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Marilyn Cook aka Marilyn Powell

These people are weird, but we like to find out what weird people are doing and thinking. It's a hobby.
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KickahaOta
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Marilyn Cook aka Marilyn Powell

#1

Post by KickahaOta »

I don't see anything here about Marilyn Yvette Cook (aka Marilyn Yvette Powell). But it seems like she's "accomplished" enough in her "field" (Unorthodox Financial Transactions and Standard Sovcit Justifications Thereof) to at least be worth a mention.

Her most recent exploit is documented by the Sixth Circuit. In this brief excerpt, we see her scheme begin to simultaneously unfold and unravel, and we learn a new definition of the word "panini".
In 2017, Cook brought a $1 million bill of exchange to a Regions Bank branch in Alcoa, Tennessee. The teller ran the bill of exchange through the bank’s “panini,” a check scanner that, to the teller’s eye, looks like a bread machine. The panini could not read the bill of exchange because it lacked magnetic ink coding. So the teller tried to deposit the bill, which purported to be “Non-Domestic,” as a foreign document. When that effort also failed, Cook left the bill with Regions for further processing.


The opinion helpfully includes a picture of the document in question, which reveals... certain... subtle... flaws.
Image

(Yes, she would later claim that this document is so obviously bad that it shouldn't be criminal. This defense was unfortunately undermined by the fact that she also gave the bank dozens of pages of justifications for why the document is so obviously good that it should be accepted immediately.)

If you look at the docket of the underlying district court case, you'll find documents covering all sorts of classic sovcit hits: demands for the judge's oath and bond, postage stamps with magic words written on them diagonally, UCC references flying like popcorn kernels at a Rocky Horror showing... The list goes on.

Cook had previously tried a fake-income-tax-return scheme, using a 'nonprofit' organization with a rather foreshadowy name:
Cook’s legal troubles extended beyond the Regions incident. Around the same time as her attempt to cash the above financial instrument, Cook filed her 2016 tax return, which reported $3 million of income from a Tennessee nonprofit, Sheep Ministries, Inc. (Sheep), for which Cook served as executive director, and $1.5 million in tax paid. Cook claimed a $251,925 refund—the difference between the tax paid and the tax due. But she had not paid $1.5 million in tax. In truth, Cook fabricated her withholdings so the IRS would refund her over $250,000 that she had never paid
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Re: Marilyn Cook aka Marilyn Powell

#2

Post by Slim Cognito »

whoah!
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Re: Marilyn Cook aka Marilyn Powell

#3

Post by northland10 »

KickahaOta wrote: Mon May 09, 2022 8:20 pm The opinion helpfully includes a picture of the document in question, which reveals... certain... subtle... flaws.
Image
I've read too much SovCit stuff. That "Bill of Exchange" was anything but subtle in its flaws. :P

Oddly, for all the SovCit stuff in it, the one thing that is bothering me is $USD which is not SovCit but sloppy usage. Really, if you are going to have $ and USD (US Dollars), it would be better to separate them so you don't say, Dollars US Dollars. Maybe something like:

$1,000,000,000,000,000 USD

So you have the Dollar sign, which could be USD or CAD, or some other dollar but clarify it as USD.

or

$1,000,000,000,000,000
US Dollars (or USD).

That serves the same purpose.

or make it easier US$1,000,000,000,000

Yeah, I deal with fundraising analytics for an international organization so how we use USD or $ is something of great thought and rules from the style guide and editorial folks (and myself as we find the best way to show it without killing real estate on the page/dashboard/spreadsheet/etc.).
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Resume18
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Re: Marilyn Cook aka Marilyn Powell

#4

Post by Resume18 »

. . . a Tennessee nonprofit, Sheep Ministries, Inc. (Sheep)
Oh how perfect.
Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end . . .
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Re: Marilyn Cook aka Marilyn Powell

#5

Post by Tiredretiredlawyer »

This is a fabulous story!!!! How ingenious!!!!! Bravo, KickahaOta!
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KickahaOta
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Re: Marilyn Cook aka Marilyn Powell

#6

Post by KickahaOta »

Resume18 wrote: Tue May 10, 2022 10:07 am
. . . a Tennessee nonprofit, Sheep Ministries, Inc. (Sheep)
Oh how perfect.
And yes, the opinion did indeed refer to the defendant as a "wolf in Sheep's clothing".
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Re: Marilyn Cook aka Marilyn Powell

#7

Post by KickahaOta »

My favorite part of the story (other than the misspelling of "negotiable") is the fiendish scheme she used to conceal her tracks. She didn't just wander into the bank and ask to open an account with her million-dollar bond. Oh, no. She first went to one bank branch and opened an account with a single dollar. Then she went to a different branch and attempted the deposit there.

It really should have worked. After all, we all know that bank branches have no way of communicating with each other or tracking multiple transactions involving the same account.
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Re: Marilyn Cook aka Marilyn Powell

#8

Post by Tiredretiredlawyer »

She’s a super villain in the making. Just give her time.
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Re: Marilyn Cook aka Marilyn Powell

#9

Post by Frater I*I »

Tiredretiredlawyer wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 10:38 am She’s a super villain in the making. Just give her time.
Or a Congresswoman from NW GA....
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He's got the answers to ease my curiosity, He dreamed a god up and called it Christianity"

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Re: Marilyn Cook aka Marilyn Powell

#10

Post by northland10 »

Frater I*I wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 6:32 pm
Tiredretiredlawyer wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 10:38 am She’s a super villain in the making. Just give her time.
Or a Congresswoman from NW GA....
That might be a stretch in NW GA. She's a POC.
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