A Strange Redemption Theory Scam

By James Donahue

We recently ran into a news clipping that told of a search by U.S. Marshals for a man and woman involved in suckering people into a scam against the Internal Revenue Service and attempting to collect millions of dollars by cashing in false notes.

Sure, at first glance it appears to be an old confidence scheme, but this one has a very ominous twist.

It seems that this couple may have been part of a black separatist group called the Moors that believes in something called a redemption theory. This theory is a belief that the United States has been trading birth certificates of American citizens on the open market as a form of capital since going off the gold standard in 1933 and that citizens can redeem the value of their birth certificates that are worth millions.

According to theorists, the United States has been publishing debt instruments secured with the energy and labor of current and future citizens. Consequently, each person's birth certificate is collateral for U. S. currency.

All of this information, of course, is top secret and not supposed to be known by the public. The amount of value is held in a top-secret government account known as the Strawman.

Here is where the theorists story gets really strange . . . as if it isn't strange enough already. Supposedly, whenever a person receives correspondence with the letters in their name printed in all capital letters, then the correspondence is really addressed to that person's Strawman. By knowing this, in some way, this individual can gain control, or reclaim his or her Strawman by filing Uniform Commercial Code forms with the state in which they live. These forms, in effect, serve public notice that the government owes a debt to the signer.

There is even supposed to be a handbook for believers, titled "Cracking the Code; Redemption in Law, Theory and Practice - A Handbook for Putting Your Commercial Affairs In Order, Revision 2." A search of the web reveals that the book has a copyright in 2001, held by Better Book & Cassette of America, Tarzana, California. There is a website address, but when you click on it, the site has expired.

The last that we knew, the Justice Department was searching for these two felons in Ohio and Michigan. But a web search revealed convictions of other people for similar scams, and a little bit of information about the organization that seems to be stimulating this odd activity.

A man in Penn Hills, Ohio, was sentenced to three years in federal prison and ordered to pay over $9,000 in restitution to PNC Bank after attempting to pass a fake U.S. Treasury check for $25 million. This guy, identified as Lutfee Abdul Waalee, argued that his big check, and some smaller checks that the bank did cash, were certified tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank in Philadelphia.

Waalee's case went to trial and Waalee chose to represent himself before the bench. The case revealed the redemption theory and just what motivates this group to do what it is doing.

Redemption theorists say the government enslaves U.S. citizens by using them as collateral for international loans. They say the government registers the birth certificates as securities and backs each with a large amount of money in individual accounts. These amounts can range from $600,000 to a million. The number most often cited, Waalee said, is $630,000.

To get at this money, believers file a series of Uniform Commercial Code documents, which they think entitles them to redeem their "value" by filling out a "certified tender of payment" on their nonexistent Treasury account. They believe their Social Security number also is the number of their Treasury account.

Another special report singled out a group that calls itself the Moors, or Moorish Nationals, a black separatist group that claims to be exempt from taxes and the law. The group uses a 1787 treaty that exempted black people of the Moroccan emperor from certain U.S. laws as their rationale. Strangely, the name was once used by the Muslims that conquered Spain.

Federal authorities allege that the Moors group has openly defrauded businesses and financial institutions in the U.S., and is warning banks, corporations and government officials to learn to recognize signs of a redemption scheme.

They say some of these self-proclaimed Moors have embraced illegal tactics used by right-wing militia groups and white supremacists. The redemption theory is only the latest version of this gang's activity.