The CTV Thread about the Curtis Malinowski scams has been removed from the CTV W5 forum. This I would think is on legal advice as Mr Malinowski ‘s trial begins in Saskatoon in early November. I have placed a link to The Holub Family Home below. I also placed a link to some background information by Alan Fryer, Special to CTV.ca Updated: Sat. Apr. 30 2005 but just after posting this information it was also removed.
There has been excellent news coverage by CTV, Global and other news outlets about the Malinowski scams and I would think that the trial will be reported as it proceeds in Saskatoon. Mr Malinowski is entitled to a fair trial, the people have a right to see that justice is done. Who better to do this then CTV W5 and Global News.
CTV.ca - False Prophet- CTV News.
The Holub Family Home
RECOL.CA
RCMP: Reporting Economic Crime On-Line
4 comments:
Curtis Malinowski : The Truth and The Facts
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The other side of the story (the unheard truth and facts) are now available by email - they will also be aired soon in authentic format, are being posted to the internet, and will become available in many print formats.
The stories told on TV, the internet, and by publication by a select group: Steve Lesperance, the Holub's, CTV W Five, Global, and a few others are incorrect, slanderous, and consequently damage lives. As a result of their insatiable need for sound bytes and self-gratification, the poorly presented stories seriously affect many innocent families (including those they say they are protecting and also those associated with Malinowski). Essentially, they (the media, Lesperance, etc) “use” a disgruntled customer (they only need one) to create a story (creating a villan), and then a business collapses as a result of the airing and everyone becomes disgruntled. The result being victims created time and again.
Learn how they do it and how it can be stopped.
Submit an email request to truthandfacts2005@hotmail.com for the truth and facts referencing the Malinowski stories.
Curtis Malinowski : Truth and Facts - Creating a Story – W Five
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The following is with reference to the W5 story that ran about Curtis Malinowski and MasterBuilders. The text below was extracted direct from the W5 site - response notes are imbedded below as "Response:"
W Five:
Curtis Malinowski is a master of illusion who has lured hundreds of Canadians into a web of empty promises and business opportunities.
Response:
“What exactly is he a master of illusion of?” It’s one thing to say this, but how about something to back up the statement? “What exactly are the empty promises?” Again, where’s the evidence in your report?
"Where are the hundreds?" Who are the hundreds? Why could you only find two in all of Canada?
The “W Five story” below contains a series of innuendos that attempt to answer to these and other questions. We purport that “they” have created “empty accusations” and media innuendos that “create illusion” to spin a story. It is the difference between reporting the news and creating a story. Is it journalism or sensationalism at the expense of people? Unfortunately it creates panic in the public, then businesses fail, and then true victims are created as a result (families of the business, employees, suppliers etc included).
W Five:
W-FIVE's investigation into Malinowski began with Cheryl Reynen and her husband Duane Holub who finally have a roof over their heads, after a fire last winter left them homeless.
Response:
The investigation W-Five conducted was ridiculous. What kind of an “investigation” fails to report the many, many hours of interviews they conducted with the senior management and directors of MasterBuilders, staffers, suppliers, and clients that had great things to say? What kind of balanced reporting is that? Not to mention the hour-long interview with Curtis Malinowski himself. The MasterBuilders staff and Management complied with every request for interviews, followed through, and none were even so much as mentioned.
The truth is, for every unhappy person that dealt with MasterBuilders there are many very happy. Why did they leave the others out and focus on just the one unhappy client? Anyone could find a few unhappy people to come to a pity party or witch-hunt probing an organization national in scope such as MasterBuilders. No national company has a perfect score, and everyone knows that some customers are just not happy people - period. Or, if the client isn’t unhappy, they become unhappy very quickly when the media begins to spin a story. Unfortunately, during supper hour if a client that is having work done sees a news report that paints a brush that is very negative the cycle then continues. Now the media has more clients (victims) to work with. And you can’t blame the client, the only know what’s in the news.
To put MasterBuilders performance record in to perspective, 1/3 of housing clients as reported by the Ontario Home Builders Association reported complaints to the Consumer Protection Branch in recent years. 1/3 formally complained to government industry wide. Why could W5 only find a few unhappy clients? Why is the primary unhappy client in the same industry competing with MasterBuilders? Why did they not report the record of MasterBuilders relative to the industry? The fact is, when the story aired, MasterBuilders had six houses in all of Canada (coast to coast) with a client complaint. Only six complaints for a national builder and the industry standard was 1/3 of the client base.
Why did W5 leave out the lies that W5 told interviewees about each other to get a story? Is that a fraud? Lying to interviewees, to spin a story, to be aired on national TV, aired by private industry (CTV) for profit. Let’s get this straight, the lies captured on email from W5 Producers sent to MasterBuilder’s staff, to create a story for the benefit of boosting viewer-ship for financial gain. If that isn’t fraud in the boldest sense of the word I don’t know what is? Lying (the emails in an attempt to create the story) for the sake of profit (viewer-ship as a result of your story) and deceiving the public (who pay their cable bill) is a bold - in the public’s face fraud, that is fact. And they will never be charged.
“after a fire last winter left them homeless”
The fire mentioned at the beginning of the Holub segment is obviously dramatic media spin to start the story. MasterBuilders had nothing to do with the fire. Cheryl and Duane were not homeless because of MasterBuilders – they were with out house because it burned down prior to their relationship with MasterBuilders. Cheryl and Duane were certainly not homeless with a 100,000.00 RV advertised for sale at the time. Cheryl and Duane had a comprehensive home insurance plan that increased their standard greatly with their new MasterBuilders home. Cheryl and Duane have since attempted to gain profit through their experience in the construction of their home by creating home building guides and contractor software they are marketing on the net.
W-Five:
"That was pretty traumatic," recalls Cheryl. "I mean everything was just gone in a split second. It's probably about the worst thing that anyone could even try to live through"
Response:
Again, this had nothing to do with Curtis Malinowski or MasterBuilders. Media drama. The story was about MasterBuilders and Malinowski not about a fire.
W-Five:
The fire that destroyed their home was bad enough – but things were about to get a whole lot worse.
Response:
How could your situation with your house “get a whole lot worse”, than having your house burn to the ground? Their house burned to the ground!!! And it wasn’t MasterBuilders.
W-Five:
With a little girl to worry about, and winter fast approaching, the family was desperate to rebuild on their property near Sundre, Alberta.
Response:
They forget to mention the 100,000.00 RV sitting for sale. Not to mention, how does this relate to MasterBuilders? The fire and time of year was not MasterBuilders doing.
W-Five:
And they found just the company to do it, or so they thought - an outfit called MasterBuilders, which promised a new house in just 90 days at a guaranteed low price.
And the man making all those promises is the company president, Curtis Malinowski.
"We build houses in 90 days. So from the time that we actually have an order to the time that house is done to the time that we break ground it's 90 days later. It's not 91. It's 90 days," says Malinowski, speaking on a video obtained by W-FIVE of one of his recruiting sessions.
Response:
In the context of the video, Curtis Malinowski is speaking to the RTM (Ready to Move) component of the industry. The Holub home was a stick framed - built on site, custom designed house. It was not an RTM that gets built in a factory compound and shipped. It would be the equivalent of comparing the manufacturing processes of a Semi Truck and a Mini. Of course, W Five didn't note the context.
Also, as a matter of recorded and agreed contract (as used by most reputable builders in the industry), the independent Builder is not responsible for delays caused by things such as client changes. There were many client hold ups with the trades and many changes by the client.
W Five:
But as Cheryl and Duane would soon found out, it was the first of many empty promises. Three months came and went – and no house. In fact the work was so shoddy that building inspector Paul Holmes ordered it stopped.
Response:
What specifically were the empty promises? Only the three-month time frame was mentioned. A video out of context referencing RTM shipments and not a stick framed house does not constitute empty promises to a specific client. Each client has a contract with an independent builder outlining the agreement for sale. How could Curtis in Ontario on an internal training film (never intended for client viewing – in other words it was not a promotional video) speaking to the RTM sector (that builds factory homes) then constitute a promise to a client in Alberta with a stick framed, built on site, custom built house?
Additionally, three months came and went because in on site, custom built - stick framing this is very normal and to be expected. Not to mention the fact that the trades that wouldn’t work on the Holub site after being continuously abused by the Holub’s (letters from trades can be made available).
The stop work order referenced is unfortunately common in construction and does not constitute a bad builder. A bad truss design with a framing crew that doesn’t catch the engineering flaw with a project manager that hasn’t been to site yet to check the work is common.
W-Five:
"They would have had continuous problems with the structure and maybe even collapse," Holmes told W-FIVE.
Response:
Of course there is the potential for problems if there is an engineering problem, it happens all the time. Problems come when dealing with people and certainly construction is no exception.
W-Five:
But rather than fixing the problems, the MasterBuilders "approved" contractor simply walked away and never came back. It all took a huge emotional toll on Cheryl who had to spend months in a cold RV trailer with her young daughter while Duane was away working Alberta's gas wells.
Response:
The builder was not able to work on site because the trades would not go to work on their site. Building trades don’t take well to abusive clients and simply leave the site - rendering the builder / general contractor helpless. Trades are regional, and when they start talking about a “bad deal” it’s really difficult for a client because they will essentially black list the site.
The builder was actually a victim of sort. He accounted for every dime spent in perfect detail and didn’t profit at all for his time and effort. He had to abandon because of the client abuse and seen nothing in return for his efforts.
Additionally, MasterBuilders was not paid a dime for their efforts. Total facilitation time logged by consultants and staff paid by MasterBuilders was in excess of 800 hours trying to get trades to work on site and settle Holub’s disputes with everyone that worked there. Again, with no compensation.
W-Five:
"I was unable to parent my daughter. I was put on low dose Valium and anti- depressants," she said. With no help from MasterBuilders, the couple was forced to find other builders to finish their house.
Response:
MasterBuilders logged over 800 hours with no compensation.
W-Five:
Not what you'd expect from a company president who makes promises like this: "So if one of our crews is 24 hours behind they get a notice. Right now it's 72 hours. A jet flies in. Pulls up. Trades come off. And they take the builder. They pull him off and they replace him. And they get the job done in 90 days," Malinowski claims on a video.
Response:
Yes this is true. MasterBuilders does have Builders that fly around the country as required to keep projects on schedule. This is the reason for very few complaints. MasterBuilders sent a corporate expert builder to the site to assess hands on in this scenario also. The year the Holub home was constructed, hundreds of flights were scheduled by MasterBuilders from coast to coast.
W-Five:
But there was no jet and no new builder for Cheryl and Duane, just a big jump in price of what was supposed to be a $127,000 dollar home.
Response:
That is a flat out lie. MasterBuilders sent a corporate expert builder to the site to assess hands on. The builder completed all required reports and assisted as required.
MasterBuilders did not raise the price of the contract, because they can’t – it isn’t their contract to change.
The price of a home will obviously change if you have to deal with a new contractor to complete the house because nobody for hundreds of miles will finish it. A premium is to be expected. Additionally, the original builder recorded diligently every Holub change order that caused price increases. The records kept by the Builder were impeccable. The Holub’s attempted to manipulate a builder through intimidation and other tactics to get a better price and in affect it back fired because the builder walked and the trades followed. As a result, the site became difficult to get trades to it.
W-Five:
"It cost us just about $40,000 more. It's a huge cost and we're still paying interest," says Cheryl. And they're not alone. Malinowski has managed to convince a long list of unsuspecting Canadians to buy into his illusions - and not just homebuyers, but potential investors as well. Mike Beaman was one of them.
Response:
How is MasterBuilders an illusion? The company created the first ever - only national residential construction network in Canada consisting of trades, builders, mentors, business development officers, dealers, suppliers, a national parade of homes, advertising, etc. Calling MasterBuilders an illusion is an illusion in itself. Creating an illusion on TV is mastery of illusion and it hurts many.
Mike Beaman took on a MasterBuilders Dealership at a low cost of 8995.00. MasterBuilder’s expenses, out of pocket, 30,000.00 to start a dealer, amortized – MasterBuilders invested intensely to get to the point of being able to train new industry recruits like Mike Beaman. Mike Beaman was trained in construction, sales, business, and marketing. Mike Beaman was a function manager at a conference center and prior to MasterBuilders had no construction experience, had no sales knowledge, had no business background, and no marketing expertise. Mike Beaman is now building homes that retail for more than 500,000.00 with margins that exceed 50,000.00.
Mike Beaman left the program, and took client contracts and ran. He owes MasterBuilders many tens of thousands of dollars and has never paid the royalties due or the mentoring fees due. Additionally, Mike Beaman paid in to his own name monies from clients that were under contract to be paid to a builder as a matter of record.
Mike Beaman has great reason to attempt to discredit MasterBuilders before he is held accountable.
W Five:
Mike's dream of being a homebuilder almost ended in disaster after he answered an ad. MasterBuilders was looking for dealers to sell its custom-built homes. For Mike it seemed like the opportunity of a lifetime and he wanted in. "I thought, that I was getting into a big company, and big backing, to help me," he told W-FIVE.
Response:
MasterBuilders was Canada’s only national residential builder with a network coast to coast. As above, Mike Beaman was trained in to the industry by MasterBuilders.
W Five:
Mike was accepted as an official MasterBuilder's dealer and invited to meet with Malinowski himself. "I was in a little bit of a state of awe I guess you'd say. I'm meeting him in his personal suite," recalls Mike.
Response:
Personal suite? The room they were standing in on the video was a 139.00 room that was used for interviews and meetings in Toronto. One of the least expensive meeting rooms you can find in Toronto.
W Five:
All that remained was the payment of a $10,000 franchise fee, a small price to pay, Mike thought, for a career – and a company – about to take off.
Response:
Mike Beaman applied in conjunction with his common law wife. His application was taken in consideration because of her skills in marketing, sales, business, and public relations. Mike Beaman would never have been approved if it were not for her selling the MasterBuilders management an their combined ability.
W Five:
But it wasn't long after Mike found his first homebuyer that things started going wrong. "I was spending more money than I was making and, and the amount of time and labour that was I putting in didn't ever equal what I was being paid back," he recalls.
Response:
Mike Beaman was a function manager at a conference center. Mike Beaman made more off his first home with MasterBuilders than he did working six months at his day job as a function manager.
Mike Beaman, now as an independent builder outside of the MasterBuilders program, has a territory to protect, has stolen from an Authorized Builder, is now a competitor of MasterBuilders, and owes MasterBuilders very large amounts of money.
W Five:
Once again, the "approved" builder never finished the home. That job was left to Mike, along with many of the added expenses.
Response:
Mike Beaman intentionally stone walled the builder and made it very difficult for the builder to finish the last parts of the house because he had a new plan for his enterprise (his dealership). And MasterBuilders wasn’t included in his plan.
Once again, Mike Beaman is now building homes that retail for more than 500,000.00 with margins that exceed 50,000.00. Mike Beaman took client contracts and ran and owes MasterBuilders many tens of thousands of dollars and has never paid the royalties due or the mentoring fees due. Mike Beaman paid in to his own name monies from clients that were under contract to be paid to a builder as a matter of record. Mike Beaman has great reason to attempt to discredit MasterBuilders before he is held accountable.
W Five:
Again, a very different picture painted by Malinowski for new investors on that video obtained by W-FIVE. At one session he tells them about a string of MasterBuilders factories that will soon be churning out ready to move homes. MasterBuilders consolidates supply and trades as it expands according to supply and demand. "Right now we're in Calgary. So it's a fair distance to ship. Um, but we're opening in Edmonton right away. And then very shortly after that, Ontario is opening and then Newfoundland. Kenya, Russia and Germany," Malinowski says.
Response:
In context, this was not a comment referencing RTM homes built in factories, it was a response to a question posed about shipping Structural Insulated Panels (SIPS) to Ontario. At the time the video was shot, MasterBuilders SIPS supply came through Calgary. The Edmonton plant was on the planning table at the time, Ontario still is in planning as is Newfoundland both through independent ownership, Russia does supply, and Kenya and Germany have not come to fruition as of yet. SIP panel construction is readily available world wide essentially and has various distribution channels and formats.
W Five:
Again, more empty talk. There are no MasterBuilders factories spitting out pre-fab homes.
Response:
Lies. At the time the video was shot MasterBuilders SIPS supply came through Calgary. The Edmonton plant was on the planning table at the time, Ontario still is in planning as is Newfoundland both through independent ownership, Russia does supply, and Kenya and Germany have not come to fruition as of yet. Additionally, RTM compounds supplied Dealers product in various areas of the country and stick built construction flourished until the airing of the W5 program.
W Five:
And MasterBuilders is only one Malinowski company. There's also Joppa Development, World Dream Builders, Shapes for Life, a health club franchise. There's even an airline. His slick websites suggest connections to big companies like Home Depot, which told us they've never heard of MasterBuilders or Malinowski.
Response:
Home Depot is listed under a category called “Design Links” on the MasterBuilders website (www.masterbuilderscanada.com), the section is used to assist clients with design ideas when planning their home. How does this suggest connections to big companies like Home Depot? Additionally, MasterBuilders independent builders buy from Home Depot every day. Of course nobody could search it in a computer because they are independent builders under the MasterBuilders umbrella. Perhaps the person W5 spoke to was new, or perhaps there was no one at all (they didn’t mention a name or store location).
W Five:
It's all just an electronic façade used to create the image, the illusion, of a huge conglomerate.
Resonse:
Liable.
W Five:
Here's another of Malinowski's whoppers caught on tape: "So it's a big group of companies now and there's it's happening a little faster than I can keep track of but there's something like 70 to 80 on the waiting list now," he claims.
Response:
Quantify big. At the time of the video there were more than 80 companies on the business development cocooning-list. If the housing industry, land assembly, trades, builders, dealers, suppliers being consolidated nationally, an airline in development stages, construction subsidiaries, etc. isn’t big then W5 is a credible news source and the aren’t just a rag.
W-Five:
And there's a long line of people ready to believe Malinowski's big promises, like a woman we call Jane, who is now so scared of Malinowski she asked us to hide her identity.
Response:
Long line? How about the hundreds you mentioned at the beginning of your "news program"? Why only one?
Jane is a woman that was a personal family friend of the Malinowski’s. Jane’s sister moved to Saskatoon, attended a Christian college, attended their Church, and Jane was mentored personally for more than 1500 hours by Curtis Malinowski. Jane failed and didn’t perform and made it everyone else’s fault. The media wave created an easy out for Jane to blame her failure on Curtis.
Scared of Malinowski? Then why would a readily identifiable woman go on national TV with such a get up? If it was Malinowski she was afraid of – the get up didn’t do it. Perhaps more media drama inserted there?
W Five:
"It's literally devastated my family and my personal life. It's drained everything from us physically, financially, mentally, emotionally," Jane told W-FIVE.
Response:
Jane is on record stating exactly the same thing about other things in her past when she entered the corporation.
What devastated their family and personal life? How did “it” drain her? Something specific would help.
W Five:
As a so called Business Development Officer, or BDO, her job was to find recruits – she'd get a commission for each one she signed up - willing to buy into one of Malinowski's franchise schemes. To become one of Malinowski's BDO's Jane had to pay $30,000 up front and promise to pay Malinowski a whole lot more down the road out of future commissions. "The agreement totaled about $650,000 that I had to pay to Joppa Business Development," she says.
Response:
Industry standard commissions are the same. Business Development Officers are a standard position in a business development firm. Jane's business purchase price is confidential under contract.
W Five:
But just like Mike Beaman, Jane believed it was a small price to pay for the opportunity to make millions and the chance to be a player in one of Malinowski's games. As one of his senior salespersons, Jane sold a group of investors on another of Malinowski's franchises – health clubs called Shapes for Life. She thought her recruits would get the real thing: a health club franchise, exercise equipment and lots of support for their new business.
"I also thought it was very exciting helping them… build their dreams of businesses and business opportunities," says Jane. Again, it all turned out to be an illusion. After dishing out their franchise fees most of her recruits got nothing in return – no equipment, none of the promised support. Instead of making money Jane was out thousands.
Response:
Jane earned a very healthy income relative to performance. Her owner / operators got exactly what they paid for to the penny. Why is there no substantiation to the claims made? Where are the people that got burned?
W Five
"In the grand scheme of things you know I was more of a puppet working for Curtis," she says. Even the name – Shapes for Life – was in dispute. Another health club sued Malinowski, claiming he stole their name and just this week a court in Winnipeg issued a temporary injunction ordering Malinowski to stop using that name.
Response:
There are 14 different entities that use the name Shapes. This is in the courts. The firm they are referring to operate in Manitoba, Shapes for Life never did or have intention to enter the Manitoba market. Companies with similar names from different industries or parts of the country are common.
W Five:
Investor after investor has been charmed, taken in, by the image of a successful international company and convinced to hand over tens of thousands of dollars for the promise of big bucks down the road.
But as W-FIVE looked closer into MasterBuilders and into Curtis Malinowski's other companies what we found were not going concerns, but a series of corporate facades.
Response:
MasterBuilders coast to coast construction with Parade of Homes and the LandBank with 260 land development files in its WIP consolidating land deals with dealers, builders, trades, staff, BDO’s, mentors, management, etc and real houses being built is no facade. W Five even showed them being built!!!
As far as the start up cost to become a dealer, it cost much more than the 9000.00 invested to start a dealer and MasterBuilders was the investor.
W Five:
In 1999 Malinowski started up a string of hearing aid companies and sent out letters to hundreds of elderly people like Gerald and Jean Herriman of Longview, Alberta.
Response:
The Hearing Associates sent 10.7 million letters in 1999 and 2000. It changed the industry and sold as a company five times what the industry did all put together in some market areas. Now the industry operates with the business model The Hearing Associates pioneered. They changed the industry almost over night. A few people unhappy in such an environment would be reality not a fraud.
W Five:
"We thought it was the government," said Jean. "You know from our local health authorities." But it was Malinowski, not health authorities, selling $5,000 hearing aids. Most either broke or didn't work at all.
Response:
Malinowski did not sell them personally. Yes Hearing aids start at 500.00 and go to 7000.00 in the industry – The Hearing Associates sold them at the same price everyone else did.
Most either broke or didn’t work at all? What kind of a statement is that? Do you have any evidence? What an absurd comment. The Hearing Associates sent millions of letters not hundreds, and if you change an industry overnight a few people are going to have problems with their product.
W Five:
"Actually in the hearing aid itself it had a hole in it. Then the second one went, too," Jean told us.
Response:
Of course, hearing aids are brittle instruments that require care.
W Five:
Malinowski was charged under the Alberta Fair Trading Act with misleading consumers. He pleaded guilty and was ordered to pay restitution and a $1,000 fine.
Response:
Stealing bubble gum is worth a 1000.00 fine. Did W5 check in to how it was that 1000.00 was arrived at and paid? Lets put it this way, if you were prosecuting Malinowski and spent millions chasing someone that wasn’t doing anything wrong and came up with ZERO, well you get the picture. Why would the fine be 1000.00 for almost one hundred charges? Makes you wonder if the charges were valid - no? How can you charge a man with just under one hundred charges and have only ONE guilty plea at the rate of Bubble Gum fraud? Something is wrong with that obviously. The government should admit it. They were uncomfortable with a man that changed an industry over night (the same one the government competes in).
The same or similar laws used against Curtis Malinowski have been used for years against corporate leaders and were used against Bill Gates, Air Canada, Donald Trump, and many-many more. In fact, at least 30% of corporate Canada or the US has run in to the Fair Trading Laws or Consumer Protection Laws. It is not only COMMON and NORMAL, it happens every day in industry. Simply pick up the Globe and Mail, look in the business section on any give day and you will find house hold large companies dealing with exactly the same laws.
W Five:
"I think he should've probably should've went to jail for a while. Think about what he's been doing to the seniors," says Gerald.
Response:
Go to jail for what? He never sold you the hearing aid. He was busy changing an industry. You bought it from someone Curtis didn’t even know.
Think about what he’s been doing to the seniors? Thousands hear better and have a better quality of life because they changed the hearing industry. Put a guy in jail for advancing the hearing of thousands upon thousands? What the heck is that? Put him in jail because there is a whole in your hearing aid?
All this toxic-media drama and being charged just shy of one hundred times because of a hole in a hearing aid and the like???
W Five:
But Malinowski didn't stop there. By 2000 he'd gone from hearing aids to homes. His first building company, Stetna, supposedly made pre-fabricated houses.
Response:
Supposedly? Stetna did build pre-fabricated houses – you showed the Stetna building yard right in your clip. Why would you say supposedly if you just showed a clip of its existence?
W Five:
It was in a corner of a Saskatoon build yard that Malinowski first created the illusion of a reputable builder. According to the police, he took people's money up front, rarely paid his suppliers and never, had any intention of finishing the houses.
Response:
How do you create the illusion of a reputable builder by starting an RTM factory and investing millions? Isn’t that just what it is? Money was received in to trust on construction draws per the sales agreements like any other builder. Suppliers were paid, that’s how houses got built. And for not having the intent of finishing the houses... he didn’t do bad considering every last house got finished (every last one the clients that allowed them to finish anyway - once again the media created the story based on one compliant and the clients panic and then it must be fraud and the police investigate and then victims are truely created because the business collapses under the stress of the circumstance.)
W Five:
In March, 2005, Saskatoon police laid 15 fraud charges against Malinowski for bilking his Stetna victims out of half a million dollars. Staff Sgt. Wally Romanuck of the Commercial Crimes unit says Malinowski deserves a lengthy jail term if he's convicted.
Response:
Bilking? Half a million? It wasn't 2005 it was years prior. Originally, media and police reports were 3.2 million, then it was 2.7 million, then 2.3 million, then 1.2 million, now 500,000.00. Let me guess, if it goes on six more months it will be 250,000.00 or less - much less.
W Five:
"Because this person is ruthless. He doesn't hurt anybody physically, however financially he creates a real hardship on his victims," says Romanuck.
Response:
Ruthless? Ruthless is charging someone for a multi million dollar fraud and having nothing to show for it years later – ripping their family apart and having everyone across the country question their morals, ethics, integrity, honesty, etc. Ruthless? What is their definition of rutheless? If there was a fraud then they could show an intent to defraud. In the case of the hearing aids there was nothing shown. Will this be the same? Did all those people have to suffer as a result of ... what?
W Five:
We wondered how Malinowski does it. How does he convince so many people to put their trust and their money into his hands? With Mike, it was a dream of being a builder. With Jane, it was faith.
Response:
Mike is a builder now – actually he told MasterBuilders he only wanted to be a Dealer. Of course the Builder part didn’t come out until he was fully trained and he seized his chance.
Jane was a close family friend to the Malinowski family. The Malinowski family poured their lives in to Jane’s family. Pure and simple.
W Five:
"He used religion and he actually insinuated that we were going to be bringing God into the business world," says Jane. He's a chameleon, pretending to be like that person or have similar morals or values or ideals and gains their trust."
Response:
His faith should have nothing to do with this. Although, if there is a God, then I'm sure he's already in the business world and Malinowski wouldn't have to bring him in.
W Five
W-FIVE had a lot of questions we wanted to put to the elusive Curtis Malinowski. We reached someone who sounded like him by phone, but we were hung up on. So we dropped by a prestigious Vancouver office building listed on his websites as MasterBuilders world headquarters. But what we found was nothing more than an answering service.
Response:
It was never listed as a world headquarters – it was listed as the Canadian Corporate Office mailing address and international call center. Vancouver was MasterBuilders international call center (call answering that gets routed to various regional facilities), training center (as many have experienced), and corporate board and management meeting destination. Management work from regionally centered locations coast to coast.
Elusive? Malinowski was interviewed for more than an hour and offered W5 a tour of corporate operations and systems through out Canada.
W Five:
A W-FIVE producer finally caught up with Malinowski in the parking lot of the Christian Centre where he's a well-known regular. But Malinowski slammed his car door on her just as he's done on so many others.
Response:
If he is a well-known regular at a Church and has time for almost nothing in a life with hundreds of flights per year - is it possible that he may be genuine? He and his children were asked to leave the Church following the w5 “news” program.
W Five:
"Everything's lies. There's no support for the dealers making contracts. There's no support for homeowners. There's no support for real builders. There's nothing. He sells the name. That's it," says Cheryl Reynen.
Cheryl Reynen received thousands upon thousands of invested hours from MasterBuilders with out a dime paid.
Response:
Yes, MasterBuilders is a name and business system like any other licensing organization. For example: Virgin cellular. They have no cellular towers for their cellular phones, they use/license the industries towers. They are a name and a business system. The business model is common.
Summary:
This is a story about the heart of entrepreneurship and the result of people being inspired to something greater. It is a story about a gift to inspire, a gift to see something out side of the box and go about re engineering it.
Each person or entity in this story has a motivation.
• Cheryl and Duane Holub used the legal system to rape a builder and company of profit.
• Cheryl and Duane Holub are using the media system (or being used by) to further their enterprise.
• Cheryl and Duane Holub are using the situation to come against a perceived faith.
• Mike Beaman is driven by greed. He stole a business and profits and is protecting his turf. Mike Beaman does not know how to handle a little bit of knowledge.
• Jane is a BDO that was inspired to something greater that failed to perform that blames it on everybody else. Jane is a self-professed person of faith attacking a person of perceived faith.
• W5 has spun / created a story for the almighty buck at the expense of those in the story and the hundreds of families affected by the devastating after math of a business collapsing. The media in general has created a public person and continuously tears at his efforts and it affects many.
• The justice system have to create a criminal or they were wrong for tearing down a family, blowing millions of tax-payers dollars, and greatly assisted in the demise of a company which ultimately hurt hundreds of people.
• Mr. Malinowski “is” someone that “sees” outside of the box and has created and pioneered many efforts that have seen fruit.
The end of this story will be a changed industry - whether it is Curtis Malinowski or MasterBuilders that sees it to completion – it is already a foregone conclusion. The model has been re engineered, and that re engineered seed has been planted in to an industry that has no choice but to change because the new model is fundamentally superior and is driven through inspiration to something greater. This is a story consistent with the advancement of the human condition, told time and time again. As the founder of Oracle has said, and many other re engineering minds have reiterated, “be prepared for EVERYONE to tell you that you are nuts.”
The real question is whether Malinowski should give in to the pounding and put down the gifts that are given to him to call the dogs of war off? Or... should those really accountable for the facade be brought to task?
The same question remains, if Malinowski committed these accused frauds why does just under a hundred charges turn out one guilty plea and why does over 3 million in construction fraud turn in to a tenth or worse a percent?
Who is really creating the illusion?
You are.
Umm, I think it's up to three guilty pleas now -
Curtis, you also plead guilty in the Stetna scams, right, (your wife got off) and the stealing of somone else's name - the Winnipeg Shapes people - you plead guilty to that too.
You're lookin' pretty guilty there boy. Try pleading innocent if you're not guilty.
Get a real job like everybody else.
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