The PayPal Defense Fund

Let's move discussion regarding the paypal fund and any ramifications it may have on to this thread.

suzihawk said:

Nope. I think he either deliberately didn't ask him or instructed him not to tell him how much was in the accounts. Like I said, I think he walks a fine line wrt ethics.

IMO

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See, I have a problem with this. He's an officer of the court. He's also the one getting paid. You would think that the first thing he would ask GZ is how much money he has. Lying by omission is still a lie. He also knew there were websites with donations out there. Now, if he asked GZ and GZ (and I guess, the family) lied to him, that's a whole other thing; I can see MOM tapdancing around it so it didn't do his client's image too much harm. But he doesn't strike me as so stupid. At. All.
It all seems shady, IMO.

Is there a link to this account?

ladonna said:

Is there a link to this account?

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Do you mean to actually contribute? if so then no we won't post that. But if you mean a link about the paypal fund then yes I am sure someone can find one for you.

JBean said:

Do you mean to actually contribute? if so then no we won't post that. But if you mean a link about the paypal fund then yes I am sure someone can find one for you.

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Yes, that's what I meant. thanks

Copied from thread 35, p 27...

vlpate said:

The checks, money orders, etc., were fed-exed, the paypal account has to be transferred.

JMO

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Hi vl~ except that's not what O'Mara said. Here are transcripts of his two conflicting explanations of how he got the big money from George.

April 26
Anderson Cooper:
O'MARA: ... he said what to do with all the money in the PayPal accounts after we closed out his presence. And I asked him what he talked about. He told me the amount. I said, well, that's a significant amount of money, we need to secure that because we need to make sure that we administer it properly. And it came right to me. He'd literally FedEx'd me the checks.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1204/26/acd.01.html

April 27
Jane Velez Mitchell:
O'MARA: ...as soon as the opportunity presented itself for George to discuss it with me, as soon as that presented himself in telling me without question and transferring the money into my trust accounts, literally moments later, so I know his position in it.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1204/27/ijvm.01.html

:moo:

ladonna said:

Is there a link to this account?

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This 4/27 article has info about GZ's PayPal account(s)..

"Prosecutors in the Trayvon Martin shooting case asked a Florida judge today to increase the bail amount for George Zimmerman after news that the 17-year-old's killer had raised more than $200,000 through a Paypal account on his website.
Circuit Court judge Kenneth Lester Jr said he wanted to scrutinize the account to learn more about who opened the site, who managed it and exactly how much money it contained."

More at link:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/george-zimmerman-judge-donations-received/story?id=16228564

francie said:

Copied from thread 35, p 27...



Hi vl~ except that's not what O'Mara said. Here are transcripts of his two conflicting explanations of how he got the big money from George.

April 26
Anderson Cooper:
O'MARA: ... he said what to do with all the money in the PayPal accounts after we closed out his presence. And I asked him what he talked about. He told me the amount. I said, well, that's a significant amount of money, we need to secure that because we need to make sure that we administer it properly. And it came right to me. He'd literally FedEx'd me the checks.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1204/26/acd.01.html

April 27
Jane Velez Mitchell:
O'MARA: ...as soon as the opportunity presented itself for George to discuss it with me, as soon as that presented himself in telling me without question and transferring the money into my trust accounts, literally moments later, so I know his position in it.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1204/27/ijvm.01.html

:moo:

Click to expand...

How bizarre. Why the inconsistencies? Why does his story keep changing? Usually that only happens with liars.

francie said:

Copied from thread 35, p 27...



Hi vl~ except that's not what O'Mara said. Here are transcripts of his two conflicting explanations of how he got the big money from George.

April 26
Anderson Cooper:
O'MARA: ... he said what to do with all the money in the PayPal accounts after we closed out his presence. And I asked him what he talked about. He told me the amount. I said, well, that's a significant amount of money, we need to secure that because we need to make sure that we administer it properly. And it came right to me. He'd literally FedEx'd me the checks.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1204/26/acd.01.html

April 27
Jane Velez Mitchell:
O'MARA: ...as soon as the opportunity presented itself for George to discuss it with me, as soon as that presented himself in telling me without question and transferring the money into my trust accounts, literally moments later, so I know his position in it.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1204/27/ijvm.01.html

:moo:

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Please correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't O'mara give a press conference immediately following the bond hearing stating that he was going to shut down all of the GZ defense fund websites. Yet a week later "the real George Zimmerman" website was still up and running. And then he actually had the audacity to suggest that he didn't know about it.

I'm really getting tired of Mr. O'mara's excuses. How long does he expect to get away with playing dumb?

cherishtoo said:

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't O'mara give a press conference immediately following the bond hearing stating that he was going to shut down all of the GZ defense fund websites. Yet a week later "the real George Zimmerman" website was still up and running. And then he actually had the audacity to suggest that he didn't know about it.

I'm really getting tired of Mr. O'mara's excuses. How long does he expect to get away with playing dumb?

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It's okay, when all is said and done, Zimmerman and O'Mara will both be broke. All the money in the world ain't gonna save Zimmerman.


~jmo~

Adrienne37 said:

It's okay, when all is said and done, Zimmerman and O'Mara will both be broke. All the money in the world ain't gonna save Zimmerman.


~jmo~

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If only I had your faith.

~jmo~

francie said:

Copied from thread 35, p 27...



Hi vl~ except that's not what O'Mara said. Here are transcripts of his two conflicting explanations of how he got the big money from George.

April 26
Anderson Cooper:
O'MARA: ... he said what to do with all the money in the PayPal accounts after we closed out his presence. And I asked him what he talked about. He told me the amount. I said, well, that's a significant amount of money, we need to secure that because we need to make sure that we administer it properly. And it came right to me. He'd literally FedEx'd me the checks.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1204/26/acd.01.html

April 27
Jane Velez Mitchell:
O'MARA: ...as soon as the opportunity presented itself for George to discuss it with me, as soon as that presented himself in telling me without question and transferring the money into my trust accounts, literally moments later, so I know his position in it.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1204/27/ijvm.01.html

:moo:

Click to expand...

It is very confusing and ambiguous the way those statements are expressed.
The word "literally" as opposed to "actual" jumps out. What does that mean. Fedex'd or not.
If I recall using Paypal myself, when you have a positive balance in the account, you can either request a ( mailed) Paypal paper check or electronic transfer to a bank account. Or use the positive balance for a direct "on line" payment for something.

You would never see a check directly from the person that actual made the donation since that is all paperless. Now here we have checks(multiple) that somebody had to request from Paypal and I wonder to which physical mailing address since GZ was/is in hiding except when in jail. And it would have taken several days to get a check from Paypal after the request was made.
Multiple checks would mean multiple requests to Payal over a period of time. Were "they" afraid to deposit them before the bail hearing since it would blow their cover of no money for bail?
Something smells very off. IMO.

elementary said:

See, I have a problem with this. He's an officer of the court. He's also the one getting paid. You would think that the first thing he would ask GZ is how much money he has. Lying by omission is still a lie. He also knew there were websites with donations out there. Now, if he asked GZ and GZ (and I guess, the family) lied to him, that's a whole other thing; I can see MOM tapdancing around it so it didn't do his client's image too much harm. But he doesn't strike me as so stupid. At. All.
It all seems shady, IMO.

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Well, MOM admitted "he is a business man first" in one of his interviews.
And now Paypal funds/donations will be requested thru a web site owned by MOM's place of business.
One thing I do not expect in the near future, is a hearing on the SYG statute to have the charge dismissed since that would shut the donations down..
Man, this is a win win monetary perfect business situation for MOM and GZ.
Donations will continue to be collected thru MOM's website.
At some future point in time, SYG can be officially claimed and if successful, the State of Fla will be responsible for all monies spent to date on GZ's defense. MOM gets paid by the State of Florida at his 400 bucks an hour rate and GZ gets to keep all the donations.
Quite clever and all legal.
I do pity the FLA taxpayer

rotterdam said:

Well, MOM admitted "he is a business man first" in one of his interviews.
And now Paypal funds/donations will be requested thru a web site owned by MOM's place of business.
One thing I do not expect in the near future, is a hearing on the SYG statute to have the charge dismissed since that would shut the donations down..
Man, this is a win win monetary perfect business situation for MOM and GZ.
Donations will continue to be collected thru MOM's website.
At some future point in time, SYG can be officially claimed and if successful, the State of Fla will be responsible for all monies spent to date on GZ's defense. MOM gets paid by the State of Florida at his 400 bucks an hour rate and GZ gets to keep all the donations.
Quite clever and all legal.
I do pity the FLA taxpayer

Click to expand...

Maybe that's the reason MO'M isn't in any hurry for the discovery.

But remember when O'Mara said he was working pro-bono? This gets me riled up. If he is working pro-bono, then what is the "defense fund" for? Were they just lying in court so they could keep the money? :banghead: They can't have him rich and indigent at the same time.

*note* And I'm not just saying this because O'Mara is a defense attorney! Who cares what he is? A lie is still a lie!

My Fox 8, April 12, 2012

O’Mara said Zimmerman’s family contacted him after referrals from other lawyers. He told reporters Thursday he has taken no fees from his client. “I think he’s indigent for costs. He doesn’t have any money,” he said, adding there is a process that allows the state to help defray such costs.


CNN Transcript, April 12, Day of Zimmerman's First Court Appearance

Brooke BALDWIN: As you talk about both of these attorneys, you know, look, it can't be cheap to hire them and I know that as Mark O'Mara has said, George Zimmerman doesn't have a lot of money and referred to him as indigent.

And said to reporters not too long ago, he is not going to be charging him a fee. So then who does get charged for the defense? How does that work?

NEJAME: Well, really, it is Mark donating his services pro bono, and I suspect many people on the Trayvon team who are doing that as well. Lawyers who care, our passion, a lot of lawyers get a hit, a bad press and bad hit and some have well deserved, but there are many lawyers who are out there truly dedicating themselves to causes and cases.

ThoughtFox said:

But remember when O'Mara said he was working pro-bono? This gets me riled up. If he is working pro-bono, then what is the "defense fund" for? Were they just lying in court so they could keep the money? :banghead: They can't have him rich and indigent at the same time.

*note* And I'm not just saying this because O'Mara is a defense attorney! Who cares what he is? A lie is still a lie!

My Fox 8, April 12, 2012

O’Mara said Zimmerman’s family contacted him after referrals from other lawyers. He told reporters Thursday he has taken no fees from his client. “I think he’s indigent for costs. He doesn’t have any money,” he said, adding there is a process that allows the state to help defray such costs.

CNN Transcript, April 12, Day of Zimmerman's First Court Appearancehttp://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1204/12/cnr.06.html

Brooke BALDWIN: As you talk about both of these attorneys, you know, look, it can't be cheap to hire them and I know that as Mark O'Mara has said, George Zimmerman doesn't have a lot of money and referred to him as indigent.

And said to reporters not too long ago, he is not going to be charging him a fee. So then who does get charged for the defense? How does that work?

NEJAME: Well, really, it is Mark donating his services pro bono, and I suspect many people on the Trayvon team who are doing that as well. Lawyers who care, our passion, a lot of lawyers get a hit, a bad press and bad hit and some have well deserved, but there are many lawyers who are out there truly dedicating themselves to causes and cases.

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That is because back on April 12th he probably WAS close to indigent. I doubt there was much money in that account at that time. Then somewhere along the line someone made a large donation. We do not yet know when that was exactly.

katydid23 said:

That is because back on April 12th he probably WAS close to indigent. I doubt there was much money in that account at that time. Then somewhere along the line someone made a large donation. We do not yet know when that was exactly.

Click to expand...

If it was that recent then how do you explain that more than 50K was already used. He was arrested the 11th.That is an awful lot to spend on snacks from the jail commissary.

April 26
Anderson Cooper:
O'MARA: ... he said what to do with all the money in the PayPal accounts after we closed out his presence. And I asked him what he talked about. He told me the amount. I said, well, that's a significant amount of money, we need to secure that because we need to make sure that we administer it properly. And it came right to me. He'd literally FedEx'd me the checks.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIP...26/acd.01.html

April 27
Jane Velez Mitchell:
O'MARA: ...as soon as the opportunity presented itself for George to discuss it with me, as soon as that presented himself in telling me without question and transferring the money into my trust accounts, literally moments later, so I know his position in it.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIP...7/ijvm.01.html

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How does "literally FedExing" differ from "FedExing"?


The way he inserts a completely unnecessary modifier "literally" which adds nothing to the meaning of the sentences twice in there makes me think that this might not literally be how it happened at all.

ICBW, I've just got a thing about filler words.

Donjeta said:

How does "literally FedExing" differ from "FedExing"?


The way he inserts a completely unnecessary modifier "literally" which adds nothing to the meaning of the sentences twice in there makes me think that this might not literally be how it happened at all.

ICBW, I've just got a thing about filler words.

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The way I read it , is that no Fedex was involved. It just means it was fast whatever method was used.

rotterdam said:

If it was that recent then how do you explain that more than 50K was already used. He was arrested the 11th.That is an awful lot to spend on snacks from the jail commissary.

Click to expand...

No, these paypal accounts were around long before O'Mara and discussed when his first attorneys quit back on April 10th, and that's why I think he must have known something about them. The two original attorneys set up an account, then over a weekend George made another account before disappearing. So that's at least 2 paypal accounts, and it's actually easy to find out about them online because every network covered it that night.

I think Zimmerman spent (or hid) the 50K, or gave it to his wife to spend. Or maybe it was a "gift" from the NRA or Sean Hannity - we'll never know! Either way, he wanted "control" over it and didn't want to pay attorneys with it.

MSNBC Manuscript, April 10, 2012
UHRIG: Mr. Sonner was accompanied to the bank by Mr. Zimmerman`s
father, for the purpose of setting up a Web site by which people might make
donations. We went to great lengths to make sure the Web site was set up in way to which the PayPal account paid directly to an account on which for his father has the control on the signature rights.

Jane Velez-Mitchell Transcript, April 10,2012
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, the complaints from these lawyers today. They said this Web site that you`re looking at here, , was set up by George Zimmerman in sort of a rogue fashion. He launched it on his own with PayPal so he could get money from his supporters, and this is one of the reasons these attorneys are stepping down. They say they were actually working to set up another Web site. So it would seem that these two lawyers and George Zimmerman are working at cross purposes.

*snip*

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hey, Frank, can I jump in for a second?

TAAFFE: Yes?

VELEZ-MITCHELL: We talked a lot about this Web site. The point is that these attorneys were saying they were going in the process of setting up a different Web site when all of a sudden this --

TAAFFE: Right. It was called Zimmerman Defense Fund. That`s what Hal Uhrig and the other one set up. It was called Zimmerman Defense Fund. Correct.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Right. I got that, but why? Why is he going on his own path creating a different Web site at the same time as his attorneys were setting up another one?

TAAFFE: I can`t really answer that other than the fact that he wanted me to share it with the public of this Web site, where he could have direct control.

Anderson Cooper Transcript, April 10, 2012
COOPER: So, Mr. Uhrig, were you ever officially his attorneys? Had he signed a document saying you were his attorneys? Had you met with family members? His family members?

UHRIG: We had been in communication with family members. In fact, the father went to the bank with Mr. Sonner to set up the bank account which the Web site we put up for his benefit was going to take so that we didn't touch the money. The money would go to a bank account with only his father's name on it. His father was communicative with us. He was communicative with us.

*snip*

SONNER: I'm not going to make any comments as to whether -- that's just speculation of what he's going through because of everything he's endured at this point.

But the primary thing was that all of a sudden, things -- like I think as Hal said, they went dark. He wasn't contacting me anymore. He wasn't calling by phone. He wasn't sending e-mails. He wasn't sending text messages. On Saturday, I talked with him. There was some little thing we had to resolve and everything seemed fine on Saturday.

Then something happened on Sunday and then, of course, we learned that there was a Web site that was set up, which was fine that he set it up. I had lined up a Web site designer to do it and we'd set up a bank account because I didn't think he was going to be able to do it. But it was really better that he was able to do that himself. It keeps me from being involved with his money. And that's something lawyers don't want to do being involved with their -- is have their hands too much in their clients' money.

Contrary to what some of the lawyer jokes say, we want to keep -- the quickest way to get disbarred is to get your hands in your clients' money or in your clients' trust fund. So that was just fantastic with me that he was setting up his own.