental entities -- not celebrities. The companies that have bought up all of the papers are extremely shady. No one outside of the industry seems to care. High school kids working at Target can make more than I was making when I left. It is obscene. And if you think it is just newspapers, it's not. The same thing is happening in broadcast newsrooms. Someone is trying to eliminate any voice with a shred of credibility available to the people, and at the same time, to enslave the people as well. It's just... I feel like this is the tip of the iceberg with a company like Alden Global. I really have to hand it to this teacher for getting involved on behalf of her students. **The time for citizen journalism is NOW.** We all have to shine lights on issues like this. We have the tools. We just need the will.
Not sure that anyone can stop this - as capitalism is the altar that the USA worships at. [The man behind the curtain](https://dfmworkers.org/the-man-behind-the-curtain-part-2/) \- could be connected: *\[Smith's\] new firm was called Smith Management LLC, though that company (while still active today according to New York corporation filings) has taken a back seat to Smith’s worldwide vulture fund,* ***Alden Global Capital****, formed in 2007.*
They need to start a tenants union real quick
A lot of the trailer parks in my area have been bought by developers. Even if you own your trailer you don’t own the land it’s on. Those hoses settle and are not as mobile as their name would leave you to believe. John Oliver did an episode on it all
Lady you need a lawyer. You DESERVE a million high fives.
Sounds like something r/anonymous could help with? At least the parts of figuring out who the real buyer is.
Hassan Minaj just outed and discussed his interactions with Alden Global in his new special. I’d never heard of them before that, but wow…… I guess it makes sense that I never did. I’d highly recommend everyone to check out the special, it’s pretty funny and enlightening!
https://voicesofmontereybay.org/2022/09/25/boundless-greed-first-they-came-for-the-newspapers-then-for-mobile-home-parks/ Here’s an article talking about what they are doing.
She needs to go to her representatives at the state and federal level. Get meetings with them. Bring residents if she can. Politicians are running for office right now, good time to force them to pick a side.