Legal Mindset’s Andrew Esquire dropped a big summary of the many malfeasances of the Reedy Creek Improvement District and the Walt Disney Company.
Cinderalla’s Castle in Walt Disney World via 4k WDW YouTube
When the NEW Central Florida Tourism and Oversight District replaced the former Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID) part of their obligation was to do a formal audit of their Disney-controlled predecessor whose reign over this chunk of once-swamp-now-entertainment-gigaplex Florida was over 55 years old and was a big part of the reason why Disney came to the Sunshine State in the first place.
Legal Mindset’s Andrew Esquire, guru of all legal things Floridian (a practicing attorney specializing in special tax district and property law in Florida) has long covered the irregularities he’s seen in RCID/Disney’s behavior, but this new comprehensive 80-page audit, written by experts in law, property, and finance and amazingly detailed in the exhibits and evidence it presents, hit the world like a wrecking ball this week and Andrew did a comprehensive nearly 3 hour video taking it line by line.
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But now, having appeared here on That Park Place’s various channels and with Valliant Renegade, he’s put together a shorter, more digestible vid that lists clearly the TWELVE actual crimes he sees in this document, all while reminding us that, of course, Disney and their minions are entitled to their days in court and to be presumed innocent until proven in court guilty.
Let’s explore the dirty dozen together:
1. Theft and Misappropriation Of Public Funds: Remember that RCID was a GOVERNMENT put in place by the Florida legislature—NOT a private company—and given governmental powers akin to a county’s over virtually everything from zoning to building codes to police, fire, utilities, even the right to build an airport and a nuke powerplant if they so chose. Unlike the statements by misguided pixiedusters, this particular special district had powers UNlike and VASTLY greater than any other district in Florida or the USA.
Keeping the RCID’s operations and the Walt Disney Company’s businesses separate was VITAL to doing things legally…but somehow that line got not just blurred but obliterated per the audit’s findings. Under Disney’s control, funds that the District was supposed to use for everyone and every property owner and business in it (there are many who are NOT Disney in the territory) were used SOLELY for Disney’s benefit. That’s putting public funds that ALL were taxed to create to the service of only ONE taxpayer—the Mouse, which is illegal.
Examples include using funds to police ONLY Disney property. The three huge parking garages with citrus names at Disney Springs shopping center were built not by the Mouse for their use to serve them and their tenants there but by RCID with public funds. Public assets like water and power and sewer and road development, all paid for with public money from taxes and/or tax-free municipal bond money to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars all were serving Disney only, and which Disney would not even let the “government” aka RCID to INSPECT even though RCID officially owned them!
EVERY dollar from PUBLIC funds must be spent for PUBLIC purposes, not private company benefits directly. That’s why this is both misappropriation AND outright THEFT of those funds.
Walt Disney World sign via Orlando Streets YouTube
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2. Misuse of Public Position: This happens when ANY public official (such as RCID leaders and employees) uses public property or benefits or assets for themselves, not the public good. This includes park passes, special access to private employee events, 40% discounts on Disney Cruise lines and a host of other benefits that should only have been given to Disney employees but were granted as “perks” to RCID people…and how do you impartially judge or deal with a private concern when they are the ones giving you all these goodies? The LAW says—you can’t. That’s why it is illegal for a private company to grant such things to public employees and agencies.
3. Bribery: Yes, well I shouldn’t have to give much of a LEGAL explanation of that, should I? And yes, this goes beyond #2 above. Above is when the public people misuse their position to help Disney, THIS is the stuff I mentioned above that they GET for doing it. It’s two (clap) two (clap) two crimes in one! The automatic assumption when you pay such goodies to people is that it isn’t just part of the magic or something you’re doing to be nice—you are giving to GET something. That is a bribe. And RCID had an obligation as a government not ONLY to the Non-Disney businesses and people within its borders, but to the general public at large in Orlando, Orange, and Osceola Counties, and Florida and indeed the USA to refuse any such payoffs and be clean of them. They didn’t and they weren’t.
Mickey Mouse in The Prince and the Pauper (1990), Walt Disney Animation
4. Official Misconduct: This very real criminal offense (as in fines, jail time, etc. just like bank robbery or embezzlement or any other criminal statute violation) includes all the employees and the elected board of supervisors of RCID hiding things, lying, and otherwise behaving badly to favor not the general public of the district and the wider world but one, and only one, company—can you guess which one by now? I’ll bet you can.
5. Breach Of Fiduciary Duty: The RCID people had a duty to take care of the millions of dollars of public funds of the district, to do “due diligence” on how they were spent, to put in controls and guarantees that they would be expended in a legal, ethical, and non-favoritism-based manner. They didn’t. And that in and of itself is, yes, another crime under both state civil and criminal law.
6. Fraud and False Statements: We’re in BOTH Federal AND state law realms here, because making false statements to everyone from the SEC and the IRS to state regulators of their businesses and activities is a no-no. For just one example? Those perks above are payments and taxable, but if you put them in your financial statements as “administrative expenses” instead? Well, you just lied. I will note from my personal experiences with entertainment and other contract law here that the laws against fraud have a HUGE requirement that sometimes lets people who unknowingly tell tales get off that Disney and RCID cannot claim: To be legally a fraud, it has to take place WILFULLY and with KNOWLEDGE aforethought. Both are clearly true and probably will be so-proven in both state and federal courts.
Bob Iger via New York Times Events YouTube
7. AND 8. Public Offering Fraud and MSRB (Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board violations: Andrew covers these together and rightly so. This is all about the bonds that RCID issued to finance their various activities—and remember that the interest/profit from municipal bonds are tax FREE to the bond purchaser and such bonds CANNOT be issued by a private company.
Andrew points out the enormous effort lawyers like himself put into such bond offering documents to disclose every fact and detail…but that Disney instead chose to omit, obfuscate, and otherwise intentionally confuse bond purchasers and the regulators who administer such things. So when these bond funds are dedicated to, for one example, maintaining roads for ALL and are NOT used for that, when they are supposed to fund utilities and structures for ALL but are ONLY used for Disney’s stuff, well, that’s a big problem.
Remember that municipal bonds are EASIER to sell/fund because of the tax advantages—would people have bought these if they were private bonds issued by The Walt Disney Company with NO such tax breaks? Nobody will ever know, but Disney and RCID stacked the deck knowing otherwise per this potential crime.
Mickey walks down Main Street USA at Disneyland. (Credit: Mortimer Productions)
9. Falsification of Records: A state crime, literally decades of documents that fail to disclose important facts such as lack of audit of funds, people working for BOTH the RCID AND Disney at the same time—an obvious conflict of interest. The reason such forms are supposed to be filed accurately, honestly, and in full is so the public is aware of all the details. Lie or omit important facts, and you are falsifying that record…and nobody does that unless doing so benefits them—or in this case RCID did it to help Disney—a private company that was supposed to be separate and treated impartially.
10. Securities Fraud: Remember when we here at TPP explored the “risks” that Disney disclosed in the recent 10k form? Well, don’t you think these kinds of shady, complex, and potentially illegal activities in regard to RCID are, yeah, “Risky”??? That they were NEVER disclosed in ANY filings with the SEC, the State, the IRS, or anyone else and that Disney is a public company subject to securities regulations that mandate such risk disclosure is, yes, Securities Fraud because it fails, as such laws are supposed to make sure of, to keep investors and potential investors and markets aware of the FULL picture, warts and all.
And since RCID’s jurisdiction over Disney’s Florida theme parks and enterprises means they’re involved in the division of the company, Parks and Experiences as they call them, which comprise EIGHTY FIVE PERCENT of the ENTIRE financial value OF the entire company which investors are buying into or not, that’s kinda sorta really truly important info that any investor should know.
The Wonderful Summer of Mickey Mouse” finds Mickey Mouse and his friends each recalling the wild events leading up to the Annual Summer Fireworks Spectacular from their point-of-view. Coming to Disney+ July 8
11. Misuse of Federal Funds: You see, RCID wasn’t just operating in Florida per se. The Federal government and their agencies such as FEMA, The Department of Energy, the Bureau of Land Management, and various other property and environmental agencies are in the business of handing out grants to states and counties to develop and preserve our environment and our utilities and the like…and AS a quasi-county, RCID was in the running for these and actually got some that, because they competed, counties like Orange LOST. All of this of course was on the basis that RCID was indeed a public government and NOT the arm of a private company like Disney but, as we’ve seen, that wasn’t really true.
That means those federal funds—money you as an American taxpayer put out no matter what state you live in, were obtained under false pretenses and thus misused.
12. RICO! That stands for Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization—an act that was originally put in back during the Nixon administration as a tool to fight the Mafia! It is about bribery, graft, and public corruption, and as you can see from the above, RICO applies here all over the place. As Disney would probably say “We don’t talk about RICO” but they may indeed have done it—bigtime.
Kaitlin P. and Sorcerer Mickey via Disney Parks YouTube
SO that’s the Dirty Dozen Potential Crimes that the brilliant Andrew of Legal Mindset listed in the video (which I encourage you to watch for details that even this comprehensive—another word for LONG—smile–article couldn’t).
And to keep up with this and all developments, stay tuned to That Park Place for all the news you need to understand what’s REALLY going on out there that’s perhaps not so magical after all.
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