Breger: In 2006, the US Attorney's Office in Illinois, Idaho, and Indiana investigated the laundering of drug cartel monies through a complex series of single-family home purchases in those particular states. By 2009, numerous real estate agents, escrow companies, and title insurers had been indicted, charged, and convicted of racketeering. And in 2014, our office was asked to review the case file. The reason for this was we were asked to determine whether the monies from the sale of the properties had filtered to properties purchased in Arizona, specifically in Maricopa and Pima County. We concluded that several real estate agents convicted in Iowa had set up laundering systems in Arizona, and thereafter, had transferred the proceeds of sales to Panamanian corporations.
In 2018, Mr. Thaler discovered, incidental to a completely independent matter, a series of trust deeds evidencing that cash laundered through single-family residences in Arizona was pervasive and ongoing. With that, a new investigation began with the focus being on money laundered and related racketeering activities in Maricopa County, as well as in several other Arizona counties… Over 120,000 documents have been reviewed to date.
These documents have definitely evidenced multiple racketeering enterprises, which include narcotic sales, money laundering, tax evasion, payroll, theft, bankruptcy fraud, life insurance fraud, auto insurance fraud, bribing of elected and appointed officials, creating and modifying public record, falsifying professional licenses and related credentials, swatting individuals who pose a threat to these enterprises, and last but not least, election fraud.
Beginning in Illinois, Idaho, and Iowa in the early 80s, cash earned or otherwise collected in the sale of illegal narcotics and human trafficking activities, conducted by the Sinaloa Cartel, have been laundered through the purchase of single-family residences. Laundering of this cartel money in Arizona through purchase and sale of the single-family residence began in about 1994 and focused on new construction, particularly in San Tan Valley, Litchfield Park, Goodyear, and Avondale.
In addition to purchases and sales of single-family residences, cash is laundered through inflated and falsified construction invoices, falsified charitable donations, tuitions paid on fake students allegedly attending private trade schools, and falsified bankruptcies. Wells Fargo Bankers in Arizona and in multiple additional states have engaged in opening checking and direct deposit accounts for phantom people. resources, including city government officials and agencies in Mesa, Arizona have also been integral in the laundering activities.
In Arizona, laundered cash is used in part to bribe elected and appointed public officials and their support staff. The principal preparers of the documents necessary to affect the racketeering enterprise are Dawna Rae Chavez, a resident of Mesa, and her daughter Brittany Rae Chavez.
To date, more than 10,000 falsified documents have been recorded with the Maricopa County Recorders Office. We estimate that more than 35,000 warranty deeds and trust deeds evidencing fraudulent transactions exist in the database. The number of falsified notarizations exceeds over 15,000.
The city of Mesa is a racketeering organization, as that term is defined in 18 USC Section 1961. To protect the enterprise civil rights are systematically violated to preserve racketeering activities. fines and outrageous cash bonds are used to collect monies which are then skimmed and redirected into the racketeering enterprises. The city of Mesa Police Department; it's a private police department that is used to support and protect racketeering enterprises.
Officers participating in this force are compensated with monies paid through phony mortgage schemes and other related schemes. Officers operating within this private force systemically violate our Fourth Amendment rights by breaking and entering into private properties, wiretapping, computer hacking, cell phone hacking, and by using related surveillance techniques without a warrant. Officers also plant evidence and hide exculpatory evidence.
Multiple state agency databases have been infiltrated or hacked, thus allowing falsified documents to be uploaded into them and allowing legitimate documents to be removed. For example, the database for the University of Arizona, Arizona State [University], and Northern Arizona have been infiltrated and hacked. It permits individuals to be given degrees, who never attended or graduated from the schools, and allows phantom individuals to be awarded degrees thus lending legitimacy to their existence. Further, state licensing databases have been infiltrated and hacked to permit individuals with fake degrees, to permit phantom individuals to have state licenses issued. The Maricopa County database for the Recorder's Office and for the Superior Court were designed in 2014. They were set up for outside infiltration, so that falsified documents could be uploaded or legitimate documents removed since 2015, hundreds upon hundreds of falsified court documents have been loaded into the database. These documents include falsified default judgments, criminal restitution orders, child support orders, all of these used in swatting activities against individuals posing a threat to the racketeering activities.
Since 2004, elections within Pima County and Maricopa County have been manipulated through the infiltration of the county databases, resulting from bribes paid to executives at election service providers, including but not limited to principals at Runbeck Election Services.
Bribes and infiltration were used to affect the outcome of the races during the November 3, 2020 Election, including the outcome of the race for Maricopa County Recorder. And the outcome of the November 8, 2022 election race for Governor, Secretary of State, and Attorney General.
Public officials who have received bribes include multi-state office holders, State House and State Senate, local office holders, county supervisors, judges in the Maricopa [Superior] Court, judges of some city courts, including two presiding judges, judges assistants, prosecutors within certain cities within Maricopa County, prosecutors for Maricopa County, peripheral legal specialists including attorneys, approved mental health care providers, as in court-appointed advisors and related specialists. In the Superior Court of Maricopa County and Pinal County and Pima County, at least 25% of the active judges have accepted bribes in exchange for protecting the racketeering activities. Bribe payments generally begin before the individual is even appointed to the bench.
Maricopa County Recorders Office has at least five appointments made by Adrian Fontes, our county recorder from 2017 to 2021, who are phantoms, non-existent individuals. These phantom individuals hold positions related to election services. Further, during the same period, the office has at least 15 individuals whose appointments were falsified, and thereafter, kept hidden from the public during the 2020 election cycle. The appointment documents for all of the above individuals have forged signatures, falsified clerical signatures, which means that the tracings from are from a signature stamp, and fake dates.
In October 2020, shortly before the November 3 election, Thaler was provided certain information. First was evidence that the Maricopa County computer database had been designed with various backdoors allowing us or outsiders to infiltrate it and to change the data. Second, was the identities of bribed recipients, which included elected officials. And third, on October 26, 2020, Thaler's team discovered approximately 25,000 falsified ballots being held and with a significant sum of cash in a private residence in Mesa, rented to Dawna Chavez. I do have a declaration in your packet that you've been provided, detailing that.
The investigation into election fraud is not limited to the state of Arizona. However, where Arizona is concerned, a plethora of individuals are implicated in the fraud, including elected and appointed officials, and as I've already mentioned, Runbeck Election Services, a service provider to Maricopa County. the Maricopa County database has absolutely no integrity whatsoever.
When our investigation leads to a name of a particular individual that we suspect to be involved in these racketeering activities, we research their deeds of trust, which are recorded with the Maricopa County Recorders Office and publicly available. If there is an unusual amount of deeds of trust for that individual, and if there are deeds of trust for the same or similar named individual, or with multiple varying middle initials, we dig further. In the case of Kathleen Hobbs (please look at page 17 through 50 In your packet), I have shared with you 11 deeds of trust in the name of Kathleen M Hobbs and Patrick T Goodman. However, when we looked at the deeds in your packet on page 51 to 64, these have similar names, but we've discovered that they too were compromised. In some cases, we review deeds of trust filed under a spouse or a child or parent or business partner just depending on the specific circumstances. When the writings match that of Brittany and Dawna, and when we can determine that the notarization is fraudulent, and or the buyer, and or the seller's signatures are fake, we know the deed is fraudulent. If you look at the deeds for Kathleen M Hobbs and Patrick D Goodman, I have provided you with the first signed pages of the deeds, and on page 65 is a comparison of just the signatures… for the buyers of each deed. This page will speak for itself. There's obviously some inconsistencies with the signatures for Kathleen and for Patrick. This is apparent to anyone with any naked eye. But we have verified all our findings with a qualified forensic document expert who represents the state of California. Now, let's look at the notaries who signed these deeds. Again, I provided you with a page of all the notary signatures on page 66. Next to this, I provided you with references to pages from our reports that we have from our qualified forensic document expert where similar writings have been verified as either being that of Brittany or Dawna. The only other option is in some situations they are graphics or traces of other signatures where we can verify that an imposter has attempted to copy an original signature.
To summarize our findings with regards to Governor Katie Hobbs, taking into account just those documents in her name, are as follows: There are nine deeds of trust in the name of Kathleen M Hobbs and Patrick T. Goodman, husband and wife from 1997 to 2021, which essentially means that they either purchased or refinance a home every two to three years which is statistically not likely… But even more so, when six of the nine deeds of trust were recorded within the 10-year period between 97 and 2007. The concentration of which between 2001 and 2005 which was during Miss Hobbs's tenure at Emerge Arizona. When researching the documents filed with the Corporation Commission for Emerge Arizona, we found that these documents evidence hand signing and hand printing that belongs to Brittany and or Dawna. If one were to guess, and this is just a guess on our part, emerge Arizona seems to have been formed as a medium to attract women interested in politics and bribe them through the proper scheme to adopt positions of power and to further the goals and objectives of the cartel. Most of these deeds have been fraudulently notarized, meaning that one or multiple parties' names in the transaction are either not present or do not exist at all.
In some, if not all cases, it's evident by page 65 in your packet, Miss Hobbs and Mr. Goodman's signatures are clearly inconsistent, indicating that the majority of the deeds were created by a different individual who are attempting to copy Hobbs and Goodman's signatures, particularly on the deeds where the notarizations have been found to be fake. We then research the title companies and the mortgage companies on these deeds of trust. Some of these do not or have never existed. Some do not even exist in Arizona.
What can we conclude by these discoveries? The purpose of having a fake deed of trust is to move cash without it being traceable. A phony mortgage company provides a phony mortgage as the one primary method by which cash is moved invisibly. There are basically only three reasons to create a fake deed of trust. If the buyer does not exist, then the mortgage serves as a means of laundering the money. If the buyer does exist, then the mortgage is used to provide the owner of the deed money that is untraceable. And when the person resides in the location of the deed, then that's even more further proof that money has been provided that is untraceable. I can take you through example after example. But in the interest of time, since at least 2004 ballot counts have been tampered with. Our County's current computer database, which was built between 2014 and '15, has been and continues to be infiltrated and hacked. Its architects specifically designed the system with multiple backdoor entry points. These points permit the uploading of falsified documents and the removal of genuine documents from the county system. We have seen Brittany access the database and have an eyewitness just to testify for that. Over the past 15 years, Brittany has used her access to load falsified judgments and so on.
Beginning in 2017 the access points have been used to change voter totals, and there on, election results. Illegal transfers have been made and provided to Runbeck and Jeff Ellington. The phony deeds used in the scheme to move money to candidates are created by Brittany. For-profit and nonprofit PACs are also created by Brittany and used to move money for candidates. During the '22 election, ballot scanners, and printers at 70 precincts suffered changes to their printer settings, despite being tested the night before the election. The changes in those settings were made through computer infiltration, not manually or by some never before seen error. The uncontrollable ballots were placed in box three and allegedly driven to Runbeck. Witness information provided on October [20, 2022] confirms that more than 100,000 filled-in ballots and more than $13 million were identified by some of our investigators in two unmarked rental cars. These vans were loaded with the ballots and cash at a private residence in Mesa and driven to Runbeck's office. The Runbeck company, as you know, is operated by Robert Runbeck. We have found deeds for Runbeck and Ellington.
We have heard the statistical improbabilities of an improbable outcome with respect to the November 2020 election. Let's look at [Adrian] Fontes and Steven Richer for the Maricopa County Recorder. Richer's win was statistically impossible. Fontes is a Democrat and was the incumbent, percentages for Biden, Sinema, and Kelly ran up at approximately a 2.5% margin in the county against all their opponents. Richer won by approximately 6000 votes. This means that 50,000 individuals who voted for the Democratic ticket across the board had to choose the Republican candidate for recorder against an incumbent who had never suffered in scandal; never happened. This was a planned loss. Hobbs would receive the Democratic nomination for governor and Fontes would run for Secretary of State to replace Hobbs. The strategy appears to have been planned. I have shown you that both Hobbs and Fontes have what we call Brittany deeds, evidencing a strong likelihood that they are bribe recipients.
Now, it may seem obvious, but I do feel that it's necessary to explain nonetheless. Given that Arizona is a border state and that drug smuggling and human trafficking is a billion-dollar business, it would appear that having our elected and appointed officials ensure that the cartel enterprise remains open for business would be paramount. The cartel invests substantially to ensure that the right people are in key positions so as to further their objectives. The fix for 2020 and for 2022 started in 2017 with appointment to election positions of individuals being bribed through the mortgage scheme and through monies being laundered by the appointment of phantom individuals. The problems with these documents are many. If you look at your pages 71 and 76, the recorded appointments from Fontes, which were notarized by a Jessica York, first, the handwriting and hand printing of Jessica York have been identified as belonging to Brittany by our forensic document expert. Secondly, the York signatures are the same handwriting, but not the same style. And that change of style exists even when the documents were allegedly signed on the same day. You can see the June 4 documents. The December 9 date and the clerk's handwriting matches Dawna's. The signature of the clerk at the bottom is actually a tracing of a signature stamp. The time between the signature and the notarization and alleged execution of the clerk, and thereafter, the recorded date evidence forgery. Normally it's a two to three turnaround time. These took multiple months and all were allegedly clerk executed and recorded after the election certification. I have example after example, where things do not add up. In addition to state representatives, there are three of the five Maricopa county supervisors have also recorded documents evidencing the acceptance of bribes. Further, we've investigated PACs relating to state office holders and dark money transactions relating to said PACs from late 2018 to '22. A significant number of questionable real estate transactions were facilitated by several law firms, including partners at Perkins Coie. Mr. Thaler would be himself presenting this information, but there have been multiple attempts on his life.
Thaler was driving from Arizona to California when suddenly, he lost control of his vehicle. Upon investigation, it was discovered that his tire was purposefully slashed by a straight-edge knife about 4-6 inches. The cut was made at such a location on the other side of the tire, where the tire would not lose air, but instead would degrade to a point, causing catastrophic failure, most likely at high speed. Again, the declaration is included in your packet. The reason I mention this, and the only reason I mention this is because a similar attempt was made on the life of Kari Lake's daughter during her campaign. To date, six attempts have been made on Thaler's life.
In Arizona, public officials accepting bribes include members of the legislature, the executive branches of the state government, more than two dozen judges on the Maricopa County Superior Court, at least two judges in the city of Mesa Court, at least one judge in the town of Gilbert, the Mayor of Mesa, five members of Mesa City Council several police officers…
Senator Ken Bennett: Point of order. This is not the appropriate place to be alleging, um…
Rep. Alex Kolodin: We do have a rule in this chamber that we cannot impugn the motives of other members, as explosive as that testimony was, but that is our rule.
Senator Wendy Rogers: Okay, so what we're going to do is this, I need you to wrap up in terms of impact to the election. Thank you.
Breger: Even though our investigation covers mouth multiple states, Thaler and our team have interviewed over 30 Witnesses in Arizona, and several individuals in the public officials list have cooperated with the investigation. The team has collected and reviewed more than 120,000 documents as I've said. The immense data that we have collected will assist enforcement agencies investigating election fraud. Further the data we have collected and the connections we have found and the vast details of this entire investigation will lead enforcement agencies to those participating in the fraud and will help you restore election integrity within our beautiful state. Thank you.
Rogers: To whom have you given this data other than to us today?
Breger: As we said, the report was given to Governor Ducey in May of 2022. So he has been made aware as has, as I've mentioned in my in my presentation, the FBI, some of the other Attorneys General, especially in New Mexico and California.
Bennett: How was this given to Mr. Ducey by you personally?
Breger: No, it was not given by me personally. It was given by one of our team members.
Senator Sonny Borrelli: Did you give this to the Arizona Attorney General
Breger: We have not yet presented this to the Arizona Attorney General. We do know that Governor Ducey did share this with the attorney general at the time.
Bennett: How do you know that?
Breger: He shared that information with Mr. Thaler, directly. But I personally have not given it to our Arizona. Attorney General, yet.
Bennett: Was Mr. Thaler the one that gave this to the governor?
Breger: No. Not directly because Mr. Thaler is not in Arizona.
Bennett: So how would Mr. Thaler know that Governor Ducey shared this with the Attorney General's office?
Breger: Because Governor Ducey and Mr. Thaler were in contact.
Rep. Rachel Jones: How this is in my opinion related to the election is what you're stating is potentially many people elected officials here have potentially been bribed or blackmailed to get certain election results, and I think the people have the right to hear that because the people in Arizona right now crave truth. Am I understanding clearly?
Breger: Absolutely, yes, you are. Absolutely. And that is exactly why I'm here today. I think that we've gone round and round and round in the concept of election integrity, but nobody is willing to actually speak the truth of how did our election get compromised, as in nuts and bolts. You know, what happened to actually compromise our elections and compromise the integrity of our state?
Rep. Liz Harris: may I ask what political party are you?
Breger: I am unaffiliated.
Rep. Liz Harris: how long has it taken for this information to be compiled and how many people worked on this team?
Breger: Madam Chair, this information was compiled over approximately three and a half, four years. And we have had approximately five to ten people at any given time because it hasn't always been consistent working on this investigation.
Bennett: When did you say this was presented to Governor Ducey?
Breger: May 2022.
Bennett: How is it that you were invited to address the committee today, by whom?
Breger: I was invited by Representative Harris. |