TSR The Full & Glorious History of NuTSR

MichaelSomething said:

Is it anything other than an asset shuffle to protect his stuff from WOTC's lawyers???

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That's what the cynic in me says.

Deset Gled said:

I haven't found anything too suspicious so far. Justin started this new LLC at the same time that he put another one of his retail properties in Wilmington, NC up for rent. That's a pretty logical business move; renting though the LLC removes a lot of personal liability. I have sometimes wondered why he didn't have an LLC for his real estate stuff before, but I think that's pretty easily explained by a lack of knowledge/experience/intelligence coupled with a bit of arrogance and the fact that simply didn't want to deal with the overhead costs and paperwork.

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But that's not how you do it. For this scenario you would use a holding company that does nothing but own the asset, and you would act on the company's behalf to secure tenants etc. And yes, it is possible he just wants to start a new business in familiar territory with no dubious intentions.

Setting up an actual real estate and mortgage brokering company comes with a ton of extra work and liability. Justin's various media appearances mention that he's a real estate broker but I can't find any evidence of him working as such in the past 15 years (admitted NC does geolocation lock me out of the registries etc)

Since 31 July 2009, the state of North Carolina has required brokers to renew their licenses annually and currently the cost about $1,250. A company that wants to operate as a mortgage broker is required to put up a surety bond (minimum of $75,000 - though I can't find the specifics on the rules for those). Mortgage brokers usually only charge about 1% plus fees, so to make back your bond and fees you need to push through millions in mortgages.

Also, it doesn't say "brokering services available", it says "partial finance available" which raises a few red flags for me since I am old enough to remember what happened the year before that regulation came in. A substantial factor of the Subprime Mortgage Crisis was brokers and small mortgage lenders setting up people on mortgages with teaser rates, etc then selling it on to a major bank (to be packaged into a mortgage bond).

Without getting into the weeds on how securities work, there are a lot of ways that a mortgage broker who operates in a manner we have come to expect of Justin LaNasa can exploit being both the seller of the property and the financier (in part or in full) - and very little else his firm can theoretically do at the moment with the set up he has.

It is also worrying because while it was a way that you could get very rich, very fast, provided you didn't care about what happened to either the people buying the houses of the people who bought the mortgage - regulations have tightened up substantially since 2008. The potential for shenanigans is approximately equal to that which we've seen with the trademark, with Justin playing property flipper, mortgage broker and lender all at once.

MichaelSomething said:

Is it anything other than an asset shuffle to protect his stuff from WOTC's lawyers???

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Unlikely it would accomplish anything like that - it wouldn't even reach Alex Jones levels of failing to secure ones own assets - he owns the company and he's named personally in the counter-suit so what's the company's is his as far as the courts are concerned.

Also, as mentioned, you use different things to accomplish that like holding companies, trusts, etc.

This looks more like after six months of no luck, Justin has given up on $5 million and seems to be seeking ways to get extra value out of a $2.5 million sale - especially since looks like, say, NC mortgage broker laws wouldn't apply to a mortgage he brokered in Wisconsin - for that he'd need a mortgage broker license in Wisconsin for that. Which would mean another surety bond.

At time of typing, Justin does not appear to have a license in Wisconsin. So if he does fund it, he could have the state of Wisconsin after him in federal court.

This seems to be more of an attempt to spin some part of this venture into profit, so he can settle with WotC and claim that after three years of public humiliation and running up massive legal bills - he can claim to be a winner.

Wincenworks said:

The potential for shenanigans is approximately equal to that which we've seen with the trademark, with Justin playing property flipper, mortgage broker and lender all at once.

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Obviously, there's always potential for shenanigans. I'm just saying that so far there's no evidence of, well, anything really. The company doesn't seem to have done much yet.

FWIW, I believe Lanasa has kept his realtors license up to date, because he's handled a few property transactions over the last few years using no one but himself and his normal lawyer (the guy that first served WotC in NC). I can't be sure, though. And his new Anchor Realty business has a partner who is a licensed mortgage/loan officer, with 20+ years experience in NC. I haven't done a deep dive into him, but at a surface glance he seems legit.

If you want to hunt for giants, though, I suppose it's worth noting that Lanasa formed OSR Games LLC and sat on it for about two years before he started the shell game with it. And Anchor was only founded in March. So who knows? The only slightly odd thing I've found about the broker is that he was born in Murfreesboro, TN. Which is the same town where our old white supremacist pal Dave Johnson lives. I haven't found any other connections there, though, so it's likely just a coincidence. Dave Johnson is a few years older, and hasn't lived is Murfreesboro his whole life, so I don't know if the two were even there at the same time.

Deset Gled said:

If you want to hunt for giants, though, I suppose it's worth noting that Lanasa formed OSR Games LLC and sat on it for about two years before he started the shell game with it. And Anchor was only founded in March. So who knows? The only slightly odd thing I've found about the broker is that he was born in Murfreesboro, TN. Which is the same town where our old white supremacist pal Dave Johnson lives. I haven't found any other connections there, though, so it's likely just a coincidence. Dave Johnson is a few years older, and hasn't lived is Murfreesboro his whole life, so I don't know if the two were even there at the same time.

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If the broker is part of a firm that's located in Murfreesboro or thereabouts, then it's possible that Johnson simply knew about the company and mentioned it, just as a "there's a firm where I used to live, heard they do good stuff" kind of way, not in a "use them because they're just as &@$#! as we are" kind of way.

Faolyn said:

If the broker is part of a firm that's located in Murfreesboro or thereabouts, then it's possible that Johnson simply knew about the company and mentioned it, just as a "there's a firm where I used to live, heard they do good stuff" kind of way, not in a "use them because they're just as &@$#! as we are" kind of way.

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After a little lunchtime googling, it looks like the broker has been based and licensed in NC (with no public presence in TN) since the late 90s. Meanwhile, I can't place Johnson in TN until the early 2000s. So,

Deset Gled said:

The company doesn't seem to have done much yet.

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That's kind of what's suspicious about it. He's refurbished one of his properties as an office, gotten a sign made, web site, etc and it doesn't seem to have any listings or any activity since he did the "check out my office" video.

He registered the company in February, and is the sole agent, is well connected to numerous realtor types (if memory serves, his father is also one) and it's... just sitting there?

Anyway, I would say only time would tell but I think it's spectacularly unlikely that anyone will buy the museum at any asking price Justin demands (as opposed to a liquidations sale) or take him up on the offer of finance so it will remain a conspiracy theory.

Deset Gled said:

The only slightly odd thing I've found about the broker is that he was born in Murfreesboro, TN. Which is the same town where our old white supremacist pal Dave Johnson lives.

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Probably just a coincidence per se, from what I can see Murfreesboro is a place with many, shall we say... eccentric conservative types who will try to doing things like pass an ordinance against public homosexuality. No surprise that it would attract people like Dave, and people from it would be inclined to do business with Justin.

Ouch.

DLIMedia said:

Ouch.

View attachment 370560

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Philly represent!

Deset Gled said:

I have sometimes wondered why he didn't have an LLC for his real estate stuff before...

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If the property is owned by some other legal entity (himself, or another of his LLCs) renting it out through a new LLC isn't the simplest move to make. And it seems like he has a hard time keeping his LLCs separate...

I'm not an OSR expert, but I thought the Tabaxi were around in AD&D. I could be wrong.