Well i dont mean to question you cause honestly i dont know the law on this but the question i would want answered is what if lawsuit is been ongoing for almost a yr? Can they dismiss it? The lawsuit as we all know is about the books. So could this club by filing bankruptcy have screwed up and the state or county make the financial records available to the members? Again thanks for answering so others may know more. Steven
https://www.dropbox.com/s/s1qqnoxjgbp8jsh/CMRA CC statements.pdf?dl=0 And some more info it seems Steven
What is worst case scenario for the leadership here? I'm sure there was some serious mismanagement of funds (read: theft), but how much? Would it be considered criminal? If these books were opened up, would they be forced to pay back large sums of money? Would they be blacklisted from the motorcycling community? What are they so worried about?
LOL. At my last company we made products. On some of of these materials we had a performance & liability insurance. We had hillbilly ass companies not using it correctly, then sue us for low-mid six figure amounts for some failures. Even though we had people who had been on site, saying this isnt right you need to do X,Y, Z, write emails, reports, etc.....the insurance company (AIG) settled. Several times. In fact we ahd to hurry up and settle, so we could start selling company S when they wanted to come back to use because their new suppliers product actually didnt work. Insurance company didnt balk at all..... The point is....Insurance peoples is stoopid. They drop you for having a fender bender, but are to happy to write checks for teh same shit if a business is involved....
I've only glanced at it (I really should be working). I'm guessing they were using CMRA funds to purchase personal items? It would be like if I started expensing all of my regular living expenses: groceries, daily food, clothing, fuel, etc, etc, etc as work expenses, plus getting my salary and other benefits on top of that, wouldn't it?
Well the drop box info does show where they are doing just that. What i wonder is why the Cmra members refuse to even hold the people who put the club in this position accountable? No logic at all. Steven
Membership Announcement to all Members regarding Book and Records review Announcement to CMRA Members In recent years, the CMRA has been subject to court orders prohibiting it from making financial records available to CMRA members. The CMRA is pleased to announce that these restrictions are now lifted! Many members have asked thoughtful and reasonable questions during recent years, and we wish to make sure that those good questions are answered in a transparent and thorough manner. To that end, the Board has asked Alex Howard (CMRA Administrator) to immediately post the Association’s most recent tax returns in the CMRA Announcements Forum. Going forward, we will keep the most recent three years of tax returns (IRS Form 990) posted on the Forum for your review at any time. Similarly, the Board has asked Alex to post the most recent annual financial reports in the CMRA Announcements Forum and, going forward, she will keep the most recent three years of these annual reports posted on the Forum. If the posted data does not answer your questions, you may also inspect our books and records at our office. Specifically, you may inspect the most recent three years of our federal tax returns (IRS Form 990), as well as our annual financial reports. You may also inspect the most recent three years of our general ledger, bank statements, credit card statements, and expense reports. For a reasonable fee, you may obtain copies of these documents for your personal use (but not for sharing with other individuals). CMRA members in good standing may also inspect other business records, when the member presents a written request stating the purpose of the request, and when the requested materials are relevant to the stated purpose. This type of material includes the corporate minute book and other business records, but it does not include confidential information, such as protected health and/or employee records, election ballots, board discussions, and attorney-client communications. CMRA maintains a records retention policy and cannot make records available if they have been destroyed pursuant to that policy, nor will it provide records to a member for business transactions that precede the individual’s current membership tenure. Inspections can be made at our principal office with a pre-arranged appointment. For the time being, CMRA policy is that a CMRA director will be present at each inspection. The director should be able to answer any questions you may have about CMRA records, or be able to direct you to someone who could answer your questions. In the future, we may change the requirement that a CMRA director be present at the inspection. We are eager to do our best to answer any questions you may have. We will charge a reasonable fee for making copies of any record. Copies may not be shared with any other individual without the consent of CMRA. Further, anyone who inspects our records may be asked to sign a non-disclosure and confidentiality agreement in order to protect confidential information and/or to prevent information from being used to damage our vendor relationships or give undue advantage to our competitors. As you know, our office has moved to Waco. Our office hours are 9-4:30, Monday to Friday. Our new address is: 5900 Franklin Ave., #36 Waco, Texas 76710 (817) 570-9779 We welcome you! If you have any questions, please contact Alex Howard, CMRA Administrator, at [email protected]
Bahhhahahhaha. Dude then why is Cmra file bankruptcy? Why didn't Cmra do this 4 yrs ago? Have you looked at the drop box yet? Thank you for being so transparent for the whole world to see. It instills faith with who the members can believe in. Steven
Unfortunately, I think that practice is relatively common in the small business world. Most of the "members" just want to ride their bikes in circles, and don't really have the time or desire to formally organize a dispute. They probably figured that as long as the races were happening, everything would be fine and were willing to let this slush fund nonsense slide as "the cost of doing business", however wrong it technically is. As we've seen, a good number of them probably feel that the person calling out the BOD for it's transgressions are a bigger threat to the org than the people doing the stealing (because it's cost more, but that's actually the fault of the BOD/thieves).
Yep! And If you did that, you'd be shitcanned cause that's what a responsible company would do to you. But there's more! Would you Believe it if I told you the guy that was doing this still works for the CMRA and works for Moto America as well?! Steven
That stuff gets kind of hazy at the top. Is it a business expense? Is it part of the compensation package? A LOT of small business owners mix that stuff up to the great distress of their accountants.
Ok maybe so. But if the members had stepped up and made the BOD held accountable for their decision and made to produce the books as they are seemingly doing now. Would that have put a stop to the last 4 yrs and 2 lawsuits and spared this club and its members wasting time and money on lawsuits and the focus would have been put on racing and growing the club a better choice? I would think so. But the truth is coming out as we are seeing. Steven
I don't know...maybe he runs a tight ship?! I played in a men's hockey league for years. We did some calculating and found out that the guy who runs it was making $5-10K for himself every season! There were three season a year. Do the math. And guess what...nobody gave a shit because nobody else wanted the headache. We even cracked on the guy for it and he just chuckled as he unlocked his Porsche.
This brings another quetion: has the IRS gone after any of these people for untaxed income? If the items purchased were for personal use, that would be effectively the same as wages, and should have been taxed as such.
Well seems 4 yrs of lawsuits and going on seem to prove thatsomeone knew it wasnt right to do it or so it seems. Steven
How was he making that much money? Was he "earning" it by organizing it, or was he stealing it from members?
I honestly believe they couldn't afford to pay the money back so they used the insurance and legal funds to attempt to fight it, hoping it would go away quickly, then it snowballed. I don't have a dog in this fight other than a "to the bone" hatred for thieves, but I'd love to see some people thrown in prison over this crap.
I guess you would say he was earning it by organizing the league. Our league started out small with about 6 teams in 2 divisions and now there are 6 divisions with about 8 teams each. Now I have no clue how he reports that extra money. All I know is that he does a good job and the league has thrived. I'll admit I know nothing about the CMRA and their situation, but if this "bad" dude is still with them there has to be a reason.
