By Thanks to a reader for forwarding me a document that shows rather unsurprisingly why Julie’s Realty was put off limits in Yongsan:
If she has been operating this scam since 2005 it just makes you wonder how much money she has defrauded out of the US government with her housing scam? It has to be at least tens of thousands if not in the hundreds of thousands of dollars with this scam. What is really pathetic about this scam is that the USFK housing policy is what encourages scams like this in the first place by not allowing servicemembers to pocket the money given to them for housing if they do not use all the allotted money. Putting Julie’s off limits is just a band-aid for the real problem of needing an updated housing policy.
8:09 am on March 6th, 2008 1
100×10,000=1,000,000
100×5,000=500,000
10:09 am on March 6th, 2008 2
Yes, Army policy facilitates these scams. And even when everything is legit, it doesn't make sense. For example, I am living here alone in a very nice 3 bedroom, two bath apartment for which I pay $4500 a month. Do I need that much space–no. Did I have any incentive to get something smaller–nope.
My former federal agency had a program called "gainsharing". If I used FF miles instead of a gov't ticket, I got half of what the gov't saved. If I stayed with friends instead of a hotel, I got half the savings.
Do something like that with the LQA here in Korea and it puts unscrupulous realtors out of business, saves Uncle Sam some dough, and puts a little money in your pocket to boot.
Of course, that makes way too much sense to ever be considered….
1:45 pm on March 6th, 2008 3
John's idea is great but in USFK (scams-R-us) something like that will never be considered because there are too many hands in the proverbial cookie jar. The aforementioned realty company is just the tip of the iceberg, as everyone knows.
8:27 am on March 7th, 2008 4
I have yet to hear any substantial evidence on Gen Bell “being forced to retire”. It’s my opinion that he is cracking down on the gambling and housing issues as a legacy thing. People do not normally remember what individuals did at the beginning of their tenure but more commonly recall their last acts in office.
It isn’t like these criminal activities didn’t exist when he first took command. One should ask why it took so long for him to take action.
8:56 am on March 7th, 2008 5
I don’t think General Bell was the driving force behing the recent crackdowns. It was just a matter of time with the reduction in the money pool that USFK has to spend and all the examinations of where the money is actually going that has brought these things into the spotlight. The smaller the budget gets the bigger slice of the pie these activities siphon off making a better case for going after the dirtbags that are robbing the american taxpayer blind. It is a collective shift in thinking in the USFK command that is finally forcing them to take action. Hey, it only took them 56 Years.
2:26 pm on March 7th, 2008 6
Gen Bell did not mandate a crackdown on black marketing as much as the black marketers themselves have been getting too sloppy and blatant about their activity. Also, technology and budget issues have created a better environment for cracking down on them as well.
The black marketing story is about to get real interesting….
3:26 pm on March 7th, 2008 7
The first agency that should be put off limits is the housing office. That is where the problems starts and the USFK/LN employees there know who is cheating what and how much. Of course they can use the same defense as NAF did with the non SOFA gamblers.
12:13 am on March 7th, 2008 8
Julie's is definitely the tip of the iceberg and the fact that General Bell is cracking down on this activity along with the gambling fraud, and trying to do something about the blackmarketing may all be contributing factors to why he is being forced to retire.
3:16 am on March 7th, 2008 9
I tend to respect what Donald Kirk writes and if Donald Kirk writes that General Bell is being pushed out of USFK I tend to believe it:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/JB16Dg01.html
I think General Bell has been going after the corruption for the past year because the first year he took command he was consumed with relocation issues and didn't want to do anything to piss off the Koreans while relocation issues were being worked out.
I'm still waiting for him to do something about the golf courses though.
3:15 am on March 8th, 2008 10
I have read the Donald Kirk article and I still don't see it providing a foundation to support that Gen Bell is being forced to retire. When the Generals are assigned to that position they come with orders that sepcifically state they are on a two-year tour which upon completion they understand they will retire unless the U.S. Government deems them necessary for extended service or another assignement.
I think if you check the history of the the CFC Commanders you will notice that their tours varied in length.
http://www.usfk.mil/usfk/index.html?/org/cfc.html
Would you also come to the conclusion that Gen Scwhartz was forced to retire because he only served 30 months? Change of Command is influenced by many factors and I highly douobt htat cracking down on illegal activity has any major role in why Gen Bell is retiring.
5:11 am on March 9th, 2008 11
Donald Kirk doesn't believe and I don't either that he is being retired because of cracking down on illegal activity. It is because the ROKs can't work with him because he has been so adamant for pushing for the transformation of USFK. No sooner he is asked to retire the ROKs announce the delay of relocating 2ID. Is it coincidence?
Now ask yourself why LaPorte was asked to hang around so long? Could it be because the ROKs loved working with him because he kept things business as usual compared to Bell who is adamant about transforming USFK?
8:45 am on March 9th, 2008 12
GI Korea,
Bingo! Well said.
8:55 am on March 9th, 2008 13
GI,
Here is a sincere question…
Things don't add up, exactly. Why would Bell be forced into retirement for pushing for a quick transformation?
Certainly, he didn't come up with this Quick Transformation Plan all on his own after a night of heavy drinking. This had to have come from higher up and been discussed repeatedly in minute detail prior to taking command. If so, why would they push him into retirement for following orders? Especially when everyone knows it will be unpopular with the ROK.
Anyway…
I am certainly going to get a kick out of it, though, if Bell's last act of defiance is screw up all the corrupt scams going on just before his retirement. Even though this will irritate a lot of people now, it would be a fantastic legacy that would make the textbooks… and, in the end, it could make the transformation happen much, much quicker as it would cut off a lot of the high-dollar interests that do NOT want the transformation to happen (i.e. Itaewon "community leaders").
We will see if he has the ability, ethics and patriotism to do it… otherwise he goes down as just another worthless LaPorte-esque hack.
Which brings up a subdivision of one of the four categories of USFK leaders as discussed here:
http://rokdrop.com/2008/02/27/gi-myths-is-the-us-…
There are some high-level leaders who know exactly what scams are going on even though they are not exactly involved from a cash-in-the-pocket standpoint.
The "conspiracy" is that they clearly understand (and accept) that they will be branded as "hard to work with" on a two-year tour by long-term, high-level ROK counterparts who have close, long-term relationships with long-term "community leaders", if they don't go along with the long-term graft.
LaPorte was a fine example of this… as his ethics were questionable to begin with.
When people write comments here about how stupid Koreans are and how superior the US military is in everything from cleverness to integrity, think about this.
Best I can tell, USFK senior leadership is equal in ethics to a bunch of ratty whorebar owners, Spam-smuggling black marketers, slot-playing ajumas, off-base housing slumlords and shady construction company bosses… but not quite as smart.
8:30 am on May 13th, 2008 14
[...] Off post apartments can be very hit and miss in quality and are notorious for landlord sharks defrauding the military and servicemembers out of [...]
6:44 am on September 24th, 2008 15
[...] an apartment in Korea for those both command and non-command sponsored often means dealing with shady land landlords and corrupt rental agencies. Landlords in Korea are infamous for ripping off GI’s of their deposit money because they delay [...]