Well, they caught up with Chris Gardner

Update. The case against Gardner was dismissed today after the death of an essential witness.

 

Please elaborate. Is it Gardner?

 

No, my 77-yr old partner Richard Mueller died, his wife will take the wheel and we will finish the race against TL90108 LLC. Gardner will be released any day now.

 

I've followed the Swatters case, this new Ocean Joe play seems a take off on swatters/Ferrari as he died midstream the litigation.

Question:

Does the Death of Richard A. MUELLER mean he is replaced by a new ""Heiress"": Katherine Mueller?

How does the Estate Probate manage suspicious litigation that could be libelous with a large counterclaim ?

How does Ford proceed when the case was dismissed for 1. the fbi forensics claiming there were no forgeries 2. interpol confirmed Mueller was paid with the Heiress cashing the check and the death of Mueller?

( i heard there were 10 issues with case against Gardener that the DOJ found unable to overcome , thus the dismissal was much more than Fords single reason post on the death of Mueller)

How did Mueller die?

 

Congratulations to Chris Gardner on the dismissal with prejudice of the U.S. government's criminal case against him. I just now saw Ocean Joe's May 29 update relating this fact. What brought me back to this thread was that today I happened to check in on OJ's state court case, Mueller & Ford v. TL90108 LLC. There I found another pivotal update: that on June 11, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals had entered an order to affirm the ruling of the trial court to deny enforcement of a purported settlement agreement. In response, the trial court has filed an order to calendar a December 4 hearing on a Motion for Summary Judgment (without identifying the moving party), and to calendar trial for June 2, 2025.

Given that both OJ and the defendant LLC have agreed to seal the record at both the trial court and the appellate court levels, we members of the peanut gallery have had very little factual information to go on. The Court of Appeals opinion does not add much, beyond this summary statement of facts:

. . . [A] full-day mediation took place on October 29, 2021, with former Magistrate Judge David E. Jones. At the conclusion of the mediation, the parties signed a two-page Settlement-in-Principal Term Sheet (“SIP”), which included a “Financial Terms” section and a “Releases and Dismissal of Claims” section. In the “Releases and Dismissal of Claims” section, the SIP included the following bullet points:

• The parties will negotiate and agree to the terms of a final settlement agreement in good faith.
• The mediator will resolve any disputes involving the final settlement agreement.
• The terms of the final settlement agreement will include mutual confidentiality and non-disparagement provisions.
• The only public statements that Ford and Mueller on the one hand and TL on the other hand will make in respect to their settlement are the following: “We amicably resolved our dispute.”
• The parties agree that this Term Sheet contains all material terms and is fully enforceable under [WIS. STAT. §] 807.05.

Subsequently, Ford’s counsel filed a letter advising the court that the parties agreed to settle the lawsuit.​

In its opinion the Court of Appeals did not share the contents of the "Financial Terms" section of this settlement agreement, which I expect to have been the only interesting peanut gallery fodder. All we know is that the order to affirm turned on the rule that a contract, to be enforceable, must be certain as to all its material terms; that the SIP failed adequately to define the "mutual confidentiality" and "non-disparagement" provisions; and that therefore the SIP does not constitute an enforceable settlement agreement. Pretty dry stuff.

So now, with the federal criminal case coming to an end, and with it the on-line access to all its pleadings, and the Wisconsin state court case returning to the land of sealed filings, we can expect nothing much to report until December.

 

End of Year Summary - Case Against Ocean Joe

This story was hard to follow even with 180-Out ‘s legal context. I thought I’d post its long and winding road , now in year 15. This saga started on this thread as a scheme to get back a dilapidated carcass of a Ferrari that laid in a field. A handful of posters on the thread provided untruthful statements used in several courts. Ocean Joe ( not the water ocean but Ocean 11 movie character) managed to insert claims walking into a London Court were it was adjudicated he had no claims against the 375+ of Swatters. During the 375 Ferrari litigation OJ filed bankruptcy. That happened in the middle of a trial brought on by several posters on this thread each promised rewards by OJ. He didn’t pay them, and they sued.

Workman has a collection of Ferraris that include a GTO. He owns a Talbot Lago Teardrop Coupe worth $10’000’000. OJ claimed a 90% share in the Workman Talbot car if he aligned with the 2005 seller of the Talbot to Gardner to undo the sale. Workman was approached by OJ at Cavallino offering ‘detective services’’. OJ's ploy was help Workman recover money on the Talbot bought from Paul Russell who paid Gardner. That led Workman to the surrender of Talbot documents to OJ gratis. The tables turned on Workman with OJ starting replevin litigation. According to the FBI OJ is a CHS (confidential human source).

In OJ's bankruptcy he gave the Talbot a $1 value. In another court he inserted claims against Workman for damages. The bankruptcy spawned a fraud charge against OJ and a $21'000'000 claim by Workman. Workman took the role as a creditor in OJs bankruptcy. OJ didn’t give notice to Workman who is pursuing OJ as a creditor. The latest Workman hearing took place on 11/22/2024;

https://www.courtlistener.com/audio/95447/tl90108-llc-v-joseph-ford-iii/

Workman’s plea before the Judge was ; ‘’OJ tried to perfect a scheme of a fraudster by failing to send notice to his creditor Workman. Then OJ ran back to Wisconsin to secure a position on Workman’s Talbot car.’’ The BR Judge stated ‘’I wouldn’t trust Mr Ford from one end this court room to the other’. OJ was fined $25’000 in sanctions.

A criminal case was started based OJ’s narrative that the Talbot was allegedly stolen in 2001. OJ was photographed in 2007 with Talbot during restoration but failed to disclose that to the FBI. OJ later said he prepared sale documents for Gardner who purchased it. According to the FBI report there where several high-level car dealers from Camarillo, California and Ontario, Canada at the location of an alleged theft in 2001. OJ inserted Gardner with hearsay claims to the FBI. The FBI took the case into their newly funded ‘’Art Crime Division’.

According to lawyers in the case the heir Richard Allen Mueller died in May 2024. Mueller admitted signing a bill of sale to Gardner in front of a notary. Former FBI and Secret Service forensic agents deemed the Gardner sale documents authentic. Mueller’s signature was deemed genuine. Gardner's payment was still in the banks archives as genuine. Homeland Security records showed Gardner was not in the USA at the time of the alleged burglary in 2001 and he was not s suspect. Swiss border crossing and airport ledgers debunked the narrative all together. The FBI looked past the evidence racking up huge case cost. In 2024 a key government witness recanted his testimony on the date of the alleged parts theft. Police photos of the Talbot title and the parts Gardner bought in 2005 were taken by the police after the alleged theft report of 2001. Gardner restored the car over a 10-year period while Ford waited quietly for Gardner to finish the restoration. When Russell sold the Talbot to Workman OJ moved in on his billionaire mark.

The FBI avoided the Swiss Authorities when told that they were forbidden to contact Gardner according to Swiss law. Once informed that Gardner was a peaceful resident for over 20 years the FBI circumvented the Swiss authorities and sent a Pebble Beach Judge (RA) to act as a CHS providing photos and chassis numbers of several car collectors while he gain their confidence judging them.

The case lost clarity. The FBI shifted to a new storyline that the Talbot was counterfeit. That entailed 52 FBI agents and 5 months of testing at the FBI Firearm and Toolmarks Laboratory in Virginia. The metallurgical test on the chassis highlighted interesting forensic facts that every Ferrari owner should find insightful. It's worth a read. Those tests cost the ‘’Art Crime’’ FBI division $880’000. It included drilling the frame of another one of Paul Russell’s clients’ cars to use for comparison. The test was deemed inconclusive.

It was never considered how a local Wisconsin beat cop altered a 25-year-old theft report adding a different identification number to match the restored car that Workman bought. The FBI theft report of 2001 showed no Talbot Lago number of the car Gardner bought in 2005. The new numbers were only added after OJ refocused the FBI to circumvent the 2001 theft report and focus on Gardner. A new twist was that the local Wisconsin cop, the most worshipful Senior Grand Deacon was a brotherly member of the fraternal order of the Wisconsin Freemasons. He was vetting confidential police information on ‘’background’ checks for the Freemason’s membership. He led the initial investigation at OJ’s direction. The cop, Jeffery Thiele was in the same Freemason order as Ford’s accomplice Mueller, who sold the Talbot to Gardner in 2005.

As the DOJ’s cost of the case topped $4’000’000 the DOJ changed the storyline to state that the engine Gardner rebuilt wasn’t original because it had new pistons. That served a theory that something ‘’original ‘’ had more value than something restored. The stolen and counterfeit issues faded. A plea deal of one count using the terms ‘’authentic’’ and ‘’original’’ ran down the clock to a trial date. Gardner refused to take a plea insisting on a trial. The case was dismissed by the DOJ in May 2024.

Defense attorneys said to me the case against Gardner was empty and lawless. It should have never been brought forth. The dismissal of the entire complaint came with prejudice marking an end to the lengthy saga. It revealed wrongdoings with several witnesses. “The decision to dismiss the misguided federal case with prejudice against Mr Gardner is a major victory showing that the rule of law prevailed”. Gardner was detained and refused medical care . The complex case was long considered straightforward. It was littered with dubious witnesses for the FBI and only hearsay provided by OJ. There always was extensive documentation that Gardner purchased the Talbot, restored it authentically and sold it transparently. The case should have never been brought.

Meanwhile OJ is in his 7th year litigating with Workman. Workman is now faced with paying off Ocean Joe in nuance money or taking him on in the civil case in Wisconsin. The civil case is sealed for unknown reasons.

 

Holy ****, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.
Thank you for this mesmerizing update...

 

I suffered Brain Freeze somewhere in the second paragraph.

 

All I know is that I have always lusted after the Tear Drop Coupe.'

 

These legal threads are quite obscene and disgusting.

There should be a new fchat section: "Lawsuits and bottom dwelling creatures."

I don't mean bottom of the ocean but bottom of sewers.

 

"LAWYER CHAT" .COM ??

 

Ambulancechaser.com

 

Almost a year now, and no reply from Joe...


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The Million Dollar Car Detective - by Stayton Bonner is released on August 26, highlighting our Ocean Joe's career moves from FBI informant to Ferrari expert. the Book is up on X by the author

A stolen car worth $7 million. A broke private investigator. Best friends turned worst enemies.

And the global manhunt neither saw coming. In 2001, thieves parked a box truck in front of an aging tycoon's factory, cut the phone lines, and used an overhead crane to lift out their prize: a 1938 Talbot-Lago T150C-SS Teardrop coupe--"the most beautiful car in the world" and one of only two in existence--then they disappeared into the night. The tycoon died. The trail went cold. End of story.
Until it wasn't.

In 2015, Joe Ford was a PI trying to scrape together enough money to help his daughter, who suffers from a disease causing her to go blind, when he got a tip; a mechanic in the French Alps had been burned by a thief and had a secret to share: the location of the missing Talbot-Lago.

The reward for finding the car would mean Joe could not only save his daughter's sight but also set his family up for life.Using skills gleaned from his mentor Chris Gardner, who taught Joe everything he knew about the business of rare luxury cars, the investigation would span a decade and involve the FBI, Interpol, a global crime ring ... and a shocking betrayal.

Elite racing machines, high-end thefts, and billionaires who will stop at nothing for a moment of glory--The Million-Dollar Car Detective is unlike any heist story ever told.

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