Gene Steinberg's Financial Shenanigans @ Paracast forums

Ron67

Ignorance isn’t bliss!
The posters on here are a decent bunch and none of us want him on the streets.I personally want him to come clean,take responsibility for his situation and to start to try to work and live within his means.I fear though,that he now knows no other way and will carry on, on this ultimately self destructive path.
 

Standingstones

Celestial
Yes - I agree, though there are the occasional really hateful anonymous comments over at the UFO Trail blog; it seems remotely possible a few people there might want to see Gene in the gutter. Maybe. But, I don't think that is true of anyone here or most who I see commenting on Twitter.

For me there is a weird fascination with the mystery of it all. I first learned of Gene when I started listening to the Paracast in late 2007. He seemed to be part of an attempt to tell the truth and call out the frauds. It's amazing to me now to have learned all of these things about Gene and his history, to see how he operates. Amazing and frankly depressing.

Then what gets my goat about him is his dishonesty, particularly when employed to attack anyone who dares question him. He is flat out terrible, and will seemingly resort to almost anything to shut people up or "win the argument". (And to a lesser extent there's the way he runs his forum. I am barely active there and have still had multiple comments just vanish, because they were part of something he wanted to make go away.)

But for all of my dislike for and distrust of the man, disgust with him even, I don't want to see him, his wife and their dog actually reduced to living out of their car. Hell, when 'Paranormal Davey' said he was going to give him some of his inheritance, I actually felt a sense of relief, like, OK well, this should at least save him from the worst for awhile. And now I can stop paying attention to this....

I also agree it frequently seems like a psychological disorder is involved here. I am not a mental health professional but, it just would not surprise me. So I don't like the guy, don't trust him, but don't want to see him continue down the miserable path he appears to be on. (All that said, and I know, TL;DR already, I make regular donations - nothing extravagant or to brag about - to good causes, but I would not give Gene a dime. It would be enabling, not helping.)
I’m like you. I keep watching to see how this will resolve. It’s almost like a car wreck. You are correct, Steinberg can never ever admit he is wrong on anything he has said. One time in the forums I told him he was always right and always had to have the last word. Boy, did he get pissed at me! He sent me a series of e-mails berating me. I was told that I am the kind of person who brings the chat rooms down.

Coming from a liar, cheat and lowlife I thought it was high praise.

You can always tell when Steinberg gets corrected on something he was wrong on. “Let’s move on,” is his key phrase when someone instructs him on the truth.

I think it all boils down to this word, “Schadenfreude.” It means taking delight in the misfortunes of others. Most wouldn’t admit to it, but they would like to see Steinberg get his just rewards.
 

Wade

Stare..... They are always staring
The posters on here are a decent bunch and none of us want him on the streets.I personally want him to come clean,take responsibility for his situation and to start to try to work and live within his means.I fear though,that he now knows no other way and will carry on, on this ultimately self destructive path.


Beautifully put:drinks: But being that people don't change their habits in a whim, I'm afraid it usually does takes a life altering event to get a person to change their ways
 
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SilentRunning

Honorable
Right to
The posters on here are a decent bunch and none of us want him on the streets.I personally want him to come clean,take responsibility for his situation and to start to try to work and live within his means.I fear though,that he now knows no other way and will carry on, on this ultimately self destructive path.


That's basically how I feel about this. And yes, I do follow it in at least some small part because of schadenfreude, at this point. I would like for him to have to at least own up to the bullshit and the harm he's done not only to the community at large, but to be confronted by some of the people who have donated to him and have to actually face their criticism and complaints.

If he did that, and was actually genuinely regretful, was actually genuinely remorseful, then perhaps we as a community could find a way to actually help him, set up a GFM with a trustworthy conservator to watch over the funds and account for them, etc.

The problem is he's not regretful, he's not remorseful, he's not even acknowledging what he's done to the community, not even acknowledging that his problems are all his own fault. So I hate seeing anyone in the situation, and I do genuinely hope he gets his head out of his lower orifice. Sadly, I think it may be too late.
 

goblin

Noble
Right to



That's basically how I feel about this. And yes, I do follow it in at least some small part because of schadenfreude, at this point. I would like for him to have to at least own up to the bullshit and the harm he's done not only to the community at large, but to be confronted by some of the people who have donated to him and have to actually face their criticism and complaints.

If he did that, and was actually genuinely regretful, was actually genuinely remorseful, then perhaps we as a community could find a way to actually help him, set up a GFM with a trustworthy conservator to watch over the funds and account for them, etc.

The problem is he's not regretful, he's not remorseful, he's not even acknowledging what he's done to the community, not even acknowledging that his problems are all his own fault. So I hate seeing anyone in the situation, and I do genuinely hope he gets his head out of his lower orifice. Sadly, I think it may be too late.

The popping sound produced by Gene finally pulling his head from that lower orifice would I think rival the 1883 Krakatoa eruption for volume.
 

Wade

Stare..... They are always staring
We can always hope that he will get visited by 3 ghosts, hey it worked pretty good the previous time.
 

GhostofBiedny

Celestial
As someone pointed on Twitter, in this latest begging message Gene is confirming the fact that motels are more expensive than paying monthly rent.

However Gene seems oblivious to the fact that he has been staying in a motel for weeks now and hasn't been kicked out, it means he had the money to pay his rent.

It's like that logic is somehow missing in his brain.

Either that or he is getting enough through his e-begging to pay the motel bill - but then he has also told us in past emails that his begging income has slowed right down to the point of being non existent.

It is hard to know what if anything he says is true and what is a lie designed to solicit sympathy and hence money.

As I have said before this suggests to me that Gene had enough money all along to pay his rent but was spending it on something else because he just couldn't let that money sit until rent was due.

So when rent time came the money was gone and he tried to leech more time out of the landlord to pay or even stay as long as possible for free. One more bizarre possibility is that he didn't even spend the money but just hoarded it (maybe saving up for something "important" like a new car).

Now that he has to pay every day choice is taken out of his hands and he has to stay honest or he is out on the street.

-In some ways it might be considered that Gene has ended it up in the optimal place for him.

He can't wriggle out of paying or sit in the motel for free for weeks or months until he gets evicted.

One missed payment and he is out. It gives him no other options to manipulate the situation (other than through his e-begging and that never changes).

Anyway it is strange that Gene basically keeps admitting all of this to us via his begging letters and yet seems to be unaware of the fact that he is doing so.

Perhaps some part of his unconscious mind feels some guilt about the situation and is trying to warn everyone or maybe he is just that stupid.

Either way it is sad and all the more reason why nobody should believe anything he says, or donate to him in anyway. He is just another "personality" (or more non personality) in the UFO field that is staining its already dirty image.

Anyone who is aware of this behaviour (which must be nearly everyone by now) and continues to buy Paracast subscriptions or goes on his shows is basically supporting and endorsing this behaviour and hence helping to damage the reputation of the whole community.
 

Standingstones

Celestial
It does seem like Steinberg has wedged himself into a corner. By being evicted all the time from rental apartments, no one will rent to him now. Staying in a motel room has to be an expensive proposition. Yet he seems to have the cash to stay even though the motels aren’t to his high standards.

The Paracast guest situation is puzzling. Particularly those people who are “friends” of the show. Maybe when you have a book or project to promote you just hold your nose and decide to talk to Steinberg and Murphy.
 

erickson

Honorable
Senior homelessness is a real problem and like many here, I would not wish that on anyone. Gene has undoubtedly wedged himself into a corner through his history of adverse civil judgments, bankruptcy, and evictions. Yet he has more resources than many. Despite this it's hard to imagine a happy ending to this story.

I wrote to Gene a couple of months ago and urged him to honestly acknowledge his history, to be transparent about his current situation, and to develop an exit plan that does not rely on begging - beyond his statements that things are about to get better.

The questions about his history have been discussed here at length - his story that he was trying to help his brother in law, until Stephen could obtain a settlement that would repay him, has been shown to be false; the lifestyle choices over the years were typified by driving an Optima, and when that was repossessed, spending around $14,000 on a new car with a loan for the remaining $14,000 costing him $674 a month; the help he has gotten over the years included a $44,000 personal loan and tens of thousands in commercial loans that were discharged through bankruptcy. Through it all the begging continued and Gene merely bristles when people look closely at the public record.

Transparency about his current situation remains equally elusive. Has his situation changed since the bankruptcy petition was filed? Is Uber and Lyft still a factor, since they have been dropped from the storyline?

He wrote that his former apartment was budgeted to the penny until he was hacked - but how much of his budget was based on begging and what happened after the hacking was resolved? Gene seems to think that he can beg people to help him though one crisis after another over a period of years, without offering any accounting.

After writing Gene, I received two emails (presumably directed to a smaller list). The first stated he needed $400 to meet his needs; a week later he asked for 2-3 times that amount. This is not transparency those on his list need to say "enough."

So now his exit plan is to increase marketing at the Paracast, which seems about the same as to what he has stated over the past ten years - that things will get better.

Very few people want to see Gene living on the street. But he needs to make hard choices and take responsibility.
 
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goblin

Noble
Senior homelessness is a real problem and like many here, I would not wish that on anyone. Gene has undoubtedly wedged himself into a corner through his history of adverse civil judgments, bankruptcy, and evictions. Yet he has more resources than many. Despite this it's hard to imagine a happy ending to this story.

I wrote to Gene a couple of months ago and urged him to honestly acknowledge his history, to be transparent about his current situation, and to develop an exit plan that does not rely on begging - beyond his statements that things are about to get better.

The questions about his history have been discussed here at length - his story that he was trying to help his brother in law, until Stephen could obtain a settlement that would repay him, has been shown to be false; the lifestyle choices over the years were typified by driving an Optima, and when that was repossessed, spending around $14,000 on a new car with a loan for the remaining $14,000 costing him $674 a month; the help he has gotten over the years included a $44,000 personal loan and tens of thousands in commercial loans that were discharged through bankruptcy. Through it all the begging continued and Gene merely bristles when people look closely at the public record.

Transparency about his current situation remains equally elusive. Has his situation changed since the bankruptcy petition was filed? Is Uber and Lyft still a factor, since they have been dropped from the storyline?

He wrote that his former apartment was budgeted to the penny until he was hacked - but how much of his budget was based on begging and what happened after the hacking was resolved? Gene seems to think that he can beg people to help him though one crisis after another over a period of years, without offering any accounting.

After writing Gene, I received two emails (presumably directed to a smaller list). The first stated he needed $400 to meet his needs; a week later he asked for 2-3 times that amount. This is not transparency those on his list need to say "enough."

So now his exit plan is to increase marketing at the Paracast, which seems about the same as to what he has stated over the past ten years - that things will get better.

Very few people want to see Gene living on the street. But he needs to make hard choices and take responsibility.

Erickson I think you have posted some of the more thoughtful comments I've seen in all of this, and I have paid attention to far too many comments on the topic of Gene (and made too many myself).

As you said in a comment at the UFO Trail blog, if all the loans revealed (and forgiven) in the bankruptcy filing didn't turn things around for Gene, what is $400 or whatever he's asking for this week going to do? Donations won't help him.

And seeing he was getting what looked like payday loans and such, while declaring he was making about $2800 a month (a figure which I have to imagine excluded donations) reinforced for me - where was and is Gene's money going?

I don't think I can guess, because I can't judge Gene by my own standards. I am a cautious person. I am not a risk taker, and I am a rule follower (my wife actually makes good natured fun of me for this, but it's just who I am). Having a steady paycheck has always been very important to me - I've worked at one or more jobs going back to when I had a paper route as a kid. So I just can't relate to Gene and his method of operation. It's beyond me. None of it makes sense.

I can't imagine it's healthy for him however. He bemoans his hardships and the accompanying stress yet seems to bring every bit of it on through his own behavior. Maybe he can't help himself. But he can live how he wants to live; I just wish he'd stop asking everyone else to pay for it. He only wants cash to spend as he sees fit; as Jack Brewer (I believe) pointed out, in all of those emails has he ever asked for a lead on any sort of a job?
 

Standingstones

Celestial
I can’t recall Steinberg ever asking for a job lead in the Phoenix AZ area. When I suggested he look to an Apple store for employment he got very angry with me. He said that retail work was beneath him and he was too old for that kind of thing. You would think the Apple job would be right up his alley.

You can only go by his actions. He simply refuses to work a normal 9-5 job. That attitude was probably okay when he was much younger. He could pretend to work by writing how-to books on technical equipment and thinking his websites would provide a solid salary.

Work seems to be an evil word to Gene. I think that the Uber/Lyft job is now in the past. It’s too bad that when someone makes a helpful suggestion, Steinberg always pooh poohs it away.
 

GhostofBiedny

Celestial
He wants a job with the following parameters:

1. Must involve sitting on backside all day and the ability to do it via computer from home.
2. An assistant must be provided to do all the hard work (e.g. Chris O'Brien) - either the employer must pay for the assistant or they must work for free.
3. Expertise must involve reminiscing about past glories i.e. people he knew in mid 20th century Ufology - Donald Kehoe, Ray Palmer, Gray Barker, Jim Moseley, John Keel.
4. Uses an encyclopaedic knowledge of pop culture - especially super heroes like Supergirl, Superman, the Flash and in particular their TV shows - who starred in them, when, why, how many remakes there were etc.
5. Must also pay really well (beyond reason for the work and expertise that is involved) and have high status otherwise it is beneath him.
6. Has an extensive email list for begging to produce a supplementary income.

Gene cannot contemplate a job that does not fulfil all these criteria. After all it seems he gets 2.8K social security for doing absolutely nothing. I suppose that skews your expectations.
 

nivek

As Above So Below
There is still a part of me which thinks this whole scenario is a sham...There's an itch I cannot scratch that tells me he isn't hurting for money at all and may not even be living in motels but with friends or even has another apartment or house and is carrying on with this just to rake in more money...This itch tells me he is not in any sort of financial straits but is creating this whole emergency thing, especially since its been going on for so many years...I have read about other people who carry on in a similar way, going from rental to rental not paying whilst having the money to do so and moving around from place to place taking advantage of the situation to the fullest and playing the victim and woe is me to gain support...Maybe this 'itch' is wrong but somehow I think there is way more to all of this than has been revealed...

...
 

Standingstones

Celestial
There is still a part of me which thinks this whole scenario is a sham...There's an itch I cannot scratch that tells me he isn't hurting for money at all and may not even be living in motels but with friends or even has another apartment or house and is carrying on with this just to rake in more money...This itch tells me he is not in any sort of financial straits but is creating this whole emergency thing, especially since its been going on for so many years...I have read about other people who carry on in a similar way, going from rental to rental not paying whilst having the money to do so and moving around from place to place taking advantage of the situation to the fullest and playing the victim and woe is me to gain support...Maybe this 'itch' is wrong but somehow I think there is way more to all of this than has been revealed...

...
I wonder about that too. I am sure that when Chris O’Brien said that Steinberg was living in an upscale gated community, that information wasn’t supposed to be told to the general population. Especially those footing the bill.
 

GhostofBiedny

Celestial
There is still a part of me which thinks this whole scenario is a sham...There's an itch I cannot scratch that tells me he isn't hurting for money at all and may not even be living in motels but with friends or even has another apartment or house and is carrying on with this just to rake in more money...This itch tells me he is not in any sort of financial straits but is creating this whole emergency thing, especially since its been going on for so many years...I have read about other people who carry on in a similar way, going from rental to rental not paying whilst having the money to do so and moving around from place to place taking advantage of the situation to the fullest and playing the victim and woe is me to gain support...Maybe this 'itch' is wrong but somehow I think there is way more to all of this than has been revealed...

...

It's entirely possible. We keep saying how his behaviour has an addictive/dependant quality. It may be that the addiction is to the thrill of getting something for nothing from other people.
 

SilentRunning

Honorable
There is still a part of me which thinks this whole scenario is a sham...There's an itch I cannot scratch that tells me he isn't hurting for money at all and may not even be living in motels but with friends or even has another apartment or house and is carrying on with this just to rake in more money...This itch tells me he is not in any sort of financial straits but is creating this whole emergency thing, especially since its been going on for so many years...I have read about other people who carry on in a similar way, going from rental to rental not paying whilst having the money to do so and moving around from place to place taking advantage of the situation to the fullest and playing the victim and woe is me to gain support...Maybe this 'itch' is wrong but somehow I think there is way more to all of this than has been revealed...

...


Unfortunately, this is all too believable.

"Well you cried wolf
Once too often
You cried wolf
And now I
Won't come knockin'
You cried wolf
And I don't hear you
Anymore...."

~" Cry Wolf, " Other Side of the Mirror, Stevie Nicks
 

GhostofBiedny

Celestial
Unfortunately, this is all too believable.

"Well you cried wolf
Once too often
You cried wolf
And now I
Won't come knockin'
You cried wolf
And I don't hear you
Anymore...."

~" Cry Wolf, " Other Side of the Mirror, Stevie Nicks

In future times the tale may be told of the little Gene who cried wolf falsely so often that when the wolf actually came nobody believed him and he got eaten. The end.
 

Wade

Stare..... They are always staring
Did Stevie Nick's ever write a song about living reasonably comfortable using other people's money?
 
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