Jerry Andrew's Florida Criminal Record can be researched at this and other web sites.
Before presenting my observations, it is necessary for me to say that I am not an attorney or a law enforcement officer. I can not give legal opinions. However, I do know how to read law and having operated businesses most of my life, I do have a good understanding of civil and criminal law. Reach your own conclusions.
Many of the things I believe are criminal offenses are usually referred to as white collar crimes. The major crime is fraud. Ballentine's Law Dictionary defines FRAUD as: "Deceit, deception, or trickery that is intended to induce, and does induce, another to part with anything of value or surrender some legal right."
State and Federal wire and mail fraud statutes only require that the defendant committed acts to deceive with a criminal intent. They do not require that the acts were successful at their intended deception. If the defendant believes that the victim will rely upon the deception, a crime is committed, even if the viction did not rely upon the deception.
Further, it is possible that the pattern of alleged criminal activity conducted by Jerry Andrews and the enterprise known as the Key West Scrub Club amounts to a violation of the Florida RICO (Criminal and/or Civil) and perhaps Federal (Criminal and/or Civil) RICO (Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations) Acts.
The Key West Scrub Club owner is Jerry W. Andrews. Here are some basic identification details in case any law enforcement agency is confused about who he is. Drivers License #: A536-439-66-179-0. Date of Birth: 05-19-66. Passport #: 046603423.
Andrews, until the last few months, while he was not traveling lived in rooms above the Scrub Club. A woman who worked at the club named Heidi Davis became his girlfriend. (Club name: Nikki) Many things were done in her name. Jerry worked to build up her credit. Andrew's own credit record was a disaster and included 3 home forclosures.
Andrews made Heidi Davis the secretary of the Florida corporation that owns the Scrub Club, KWSC, Inc. To the best of my knowledge she owns no stock and has no supervisory power or control. Andrews used Heidi Davis to open checking accounts and obtain credit card merchant accounts. It has been reported to us that he also forged payroll check stubs for her to obtain a loan from the Bank of America.
Now that the Scrub Club lost its two merchant accounts in late 2004, Jerry had his general manager and then the new secretary and the new general manager apply for new merchant accounts in the name of Heidi Davis. Andrews faxed off her tax records and other information and had his staff forge Davis's signature on the applications. Heidi Davis and Andrews broke up a year or so ago and Davis moved to San Diego, CA. That did not stop Jerry from using her name and identity to apply for merchant accounts.
Since Davis moved to Colorado and then San Diego, CA Andrews has been working to keep her on his side which included paying her personal bills out of the corporate account. Her photo still appears in advertisements for the club saying she is an "actual model" but she had not worked as a model at the club for more than 2 years at this point. Just a little false advertising by Jerry which is typical. He has lately (during 2005) used other women on his advertising, including one who complained to us that she did not have Jerry or the club permission to do that. (Newer literature has another model.)
Andrews used the same technique in various attempts to purchase a new house in Colorado. Finally, a few months ago, he was able to purchase a house in Littleton, Colorado. I do not know the details of this purchase, but I am confident that it is safe to say that there has to be some mortgage fraud in there somewhere. It is reported that the house, which Jerry claims to have purchased, is actually in the name of Heidi Davis.
Andrews is very adept at handling and controlling women and to get them to do as he desires. One example of this is the manager of the bank (Bank of America in Marathon, FL) where he opened an account for the Scrub Club. The branch manager, Divenna Young is a notary public. Florida state law requires that an individual has to personally appear before a notary public in order to have a document notarized. Jerry managed to get Young to notarize any document he wanted by fax. He would simply fax her the document, she would notarize it, and fax it back to him. He did this while he was overseas, traveling in the U.S. or even while he was at the club. Even when Andrews was in Key West he was too self important to go see a notary. I witnessed this a number of times personally. I also heard conversations where Jerry really turned on the charm and flattery to get her to do an illegal notarization or something else that he wanted. A notary who notarizes a document without the person being present has committed an offense that has a $5,000 fine and can result in the loss of the notary commission. Subsequently, after this information became public on this web site, his account at the Bank of America was closed.
Many of Andrews' crimes involve tax fraud. The club does not pay any employment taxes. The club does not pay any sales taxes. Neither the club corporation or Andrews pays any income tax.
I do not know for sure, but I also believe there has been a number of cases of bank fraud. For instance, deposits of more than $10,000 must be reported by the bank to the federal government. Making deposits or transfers of money to deliberately avoid the $10,000 reporting cap is a federal crime. I personally took $9,800 to Jerry twice in the Ukraine, and that was chump change compared to the money transferred to his girlfriend's bank account there by his friend at Bank of America.
There are many federal banking laws and although I am not familiar with them all, I do believe that Jerry has violated some of them. Of course, only a federal investigation could determine the extent of his illegal activities.
In the 2.5 years I worked at the Scrub Club they had at least one merchant account. The $100 entrance fee(now $150) is paid to the club and was a proper use of the merchant account. Then there were tips to the girls. Credit card tips to the girls were processed with the club's mechant account. The girls had to pay 30 percent of every tip to the club for the credit card processing (when the club pays a discount rate of about 3 percent) and had to wait six months before actually getting a check for the tips. If a girl makes ANY mistake on the paperwork for the credit card tip, they do not get the tip. It makes no difference if this affects the club getting paid or not. The girl does not get paid. The owner, Jerry Andrews keeps the money.
Herein lies one of the biggest crimes of the club owner, Jerry W. Andrews. Remember, the girls are independent contractors. They are third parties. They are not employees. The credit card tip does not go to the club (except for the thirty percent processing fee). Under Visa and MasterCard rules, and Florida state law, a merchant account can not be used for processing charges for third parties. In fact, a merchant account can't be used for another business owned by the same person. Jerry Andrews was convicted in 1998 of 12 counts of credit card fraud called factoring, for this very thing right here in Key West, Florida.
Jerry Andrews, of course, wants his cake and wants to eat it too. He doesn't want to pay the girls. He doesn't want them as employees. He doesn't want to pay employment taxes, not even for the actual employees. Therefore, he has the girls sign weekly contracts saying they are independent contractors. Bingo, hundreds of counts of factoring, or in other words, under Florida law, felony credit card fraud. And law enforcement in this county has no freaking clue even when they are told about it. More about other crimes on the Jerry Andrew's International Criminal Page.
Factoring exposes the credit card company to increased risk. All credit card processors are backed by banks which are ultimately liable for the risk. For example, Jerry Andrews owned a tanning salon, the Scrub Club and a bar. Although I do not know the actual details, the example is on point. Let us say he had a merchant account for the bar and ran the charges from the Scrub Club through that account. Both businesses are owned by the same person, so many people might not see the problem. The problem is that this is factoring, a felony criminal offense. Why? It exposes the bank to unknown risk. It affects the rights of the bank, which is fraud. The Scrub Club would be an entirely different SIC code or business classification from that of the bar or tanning salon. The Scrub Club would probably have a higher discount rate and might have more money held in reserve for chargebacks. By using one merchant account for multiple business or for a business that the merchant account does not belong to is very simply a fraud on the underwriting bank.
These are things that I am aware of. I am sure that a proper investigation which talked to all the secretaries and general managers the club has gone through would reveal much more.