It is I who have taken the VAT Department to court, and not the other way round
It is pointless asking Saviour Balzan to publish this under the ‘right to reply’ provisions of the Press Act. I will probably get yet another deluge of Charlie l-Pimp obscenities. So I will publish it here, where it will get a much wider readership anyway – which one suspects is part of Balzan’s problem.
In January this year I raised the alarm over the fact that Ivan Portelli had been appointed Director of Operations at the VAT Department, with special responsibility for investigations. Did I say raise the alarm? Nobody seemed to notice or care, the Opposition had no idea, and when I mentioned it to a couple of Opposition MPs, so that the matter would be raised in parliament, they didn’t know who he was and the matter wasn’t raised in parliament at all.
Not only is the appointment hugely abusive in itself – an ex policeman, sacked unceremoniously by Commissioner John Rizzo for suspected criminal involvement, appointed to one of the most senior positions in the VAT Department – but in and of itself it gives scope for further abuse.
This might be one of the reasons why the appointment was made. This is a public-interest issue and it should have been challenged by the Opposition.
Portelli is one of the ex-policemen (David Gatt, now a lawyer, is another; there is a third) who were dismissed from the police corps by Commissioner John Rizzo, for suspected liaison with criminals. Rizzo refused to reinstate them into the force even when they took the matter to court on grounds of unfair dismissal and won on a technicality that had absolutely nothing to do with the reasons why they were dismissed but with the manner in which they were let go.
Rizzo stood his ground, saying that the police force shouldn’t contain people like them. He had the backing of the prime minister (Eddie Fenech Adami), who agreed with him on the risk and danger involved with having individuals like Ivan Portelli and David Gatt in the police force.
Fast forward to March 2013 and Ivan Portelli is photographed celebrating Labour’s victory with Asti Spumante, with a man who is under investigation by the Malta Financial Services Authority, with ex-cop brothers John C. Ellul (last heard of visiting Singapore with Magistrate Consuelo Herrera on a ‘special investigation’ four years ago) and Andy Ellul, and with Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando in his orange trousers in the garden of Pullicino Orlando’s home.
Fast forward to January 2014 and Ivan Portelli is appointed Director of Operations (Investigations) at the VAT Department. Six weeks later, in March, I receive provisional assessments of such shocking proportions that I actually sit down and laugh in disbelief. With that amount of money, I would now be in the Bahamas with John Dalli, not slaving away right through the night putting magazines together with a couple of other people so that the money which other magazines spend on staff we can spend instead on the content that people want.
Meanwhile, Ivan Portelli’s wife is busy clicking ‘Like’ on insulting comments and articles which members of the Underworld Association of Malta post about me on Facebook.
There was no audit. The VAT Department never asked to look at my books, my accounts, my invoices or my receipts.The assessments were made by obtaining my bank statements going back years, via the Tax Compliance Unit which is authorised to request them from the banks (the VAT Department is not).
Then they totted up all my deposits and raised assessments based on that. Apparently, I am even liable for VAT on the housekeeping money, at the most ludicrous level.
I filed an objection immediately, and was called in for a meeting. I turned up with four or five suitcases full of documents. Department staff had to help me up the stairs and into the lift. “What are those?” I was told. “Thallihomx hawn, ta.” I was then told that what they wanted me to do was go back through all my bank statements over several years – a huge stack – and highlight the deposits which formed the basis of my objection, then “bring documentary proof”. I was given 10 days to do it, which included requesting the bank for years of statements.
So now it was my job to do my own audit backwards – negative proof. Aside from the sheer magnitude of the task and the ridiculous time-frame, there was the impossibility of providing documentation that the law does not require me to keep. This was nothing short of harassment.
I wrote to the head of the VAT Department explaining the situation and asking to be allowed to prove my case using the documentation the law does require me to keep. I did not receive a reply, not even so much as an acknowledgement.
Instead, I received final assessments which were identical to the provisional assessments. I appealed, and the case is now before the tribunal. The court case is not the VAT Department v. Daphne Caruana Galizia, as Saviour Balzan and Malta Today seek to persuade their readers. It is Daphne Caruana Galizia v. the VAT Department.
The first hearing was last Friday. Malta Today’s lawyer Toni Abela, deputy leader of the Labour Party, came in and hovered around at the appointed hour for my particular case (the hall was full of people with cases, and their lawyers), though the last time I looked he wasn’t a tax lawyer and he didn’t appear to have any clients there.
We are in Vladimir Putin/Red China territory here. Putin used tax assaults to eliminate his political opponents. Red China uses tax harassment against dissidents – the most internationally conspicuous case being that of the artist Ai Wei Wei. But we live in a democracy.
Saviour Balzan falsely presents the matter as having begun as far back as 2007. The reason for this malicious falsehood is obvious: he doesn’t want his readers to reach the immediate and obvious conclusion that this government is getting at its most widely read and harshest critic in the only way it can.
The matter began in March this year, and anybody who doesn’t believe me but chooses to believe Saviour Balzan instead can simply read the VAT law. At law, the VAT Department has just six months in which to start and conclude an investigation/assessment process. The idea that any such process is permissible over several years is ridiculous. It isn’t even allowed to take one year.
It is absolutely typical of Saviour Balzan’s poor journalism, political ideas (and possibly obligations) and pure, unadulterated hatred for me that he would fail to make a major story of the appointment of a policeman sacked for suspected criminal activity to Director of Operations (Investigations) at the VAT Department, but then go to town about what they’re doing to me. Not only does he miss, completely, the real news angle, but once more he uses his newspaper to work out his unbalanced emotions and personal animosities, and in so doing alienates more and more readers of the sort advertisers are interested in. Advertisers are not interested in the kind of people who can barely read let alone reason.
If the Nationalist government had done the same to Saviour Balzan (but it never would have, because it is benign and ethical, which is why it has the vote of decent people), I would have been the first to object most strongly. It is not the personalities involved, but the principle. No government should abuse systems to silence its real or perceived enemies and critics, either by buying that silence with contracts and jobs or by using harassment or fear of harassment. The situation is especially serious when the targeted individuals are journalists writing against that government.
I have one more thing to say: my tax affairs are purely and completely my own business. They are not a public-interest issue, for I am not a politician, not asking for anyone’s vote, do not work for a political party, and I do not hold public office. Nor am I on the government payroll. I am a journalist.
I would never dream of going into the tax affairs of Saviour Balzan or any other journalist I can think of. His tax affairs are not my business and they are not the business of anybody else. We journalists are here to investigate politicians and public officials. And while we may throw the occasional barb or insult at each other, criticise each other or even insult each other, our jobs is not to pursue each other as though we were pursuing politicians or public officials.
This website regularly receives comments against journalists working for different media. I delete them all.
I have never written anything urging tax officials to investigate how Saviour Balzan bought his large house in Brittany, or whether Roger de Giorgio is declaring all his earnings at Gianpula, given that the bulk of the thousands of euros that come in most nights do so in cash. He, too, has a large estate – in Italy. I have no such estate, and nothing I do involves cash.
Instead of focusing on me, when I am not accountable to the public, Saviour Balzan should make sure that his editors use the facility, which the Income Tax Management Act gives to editors of newspapers and MPs alone, to write to the Speaker and request Manuel Mallia’s income tax details. Or those of any other government minister or MP of his choice (choice always being the operative word with Malta Today). That’s what people really want to know, and that’s what a real newspaper would do: go after the legislators and the decision-makers.
But if he does that, then it would mean the government stops booking its advertising campaigns with Malta Today, just as it refuses to book any with The Malta Independent – largely because I work there. The government will gain nothing by depriving me of my income via The Malta Independent. After all, I will carry on criticising it on this website, which I own. But it is not interested in results. It is interested in vengeance and ‘ha hu go fik’.
No wonder few decent people vote Labour, and even those who do are now beginning to feel ashamed at all these goings-on.
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http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2014/01/the-malta-taghna-lkoll-appointment-to-top-them-all/
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2013/03/policeman-dismissed-for-alleged-involvement-with-criminals-at-labour-victory-celebration-at-jpos-home/
Ivan Portelli was originally slated to become Director of Customs, but apparently there were too many internal objections:
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2013/10/sacked-policeman-slated-to-become-new-director-of-customs/
It’s all about onus.
Once the onus is on you to prove them wrong you spend years recovering.
They can claim whatever they like.
They’ll have files that go into all details of your life and you will feel totally laid out naked before them.
Not to mention the fiscal lawyers bills to clear this situation.
And the effect of slowdown on your business meanwhile.
The targeted ones get a handicap, the others get a head start.
This did start earlier, because their people were pulling the invisible strings in the invisible network.
Now just wait for people like this Ivan to head the new fiscal AFM unit that just got presented in the budget.
Daphne, I am looking for an old post in 2012/ 2013 where I warned against this. As with other posts that have gone missing from the Google search a Data Protection policy notice appears. Is it possible for the internal site search to be optimised to counter against this?
Please see the necessity of starting to start operate with a need to be invisible.
When you go out to eat, even when you buy stuff from shops think “invisibility.”
Buy certain things only with cash (which is probably what they want too).
Get your cash from a cash dispenser which is not necessarily near where you want to spend it. Change where you obtain your cash from. Make it random.
Even if the money is from the bank get into the habit of checking if it is counterfeit. Bills will be planted. Keep the chits.
If you travel a lot ensure you have itemised billing for your phone records, and proof of your location.
Collect every single receipt. This proof will come in handy.
This is no joke.
Yes, a Maltese Guardia di Finanza.
Finanzieri go through a six year university level course including law, accounting, international finance, the works.
They can sign off accounts, prosecute at law and administer confiscated companies or bankrupt local government.
You are an itch under their skin, no amount of scratching can relieve it.
This is indeed a scary development, and reeks of communist modus operandi.
Aahh I’ve been waiting for this post, since reading the completely loony-tunes report about the assessment process; historic bank deposits and the rest of it.
I’d forgotten about that incredible appointment at the VAT department, but even so I was assuming a grossly vindictive act here, precisely along these lines.
Balzan certainly is a character, and one to talk about bile – he must have a stomach ulcer the size of Gozo the way he goes on.
You do not need to go as far as Russia for many to get the gist here. Everyone who was targeted with bizarre ex-ufficio tax bills in the golden era must get a deja vue when reading this post.
Every single horror of that time is being resurrected.
Tell me about that.
This reminds me of the case when Mintoff’s government wanted to take over the Blue Sisters Hospital and, out of the blue, the Sisters were faced with an income tax assessment that was nothing but harassment.
[Daphne – Or the one about the heirs of Frank Cassar Torreggiani, who had to pay Lm360,000 (in 1973) in death duties on shares in a bank which the government had seized from them five days earlier, and this when his sudden death just days before it happened was caused by hearing, from the Governor of the Central Bank, that Mintoff was set to seize it.]
Then Mintoff went on to take over all their commercial companies including their printing press.
today he is frying in hell.
Lill-ommi nismaghha tghid li hawn min ghandu d-demm fuq idejh minghajr ma juza’ arma.
Comes one day after Maltarightnow’s story showing Kurt Farrugia’s email and five days after Balzan’s recording of yesterday’s Reporter where Muscat states he himself was misled and how dare they.
Guess what Saviour, you’ve been had. Misled.
Never came across a millionaire in a twenty year old car anyway.
But never saw you lunch at Caqnu’s to then scamper down the stairs past the entrance hoping no-one notices either.
Isn’t he obliged to print your ‘right to reply’?
[Daphne – Yes. But that means filing a police report if he refuses, the police taking him to court, and the whole thing dragging on for years. It makes more sense this way. Even the journalist at iNews had the decency to ring me for my comments before publishing.]
Saviour Balzan’s journalism is always far from the truth and he uses his newspaper to attack his favourite targets rather than serving the interests of his readers. He sold his soul to the devil years ago. Maybe that’s how he bought his house in Brittany.
‘..At law, the VAT Department has just six months in which to start and conclude an investigation/assessment process. The idea that any such process is permissible over several years is ridiculous. It isn’t even allowed to take one year…’
‘…The court case is not the VAT Department v. Daphne Caruana Galizia, as Saviour Balzan and Malta Today seek to persuade their readers. It is Daphne Caruana Galizia v. the VAT Department….’
In bright friendly letters.
Do away with this Marxist’s insinuations. The ones who turned green always the worst.
Theirs has to be a religious mission.
I read the article and thought, what the heck….this is SB trying to get at Daphne. Buzz off, Saviour… we have brains unlike you and your Labour cronies.
Obama uses specifed income tax assessment to harass his enemies.
I would still have sent the reply to Malta Today for them to publish it. After all, it would have been amusing to see a letter by the ‘queen of bile’ printed there (using their ink and on their paper).
[Daphne – They wouldn’t publish it without a prosecution forcing them to do so, and then what would be the point after years?]
The more I read, the gladder I am that I now live in the UK.
What about the HALF MILLION euros in cash ‘declared’ by a cabinet minister.
I would like to see the explanation that the Inland Revenue swallowed with regards to this amount of CASH!
If that happens in the UK, he would immediately be subjected to proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Not to mention that he first said it was the result of a sale of some property he had and when he was cornered and told that there was no such sale, he told us that it was the fruit of a long career.
Kollox costed u bl-ircevuti.
And Manuel Mallia declared that he keeps €500,000 at home (and I believe that if he declared €500,000 he must have had more than that) and the department concerned didn’t lift one finger to investigate him.
Simon Busuttil is speaking in parliament now.
It was another really brilliant speech. Well done Dr. Busuttil.
Fear is an essential part of Labour’s strategy and tactics; it’s what defines Labour. It creates fear so that people become submissive since no one would like to cross swords with Labour.
Manuel Mallia’s ‘surprise’ visit to the traffic division at the police HQ is a case in point. He is not concerned about discipline. We all know what happened to self and collective discipline in the last 22 months.
He is concerned with creating a culture of fear, to instil in the police force the notion that he is in charge.
Mallia is following in Lorry Sant’s footsteps.
And Saviour Balzan last night was on the point of attacking Inspector Angelo Gafa’ as indeed he did in an article in his trashy paper recently.
It’s thanks to Simon Busuttil’s brilliant performance that Balzan was left holding the baby.
Why take it out on Gafa’? Cassar had confirmed what Gafa’ said during his testimony before the Public Accounts Committee.
This is exactly the Mintoff tactic. Nothing has changed really. The 70s and 80s are still with us, except for those who have died or gone senile, but their replacements are cut from the same cloth, or worse.
Did I get it right? Are they saying that whatever went into your bank accounts was an earning?
If so, I had better be careful because I am in the habit of doing errands for my children and relatives and I never carry cash. It is obvious that the cash/cheques they give me pass through my account.
[Daphne – Yes, exactly. I have the same situation.]
A large sum was mentioned to make sure that you are hated , most do not bother to read , so all that they care about is that it has been pointed out that you have more money than them so the hate increases , PL thrives on this type of intimidation.
[Daphne – I think they will find that I have less money than they do. But I suppose somebody who is on a wage or salary does not understand that deposits do not equal income.]
Deposits certainly do not equal income particularly when that income is derived from some business.
It would be great if every penny earned were not countered by any expense but reality says otherwise.
Their aim is to wear you down and when at your lowest they will squash you. It is simple, brutal and in most cases effective.
I do not hold sway with all that you write, yet I clearly understand that without your voice of defiance our little rock in the Med would be very much worse off both in terms of a ‘fuck you’ to mindless authority and more importantly to our freedoms.
My advice is to try and fight these bastards on your own terms. Good luck and happy hunting.
Not only that deposits do not equal income, but that anyone wanting to conceal income would hardly deposit it in a Maltese bank…not when bank notes are just the right thing for stuffing mattresses with.
Here you go Daphne, look at this article on yahoo.com news:
http://news.yahoo.com/us-businessman-jailed-russia-over-broken-window-135745101–finance.html
I’ve just watched Times Talk and I think Beppe Fenech Adami’s performance overshadowed Simon Busuttil’s melodramatic posturing on Salvu Reporter the day before.
I’m saying this with an objective mind, not as a former Labour supporter, or as someone who sees Busuttil as just another clueless EU apparatchik. As I see it, Simon is nothing but a whipping boy – the eager fall guy who’s expected to fail in a big enough way to usher his own ouster.
The real leadership battle will happen after his defeat in 2018.
______________
Concerning the Putin in the title, above, I bet you think Russia invaded Ukraine, like all the idiots who get their news from the box and the corporate media. This is where you fail big time, Daphne. They’ve been lying through their teeth and you’ve swallowed the whole hog.
Explain your latest conspiracy theory to us Kev…
Go do your own research, Towni. Start with ‘Donbass genocide’ and have a good laugh.
Kev’s erudite information on the Malaysian Air downing would be an eye opener – please comply, mate, and enlighten us.
I see Simon Busuttil is starting to worry some people.
And, by the way, Putin’s ‘tax harassment’ mentioned by Daphne was that against the ruling cabal behind Yeltsin, the useful idiot who brought the whole population to its knees.
Here’s a good documentary on how Vladimir Putin came to power. It’s a European production and not pro-Putin at all, but it’s got Berezovsky himself telling us how he and his cronies manipulated Yeltsin and eventually brought Putin to power in replacement, only to be betrayed and beaten at their own game when their protégé proclaimed he was a Russian patriot, not their puppet.
It is an insightful documentary because in their quest to put Putin in a bad light, much is revealed of how a backstage cabal functions. It’s a mini-version of the Western cabal, really, but less omnipotent and secretive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpiZw1R8w-c
Putin is no saint, of course, but he’s been the best deal for post-Soviet Russia and the people love him. That’s a fact, notwithstanding the lie-infested, false-flag riddled Western propaganda that demonises him, or the Soros-organised protests, which failed and faded into oblivion the moment the funds dried out.
Putin’s the best deal, is he? Then why do journalists keep on beng killed?
Don’t believe the media cos it’s bullshit; instead believe our bullshit.
Let’s thank God she managed to change the stupid title, il-Ginger. It’s not all set in concrete after all.
Is DeGiorgio’s property in Umbria? X’kumbinazzjoni hux.
“Looking out of the office window is not exactly a very uplifting experience and neither a tranquil scene from Umbria or Brittany.”
http://archive.maltatoday.com.mt/2009/04/08/sbalzan.html
Are we to assume he used the bedroom?
Is that a libel suit I see coming my way?
What did you say a few days ago? If they have no qualms in removing evidence, then they will have no issue in planting false evidence?
It is amazing how little has changed in the Labour culture despite a very long absence from government. It is no wonder that Muscat is worse than Mintoff
What a pathetic man Saviour is. It’s really a case of birds of a feather flock together when it comes to him and this government.
Whatever these bastards eventually manage to squeeze out of you, I insist that you open a “Pay Daphne’s Spurious VAT Bill” fund. I for one would be proud to contribute.
Me too – with pleasure
Or a Kickstarter or Indigogo.
This is an absolute disgrace.
Jealousy, not love of money, is the root of all evil.
Today it is Daphne. Tomorrow it can be me or you.
You know you live in a tyranny when the taxman is armed with SWAT teams. This is what happened in the US where political harassment through the IRS is not uncommon (and we’re not talking ‘partisan politics’ here, but political targeting of libertarians and Constitutionalists).
It’s what happens when you give the taxman too much power.
What can I say?
Be thankful, or even grateful, for small mercies.
We have been through all this during the golden years.
When this type of minor harassment fizzles out there will be only two options left.
Frame-ups and desaparecidos.
Ask my former schoolmate, the accountant Lino Cauchi (it-tifel tal-hajjat).
He was found dead in a well. His body had been frozen and cut to bits with a chainsaw.
They have done it before and they will do it again.
It could be you and me.
That IS really scary.
Dear Ms Caruana Galizia, I have just copied and pasted the article on the Malta Today website, as I feel you have a right of reply.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/national/46953/daphne_caruana_galizia_told_to_pay_101000_in_unpaid_vat#.VH45ISiInfY
People can support you on Saviour’s turf, in the form of up votes from your readers.
I know it’s not the main point here but it still bothers me greatly that you cannot register as an editor according to the Press Act. I see no reason why you cannot register as the editor of Taste magazine.
I know you have said that it has to be a newspaper but a magazine is in fact a newspaper. If they want to be literal about the definition of the term newspaper, you can be very literal. Newspaper is paper on which news is printed or written. Whether the paper is low-grade or glossy is irrelevant.
What the news is about is none of the government’s business. An opera magazine has news about the latest performances and recordings. A food magazine has news about food. A great new recipe, the overhaul of a menu and the inspection of a wine-list are newsworthy. It is the editor of the paper who decides what should go in it and, in theory, there’s nothing stopping a food magazine from starting a political column.
If the government stops you from registering, then what it is saying is that it decides what is newsworthy and what isn’t: a shocking declaration in a democracy.
At the last count, 20 anti-Putin journalists have been murdered during Putin’s reign of terror. No one has ever been charged with these murders of course.
In one other case a Russian died after being held in custody for 2 years less one day. In Russia, the police can arrest a person and hold him for two years without charges.
This innocent Russian man was a manager of a firm owned by an American who had become deluded with corruption in Putin’s Russia, thus he decided to run down his business and just kept an office and a Russian rep, just in case things change and he would decide to re-invest in Russia.
But the Putin mafia thought otherwise. The Russian authorities declared, falsely of course, that this firm had been bankrupt for a number of years. So the tax department returned to the firm all the tax paid by the American while this was ‘bankrupt’, since a bankrupt firm would not be in a position to pay taxes.
Then the firm was taken over by Putin cronies and the money that was retuned from the tax offices was pocketed by them and the firm closed down. This was something to the tune of $50 million. Meanwhile the firm’s Russian representative was accused of fraud, arrested, taken into custody and ‘died’ just a day before the two years were up.
This is what ISIS is doing to Christians is it not? They are making them pay high taxes and then killing them anyway.
You should have put a more recognisable heading to your VAT issue as many people will think it’s an article about foreign politics. This article needs more readership.
Reading it has left me baffled. Their aim these days is to put a misleading heading as they know that when shared on Facebook, most low level people (and not) read, in fact, just the heading.
It is further shared creating a ripple effect, causing maximum damaged to your image. This is how persons like Balzan or JPO reach their goals, and I reckon you should do something about it.
Anthony, do not exaggerate! We are in 2014 and a European country.
[Daphne – We were a European country then too, Persil.]
The government has lost control, is in a state of panic and is running around like a headless chicken. Prepare for the worst.
It is not preparing for thr worst. It is preparing ro stay in power no matter what. It is us Maltese citizens, parents of children and people of goodwill who need to prepare for the worst. This government is the MLP not the PL.
In 1975 Mintoff deliberately caused, utilised his power through the then just stolen Bank of Valletta, the closing down of Mamo Brothers Ltd and its sister companies for the simple reason that he had a personal grudge against one of the Mamo brothers. 200 people ended up unemployed, one subsidiary’s assets (a construction firm) were handed over to an MLP crony, the vehicle brands were taken by Karistu Zammit together with the Gzira building and the two brothers were declared persona non-grata and had to leave Malta since they carried a US passport. Their mother was American.
And we are today seeing the MLP government preparing a monument for this late criminal.
[Daphne – Well, you know the tragedy is that people didn’t understand at the time and many still refuse to see it now, that Mintoff targetted ALL the banks and nationalised them because it was only through the banks that he could exercise total control over people, businesses and the economy. Because everybody had to go to and through one of the state banks, people and businesses were destroyed or created as he and his cronies dictated. Even now I hear people saying, ‘Oh but under Mintoff things did not deteriorate so quickly in the first two years as they have now under Muscat. Of course they did. Mintoff spent his first two years in power seizing everything he could. He was elected in 1971. He seized the National Bank of Malta in 1973.]
I can’t understand how Network Publications, which publishes The Sunday Circle, is under a garnishee order running into hundreds of thousands of euros, while Daphne is making all this money with a book full of recipes (I’m quoting Jason tal-Fjuri here).
[Daphne – Well, exactly.]
I abhor bullies, and this is exactly what the PL are.
The more they find themselves under pressure and under scrutiny the dirtier they get.
That they have ‘independent’ media outlets supporting these tactics just because the editor has an axe to grind is disgusting.
History really is repeating itself. How horribly shortsighted of the Maltese electorate to have burdened the country with these scoundrels.
Never has it been more clear to me that building a new life with my family away from Malta was probably amongst the best decisions we made. My only regret and concern is that I still have financial interests there. It’s now a matter of keeping them safe from these pillaging savages and getting out when I can.
Ivan Portelli and his wife recently purchased a penthouse in St. Paul’s Bay. The wifey keeps uploading FB VIEWS OF WHAT CAN BE SEEN FROM HER TERRACE – all acquired with the money awarded after his discharge on a technicality. And she goes on all the time about her bosom friends Jeffrey and Lara.
[Daphne – Shameless. A real bunch of crooks.]