Who is Optima Tax Relief’s Managing Partner Jesse Stockwell?

One thing is for sure, Optima Tax Relief appears to be his latest goose that lays the golden egg. He protects it like a mother protecting her young, keeping her from negative posts and websites that could cause her harm. Jesse Stockwell, on his website of the same name, declares himself an expert on Internet Marketing. We think he is referring to his ability to create websites for the sole purpose of making sure the good reviews keep coming, and the bad ones disappear. He does seem to know, or at least have an instinct, as to what websites to spend money with; websites that appear to be consumer rating sites, but that give him almost total control. He has squashed bad press ranging from the Attorney General of the Great State of New York all the way to R.I.C.O. charges in a lawsuit that included extortion and death threats.

We present the facts that we found, all from credible websites and government agencies, and links to where we found them. The good, the bad and the ugly about the many companies and ‘feeder sites’ of Jesse Stockwell. We hope that by providing you with a story about the facts we discovered, you will be able to make an informed decision about this Wharton Graduate and his companies; and whether or not you want to do business with him.

To quote a posting we found, “Is this really who you want negotiating with the IRS on your behalf”.

1. 2001 – Coins That Care, LLC: DBA National Medallions, LLC. This was their first venture together. Coins That Care, LLC was a “Commemorative Coin Company”. It is obvious that this company was created to exploit the attack on the World Trade Centers on 9/11. It appears that the now famous picture of the New York Firefighters raising the American Flag atop the rubble of the Trade Centers was used on their “coin” without the consent of its owners. They were sued for violation of the copyright and trademarks owned by the New York Fire Fighters Association and their Widows. Along with the copyright and trademark violations, an interviewed parent of one of the partners said he advised them on settlement options for the coin company and its partners, who were apparently personally sued for a wide range of debts from the manufacturer of the coin, vendors and advertisers. See reference documents here and here.
2. 2002 – J.E. Torres & Co., Inc: California Secretary of State records show that this company was formed by Jesse E. Torres IV, now know as Jesse Stockwell or Jesse E. Stockwell. Its business type is listed as domestic stocks. What set off a red flag to us was that this company was formed in June 18, 2002 and shows a last statement date of July 17, 2002. That’s not even a full month in business. Why? See documents here.
3. 2002 – 2006/2008 – Lendingpoint Mortgage: The dates are confusing as the California Secretary of States’ records show that Lendingpoint was suspended on December 2, 2006 by the California Secretary of State, and then dissolved in 2008. Lendingpoint Mortgage was formed shortly after litigation forced the closing of the first business Jesse E. Torres IV was involved in, Coins That Care, LLC, DBA National Medallions LLC. Lendingpoint Mortgage specialized in marketing sub-prime mortgages and, the record shows, it became very successful at it. And yes, those were the same “junk” mortgages that almost bankrupt the U.S. economy. The government brought these high-risk, high-profit mortgages to an end, and as such, Lendingpoint was forced to lay off its employees and close its doors. Our best guess is that the corporation was kept alive in order to receive the last of any commissions. It was apparently located at the same address as his next company, Debtmerica, LLC.
4. 2006 – Present – Debtmerica, LLC: Jesse E. Torres IV, (A.K.A. Jesse Stockwell, Jesse E. Stockwell) went off on his own and formed Debtmerica. Debtmerica has by all indications become a very lucrative business for Jesse. It has numerous websites such as SuperMoney, and Trustpilot which make it look like Debtmerica gets nothing but great reviews. If you go to the personal website of Jesse Stockwell, you will find that he considers himself an expert in Internet marketing. We wrote a simple review of easily verifiable facts about Debtmerica and its managing partner, Jesse Stockwell to see just how effective they were at removing bad reviews. The review was taken down in minutes! They also made BBB complaints and Debtmerica’s BBB F Rating disappear. But our favorite Debtmerica magic trick was when they paid the New York Attorney General $200,000 to stop their investigation and apparently a lawsuit against Debtmerica, and then they put out press releases like they were heros. See it here.
5. 2011 – Present – Optima Tax Relief LLC: Website claims to be a tax relief company of the same type the IRS issued a warning on, pointing out how these types of companies use radio and television advertisements to lure in vulnerable and unsuspecting victims. Have you heard Alan Thicke on radio and TV pitching Optima Tax Relief? Please see our story and why even Fox Business News aired a special entitled, “Don’t Become a Victim of a Tax-Relief Scam“. Need we say more?
6. 2010 – Present – LoanNow LLC: Website claims to be a friendly loan company for those in need. The reality is that they charge up to 189% interest. In our day that was called Vig! Even the loan sharks of old stand in awe on how Jesse Stockwell can get away with this. Please do yourself a favor and read our story about this company. How bad is it? Using their loan example of a $2500 loan paid back over 12 months, you borrow $2500 and you pay back $11,901.25. That’s $9,401.25 in interest! See for yourself.
7. 2013 – Present – SuperMoney LLC: Ever look at any of Jesse Stockwell’s websites? You will notice an overwhelming number of 5 star reviews. At least until now that is, where a flood of real reviews are showing up from the masses. People appear to be rising up, screaming at the top of their lungs, warning others about Jesse. It is our opinion, an opinion based on the testimony of former employees, that SuperMoney’s 5 star reviews are coming from the then current employees of Jesse. SuperMoney is the flagship of Jesse’s propaganda machine. Check it out for yourself here: The supermoney.com website: The Spin machine?.
8. They can run but they can’t hide: Even though Debtmerica made the actual pages and negative reviews disappear, we found a plethora of pdf documents that preserved the web pages that disappeared. For people to take the time and effort to do this, they must have very strong, negative feelings about Debtmerica. An example of the re-appearance of BBB complaints and Debtmerica’s BBB F Rating are available here.
9. What Experts Say: While it is our personal believe that manipulation of a marketplace is criminal, we have not as yet seen criminal actions against Debtmerica taken by authorities to this date. However, there are industry experts such as the Get Out Debt Guy who share our findings. He published “Anyway USOBA and TASC are not where you need to go to do your due diligence on Debtmerica. They are both paid by Debtmerica. You need to call the California Attorney General at (916) 322-3360, or Toll-free in California at (800) 952-5225″. See the full article here. You should also see why Debtmerica was investigated by the Attorney General of the State of New York. The pdf of the missing reviews are available here.
10. Missing Offshore Companies: The facts are these partners have managed to keep themselves one step ahead of their businesses that failed. Their history seems to show that they are really good at getting/buying themselves out of trouble and even out of prosecution. While in the midst of our research on these two individuals, we found the formation of an offshore company, and could not find a product that it sold. And then, after many attempts to find it, it appears the company has disappeared from the Internet. Please let us know if you archived the information on this company and/or any product or service it sells.
11. Jesse’s Name Change: The facts are that the now Jesse Stockwell or Jesse E. Stockwell is a new name for Jesse E. Torres IV. It appears clear to this author that Lendingpoint did, and Debtmerica currently does, market and cater to low-income clients. It also is evident by their own documents that they are now making a lot of money, and it is speculated that they made a large part of it from Mexican Americans. Why? It is public knowledge that a large segment of the population in which Debtmerica is based (Santa Ana, California) is of Mexican decent. This raises questions: did Jesse E. Torres IV change his name when Torres was no longer an asset to him with the Mexican community? Could it be the search results when searching is given name? Google Jesse E. Torres IV then you decide.
12. Cousin Jimmy: Jesse Stockwell’s cousin, James Kimberly Torres, was a twice convicted, incarcerated felon. He was convicted of drug related crimes in California. While we would not normally report on something like this, we believe this is relevant as Jesse Stockwell/Jesse E. Stockwell, when going by his given name Jesse E. Torres IV, lived with cousin Jimmy at his home in Descanso California for a prolonged period of time after he was terminated from the employ of Prudential Volpe Technology Group in December 2000.
13. R.I.C.O. charges: The relationship between James Kimberly Torres and his father Donald Francis Torres becomes even more relevant as this relationship seems to be at the root of R.I.C.O charges filed by Jesse E. Torres IV’s own father against him and Debtmerica. These charges included extortion and death threats made by James Kimberly Torres against Jesse E. Torres IV’s father and his wife, while they were living in Baja Mexico. The equivalent of a criminal warrant for the arrest of James Kimberly Torres was issued by the Mexican Attorney General’s office. The Jesse III stated that he would guess that Jesse E. Torres IV (A.K.A. Jesse Stockwell, Jesse E. Stockwell) and/or Debtmerica funded well over $100,000 in legal fees. The result of which could prevent his father from being paid a contractual agreed to amount of $1.6 million dollars. The complaint was dismissed by a lower court judge whose judgement was overturned on appeal. The case has been reinstated. See Court documents here.