The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

http://www.alreporter.com/more-money-for...ics-forms/

The nut paragraph for me:

UA records show the use of the online payment system for $148,837.14 for all vendors from January through March 2016. Payments to JRM represent over half of the total amount that the University spent the first quarter of this year; some 336 PayPal transactions.

PayPal payments do not show up on a search for JRM Enterprises in the University’s system. Only a search on “PayPal” brings up a results list including payments to PAYPAL JRMENTERPRI.

This answers the question "Why was UA paying Mason by Paypal?". Someone was trying to slide it through in a way that wouldn't show up in a search of the online payment system.

In fact, it might be worth looking at in the closing of football, if we knew what accounts to look for. That might be how some people got paid in a way that wouldn't show up in the UA finance search system.

Unbelievable. I would still like to know where Paul Bryant Junior stands in this mess. The fire is getting hotter.

A guy like PBJ doesn't do the dirty work.

As much as I hate UA this is just a misunderstanding of Paypal and how it works.

It looks like the company UA was paying used PayPal, not UA. The company name is in the payment (see where it says Paypal jrmenterpri)

That's what it looks like when you use paypal as your payment processor. UA's story that they used a payment card, and JRM used paypal holds up and makes sense.

Now...why were the payments happening in the first place is still a valid question, but I would find it very hard to believe that they used this to try to hide the payments in the first place.

Right under the original post on my screen is an ad for "Paypal: Faster, Easier Payment Processing."

While that is how card payments processed through paypal show up, I don't see a UAT explanation anywhere in that story. What I would like to know at this point - and the record may show it if you know how to look (Britt's story doesn't say) - is what person at UAT was issued the card used for these payments. On our system at the day job (a much smaller operation) each individual cardholder is named by name and card number.

And it does most definitely look like an attempt to hide payments. If they were made by someone not really up on modern payment tech, say a 70-year-old dog murderer or someone acting on that person's direction, they may not have realized how much data would be captured when the card was used.

(04-13-2016 11:38 AM)UABslant Wrote:  A guy like PBJ doesn't do the dirty work.

But a) the folks doing said dirty work have to get paid somehow, and b) we know first-hand how sloppy they became after decades of unchallenged privilege.

Using the card instead of a direct paypal transfer may ultimately turn out way worse for the Trustees.

(04-13-2016 12:33 PM)58-56 Wrote:  ...we know first-hand how sloppy they became after decades of unchallenged privilege.

While the Mason thing is recent, anything related to UAB football was shut down and resurrected would be before such transactions came under scrutiny. I'm wondering if there are payments that are UAB related that happened before they knew how many eyes would be looking for them that we missed the first time around because we were not looking for Paypal.

There just might be a smoking gun sitting in a file cabinet that we missed the first time around.

(04-13-2016 12:17 PM)58-56 Wrote:  Right under the original post on my screen is an ad for "Paypal: Faster, Easier Payment Processing."

While that is how card payments processed through paypal show up, I don't see a UAT explanation anywhere in that story. What I would like to know at this point - and the record may show it if you know how to look (Britt's story doesn't say) - is what person at UAT was issued the card used for these payments. On our system at the day job (a much smaller operation) each individual cardholder is named by name and card number.

And it does most definitely look like an attempt to hide payments. If they were made by someone not really up on modern payment tech, say a 70-year-old dog murderer or someone acting on that person's direction, they may not have realized how much data would be captured when the card was used.

The explanation was in an earlier al.com article. They specifically said they used a "payment card" which is a special Visa card, with a Visa card number, but is charged against a PO instead of a credit account.

It's not really all that unusual a way of handling things and can easily be traced back to the person who was responsible for the card. Tons of universities handle purchasing this way, and while they don't at UAB, the faculty have been clamoring for it and I expect it to happen eventually.

And again, as for the "Paypal" angle of it, UA probably had no idea that paypal would be involved and it's not really germane, other than it obfuscates the end payee slightly.

(04-13-2016 12:54 PM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  

(04-13-2016 12:33 PM)58-56 Wrote:  ...we know first-hand how sloppy they became after decades of unchallenged privilege.

While the Mason thing is recent, anything related to UAB football was shut down and resurrected would be before such transactions came under scrutiny. I'm wondering if there are payments that are UAB related that happened before they knew how many eyes would be looking for them that we missed the first time around because we were not looking for Paypal.

There just might be a smoking gun sitting in a file cabinet that we missed the first time around.

It's a paypal transaction because that's how Jon Mason processed it - since he apparently had no other clients for his "company," he wouldn't have had an account with a traditional processor.

What would be interesting to dig into from the Blazer-Related angle would be, first, who holds the card that paid Mason and next, who else has been paid with that card? Particularly in the summer and fall of 2014.

What little evidence has been shown so far makes me suspect that someone got complacent and carelessly used UAT money as a slush fund without washing it a few times first. Surely someone's furiously creating back-dated purchase orders for "consulting work" even as I type this.

(04-13-2016 01:53 PM)58-56 Wrote:  

(04-13-2016 12:54 PM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  

(04-13-2016 12:33 PM)58-56 Wrote:  ...we know first-hand how sloppy they became after decades of unchallenged privilege.

While the Mason thing is recent, anything related to UAB football was shut down and resurrected would be before such transactions came under scrutiny. I'm wondering if there are payments that are UAB related that happened before they knew how many eyes would be looking for them that we missed the first time around because we were not looking for Paypal.

There just might be a smoking gun sitting in a file cabinet that we missed the first time around.

It's a paypal transaction because that's how Jon Mason processed it - since he apparently had no other clients for his "company," he wouldn't have had an account with a traditional processor.

What would be interesting to dig into from the Blazer-Related angle would be, first, who holds the card that paid Mason and next, who else has been paid with that card? Particularly in the summer and fall of 2014.

What little evidence has been shown so far makes me suspect that someone got complacent and carelessly used UAT money as a slush fund without washing it a few times first. Surely someone's furiously creating back-dated purchase orders for "consulting work" even as I type this.

If you started weaving all the players together, you'd need a gymnasium wall and more yarn than Hancock Fabrics has.

Might want to see how that firm that was hired to dismantle football in an orderly way was paid.

The firm that starts with a V I believe.

(04-13-2016 02:20 PM)the_blazerman Wrote:  Might want to see how that firm that was hired to dismantle football in an orderly way was paid.

The firm that starts with a V I believe.

Sard Verbinnen? The NY crises firm?

Yep.

I remember that there was a payment/payments to them in the regular expenses files. I'm wondering what names and firms might pop up in the theoretically secret records.

IIRC Sard Verbinnen was paid by the UAB Educational Foundation, which is a private entity and not subject to the disclosure rules

(04-13-2016 04:08 PM)UAB Band Dad Wrote:  I remember that there was a payment/payments to them in the regular expenses files. I'm wondering what names and firms might pop up in the theoretically secret records.

Yes, those payments are included in the $10 million estimate of what Ray Watts' football-related blundering cost UAB.

I think the Governor needs Sard Verbinnen right about now....

After marital fight, Gov. Robert Bentley had law enforcement fetch wallet with state helicopter
http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2016/04...river_home


From Tuscaloosa to Gulf Shores...

This one must have slipped through the cracks.

Bentley allows private meetings for Trustees. Bill being proposed to extend it to all 4 year schools.

http://www.annistonstar.com/columnists/g...5dbf9.html

(04-13-2016 07:48 PM)the_blazerman Wrote:  This one must have slipped through the cracks.

Bentley allows private meetings for Trustees. Bill being proposed to extend it to all 4 year schools.

http://www.annistonstar.com/columnists/g...5dbf9.html

That article says it allows for private meetings to discuss potential hires. Personally, I think it's only fair to the candidate for them not to discuss their hiring in public. Anything said could haunt that candidate for years in future job searches. It could also damage someone's reputation if they haven't discussed the position with their current employer and then don't get the job. I fully support making job candidate discussions private. I'm surprised anyone would oppose that legislation.