[www.researchpoweredshops.com]

This company is a new shell company created BEFORE Grassroots America went "Bankrupt".

The principle partners are the same. I would advise Extreme caution before doing business with them without them explaining this.

They have the same server and everyone's login/password and shop history is intact and a week old from the date they shut down Grass Roots America.

I have tried to call them numerous times and left voice mails and they do not want to return calls.

They registered the new website under a domain and attempted to hide the company's true owners and hide the principals of the website's new domain/server using a company called "Perfect Privacy" as they did not want this disclosed and paid more to register it that way. This is a big red flag.

Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: PERFECT PRIVACY, LLC
Registrant Organization:
Registrant Street: 12808 Gran Bay Parkway West
Registrant City: Jacksonville
Registrant State/Province: FL
Registrant Postal Code: 32258
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.5707088780
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: zs8w57he5rh@networksolutionsprivateregistration.com



I posted this in a busy thread, yet this deserves a new thread with the facts I have uncovered:

I located the LLC that they created for the new company on 03/06/15. This was done BEFORE Grass Roots America shut down. Then they removed Michael A. Atkinson as Director on 03/16/15 and added Mike Jones as VP on 3/16/15.

Don't forget that Michael A. Atkinson was terminated as President and CEO on March 19 from Grass Roots America that shut down on 03/31/15.

[www.bizjournals.com]

Jane E Newnum (New Director of Research Powered Marketing Group) AND Michael A. Atkinson (Previous President and CEO of Grass Roots America) are sharing the same 3 bedroom home address in Winter Park, FL according to the LLC for Research Powered Marketing.

Jane E. Newnum is still listed as the point of contact for Grass Roots America on the MSPA website:
[www.mspanorthamerica.com]

Here is where the company is registered. It is a three bedroom house with both JANE ELIZABETH NEWNUM and MICHAEL ANTHONY ATKINSON are working according to the new LLC they created before bankrupting Grass Roots America.
[www.zillow.com]
1443 Hibiscus Avenue
Winter Park, FL 32780

They are equal partners with 50 shares each of the 100 shares for the LLC.

initial Issue: 100 shares of the Capital Stock of the Corporation shall be issued
for adequate consideration in the following manner:
JANE ELIZABETH NEWNUM 50 shares (Former Executive Vice President, Measurement and Analytics Grass Roots America)
MICHAEL ANTHONY ATKINSON 50 shares (Former President and CEO of Grass Roots America)


Official LLC documents that show even more detail and where I obtained the legal and open public documents for the new LLC:
[search.sunbiz.org]

Florida Profit Corporation RESEARCH POWERED MARKETING GROUP, INC.
Filing Information
Document Number P15000022051
FEI/EIN Number: NONE
Date Filed: 03/06/2015
State: FL
Status: ACTIVE
Last Event


AMENDMENT Event Date Filed 03/19/2015
REMOVE DIRECTOR (Same address as Jane E. Newnum)
Michael A. Atkinson
1443 Hibiscus Avenue
Winter Park, FL 32780

Remove Vice President
Mike Jones (Um, Can I make up a better fake name?)

ADD

Sr. Vice President
Sally Smith (Um, Can I make up a better fake name?)

They still have the same job listings for the same clients located in the Orlando area that they had before posted as Grass Roots America.
The same jobs that people were not paid for with the old LLC. There are some people with outstanding payments of over $700 from the previous LLC of Grass Roots America:
[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

This is not the first time they have changed LLC as they were called "Mystery Guest, INC" and left people in the wind prior to this shell company jump:

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

I just located that Jane Newnun at the same residential address was the same owner of all THREE LLC's!

Mystery Guest, INC. Was the first of three "bankruptcy" companies that are shell companies of the same owner.

They now have a THREE strike LLC bankruptcy and have left people without payment three times!

I can't say that there is intentional failure here, but there is a very bad record of LLC's created to limit anyone from going to small claims court when they are not paid by Jane Newnum. She maintained a solid company for many years, but the pattern of creating a new business and shedding debt with bankruptcy is now documented.


[search.sunbiz.org]

Detail by Entity Name
Florida Profit Corporation MYSTERY GUEST, INC.
Filing Information
Document Number
P94000014391
FEI/EIN Number
593240681
Date Filed
02/18/1994
State
FL
Status
INACTIVE
Last Event
ADMIN DISSOLUTION FOR ANNUAL REPORT
Event Date Filed
09/23/2011
Event Effective Date
NONE
Principal Address
1443 HIBISCUS AVENUE
WINTER PARK, FL 32789

Changed: 04/30/2009
Mailing Address
P.O. BOX 3510
WINTER PARK, FL 32790

Changed: 01/10/2006
Registered Agent Name & Address NEWNUM, JANE
1443 HIBISCUS AVENUE
WINTER PARK, FL 32789

Name Changed: 04/28/2002

Address Changed: 04/30/2009
Officer/Director Detail Name & Address

Title D

NEWNUM, JANE
1443 HIBISCUS AVENUE
WINTER PARK, FL 32789

Annual Reports
Report Year Filed Date
2008 01/09/2008
2009 04/30/2009
2010 04/30/2010

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2015 02:33AM by scanman1.

I want to be paid and I want everyone else who is owed $$$ to be paid!

I have never done a shop for this MSC,.
But I would question why anyone would want to shop for them,?

They just gave a big giant FU to shoppers.
Its debatable if their is bankruptcy fraud going on here?

You know they have no problem screwing over shoppers for payment.

If they want a shop done
i would INSIST on PAYMENT in advance.

I would not reward the owners of this MSC on principal!

If this a true bankruptcy, can you notify the trustee of the bankruptcy and give him this information? I am sure the trustee would like to know.

Thanks for the great investigative work, Scanman.

@scanman1 wrote:

This is not the first time they have changed LLC as they were called "Mystery Guest, INC" and left people in the wind prior to this shell company jump:

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

For clarification; I think when they became Grassroots, they did settle up with all shoppers in the form of gift cards. I had stopped working for them just before that, since the move to gift cards signaled a problem with finances at the company to me.

That said, I would frown on taking any shop from the new company on principle. Same as Freeman, or Orillio, and all others who have folded, leaving shoppers in the lurch. If you want to claim protection from bankruptcy and reek that kind of havoc with shoppers, please go work in another industry afterward....

Great work scanman. You would make a good PI

I had done shops for these with Giant Eagle in the past,a few years ago at that Time I complained on this forum that they had blocked me from shops. Some of the earlier comments pooh poohed me for a bad attitude. I made contact with them they claimed as I was a shopper on others groups, that was why I was removed, then they said I had been ID'd. At one time they had some decent shops that did pay in gift cards for the chain easy to redeem with fuel rewards Good PI work lets hope no legit company will fall for their line and take up their services.

They've never had much around here. Years ago when they were still paying by reimbursement (i.e. not paying shoppers with gift cards.) there was a restaurant near here that I would shop. I had again signed up to shop that restaurant like I always did, but the MSC called me back and told me not to go. Lo and behold about a week later the restaurant had shut its doors. At that time I never had any difficulty getting reimbursed by them.

Scanman1, thanks for the information. It does look like this is the same company. I just logged in using my old Mystery Guest ID and password. Not only did the login work, but their website shows all the shops that I did at the above mentioned restaurant way back to 2001.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/2015 09:58PM by alannajm.

@cjbstar wrote:

Great work scanman. You would make a good PI

ditto

Isn't that the Donald Trump model?

This company is not an MSPA member, is it?

@SunnyDays2 wrote:

If this a true bankruptcy, can you notify the trustee of the bankruptcy and give him this information? I am sure the trustee would like to know.

Sunny, Grassroots indeed declared bankruptcy. The details of the court filing are listed in this thread. [www.mysteryshopforum.com]

Yes, the court and trustee needs to know this information to investigate any fraud that may have occurred.

This could be grounds for Piercing the corporate veil. A judge would then attach all personal assets of the principles in debts and lawsuits:

[www.nolo.com]
[corpgov.law.harvard.edu]

Wow..I never worked for this company, but I swear. If I still lived in Florida, someone in Winter Park would get someone ringing her bell, one evening, to find out what is what from the horse's mouth. It would be me at her door--and not smiling..

I clicked on the link to their homepage and had to laugh when I saw this... "BEWARE OF SCAMS! Research Powered will NEVER ask you to: (point #1) Pay to participate in our programs" As shown by scanman1's excellent research, this whole company is a SCAM. As for their first point, if they're not reimbursing shoppers for the work being done, evidently they DO expect people to pay to participate in their programs. Just how stupid do they think most mystery shoppers are? Sheesh!

Unfortunately, scams and scam artists prey on the unsuspecting, or those not in the know. Folks that read this forum will know not to work for this company. I fear for those who don't know and will.

Did they do a liquidation BK or a reorganization BK?.
If it was liquidation this is clear BK fraud.

Chapter 7, liquidation.

If liquidation but they are using the same shopper database and all the shopper records in their new business, evidenced by shoppers being able to use their previous passwords to log into the new site and see all work completed with the previous company, it sounds like fraud to me. How would they be reported? Could members of the MSF report them?

The bankruptcy proceedings is the place. The trustee of that proceedings is probably the person to contact. Anyone could do it, although I think a creditor of Grassroots is a better person to be heard.

I wonder if the clients being shopped are aware that they are possibly being used as part of a fraud scheme?

Are they actually offering new shops or just have a new website restarted?
Usually in a liquidation proceeding the court appoints an executor to wind down operations?

They have the same jobs and instructions posted and people are taking the jobs. They are some nice shopping locations.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/29/2015 04:02AM by scanman1.

They owe many of us money. I expect to receive my payments.

bk fraud is a serious matter and if assets were transferred prior to bk protection then these folks could be facing serious jail time. the bk trustee needs to be made aware of all findings so keep all your findings and once the bk trustee has been identified forward all your findings to him or her.

Did you file a claim with the bankruptcy court? If not, you have zero chance of collecting a dime. If you do, you have little chance, but more than zero.

@wiseshopper wrote:

They owe many of us money. I expect to receive my payments.

All of the information about the bankruptcy has been posted previously. The trustee is know. The docket number is known.

@Brian K wrote:

bk fraud is a serious matter and if assets were transferred prior to bk protection then these folks could be facing serious jail time. the bk trustee needs to be made aware of all findings so keep all your findings and once the bk trustee has been identified forward all your findings to him or her.

I think the issue is that the virtual assets (All shopper info, client info, forms for MSing) were utilized by the same parties in an identical business endeavor after filing BK for Grassroots. These assets do have value, and the court needs to made aware of that....

They are equal partners with 50 shares each of the 100 shares for the LLC.

"initial Issue: 100 shares of the Capital Stock of the Corporation shall be issued
for adequate consideration in the following manner:
JANE ELIZABETH NEWNUM 50 shares
MICHAEL ANTHONY ATKINSON 50 shares"

On the About page, it states this is a 100% woman-owned business. Is there something about Michael we don't know?

I advise EVERYONE that is owed money from all three companies to log into the "new" website with your same credentials and print hard copies of your shop log for all three companies before they take the server down.

[www.researchpoweredshops.com]

It is already established that this asset is carried from all three LLC's, The judge will have no choice but to pierce the LLC veil and you can sue the two people behind the LLC and even place a lien against the lovely home they share in Winter Park.

I am not a lawyer and advise you obtain proper legal counsel.

I will say that judges frown EXTREMELY hard against this type of behavior and a small claims court case opened with the above information will likely result in a default judgment, as the defendants will likely not show up due to the possible criminal prosecution they are facing.

You can file against them by name in small claims court and they cannot bring a fancy lawyer. They must stand alone as small claims court will not allow legal representation . Print the PDF's of all three companies and the co-mingling of the website and LLC owners that are documented here.
File against them personally here:
[myorangeclerk.com]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/01/2015 03:30AM by scanman1.