Goldstone Attacker is Confessed Felon

In happier days: Richard & Rochelle Maize posing with Hollywood producer, Brian Grazer

Thanks for reader Robin for exposing the seamy legal past of Richard Maize, confessed real estate broker-fraudster, who has funded what apparently is a personal crusade against the Goldstone Report replete with fake Israeli NGOs and websites which I’ve written about here.

Those of us here in the States have heard scores of stories in the past few months about greedy mortgage brokers and lenders who contributed to the country’s economic meltdown by inflating the value of properties and convincing lenders to lend them money based on the fraudulent valuations. This is precisely what Maize did in his heyday, and Lehman Bros., one of the victims of the meltdown, was his willing (though perhaps unwitting) partner in this according to an FBI press release that announced his plea bargain. In it, he confessed to five felony counts in order to avoid a possible 98-year prison sentence:

…In United States District Court in Los Angeles, federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against Richard A. Maize, 53, of Beverly Hills. Maize, a co-founder of Americorp Funding, a mortgage banking company with offices in West Los Angeles and Pasadena, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and loan fraud, three counts of bank fraud and one count of making a false statement on a federal tax return.

In a plea agreement also filed today, Maize agreed to plead guilty to the five felony counts…

Maize booked more than $245-million in mortgages for his employer in 2002 alone. The FBI blames him for at least $18-million in fraud and he agreed to pay $2.75-million in restitution.

It’s certainly no accident that Maize established his family foundation just after his legal troubles arose. This is a common practice with the world’s n’er-do-wells. They seek to compensate for the evils they do by spreading a few philanthropic dollars to take the sting out of their infamy. Maize apparently did this on the very cheap. The first year his charity operated it had a mere $22,500 in assets. Hardly a serious gesture from a confessed felon seeking to whiten his reputation. It’s ironic that we have this fake PR campaign against the Goldstone Report thanks to the economic debacle into which people like Richard Maize got this country.

If you add to this that the “philanthropist” has hooked up with Joel Leyden, a rightist Israeli PR consultant who has helped him establish an NGO that milks the good name of the legitimate Association for Civil Rights in Israel (Maize-Leyden’s outfit is the Association for Human Rights in Israel), it’s a fine mess the two have gotten themselves into.

What I don’t know is whether there may be an Israeli government client behind this operation as well since the foreign ministry (one of Leyden’s PR clients) has established its own mis-information campaign attacking Goldstone, replete with online attack-advertising just like Maize’s.

Don’t get me wrong–even confessed felons are entitled to political opinions. But one would think given their past they would promote their views in an ethical manner. But given his past, we shouldn’t be at all surprised that Maize is continuing to engage in fraud of a different sort.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Tags: attack goldstone report, convicted mortgage broker, joel leyden, richard maize felon, X association for human rights in israel fake ngo

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 24th, 2009 at 4:43 PM and is filed under Mideast Peace, Politics & Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Goldstone Attacker is Confessed Felon”

Robin says:

October 24, 2009 at 9:52 PM

I gave the foundation too much financial credit Richard, I added up the numbers wrong! The foundation gave $3250 to four different charities, not $4250 in fiscal year 2007 (October 2007-October 2008 per their corporation filing which sets the filing date for the 990)

Also, take a look at their 990. There is a question concerning hours per week devoted to the officer’s position of the foundation. Both Rochelle and Richard Maize wrote ZERO hours per week spent in their positions as president (Rochelle) and secretary (Richard)

(I guess I’m missing something here, ZERO hours per week spent as officers but so much work done during this time period!)

Please note the source of these articles about this foundation, they are all PRESS release sources that can be used by any entity to submit their account of something to. It is PUBLIC RELATIONS.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ll say it again, this whole thing looks like a PR campaign on behalf of Richard Maize, put the word out there on the WONDERFUL things his FOUNDATION is doing. Note again, I am not stating here that Rochelle and Richard Maize are not involved in charitable works, but what’s up with all this PR about the FOUNDATION when the 990 for 2007 (10/07-10/08) is piddly burgers.? ZERO piddly burger hours per week spent per the foundation’s own filing.

Ooh, here’s Linked in, notice it’s the same person, notice the two different “industries”

• Greater Los Angeles Area
• Philanthropy
Richard Maize

View full profile | Contact Richard Maize
• Greater Los Angeles Area
• Financial Services
rich maize
Owner at americorp funding

View full profile | Contact rich maize

Currently: Owner at americorp funding

So Richard Maize’s new linked in profile which is SELF submitted lists “philanthropy” as his industry. Amazing how a self-confessed criminal morphed into a “philanthropist” right before our eyes.

Reply