Richard Byers - Aviation Asset Management Payment fraud Orlando , Florida

The following is a rebuttal to the comments made by Vernon Welch, Welch Aviation on Ripoff Report.com report #523389 on or about November 13, 2009. In this rebuttal I will address the following – (a) Vernon Welch, and Welch Aviation, (b) the action that I took on behalf of my business /corporate interest, and (c) the legitimacy (or lack thereof) of Ripoff Report.com.

(a) Affirmative Statements from Clarence Richard Byers as it relates to Vernon Welch /Welch Aviation: The following statements affirmatively define the relationship (or lack thereof) between me (Clarence Richard Byers) and Vernon Welch and Welch Aviation.

Affirmative Statements:

Statement 1. : The first time that I (Clarence Richard Byers) ever met Vernon Welch on a face-to-face basis or had any personal knowledge of Welch Aviation was on or about October 2008

Statement 2. : I (Clarence Richard Byers) have never, on a personal basis, been a client of Vernon Welch or Welch Aviation.

Statement 3.: I (Clarence Richard Byers) have, on a personal basis, never contracted any work from Vernon Welch or Welch Aviation.

Statement 4.: I (Clarence Richard Byers) have, on a personal basis, never requested nor have I received any service from Vernon Welch or Welch Aviation.

Statement 5.: I (Clarence Richard Byers) have, on a personal basis, never had any reason to tender any payment to nor am I, on a personal basis, indebted in any manner for any sum to Vernon Welch or Welch Aviation.

Statement 6.: I (Clarence Richard Byers) am the Managing Member of Aviation Asset Management, LLC., an entity that is registered in the State of Georgia.

Statement 7.: Aviation Asset Management is a duly registered corporation that is in the business of owning and leasing aircraft. Current inventory includes aircraft with the registration number(s) N601DA, N62962, and N3587C.

Statement 8. : I (Clarence Richard Byers), in my capacity as Managing Member of Aviation Asset Management, LLC., have never contracted with Vernon Welch or Welch Aviation to perform any service for or on behalf of Aviation Asset Management, LLC.

Statement 9.: I (Clarence Richard Byers), in my capacity as Managing Member of Aviation Asset Management, LLC., have never contracted with any maintenance facility or FBO in Central Florida to provide any service to Aviation Asset Management LLC.

I challenge Vernon Welch or any Officer or Employee of Welch Aviation to contest any of the nine statements that have been made – I challenge Vernon Welch or any Officer or Employee of Welch Aviation in a court of law in Orange County, Florida and challenge me under oath, in front of a jury of peers, in regard to any of the nine statements that have been affirmatively stated. If Vernon Welch or Welch Aviation can contest or counter ANY of the nine statements that were made then he (Vernon Welch) should do so with proof and verifiable evidence and it should be presented in a court of law. Vernon Welch should seek established and enforceable legal recourse for his allegations, and furthermore if Vernon Welch has any evidence and he is of the position that RipOff Report.com is the most effective venue to assert his claims then he – Vernon Welch – should back up his claims with evidence and post whatever evidence that he has on Ripoff Report.com so that he can definitively show that his allegations are true. Lacking that (verifiable evidence or proof that counters any of the nine statements that I made in the opening paragraph of this rebuttal) the statements that were made by Vernon Welch and on behalf of Welch Aviation, as found in his posting on Ripoff Report.com, are false allegations of a dishonest character who thinks that posting false allegations on a website (Ripoff Report.com) will somehow help him establish a case against me and/or my business associates.

(b) Vernon Welch/Welch Aviation Dishonest Party: In the following paragraphs of this section it will be outlined how Vernon Welch and Welch Aviation was in fact the dishonest party(s) in this transaction. The outline will include a full discussion of (1) the corporate entity (Express One International) that was the vehicle for Vernon Welch and his cohorts to extort money from me, (2) the method in which Vernon Welch, Employees of Welch Aviation and Welch Aviation extorted money from me, and (3) how my business associate (Marc C. Baron) came to un-cover the fraud that was conducted by Vernon Welch, employees of Welch Aviation, Welch Aviation and his cohorts . I, Clarence Richard Byers, had a reasonable expectation of fair dealing and honesty from the Senior Management of Express One International, instead the Senior Management of Express One International (Vernon Welch being one of them), working in conjunction with Welch Aviation, stole money from me. My business associate (Marc C. Baron) was able to expose the fraud when he conducted a forensic audit (at my request and in the normal course of business – and clearly within my right to do so) during the August 2009 period. All of the actions that were taken were legal, within the establish guidelines of disputing a credit card transaction, fully compliant with the Federal Trade Commission and U.S.C. 15 §1601 (http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcb/fcb.pdf).

(1) Corporate Entity – Express One International: The Federal Aviation Administration issued a FAR 135 Air Operating Certificate (“AOC”) in the name of Express One International (it should be noted that this AOC - as of the writing of this rebuttal - is defunct and has been for an undetermined amount of time). The individuals that were listed as Management on the Express One International AOC were: (1) Stan Helton, Director of Ops, (2) Keith Owens, Chief Pilot, and (3) Vernon Welch, Director of Maintenance. These are mandatory positions of authority and responsibility found in any FAR 135 AOC. I , Clarence Richard Byers, was a shareholder of Express One International, I did not assume an active day-to-day role in the operations of Express One International. There were 3 aircraft that were registered as being on the Express One International certificate. The aircraft were Piper Navajo Chieftains PA-31-350. These aircraft are owned by Aviation Asset Management, LLC., a special purpose company that is registered in the state of Georgia. I, Clarence Richard Byers, am the Managing Member of Aviation Asset Management. The aircraft were leased to Express One International.

Vernon Welch, in his capacity as Director of Maintenance – Express One International, had a fiduciary responsibility to maintain the aircraft (Piper Navajo Chieftains PA-31-350) that were on the Express One International AOC in a manner that was compliant with FAR 135 standards. Vernon Welch had a ethical duty - as a compensated Manager of Express One International, to provide honest, professional, timely maintenance services. Vernon Welch violated all of his fiduciary and ethical duties and responsibilities. Vernon Welch conducted his dishonest behavior by assuming a management position (Director of Maintenance) on the Express One International FAA 135 Certificate (it should be noted that even when this certificate was defunct Vernon Welch continued to charge management fees in the thousands of dollars, on a monthly basis, for his alleged position of Director of Maintenance of Express One Intl.,) even though Vernon Welch knew that there was obvious conflict of interest (in his capacity as owner of Welch Aviation – the repair/maintenance shop that was selected by Stan Helton to perform service on the aircraft) and that he lacked the integrity to act in a honest manner and on multiple occasions worked in conjunction with Stan Helton (Director of Operations) to act against my financial interest and to defraud me.

(2) Method in which Vernon Welch, Employees of Welch Aviation and Welch Aviation extorted money from me: For more than 24 months Vernon Welch, Welch Aviation and Stan Helton fraudulently extorted money from me by the means of a personal Visa credit card that was issued by a financial institution headquartered in Virginia. Of the three FAR 135 required management positions (Dir. Of Ops, Chief Pilot, Dir. Of Maintenance) – two of the Managers (Stan Helton, Director of Ops, and Vernon Welch, Director of Maintenance) betrayed their fiduciary duty of honesty and fair dealing as Managers of Express One International – by (1) stealing money (via credit card fraud) from me, (2) submitting false invoices for work that was never done (Vernon Welch and Welch Aviation), and (3) charging fees for management duties (Vernon Welch, Director of Maintenance , Express One International), while acting in a self-serving and dishonest manner. Furthermore the wife of Vernon Welch admitted to my associate (Marc C. Baron) that my credit card had been charged (with the knowledge of Vernon Welch and his Wife and Stan Helton) on Welch Aviation Point of Sale (POS) terminal for an amount of money, with no work performed, and a Welch Aviation check was written to Stan Helton (personally) for the amount that was charged on the Welch Aviation POS. The Welch Aviation check was then deposited into Stan Helton’s personal account. This conspiratorial fraud was conducted by Vernon Welch, the wife of Vernon Welch (an Officer and Employee of Welch Aviation) and Stan Helton. Vernon Welch, in his posting on RipOff Report .com, portrays himself as an innocent victim of me and my associate, in reality Vernon Welch is a dishonest businessman that was caught in the web of his own dishonest actions.

(3) How my associate (Marc C. Baron) came to un-cover the fraud that was conducted by Vernon Welch, employees of Welch Aviation and Welch Aviation: It was very simple to uncover the fraud – I asked my business associate (Marc C. Baron) to review a number of invoices (all of which were tendered to and in the name of Stan Helton and Express One International – there is not one invoice that was tendered in my name and/or in the name of Aviation Asset Management ) that were for alleged work performed on Piper Navajo Chieftain aircraft. I also gave him a number of statements from a financial institution that issued a personal credit card to me. The statements presented showed a pattern of charges for “alleged” work performed or services tendered – however at the time of audit, or the point of mechanical inspection or at the point of operation of the aircraft, it was obvious that work had not been performed and/or service had not been exchanged. Aircraft log books are legal documents, reflecting the history (both operational and mechanical) of the aircraft. The aircraft logbook is an effective tool to use as the basis and to structure a forensic audit review. This was the action that was taken, and FAA certified mechanics assisted my business associate in the verification of mechanical work that was “alleged” to have been performed by Vernon Welch and Welch Aviation, which at the end of the day was determined to have not been performed.

Action that my business associate Marc C Baron took on behalf of and in coordination with me: In the manner that ANY normal and reasonable person would have done and in the manner that is a right ANY holder of credit card has as regulated by the Federal Trade Commission and in federal statutes in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) 15 U.S.C. §1681 et. seq and the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) 15 U.S.C. §1601 et. seq. My business associate assisted me in filing a protest against some (due to statute of limitations to report/dispute a credit card transaction a majority of the fraudulent transactions were outside the window of legal recourse) of the charges that were placed on my personal credit card by Vernon Welch, Stan Helton, Welch Aviation, employees of Welch Aviation, and/or any company that Vernon Welch, Stan Helton or Welch Aviation, employees of Welch Aviation sub-contracted and gave access to make charges on my personal credit card. The argument that I discussed with my associate and was asserted to the credit card issuer was simple (1) the charges were fraudulent, (2) the charges were not authorized, and (3) there was no credit card voucher with my signature that authorized any transaction and/or neither did I agree to being held responsible by the terms and conditions of the card issuer for any of the said transactions. All of the actions that were taken by my associate (Marc C. Baron) were legal, within the establish guidelines of disputing a credit card transaction, and with my full approval.

Statements (or rather the lack of statement or specific allegation) from Vernon Welch are those of an ignorant man. The dispute process established by the credit card industry in the United States is impartial and he (Vernon Welch) had specific and well defined recourse that he could had taken should he had determined that the actions that were taken were illegal, and not in compliance with federal laws as it relates to disputing fraudulent credit card transactions. It should be obvious to an intelligent person that if Vernon Welch’s ultimate recourse was to assert his position in an inaccurate and factually flawed submission on Ripoff Report.com – then (1) a successful dispute was lodged against him and his company by a former client and (2) the third party credit issuer established merit in the assertions of the disputing party – well logic suggest the end of this sentence.

It was categorically determined that Vernon Welch and Welch Aviation did not comply with the established commercial terms and conditions of a merchant and thus was not entitled to receive undeserved consideration. I did not in any capacity “RipOff” Vernon Welch or Welch Aviation for $30,000.00. Due to the extended time period and credit card issuer time limitations to dispute a fraudulent transaction – it was only possible to dispute $19,000 in fraudulent charges that Vernon Welch, Officers and Employees of Welch Aviation and Stan Helton had perpetrated. It was duly found that Vernon Welch and Welch Aviation (in conjunction with Stan Helton) had conducted a fraudulent transaction and due to this fraud he is not entitled to payment. This is a basic premise in the capitalist system – a dishonest character like Vernon Welch should return to Business Ethics 101 for remedial help or maybe read the fine print about charge-backs for fraudulent merchant activity.

Furthermore Vernon Welch or Welch Aviation NEVER released a plane to either me or my wife (Mary Ann Byers) based upon a parole statement that relayed by Vernon Welch out of context. A visit was made to Welch Aviation and I was accompanied by my wife, however the purpose was of an investigatory nature. For a period of more than 24 months Vernon Welch and Welch Aviation (in coordination with Stan Helton) had been tendering false invoices, after hundreds of thousands of dollars (all of which can be substantiated with third-party payment records)of payments and aircraft that were still not certified as “air-worthy” (in spite of the fact that Vernon Welch, in his capacity of Director of Maintenance for Express One International, had a responsibility to maintain the aircraft in FAA 135 Air-worthy condition”) a decision was made to get to the bottom of this fraud once and for all. My wife does not have the authority to obligate Aviation Asset Management to any contractual agreement. Furthermore no aircraft was ever released to my wife based upon an alleged statement.

(c) Ripoff Report.com: The RipOff Report.com is a flawed website, and the situation that I have fully described and detailed in this rebuttal should make it clear to the intelligent reader why the RipOff Report.com is flawed. This website provides a forum to a party that cannot, for whatever reason, substantiate their case/argument in an accepted venue, to malign, slander and libel the character of another party.

(1) Accuser vs. Accused: There is a reason that the judicial system of the United States has been designed to allow the accuser to confront the accused in a forum that allows BOTH parties to tell their side of the story (to establish their case) and then have an impartial third party of peers determine the most likely truth. The RipOff Report.com violates a basic tenant of jurisprudence, there is no opportunity for both parties to tell their side of the story at the time of accusation – the accused must first learn of the accusation and then remedy the situation after the harm has been done.

(2) Perceived legitimacy: In the Ripoff Report.com, an ignorant hillbilly like Vernon Welch can spin his unsubstantiated tale of woe, and gain the “perceived” legitimacy of truth because he posted his comments on RipOff Report.com, when in fact his comments are not true and all manipulated hogwash. RipOff Report.com does not take a basic step to protect the rights of an accused to request that an allegation be substantiated by an impartial third party prior to posting or even performing their own investigation.In the internet era there are many companies that serve the purpose of third-party verification or validation. If RipOff Report.com was truly committed to protecting the integrity of the site – then a simple intermediary step would be instituted that require all parties submit their allegations to a third-party agency for verification prior to being allowed to post on the RipOff Report. com. The RipOff Report.com states that it is a better vehicle for reporting misdeeds in the commercial arena than the Better Business Bureau, this is self-serving and inaccurate statement due to the fact that the Better Business Bureau INVESTIGATES a claim and SPEAKS to both sides of a dispute prior to posting a negative report. This third party verification would provide a basic level of legitimacy to the RipOff Report.com – absent of that, the RipOff Report.com is just another website filling the cyber world with crap and does not serve a constituency in a more legitimate manner than the Better Business Bureau.

(3) Disclaimer renders the RipOff Report.com site nothing more than a garbage pit: The RipOff Report.com has a detailed and broad “Disclaimer”. The necessity of such a disclaimer is to allow for unsubstantiated allegations to be published on the RipOff Report.com website and for RipOff Report.com to avoid being sued for being a party to or a vehicle of promotion for libel or slander . An intelligent person would pause and wonder “If the RipOff Report.com was such a reliable, objective, forum –why would it be necessary to have a 6,699 word disclaimer?” Well logic suggest that this disclaimer allows an ignorant hillbilly, like Vernon Welch and the Welch Aviation staff, to make unsubstantiated and slanderous statements and at the same time protects RipOff Report.com from legal action. The owners of RipOff Report.com know that this is in fact the case. Furthermore the owners of RipOff Report.com know that there are many unsubstantiated, slanderous and libelous allegations on RipOff Report.com, their disclaimer provides a clear indication, for an intelligent reader, to know that any and all statements found on RipOff Report.com are questionable and suspect in respect to their veracity and probably would be refuted in a court of law. The disclaimer, as written by the owners of RipOff Report.com, is in itself the critical verbiage that renders the site nothing more than a garbage pit of useless conjecture and hearsay. The owners of RipOff Report.com know that any intelligent person would initiate a suit not against a hillbilly (Vernon Welch), the suit would be initiated against the vehicle (RipOff Report.com) that provided the bully pulpit.

(4) Wasted Time: The end result is that a party, who has better things to do than to address some hogwash, must take time out of their day to redress a wrong that should have never been allowed to have seen the light of day.

So in this rebuttal I (Clarence Richard Byers) have done the following (a) described fully my relationship (or lack thereof) with Vernon Welch. I have also detailed the circumstances surrounding the dishonest actions of Vernon Welch, employees of Welch Aviation, Stan Helton and the Management of Express One International, (b)provided a full description of the legal action, including the federal statute that governs the action taken, that was taken on behalf of my (or affiliated business associates) business /corporate interest, and finally discussed the legitimacy (or lack thereof) of (c) Ripoff Report.com.