I said I wouldn't write much about law here but there's going to be those times ... this is one.
There's a guy named Steve Delaportas who seems to have previously worked in the food business. Somehow, he wound up as the manager for Brian Welch, the former Korn member who underwent a very public religious conversion a few years ago. They started a media company called Fortitude planning movies, music, etc.
One of my clients, Skinlab, got caught up in this when Crash Music tried to assign their recording contract to Fortitude. After doing some research, I found that Delaportas, the CEO of Fortitude, was a recently convicted felon, as part of a bankruptcy fraud. He's also on the losing end of a pair of $2,000,000 judgments. One's from a Colorado federal court, the other's from a Wisconsin federal court. I've got copies of the orders in the latter-when I get time to convert 'em to .pdfs and upload, I'll make 'em available. It's pretty clear the federal judge thought Delaportas was a crook.
Delaportas has also been sued a whole mess of times in Arizona civil court for various nonpayments. Go here to search 'em out:
http://www.clerkofcourt.maricopa.gov/
Just click on "find a case" on the left side, then "Civil Cases" and then "Case History". I found this history courtesy of some random stranger that modified the attached Wikipedia page. Note that it's the page for the word "Shyster". Look under "Other Uses". I'm guessing it's someone else who was cheated by Delaportas and I'm grateful for whoever it is putting that up there-it led me to find the other evidence and kept Skinlab from making a massive mistake.
Anyway, word out of Arizona is that Welch has figured out what I and Skinlab already knew-that Delaportas isn't someone to be trusted. If you run into this guy, keep your hands on your wallet.
29 comments:
Hi there.
I was the recording engineer at Fortitude for about 6 months - until I didn't get a paycheck for about 8 weeks. I held on, under Steve's promises that money was coming (never did), and made my last dollar stretch as far as it would go. *Then* I realized it was over when I saw the former employees from his food company picketing outside Fortitude's gate. He told me he "had a vision from God" the previous night, that told him to fire all 58 of his employees, without prior notice... or payment.
Thanks for this info, I've been trying to gather some rhyme or reason to this mess ever since.
The food industry is littered with companies Delaportas ripped off. He used to broker imitation cheese to a number of companies including Wal-Mart. He'd pocket the cash and then not pay his suppliers. He also stolen equipment and inventory off Northern Wisconsin Produce. I can't believe the guy isn't in jail.
WELL THAT SUCKS! I KNOW STEVE PERSONALLY AND THE MAN DID DO ALL THIS STUFF ! THE MAN I KNOW IS DOING ALL HE CAN TO NOT ALLOW HIMSELF TO REPEAT THESE ACTIONS. PEOPLE SUCK WHEN IT COMES TO THINGS LIKE GREED AND DISHONESTY! THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THINGS WE DO JUST AN OBVIOUS ABSCENSE OF JESUS CHRIST IN OUR LIFE IF WE CHOOSE TO COMMIT CRIMES AGAINST OTHERS. I LOVE STEVE , SIMPLY PUT STEVE HAS GONE TO ALL LENGTHS TO ENSURE MY SOBRIETY AND FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST. GOD BLESS YOU ALL WHO HAVE BEEN HURT BY STEVE'S ACTIONS IN THE PAST.
I worked at Arizona Management Company in Phoenix Arizona from September 2005 until March 2006. I personally witnessed Steve Delaportas and Lisa Butkowietz ruin many peoples lives. Most notibly, I was in charge of entering items into Brian 'Head' Welchs personal checking account quickbooks. I know for a fact that Lisa and Steve BOTH embezzeled money, ALOT of money from Brian. When I went to my boss about this he informed me that Brian had invested in Arizona Management Company. However, I can assure you that Brian new NOTHING about the hundreds of personal checks Steve and Lisa BOTH wrote out of Brian's checking account! At that point it made me sick to even be there and I started looking for a new job but before I had a chance to resign Steve called me into his office and 'let me go' because I was not 'loyal' to him anymore! Steve Delaportas is a true con man. I personally bought numerous plane tickets for Steve and Lisa to travel to India, China and Croatia. I worked there for 7 months and never once saw any income! The employees had to worry every two weeks if we were going to get a paycheck. I was there when Steve fired all the employees and I can tell you it wasn't because he had a 'vision' it was because he had stolen all the money from Brian that he could and he had no money to pay anyone. He drained his parents bank account dry, his father was a true sweet heart. The fact is Steve Delaportas and Lisa Butkowietz care about nobody but themselves and to top it all off, LIsa is an absolute BITCH! I have never seen anyone be as mean as she was to the employees! Oh yeah, they are racist too! I just don't know why he isn't in prison, his parents paid for his lawyers, Steve even still lives with his mom and dad in Phoenix!!! I believe there is a nice place in Hell for Lisa and Steve!
Congratulations Benjamin on your sobriety and faith, sadly you are dealing with a person that has lied and taken advantage of many, many individuals and companies, these posts are just a taste of the disaster that Delaportas has created in people's lives. Steve is an intelligent and calculating con-artist that will stop at nothing to get what he wants, he is a wolf in sheep's clothing and he will never EVER change, may God have mercy on your foolish soul Benjamin for trusting Mr. Delaportas, for it is simply a matter of time before he ends up betraying you too.
Yeah... one of my friends posted that using my sign-in information...
I don't know the man too well myself.
We wish there was more information on the web about Steve Delaportas so that people could be warned about this guy. He is still scaming money out of people. Now he is even a "pastor" and runs several ministries and buildings (don't know in who's name). So many people are being taken by this guy. We hope that the law gets a hold of him again since he is in parole and puts him in jail where he can finally stop taking good people for everything they are worth. Never encountered anyone like this guy, an incredible scam artist and smiles all the way to the bank!
To the comment re: Lisa, your facts are a quite a skewed considering Lisa had nothing to do with Steve and Brian's partnership or financial dealings. What they did was between them. Steve and Brian were partners, not her! Also, FYI I know her and she never went to China or India in her life!
Marie, I can assure you that Lisa Marie was completely involved in every facet of AZ Management and Fortitude. She did in fact make those overseas trips because I made the plane reservations!!! She is a bitch, thief, hypocrit and complete piece of shit. I was the bookkeepper for Brians bank account and I can assure you Lisa Marie did in fact sign her name to Brian's checks AND made checks out to herself. See the bank that he banked with sent copies of all the checks with the bank statements. If you are indeed Lisa Marie's 'friend' you must be the one and only friend because I NEVER have come across another person alive who even remotely liked her. She was a bitch to everyone one of her employees! I hate her, I hate Steve Delaportas and I hate their entire family. And you know what, pay back is a bitch and they will ALL get there's, GOD will get them ALL one day!!!!!
Marie, did you also 'not' know that Lisa and Steve were lovers??? Oh yeah, she went to Croatia also, i know this because she made their lawyer come in on New Years Eve to make the plane reservations. Bitch, I hope they both go to Hell!!
I was hired to computerize the accounting for Az Management and about nine other LLC's for Steve and his mother. This was before Head was even a an unwitting member of the Delaportas deception machine. I was hired to create legal accounting records and procedures. For example Computerized record keeping, tax licensing, etc. It was never to happen and it never could happen because Steve wouldn't provide receipts, credit card statements, bank statements. I was also hired to do payroll for a number of different companies and his mother would never let me actually process payroll. She did it if you were even lucky enough to actually get paid that is. Anyone who ever worked with or for Steve D can attest to the fact that you NEVER knew if you would actually get paid. It was so disconcerting working in that office. He had pending fake cheese lawsuits, hostile take overs of butcher and recording studio business partners lives, and even had a nice guy named BOB facing hard jail time for bankruptcy fraud charges. Nothing but dirty business. I wasn't there long but it didn't take MUCH from an experienced eye to see Steve was doing dirty dirty business. At first I was trying desperately to get things running properly but in short order it became transparent Steve wasn't a law abiding business man. The end of my employment story could have been written by lovesnikkisixx. When I began computerizing records for Head and questioning his nanny about the massive AMOUNT of Head's money shifting through the various Cover/Fake companies owned by Steve and his BITCH lover Lisa, Steve in pure scumbag style had his equally shady cousin confiscate all of my personal records, lock me out and then bring in his attorney to escort me out and tell me my services were no longer needed. In the name of God, Steve D undertook to ruin so many peoples lives without REGARD. He is inhuman greedy scum. Every single asset of Head's that Delaportas had access to and ANYONE else stupid enough to let Steve have access to wound up totally depleted. It is no surprise when on a whim I find myself here today reading these stories I could have written myself. I do believe karma and justice will find its way to Steve and Lisa.
Dear AZ Management Bookkeepper: I know who you are and I was soooooooo sorry when you were 'let go' the way you were. I was there the morning Greg (their lawyer) fired you and everyone was told that they fired you because 'someone' had come across some instant messages between you and (the little short chubby nice guy, I can't remember his name now, he had the middle office), that was their reason for firing you! You got out at a good time, cause I can assure you things got much worse after you left. I hope all is well with you, as it is with me! Oh yeah, Steve and Lisa caused "bob" so many problems he had a heart attack! He's alive, but barely!!
Little Sadie, I was happy to leave that madness. Although its never nice to be asked to leave and have your personal effects confiscated, I was GRATEFUL to be gone from there. Did you work with me directly? In the Arizona Management Office? I see that after a few ACC searches his Attorney and his Attorney's girlfriend are now fronting all these farce LLC and Corps and you can almost BET Steve D is behind them still praising God and Fucking people over in the same BREATH. Good riddance. I kept waiting for the big release of Shadowmancer :D All that Eastern Indian investment money Steve BRAGGED about without end must never have come through and I bet any and all Head's money Steve had access to is all LONG gone by now. Shame he's not in prison. But I am not here to sit in judgment of him. Not my job I believe if he continues to make a mockery of Love and Friendship and good business the justice he receives will be most painful, if it isn't already. I noticed he has slipped off the internet radar. So either he's hiding or completely defunct. I hope your well LittleSadie I think I know who you are too, not sure completely but wishing you all that is good nevertheless. The guy's name is Rich we used to IM between offices A LOT. He was a good man who like myself, I believe tried desperately, in vain, to legitimize Deleportas. Do you know what happened to him!?
Dear AZ Bookkeeper: I'm not afraid to say who I am, I'm Stacy the "Executive Assistant". And yes, Steve and Lisa COMPLETELY drained head's bank account. After you left, their attorney GS put me in charge of Head's bookkeeping. I could not believe the money Lisa and Steve were stealing from him. I brought it up to GS and he of course covered for them and said that Head had 'invested' in AZ Management Company and I said, "Well I find it hard to believe that Head would have wanted to finance the ENTIRE operation". GS knew, that I knew what was going down. They fucked over soooooooooo many people!!!!! The India guys (merchandising I think) NEVER got paid anything. They kept calling and Steve's mom kept telling them she had 'wired' them the money. She was giving them a false 'wire number' I mean they kept this lie going for months! I felt so sorry for the India guy. Then Steve came in one day and said God had spoken to him the night before and he let everyone in the accounting department go! The ends to Steve and Lisa's lies and greediness is unbelievable! They stole from every single person they came in contact with. Thier attorney GS, I found him on myspace, he is managing head now, yeah go figure. I spent soooo many months their unhappy and miserable because i knew what was going on, I was looking and looking for a job and couldn't find one. I was so miserable that it did not go unnoticed and I was not quiet about the fact that I did not approve of what they were doing. So I was 'let go' for not being loyal!! AS for Rich, I can never remember his name, we kept in touch for a long time, he is a wonderful man. I moved away from Phoenix last August 2008 back to Indiana, his son is a pharmacy tech at the CVS on Bell, he said his father was doing really well and that he had gotten a management position at Fry's grocery store and that he was doing great. If it were not for Rich, I probably would have had a nervous break down while working there. He helped me through so much of the guilt that I felt because of the stuff Lisa and Steve were doing and I felt helpless to do anything about. I had planned on telling Head EVERYTHING but ironically the day I got let go, he had his cell phone number changed and I was never able to get ahold of him. However, he does know now that Steve and Lisa took EVERYTHING from him. They left him with thousands and thousands of dollars in bills!!!!!! After I was let go, their attorney, GS (we were good friends for a while) asked me if I would help him and a doctor friend of his start a cleaning business. They bought me a computer and I did 100's of hours of work opening this cleaning business. I was always concerned that after I did all the work to open the business that they would let me go after I did all the hard work. GS PROMISED me that if that happened he would personally pay me 1 months salary ($3000), guess what happened???? I got let go the minute I had EVERYTHING for the business started. And no I NEVER got one penny from GS and it devistated me financially. Not getting that $3,000.00 pretty much bankrupted me. I ended up working as a waitress for about a year at the Elephant Bar in Scottsdale. In January 2008, I had an accident at work and broke my left hip severely. I had 3 operations and was never able to go back to work. Arizona fucked me over again by me loosing my worker's comp case so I had to move back to Indiana because I was not able to pay my rent. I came back to Indiana, got my old job back and I'm really happy now. I will NEVER forget what Steve and Lisa did to so many people and obviously you and I aren't the only people they fucked over!! I only hope that their is justice and one day they will BOTH get theirs! True evil like those two has to have some consequence either now or in death!!!
I would be interested in hearing from anyone with information on Steven Delaportas or Greg Shanaberger. You can email me directly at ddowns@cmpbglaw.com.
Thank you
Well, I ran into your buddy Steve Delaportas the other day. He recognized me and said hello with a big smile, acting just like he'd never done anything to hurt anyone. He has long hair in a ponytail now. So I learned that now he works for this guy David Turner. David Turner has this "ministry" called David Turner International Ministries. I am always shocked by the ego trip of these so called christian "ministers" always naming their "ministries" after themselves, somehow I doubt Jesus would have had "Jesus Christ Ministries" lol.
Anyway, David Turner's website is http://www.davidturnerministries.org/ - apparently he is some sort of faith healer (a well-known confidence scam), perhaps he is a con-artist like Steve as well?
I also got the just that David Turner is paying Steve Delaportas some sort of salary to work for him. He also works for David Turner for his business, David Turner owns a company called sun tree ( http://www.suntreellc.com/ ) and another company called southwest commodities ( http://www.swcomm.com/ ). I wonder what these two are up to, if David Turner is just an innocent bystander and about to get conned or a con artist himself. Seems a shame to scam ordinary people out of money after making them think they are healed or something, that by itself is a sort of con job.
Pretending to be a christian (and a pastor at that! he told me he was an ordained minister!) is a shame and a disgrace to that religion, which already gets enough bad press. I am not a religious person, but I respect people and their beliefs. However, too many people get away with too much by just saying they are "christian" and then use that as a cover for what they are doing so you won't question it.
Steve is a man that wants to do good, but is a recovering crime addict that keeps relapsing - I know...because I am the same. Sort of like a vampire that wants to be normal, but needs blood to servive.
"Friend"
I don't know a whole lot about Steve, just finding out what a snake he is but saw a post about him teaming up with David Turner. This guy is a piece of work. Apparently claims to be some holly roller and then doesn't pay his bills. Shame using religion to be a complete sleeze ball.
I'd like to know more about the connection between David Turner and Steve Delaportas, Nutracea, and Suntree LLC. Turner just held three nights of meetings at a local hotel in Glendale, running an ad that said a lady's leg grew. Is Steve still with Turner? Email me at johndoe5213@gmail.com
David Turner is an individual that donates a very large portion of his proceeds and supports indian children by the 1000's please do research before making hurtfull assumptions.
He is a personal friend of mine and a role model for us all.
He now has a new company, and is evading backruptsy, by having his business in his new wifes name Charlene Delaportas, where they live in multi million dollar house.
I would like to know if anyone has information in regards to the connection between David Turner and Glen Kerby. Also, any information on names of other business involvements David Turner has or in other peoples names. Also, does David Turner still drive a Maserati?
Steve Delaportas is the biggest crook I have ever met. He is a con-man from the word go....He will suck you in take your money and run. Steve does not care about other people only money and how much he can screw you out of. As I post this message he is screwing someone out of money. He is still in the food business selling nuts/dried fruits, frozen fruit and a few other items. He take the money and does not pay broker, accounts are suppliers. He is in bed with Mike Oxford who owns Oxford Retirement and Mike Oxford is a invester in Steve's Company TDG & Associates. Why can this man not be stopped?? He should be under the jail for all the unhanded thing he dose in business.
Looks like Steve Delaportas and David Turner had a falling out. Suntree is suing Steve Delaportas. I think we all knew that the two crooks were not going to last long together!!!!
I'm not sure anyone is reading this anymore. But I'd like to hear more. Please email me at attyjoelbellis@gmail.com
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