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U.S. Attorney statement about Lee Bellenger, a former Russ Whitney instructor

The following is a news release that you can see on the Internet at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txn/PressRel01/bellenger_sen_pr.html. I also put it here because neat stuff that I link to sometimes disappears.
U.S. Department of Justice

United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

1100 Commerce St., 3rd Fl.
Dallas, Texas 75242-1699

Telephone (214) 659-8600
Fax (214) 767-0978
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DALLAS, TEXAS
CONTACT: 214/659-8707
DECEMBER 19, 2001
United States Attorney Richard H. Stephens announced that Lee Antoine Bellenger, of Las Vegas, Nevada pled guilty yesterday before United States Magistrate Judge Paul D. Stickney to one count of mail fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1341. Bellenger, age 42, faces a maximum term of imprisonment of five years, a $250,000 fine and could be ordered to pay restitution to the victims of his crime. Sentencing has been set for October 29, 2001.
Lee Antoine Bellenger was the owner and operator of the Grace Foundation, a supposed religious organization located on Forest Lane in Dallas, Texas. Grace Foundation was purported to be a nonprofit organization that fed the hungry. In an eleven-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in February, Bellenger was charged with mail fraud and wire fraud in connection with a scheme he ran from 1994 to January 1999 in which he tricked distressed homeowners into signing warranty deeds under the pretense of a loan agreement to pay back taxes and provide home improvements. According to the indictment, Bellenger then required the homeowners to make their monthly payment to him.
In court documents filed earlier this month, Lee Antoine Bellenger admitted that he carried out a scheme in which he preyed upon distressed homeowners in Louisiana to acquire their property and defrauded Weyerhaeuser Mortgage Company. Bellenger prepared loan packages based on these properties and submitted the loan applications to Weyerhaeuser Mortgage Company in California. The loan packages Bellenger submitted, intended to convince Weyerhaeuser to give him a loan on the properties he had acquired, contained a variety of false documents including false1040 tax forms, W-2's, tax statements, employment verifications and stock ownership certificates.
Bellenger is in fact an alias. Lee Antoine Bellenger's real name is Lee Bolongia. Under this name Bellenger/Bolongia served two years in prison in Louisiana in the early 1990's.
United States Attorney Stephens praised the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael R. Snipes.[Emphasis added]
[Reed Note: Bellenger was a former student then instructor for Russ Whitney around 2001. I am told that Whitney literature bragged that Lee Bellenger was hand picked by Russ Whitney himself to be an instructor and that Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Snipes confirmed that Bellenger was a Whitney instructor. I am also told that Whitney told his associates to delete references to Bellenger. I could not find any at the Whitney Web site in 2003.]
Here is a reference to Bellenger that one of my readers found at Whitney’s Web site in the Wayback Machine archive (http://web.archive.org/web/20010202030800/http://russwhitney.com/) The Wayback Machine is a cool Web site that lets you see content at Web sites as they were in the past.
From Whitney Web site in February, 2001:
“Tension is feverishly mounting as nominations for the 2001 Hall of Fame awards flood the mailboxes at the Whitney Education Group, Inc.

In its fourth year, the Hall of Fame contest recognizes extraordinary students for the success they have accomplished after completing WEG, Inc. courses and/or boot camps. The winners are given special plaques and have their pictures and names placed on The Wall of Honor located at the corporate training facility in Cape Coral, Florida.

Every student who passes through the training room in Cape Coral gets the opportunity to see the fruits of their peers’ labor as they walk by the Wall of Honor. These winners serve as guiding lights for all of the new students.

To be a Hall of Fame winner is an important role! You will be the guiding light for many like yourself who want a better life. For this reason, the entrance into the Hall of Fame is strict and limited to a few unique entrepreneurs. The selection committee looks at the whole person and how they better impact themselves, their families and communities.

In order to be selected, a nominee needs to show how they accomplished their goals, in what time frame and how they are using their new wealth and training. In contrast, solely accumulating a great amount of money is not a desired quality for a Hall of Fame Winner. The challenges and obstacles overcome by our students play a stronger role in choosing winners than someone who merely follows the steps and now has a huge bank account.
Meet some Hall of Famers

Lee Bellenger, Dallas, TX. Prior to attending intensified real estate training, Lee had bought the Building Wealth program. Before being a student with us this determined father was living paycheck to paycheck as the Executive Director of the Grace Foundation, an organization that feeds the homeless in Dallas. Seven months after the training Lee became a millionaire. Lee is now a 3-day training instructor for WEG, Inc. and a beloved Hall of Famer. Since he went through every level of training available from WEG, Inc. he is one the most successful trainers. He delights in sharing his story with all of his students. Bellenger represents a pillar of hope and financial freedom to every student he meets.
[Reed note: You may want to read about his indictment and prison time again to avoid losing your mental bearings on who this “pillar of hope” really is.]
John T. Reed on real-estate-investment information | Real estate investment page | Order form | Real estate investment books
John T. Reed, a.k.a. John Reed, Jack Reed, 342 Bryan Drive, Alamo, CA 94507, Voice: 925-820-7262, Fax: 925-820-1259, Email: johnreed@johntreed.com

CONSUMER WARNING NOTICE: I recently saw Russ Whitney on a late night TV infomercial and then attended one of his "free" seminars. Unfortunately I believed all of their LIES and FRAUDULENT CLAIMS and I paid thousands of dollars to go to his "training camps". Needless to say I was clearly ripped off, cheated and lied to by Russ Whitney and his employees (band of thieves). My mistake was not searching the Internet to find out more about Russ Whitney and his company's HORRIBLE reputation for fraud, deception and illegal activities. Had I searched online I would have found out about THOUSANDS of customers being cheated, HUNDREDS of investigations by the Attorney General into the fraud of Russ Whitney and his company's, and that Russ Whitney himself is a CONVICTED VIOLENT FELON and spent years in PRISON. I saved the cached pages from the major search engines of the John Reed lawsuit with Russell Whitney and the TRUTH and FACTS that Reed discovered during his investigation of Whitney. I am posting this information on real estate discussion boards so other people do NOT get cheated and ripped off like I did.