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What
Leasing News Will Not Divulge
On
or about August 23, 2001, Rich Tambor, Sr. Vice-President of American
Express
Small Business Services, conducted a conference call with the all personnel
within his division. In that call, Mr. Tabor referred to issues with
the RW Professional Leasing portfolio and Republic Group of Anaheim,
California
that were being addressed by American Express. This quickly became
common knowledge in the leasing industry since the industry is close
knit.
At this point, RW Professional became known to Leasing News, as we were
not familiar with this company at all. We
asked our sources at American Express, American Express Business Finance, former
collectors, salesmen, managers, directors, officers. at what was once known
as First Sierra, plus presidents of several companies involved, who spoke
to us on a confidential basis, plus our advisory board. RW Professional
was a public issue and as such, RW Professional became a "public
figure" subject to public discussion and speculation. Leasing
News was given this statement to publish: "A
high ranking executive with Amex has verified that Amex is investigating
possible
problems with the portfolios of RW Professional Leasing and the Republic
Group. There is no cover up attempt on the part of Amex, but in fairness
to everyone, the issues have to be thoroughly investigated before any
public comment can be made".
American Express Spokesman Statement----Name Withheld October
1, 2001 Leasing News wrote: "...We are receiving reports that RW
Professional
Leasing has filed bankruptcy, and the principal(s) have started another
leasing company. We are looking forward to verifying this..."
We explained
why, as it was part of several stories we were working on; two still
in the works. We
had received a tip, confirmed the tip with several well-informed sources, who
also heard the talk on the street. We did not want to publish this until we
could confirm or deny it from RW Professional. Leasing
News attempted to reach RW Professional for a comment. We were attempting
to confirm or deny the "rumor." October 3, 2001. as part
of our story
on the inquiry of "AmX Business Finance Mid/Am Portfolio Bond
Insurance",
we wrote, "As a side note, I am surprised there has not been a
reader
who has taken me to task for saying " we look forward to the RW
Professional
bankruptcy confirmation . We had originally ask for
a confirmation or denial and this was an attempt to "smoke out
" a response.
( The
main purpose was to up-date readers, and hopefully get a confirmation or
denial as no comment was forthcoming from RW Professional. The
bankruptcy data we searched could find no record. Everyone we
spoke to seems to have heard the rumor, but we still could not
officially confirm or deny it as RW Professional didn't want to
speak to us. On
or about October 12, a fax was received from Salvatore D. Ferlazzo of
Girvin
& Ferlazzo representing RW ProfessionalLeasing, stated Leasing
News was "...claiming that RW Professional has filed for
bankruptcy protection. That is absolutely false, and, of course, defamatory
to the business reputation of RW Professional. Leasing
News had not made such a claim, but was trying to confirm or
deny the talk on the street. We tried to reach Mr.Ferlazzo by telephone,
but he was not available. We tried to reach RW Professional Leasing,
but no one was available. We sent several e-mails to Mr. Ferlazzo. Finally
we reached Mr.Ferlazzo by telephone October
15, we headlined: "RW
Professional Has Not Filed Bankruptcy "Leasing
news heard from Salvatore D. Ferlazzo of Girvin & Ferlazzo,PC, representing
RW Professional Leasing, Long Island, New York. We have been trying
to confirm or deny the rumor floating around the leasing community. "He
says it "ain't so." We have asked him for an official statement
or comment
or e-mail or any comment from RW Professional Leasing, as we have not
been able to obtain one." Mr.Ferlazzo
telephoned us back and it was not a "retraction" they were
seeking, he told me. Basically Mr. Ferlazzo said his client "Barry
Drayer" would not pursue the matter if I told him who were the sources
of the rumor. Peter
S. Hemar, of Hemar Associates in Santa Monica, agreed to represent
us gratis. December 13,2001 we received a summons from
Richard L.Weiner, Encino, California representing RW
Professional. Mr.
Hemar contacted him, and the gist was basically the same, this
could be settled if Leasing News divulged who was "spreading
rumors." In our viewpoint, wehad heard it, tried
to verify it, and really don't know who originally started
the claim, which we were trying to confirm or deny. Now
we are served with a lawsuit, deposition and order to produce
documents. Unfortunately, Leasing News is at point that
we will have to seek a new attorney. Ken Greene, on our
advisory board, has agreed to help out in the interim, as
we cannot continue with Mr. Hemar, who also represents American
Express and American Express Business Financial, paying
clients. It is not fair to put him in this position, although
he has been generous with his time and effort. The
fact is the Leasing News sources include officers of
American Express, American Express Business Finance, present
and past officers, past managers, collection personnel,
and salesmen of American Express, American Express
Business Finance, First Sierra and Sierra Cities.com, Old
Kent Financial, plus present and past presidents of these organizations. It
was alleged that Leasing News has a "vendetta" against Barry
Drayer, which is not true. I personally do not know
him and until doing some research today, was not even
aware of what the company does, as I originally thought
they were in the medical leasing market place. Again,
Leasing News attempted to obtain a comment from
RW Professional Leasing, twice on Thursday, and was
told to speak with Mr. Weiner, who was not available, although
we did leave a voice mail early morning with him, and
now learn he will only talk to us through our attorney. This
is what we know publicly about the company: Sales
are stated at $10 to $20 million per year and the geographic
area is National. They are direct lessors specializing
in computer, medical, and office equipment, in
the "small ticket" and "vendor program" marketplace. RW
PROFESSIONAL LEASING CORP. Ms.
Rochelle Besser4584 Austin BlvdP.O. Box 296Island Park, NY 11558Phone:
(800)
431-4319Fax: (888) 443-4190 Business Council: · Small Ticket Function
Code: · Marketing · Sales RW
PROFESSIONAL LEASING CORP. Mr.
Adam DrayerCredit Analyst4584 Austin BlvdIsland Park, NY 11558Phone:
(800)
343-4319Fax: (888) 443-4190 Business Council: · Small Ticket Function
Code: · Collections · Credit RW
PROFESSIONAL LEASING CORP. Mr.
Barry DrayerVP445 Washington StreetWellesley, MA 02181Phone: (800) 343-4353Fax:
(800) 822-3127 Business Council: · Small Ticket · Vendor Programs
Function Code: · Corporate Executive
If
readers can fill us in with other information, or anything that might
be helpful
"on" or "off the record," it would be appreciated. Kit
Menkin, editor/publisher |
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