Sandy Hook: The Implausibility of the Emilie Parker Fund Being Created Dec. 14th (a Banker's Perspective)

On December 14th Brooke Prothero (if her Facebook is correct, living in Ogden, UT) posted information as to how to donate to the Emilie Parker Fund at America First Credit Union. An account and routing number were given (if anyone knows a timestamp for this posting it would be helpful).

The posting is below:

Instructions on the Emilie Parker Memorial Account at America First Credit Union (account #5001359). For AFCU members making a transfer, select the Savings as the type of account, and the last name on the account is Parker. For non AFCU members, the AFCU routing number is 324377516. This account has been shared by several Utah media outlets and can be trusted. Thank you.

A PAYPAL account is also available if you use the email [email protected]
(via Fellowship of the Minds)

Many have wondered how on Earth the idea to create a fund just hours after the tragic death of your niece, but let’s forget the odd behavior for now. Let’s concentrate on the timeline.

When did Mr. and Mrs. Parker find out that Emilie passed away?

[link to www.apimages.com]

I am going to go by the timestamp on this picture. The Parkers look grief-stricken. I would assume they have been told, and this in essence starts the clock for when they would contact friends and family.

This is 10:31 AM on December 14, 2012.

10:32 EST: Prothero is notified of Emilie’s death
11:00 EST (9:00 AM MT): America First Credit Union opens for business

America First Credit Union closes at 8PM EST (6PM Mountain time)

Banks should not issue accounts to businesses without a tax ID number. It is possible (but still illegal) for the bank to open an account without the number. Many banking systems will not let it happen. It is also possible that she directed the funds to her existing account there (if she had one), which is also illegal. In any case, she would have to contact the bank in some fashion to make this happen, and the bank did not open until 11AM eastern. The fact that there was an official name for the account – The Emilie Parker Fund – would seem to indicate that some thought went into this and something official had to have happened at the bank.

Another note – any wire transfers going to the Emilie Parker Fund would have to contain that exact title in order to be processed. Any incoming ACH (electronic transactions) would have to match that title as well. In order to change the title on an account, a new signature card or agreement must be turned into the bank, unless the bank willfully overlooked regulations to allow this to happen. At the very least, she would have to make a phone call and inform the bank that this was going to happen, lest all incoming donations get rejected. In the very least, the name HAS to be changed the day of the 14th in order for the transfers she requests on the Facebook message to go through and not be rejected.

So what if she didn’t just change the title of her account and formed the memorial fund and started an account that day?

She would have to do the following:

Prothero, in order to legally open an account at the credit union under the memorial name, must first establish a tax identification number, and to be registered with the Utah corporation commission.

The IRS does not issue tax id numbers to 501(c)3 (non-profits) entities the same day. Prothero would have had the presence of mind to register for a number saying it was not a non-profit (corporation, etc.) in order for the fund to get the necessary tax ID number. She would have to go online to do this, and would take at least 15 minutes.

Now on to the Utah rules - here are the steps for registering a Utah non-profit.

She would have to draft and notarize article of incorporation/organization for the entity, which would require her to go see a notary. That is a minimum of 45 minutes, even in a perfect world. This would involve finding the corporation site, printing out a sample organization, drafting the names and getting the signatures of all involved. Doing all of this, and getting it notarized would be AT MINIMUM 90 minutes in a PERFECT world.

It is at least 1pm eastern.

From the Utah corporation commission website:

[link to corporations.utah.gov]

An Overview to Incorporating

A nonprofit corporation is formed when the Division of Corporations approves your articles of incorporation for filing or if a delayed effective date is specified pursuant to U.C.A. Section 16-6a-108(2). At that time your articles are stamped with an agency seal and with a corporate file number.

Articles of Incorporation are required to include the following elements (U.C.A. Section 16-6a-202:)
1) The name of the corporation.
2) The business purpose or purposes of organizing the corporations, including important language required by the IRS for federal tax exemption.
3) The number of shares the corporation is authorized to issue. If more than one class of shares is authorized, each class must be designated along with a description of the preferences, limitations and relative rights of each class. For additional information, see Title 16-6a-202 of the Utah Code.
4) A statement declaring whether or not the corporation will have "voting members".
5) The number of directors constituting the initial governing board {at least three (3)} and may list the name of each of those directors (optional with Articles until first annual report).
6) The Utah street address of the corporation's registered office and the name of the registered agent at that address accepting appointment as registered agent.
7) The name, street addresses and verified signatures of each incorporators.
8) The street address for the principle office (optional with Articles until first annual report).
When filing your articles, you must submit two (2) original copies with a filing fee of $30 payable to the State of Utah, to:
STATE OF UTAH
DIVISION OF CORPORATIONS & COMMERCIAL CODE
In Person: 160 East 300 South, Main Floor
Mail In: Box 146705
Salt Lake City, UT 84114-6705
Service Center: (801) 530-4849
Fax: (801) 530-6438
Web Site: [link to www.corporations.utah.gov]

Note that the online system DOES NOT ACCEPT online applications for non-profit entities. Below is the text from the site:

Due to your answers on one or more of the previous questions regarding your business registration, you are not eligible to register your business online at this time. Please review the following information to help determine what you will need to do in order to register this business.
OneStop Business Registration is not currently designed to register non 501(c) organizations in Utah. For registering nonprofit organizations, please contact:
1. Department of Workforce Services Unemployment Insurance Division. Go to their web site at [link to jobs.utah.gov] Select and print Form 1N for submission via mail or Fax.
2. Utah State Tax Commission. This includes all nonprofit organizations other than church or church-controlled organizations. You must receive approval from the Internal Revenue for exempt status under IRS Code section 501(c) and any of the subsections. See www.irs.gov/charities/ for more information. Following 501(c) approval, or for other questions, contact the Tax Commission's Technical Research Unit (TRU) at (801) 297-7705.

In order to be registered in the state, she would have to drive from Ogden, UT to Salt Lake City, UT to pay the fees and have the articles accepted. This is a 43 minute drive, according to mapquest, in perfect conditions. It is now, in a perfect world, 2 pm eastern.

The staff there would then have to overlook that fact that the business does not have a tax ID number for a non-profit. Any competent clerk of the circuit court would end the journey here. Still, the website says that issuing a license takes 24 hours, but could be longer. Let’s assume that somehow she is granted a license, it would take at least 30 minutes for the staff to review all of the documents. It is now at least eastern. The Utah corporation commission would then have to update their website to show that the Emilie Parker Fund is an active entity.

Now that she has the necessary paperwork – which would be nothing short of miraculous – she has to head to the bank and open the account. The nearest America First in Salt Lake City is ten minutes away from the courthouse (they have five branches). She has to park the car, and find her way to a customer service desk.

From personal experience, opening a business account takes at least 45 minutes, again in a perfect scenario. She has to have all the paperwork completed and identification required. The bank would then run her name, and the entity, through a checking account system called Chexsystems to verify the tax ID number of the entity. The fund will not show up on the site, unless somehow the IRS updated their database with Chexsystems, a third party entity, the same day. The result would come back “TIN:Not Yet Issued”. The rep should not open the account. Further, to check the license status of the fund, the rep would visit the public site of the Utah corporation commission to see if the fund was active. The chances of the site showing an entity granted a license 30 minutes ago are very, very slim. The rep would have to ignore these red flags and open the account anyway.

After getting the account number, she can post the info on Facebook.

Getting all of this done within an 8-hour window (or less depending on the timestamp of the post) would be an incredible feat, involving willful or negligent disregard of the Utah corporation commission and America First Credit Union.

In researching Sandy Hook, the most damning pieces of evidence involve those that happened in the hours after the event. How could all of this happen so quickly? The only logical answer is that there had to be some sort of foreknowledge of this event.