Escapeartist.com scandal

[newyorklady]

Panama's Escape Artist Roger Gallo in Legal Trouble
rogergallo.gifAnother scam promotor bites the dust. Panama never acted against him promoting real estate fraud, making money on scams and working as an unlicensed real estate broker, but the Argentinean courts are somwhat more efficient, it seems. A press release, from one Paul Hoffman in Panama, reads:

SAN RAFAEL, ARGENTINA, February 05, 2006 - Roger Anthony Gallo, the American owner of the expatriate website, EscapeArtist.com, was the subject of an order issued today by a local court in San Rafael, Argentina, seizing all of Mr. Gallo's real estate holdings in Argentina. The court, after receiving evidence of Gallo's indebtedness and his refusal to pay his creditors, ordered his property seized. The court, under the procedures for such matters set by Argentine law, granted Gallo six days to provide the court with proof of payment of the debts. In the event that Mr. Gallo continues his refusal to pay his debts, the court will auction the properties and the auction proceeds will be used to pay the creditors.

Mr. Gallo, who has styled himself as an international real estate expert, had moved to Argentina after leaving the Republic of Panama where he was accused of being involved in a large land development fraud, selling real estate without a license, and making libelous claims and creating false reports in regard to the investigative reporter who exposed the fraud. Gallo's Argentina creditors have expressed their concern that Gallo may attempt to make a similar attempt to discredit them, and they are now seeking a court order to prohibit such action.

Hoffman Reports is a publisher of insider information for American expatriates living and working in the Republic of Panama and other Central American countries.

Well, well. Noriegaville is trying to get the court papers. Meanwhile, we did receive communications from worried people in Uruguay, where Gallo tried or is trying to set up shop after the Argentina debacle. To be continued....

http://www.noriegaville.com/bochinch...from=&ucat=11&

[Lusitan]

That's funny. I sometimes enjoyed browsing through the escapeartist website when I had wanderlust at work, and because my wife and I own property overseas and I was always interested in experiences that others have as expats.

But you had to take that site with a grain of salt salt shaker full of salt, as the whole thing was basically one big infomercial with a few bits of interesting stories scattered throughout.

That's why I think you find so many on these boards wisely skeptical about expat stuff ... there are a lot of variables and risks as it is in living in a foreign country, without all the hucksters (foreign and domestic) and corruption that inevitably get thrown in ...

[newyorklady]

yup, the key is to always use a good local attorney, to only buy titled land (vs. right of possession) and to spend time at the place to get to know the market. also, internet prices of property are probably way higher than when you go in person and search.

escapeartist.com is too funny. thought people here might be interested in this article. at least it is a good warning not to get scammed and to be careful. this holds true in the u.s. and abroad. here in new york, there was a recent story of a woman going around selling property she did not own.

[LRS]

I used to like to browse Escapeartist for articles by people living abroad. Then a lot of the really good articles that used to be free turned into "Ebooks" and were on sale for $20 a download. I started to look elsewhere for information.

[haha]

I love the Noriegavile site. Reminds me of the Panama ( and Costa Rica) I knew and loved.*

Ha

[free4now]

Yep, that escapeartist site was interesting to get an idea of different areas, but I would never trust anything I read there. They would constantly be promoting get rich quick schemes that were clearly fraudulent.

[newyorklady]

I really don't understand how they operate. Do they use their website to promote their own real estate deals or just make money off of the reports they sell. Don't get it.

[ESRBob]

I think all of the above and maybe some more we haven't heard about yet. EscapeArtist was always pretty hype-heavy. Internationalliving.com seems like a better site with more integrity, but if anybody knows of any scams with them, too, let us know!

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

IL has more integrity than Escape Artist? Lower key, certainly. They do charge for their newsletter up front, but I had the feeling that I was paying to be pitched real estate. I subcribed for a year just for fun. Did not renew.

Both sites are fun, but I wouldn't put my trust in either one. I have bought several e-books from Escape Artist. (I have nothing better to do.) The first one a couple of years ago was a scam. The 'author' hadn't even written the book at the time and never delivered anything.

"Escape Artist" was originally "Escape From America", but Roger Gallo figured out pretty quick that the market of malcontents like himself was very small, so he went for the Parrotheads.

Ed

[ESRBob]

Ed,
I could swear I found some real articles in there, free, written by real expats not selling real estate. It used to be easier, though. Now it is like looking for a needle in the haystack. Still, the site doesn't make my skin crawl the way escapeartist.com does.

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

I could swear I found some real articles in there

True enough. I enjoyed them myself.

BUT, I was now on the mailing list, and got dunned over and over with real estate ads for everywhere.