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I still have my head but Steve and Sherry have our money. How do we contact them in Monaco or wherever they are hiding? I am not interested in doing anything illegal. I want to legally procede to catch the crooks. Since you are the only one who seems to know where they are please help the rest of us catch them. You have cajoled and infuriated everyone on this site. At the very least you can now help us. If you really are "Honest John" then you should have no problem helping us catch the "Dishonest Steve and Sherry Brunner." Please help the rest of us.
TATF has apparently sold all their-farms in-CR in the last 10 days. There apparently is no legal recourse against Steve and unless you had legal contracts written in spanish no recourse with the new land owners.
No-Steve & Sherry are Not honest people. However i do not intend to get embroiled in possibly illegal actions if someone(investor) loses his head.
So, now we are all dupedbysteve. Please tell all of us how to contact Steve and Sherry. I will borrow the money to go talk to them. I hope that everyone including the FBI goes with me. If what you are NOW saying is the truth, Steve and Sherry need to be blessed with our current attention. Do you really think that they are honest people? What a total load of crap. If they have sold the farms where is our money? We investors paid for the farms.
Not so, i just knew that a spanish written contract was the only legally binding form of contract in CR. I brought it to the attention of several posters months ago. Now that Steve has doublecrossed his investors at least i have legal options so i will get my money from the new owners. As far as i knew the company was solvent when i bought my trees. Now it is not, as evidenced by the shutoff of phones and office.
I beg to differ with you. TATF has yet to meet my 7, 10 or 13 year projections. How in the world can they honestly say that the payouts from their projections are based on past experience? I HAVE NOT RECEIVED ONE PENNY FROM THEM. How can sending no money and not even telling me that they are waiting for someone to buy the wood be construed as meeting their projections? The projections on the website are nothing but falsehoods or lies as some would call it. Also, no, I have not attempted to sell my wood. TATF has always told me that they would do that. That is part of the deal that is offered to all investors. TATF selling the wood has always been part of the deal. How can the wood not being sold be my fault? Steve and Sherry always said that they would sell the wood. Please explain to me how my not receiving any money from at least 3 thinnings shows that TATF has met all of their projections. If they had met their projections I would be on here telling everyone what a good investment this is. I have received no money from them. To me, that means that they have not have not met their projections with me or anyone else that I know. I would love to be on here telling everyone that this company is reputable and honest. But my pockets are still empty and they tell me everyday to get on here and let everyone know that this is a bad investment with a dishonest company and owners.
It matters-naught anymore. TATF-hs sold the-landand the new owners are cutting the trees down of those who did not have spanish witten contracts. Luckily i am once again going to be able to recoup my original investment last month. This time however i will not receive full timber projection price at time of harvest. Anyone else wih a legally admissable contract written in spanish will likewise get re-imbursed.
This board may not be here tommorow, ihub may shut it down at any minute as redundant to another board. So to those who read this adieu, good luck in the future.
Honest John.
You said you called yesterday!
You claim to have spoke with Steve using the phones listed in the TATF web page.
I challenge everybody to call those numbers to see if you get an answer. Can you post your results of your calls!!!
In the past, the numbers listed would ring and a message with the Monday to Friday schedule would play. Now, they do not go to an answering machine, and they are not answered.
At the address provided by TATF web-site there is nothing there.
It was not a holiday in CR when I tried to locate anyone from TATF.
I believe it is something genetic. I can only go that far, but i know everyone is hoping for the best for our dear steve.
"TATF and everyone on this message board knows that the projections TATF continues to post are completely false"
I beg to differ. I believe that TATF has met every projection. TATF has your tree thinnings in holding for a buyer that is being sought today. Did you make an effort to sell your thinnings?
Running a fraudulent operation has to be having a negative effect on Steve's health. I do not wish anything bad for Steve but I do believe that if he suddenly became honest with his current and future investors he would experience a positive effect on his health. Dishonesty has a very negative effect on people.
Honest Bob
A long time investor with TATF who has still not received one penny return on my investment with TATF.
Dupedbysteve:
I sincerly hope that your big investment pays off for you considering the amount of work that you have done and continue to do to promote TATF. Time will tell. So far my time with TATF and Steve and Sherry Brunner has given me nothing but empty pockets. Steve and Sherry have my money as well as everyone else's and are now able to live in Monaco, spending the money they have stolen from all of their unsuspecting investors. Time will tell.
Honest Bob
A long time investor with TATF who has still not received one penny from TATF
Future investors:
TATF continues to post knowingly false projections on it's website in an attempt to lure in more unsuspecting new investors. Here is a direct quote from the TATF website: "The projections below therefore reflect our actual results from our earliest thinnings together with historically based data for the subsequent thinnings and final harvests." I have been invested with this company for almost 17 years now. According to the projections on the TATF website which are based on their "actual results for our earliest thinnings" I should have already received payments totaling $7887 for every 100 teak trees that I own. To this date, now almost 17 years after first investing with TATF I have received $0 in payments. I invested in this company within the first year of their existence as did several of my friends. My experience with this company is not a singular experience or a mistake that is completely out of the ordinary for other investors. If people have been paid I and my friends should be close to the front of the line. I still have not received one penny from TATF and neither has anyone else that I know that is invested with this company. If anyone has been paid it is only Steve and Sherry's friends and family, not anyone who is not part of that group.
This really has become a fraud. TATF and everyone on this message board knows that the projections TATF continues to post are completely false, inaccurate and misleading. Earlier in my experience with TATF I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. I didn't believe that they were knowingly misleading investors. I believed that Steve and Sherry Brunner were honest people. It is now VERY, VERY obvious that TATF and Steve and Sherry Brunner are now knowingly posting totally false information in an attempt to get more unspecting investors involved. Do not be taken by the seeming honesty of the Brunners.
The projections are completely false and TATF and the Brunners know this fully. They are now seem to involved in a situation that is illegal at best.
FUTURE INVESTORS: DO YOUR HOMEWORK!! WHILE TRYING TO DO SOMETHING GOOD FOR THE WORLD AND FOR YOURSELVES, YOU WILL BE MAKING A MISTAKE INVESTING WITH THIS FRAUDULENT BUSINESS AND IT'S CRIMINAL OWNERS. THE OWNERS OF THIS COMPANY HAVE LEFT COSTA RICA AND NOW LIVE IN MONACO. THAT SHOULD SPEAK LOUD AND CLEAR TO ANYONE INVOLVED WITH THIS COMPANY OR ANYONE WHO IS THINKING OF BECOMING INVOLVED WITH THIS COMPANY OR STEVE AND SHERRY BRUNNER.
Honest Bob
A long time investor with TATF who has yet to receive one penny from TATF.
Of course they are up. TATF is still operating and viable. There was no problem when i called TATf yesterday. So any new investors are more than welcome to get in and make money.
What makes this so fraudulent is that Brunner's Tropical American Tree Farms site is still up, projections and all, and is still trying to attract more tree buyers. It was only our forums that saved StanleyB from disaster days ago when he said he was about to send the scam money for 1000 trees.
belmontx
TATF is literally out of business as an operating entity.
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Steve assured me if anything like that happened he would notify investors long before any sale and enumerated how investor's trees were protected under contact. The new landowner must get permission to cut down the trees and the investors still had only to worry about theft.
And I prefer the satisfaction of being able to see the fruits of my investment on a regular basis and without having to beg the custodian of my money for updates on the use and eventual return of those dollars.
One must be sensitive that these are long term investments and many investors are too hands on in their approach. These investors expect monthly individual reports on their very own 500 trees out of 2.5 million trees steve manages!..in a 20 year investment cycle. Frankly, if a company did something like that, i would suspect it to be a scam.
Of course everyone is entitled to invest anywhere, anyhow. I just prefer to have the satisfaction of replenishing natural rainforests that were destroyed by short sightedness. Also i am happy to soon be able to realise gains through the kyoto accords carbon credits to enrich me also for the teak i bought.
If any investors wish french,italian,russian, portugese,japanese or chinese contracts, they could certainly get them from TATF in CR.
LOL... I couldn't care less if Steve provides contracts in english, Chinese, Russian or jibberish. There's not a chance that he'll see any of my money. If one wishes to invest in timber or other natural resources there are many golden opportunities to do so within the borders of this country.
All current investors. BTW, Steve has made to your personal wishes of english only written contracts. So you are free to negotiate such items as regular communication and if you are not satisfied, you could get all your money back.
For a reason that is concerning his health Steve is unable to fly for a while. So naturally even with the cost, it needs to be directed by steve with steve having top hand info on the farms.
So you're saying TATF has no problem with spending some time putting new money in their pockets but no one will spend a few minutes responding to the folks whose money is already in their pockets. I see.
We really cede management to a professional forestry team.
WE?
We really cede management to a professional forrestry team. The TATF operation does not have time to spend an hour a day of Steve's time answering endless questions repeated ad nauseum. As a tree ownner i want TATF taking care of my trees, not wasting time with overly demanding individuals who fail to understand the mechanics of this long term investment.
I have had no trouble contacting TATF to help with marketing lumber to local furniture makers here in texas.
Gee stanley, you made the same mistake i did in believing that TATF was a bad investment from reading a message board. I sold out and discovered i should have boght more trees from TATF. I just bought several thousand trees from TATF and i am pleased as punch i could get back in.
TATF is literally out of business as an operating entity.
I have tried to get a local lawyer to give me an assessment.
It seems that unless the local police is willing to issue a warrant, there is little hope.
Accessing the farms to claim the trees is impossible because we do not own the land, and there is little control to stop TATF from selling the land and the trees.
Good luck with you phone calls to TAFT....
Once again you have been duped by Steve....and Sherry. I sincerly hope that your investment turns out better than mine has for me. I want TATF to succeed but it is looking more and more as if that is not the case. If everything was going the way that it was supposed to, I really don't think that Steve would be living in Monaco. He would be in Costa Rica welcoming his investors with open arms and showing the investors how well things are going. The last time some of my friends went to Costa Rica, Steve and Sherry would not even come down from their house to say hello. These people traveled from the U.S. to Costa Rica and spent their hard earned money to go there. Steve and Sherry were very well aware that they were coming. Steve and Sherry were there at the farm but would not even come down to see their supposed friends from the U.S. 5 minutes is all that it would have taken. I knew something was wrong then. It hasn't gotten any better. I find this very interesting: When this operation first started, Steve and Sherry would call on the phone and we could call them too. Now, you had to go to Europe to see Steve. This stinks to high heaven. If this isn't a scam, what are Steve and Sherry running from?
Honest Bob
A long time investor who has still not received any money from TATF.
Alright!!! At the very least we stopped another person from being duped by steve. Alright!! I feel like I have lost my money but at least someone else didn't. Truth is a wonderful thing.
Honest Bob
A long time investor who has not received one penny from TATF
Perhaps the reason that I have not received a check is because there have been none written with my name on them. Or maybe a bird flew in and stole my checks. Or maybe the paper disintegrated before it arrived at my house. Or maybe the check was written with invisible ink. For whatever reason,I tend to believe my first sentence, I and my friends have yet to receive any money from this company and we are now invested with them for 17 years.
Honest Bob
A long time investor who has yet to receive any money from TATF
That is not the sales pitch that TATF continues to throw out there. I want my money too.
Honest Bob
An investor that has yet to receive any money
Why would Steve waste our money flying his employees to Europe to talk about harvesting trees in Costa Rica? I would love to visit Europe but I can't because Steve and Sherry Brunner and TATF have all of my available money. I starte to make plans to visit Europe but I then realized that the money that I had been planning on having from TATF is not in my pockets. I can't pay the plane fair. But in the meantime Steve and Sherry have continued to purchase new farms but failed to pay their investors. Now they are flying their employees to Europe? Why doesn't Steve fly all of the investors to Europe and then we can all discuss the harvesting of OUR trees.
Finally he had his fill and quit responding.
Really? Silly me, but when one takes money from others and continues to do so, I don't think there is a statute of limitations related to investor inquiries. Steve Brunner doesn't deserve any special treatment. If he had a nickel of my money (he doesn't) you can bet he'd be expected to answer every related question I had until such time as he either
1. Fulfilled his obligations under our agreement or
2. Returned my money.
It's pretty clear that he's not only ignoring investor inquiries but he's not performing up to the standards he, himself, established.
A company in good shape would respond to investor emails and phone calls! TATF does neither over the last 2 years, how can you call that a well run company? and that has been verfied from many tree owners on here!
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=58536332
Perhaps a fired employee lifted your checks and cashed it in your name? Steve did fire 2 for chicanery.
TATF has and has had my current address for the last 17 years. If there are checks waiting for me why hasn't TATF attempted to contact me regarding. My phone number and address have not changed for a very long time. The real reason that I have yet to receive a check is that there are no checks available for me to receive. It is not my fault that TATF has not yet paid me or my friends. The fault belongs to TATF and their failed business practices.
The thinning proceeds are usually eaten up by the costs of the labor and transport charges. Steve has not been passing you bills for the intensive labor costs that far exceed the thinnings selling price for your thinnings!
Thinnings if you notice total a meager marginal benefit in the projections. I am sure the owners who reported their proceeds from TATF were major treeowners with easily accessible trees, so Steve calibrated a ROI reflecting that.
Thinking of investing in trees? Please check out TATF and you will find that eventhough they have been in business at least 18 years they have failed to meet the projections that continue to be posted on their website. I want to TATF to succeed but they have a VERY long way to go before they can be considered a good investment for your future.
Of course Steve has been paid by TATF (money came from duped investors) but no one else has.
That is only because that time has not yet come. Every other projection that they have made and continue to make has not been met. I have been involved in this for 17 years and have not received on penny back from this company. They have failed to meet the projections that should have been met by now. Even if they meet the final projection date they have consistently failed to meet all earlier projections. Again, I will state that they have not failed to final projections because that time has yet to come, not because they are a reputable company.
Very good extradition with proper procedures being followed. Many people wanted by another country can be extradited in less than 3 years if they are in CR.
Yes, Steve is a wonderful owner of the properties that we all helped him buy with our investing dollars.
I think there have been several happy tree investors who posted their returns on the old board we wrote on.
In fact, i believe one was using the name "happy tree investor"!
Many of these people got answers posted to them on another board by the owner. Steve Brunner spent endless time answering many of the same questions over and over with very reasonable and fact based answers. Finally he had his fill and quit responding.
How about CR's extradition policy? Is it as good as their export policy?
And a few days holiday in Monaco for Steve's hard working hired hands is just another example of the extraordinary benevolence of this pious and generous owner-operator-spinmeister of Tropical American Tree Farms, whose trusting investors have not seen a nickle of return, nor a word of response.
Sorry, gistheman, I mistyped my address. It should be jstanton5@gmail.com
belmontx
Owning trees is not a risk,
Owning individual trees is a huge risk, especially when those trees are located outside an investor's country of residence.
I don't have a horse in this race, but the good folks who plopped their hard earned money down on this mess deserve some answers and those answers don't seem to be forthcoming. How do you reconcile your support for this outfit with the terrible experience most of the tree owners here seem to be having with their investment? Is it your position that the investors are somehow at fault for management's utter disregard for their concerns? Why can these good people not get straight up answers to their legitimate questions? This ain't rocket science. Simple questions deserve simple answers.
Owning trees is not a risk, basic materials are always needed. Renewable tree farming is a very safe, high profit venture in investing. Costa Rica has a friendly export policy and enormous country stability.
TATF continues to post knowingly false projections on their website. I have been involved with this company for 17 years now and I have not received one penney of return on my investment. New investors please do your homework. You will see that so far this investment has only been profitable for the owners of the company. ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!! THIS RISK IS CONSIDERABLE!!!
THIN ICE AHEAD!!! PLEASE DO NOT GO ANY FURTHER!!!
I just called and there is no problem, justcfrall must have gone to the wrong place and used the wrong phone number!
New investors, to order from TATF, you can contact them for the forms at:
TATF.com
Happy investing,
Honest John
Costa rica from what i understand has no extradition treaty with Monaco. This is curious but in no way telling of steve and his current residence there. I am sure operations were merely suspended for a short time possibly to fly everyone to monaco for a briefing on plans to harvest trees. Steve is magnanimous to his employees allowing them several days to see europe.
I am stunned if operations have ceased, Steve said everything was copascetic and everything was fine. There must be a mistake and steve had given all his employees a local holiday? Perhaps it was CR independence day?
Bel. The email address you left on the other board aborts and cannot be delivered. Is it correct or should I try later?
Any country's criminal code would hold responsible a person who advertises for many years on a prominent website like TATF's and consistently fails to deliver the services sold on the basis of that website. Mr. Brunner's unavailability to even those investors who travel to see him speaks volumes. The further disappearance of his operations is ominous. HIs day will come in court. And how about his answering to a higher authority, as George W. might say?
belmontx
TATF has stopped operations.
Duped I do not know who you are.
I just came from San Jose CR and I could not locate anyone at the address provided by TATF.
No one answered the phones provided and no person could direct me to locate anyone involved with TATF.
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I am not an investment professional and any comments i make are only my opinion and belief.
Herein you must make your own judgements. I suggest you read sbrunner postings on another board. It will take a little while ... Then you will have a clearer idea of why i think other "posters" are misguided in their assessment of TATf. Besides i saw the farms, read letters, know that thinnings don't amount to a hill of beans and that the only basis i have is that the trees exist, they are growing and being cared for now some 20 years almost since steve started this business, and there is no real reason to suppose that a man who has 2.2 million trees of his own is interested in making 3350 enemies for what is peanuts in his holdings.
I have decided That CLOSING the board is necessary because too many were complaining about my moderating noise out of the forum. It gets very old explaining that talking about deletions on the board is automatically going to get the post deleted. I attempted to put in Knowledgable assistants so they could understand by reading the deletions that a few posters were posting personal attacks and thinking i as the moderator would stand still for that.
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