How Scammers Prey on the Elderly

Alaskan Seniors Under Siege

A confidence game, also known as a con, scam, grift, or flim-flam, is an attempt to win the trust and confidence of a victim, known as the “mark,” to defraud them. Although general expectation is that con artists are untrustworthy, their particular ability is to be able to gain the trust of their victims.

[1] Confidence Game, New World Encyclopedia

As an Alaska I have seen con artists come and go over decades and intellectually understand their game. After all, Jefferson Randolph “Soapy Smith” was a world-renowned scam artist who plied his crimes against Goldrush Argonauts in Skagway, AK. But Soapy was small-time compared to the Borden Plantation Scam in 2018, orchestrated by Bill, Brenda and Waneta Borden, dba High Caliber Realty, Inc. (sic). Based in Atlanta, GA. Bordens entangled this long-time professional truth-teller in a complicated scheme with the goal of breaking me emotionally, financially and stealing my home.

Jefferson “Soapy” Smith got his nickname from his infamous soap swindle, where he would sell bars of soap from a suitcase on the sidewalk. He would make a show of wrapping an occasional bar of soap with a bill, ranging in size from $1 to $100. He would then mix the wrapped bars together, and sell them for between $1 and $5. Naturally, the “winners” of the currency-wrapped soap were always associates of Soapy. From 1887 to 1895, Soapy was king of Denver’s underworld, making money through a variety scams, and becoming more of a gangster than a confidence man. Despite his reputation as a bad man, Soapy was also generous to charitable causes, and was often sought out by men like Parson Uzzell of the People’s church for assistance. Smith was killed in 1898, during a gunfight.

[2] Ibid, Famous Con Artists

I’m not proud to say Bordens Succeeded

Waneta had been maintained in squalor by her son at Smiths Grove, KY and Willow, AK since 2006. Liston’s home was the nicest place she has lived in 40 years. She was active in Valley politics and knew a variety of local elected officials including Michael Dunleavy.

This is a composite of photos of the Community eyesore on Willow First Avenue which Waneta owned outright. I joined her to pay taxes on this property at the MatSu Borough on several occasions. In court she and Bill testified through attorney Jimmy White-Shark that this property was foreclosed on for lack of payment on a mortgage and she no longer owned it.
Liston invested and made tremendous progress doing most of the skilled labor to improve this cabin over the time Bordens entangled him in their scam, including a porcelain tile floor over the entire original cabin. Bordens, through attorney White-Shark would argue that Waneta could not live here upon leaving residence in Liston’s Eagle river home where he provided Elder Care some 30 months for 86-year old Waneta.

Waneta contacted Liston online first and he felt sorry for her. She arrived in Alaska from Kentucky the first week of November 2018 to “make me Thanksgiving Dinner.”

Once Bill became involved the confidence scam would involve a number of AK Court Lawfare Judges. The goal of scammers is always to entangle and wear down a mark until they give up. Liston has fought this battle alone, with supportive friends who have observed his on-going struggles, and witnessed the truth.

How Outside Scammers Violate Vulnerable Alaskans

Liston believes his public notoriety and some unfortunate life circumstances made him a target of professional scammers who have been rewarded for criminally violating him by Alaska Court Lawfare. In fact, what has happened to him is a perfect example of why Alaskans deserve an Independent Grand Jury to investigate and report likely wrongdoing by judges to the People of Alaska when the system itself is the problem, in the absence of an independent elected Attorney General.

[3] The Naked Truth About Alaska Courts, Jessica Pleasant, May 12, 2024

This photo was False and Misleading Evidence distributed by Scammer Bordens to multiple parties and multiple courts to defame LISTON for Domestic Violence he would NEVER commit. The court of Judge Josie Garton awarded this duplicity $66,000 to Bordens from sale of Liston’s Eagle River home.

Revenge for Catching a Real Estate Fraud

Liston sought justice in AK Small Claims Court against Bill Borden for documented damage to his business, DONN LISTON COMPANY and HIS home. Bill’s response was incredible—he sent to the court Revenge Porn he had stolen upon breaking into Liston’s home, stealing multiple items outright, and hacking his computer. These stolen photos of naked consenting adults including Liston were prima facia evidence Bill had committed this crime! There is no other way Bordens could have gotten these private photos except by breaking, unlawfully entering, and theft.

[4] Alaska Statutes RE Criminal Use of a Computer

Shouldn’t ANY JUDGE be able to see this?

Judge Nesbett destroyed evidence when he returned revenge porn to Bill Borden–evidence proving Defendant had maliciously hacked Liston’s computer, stole photos of naked consenting adults, and with Waneta published them to multiple public officials including Sen. Shelley Hughes, in a violation of Liston’s Constitutional right to privacy. They did this to damaged Liston’s business and good name. Further, at trial Plaintiff Liston gave Judge Washington the unopened packet of revenge porn that Borden had sent to him–as required in court distribution–and told Her Honor she could review it for herself to prove the crime Borden committed. The packet had been opened before it was mailed back to Liston.

An Anchorage courthouse is named after Buell Nesbett, David’s father and first AK Supreme Court Chief Justice.

Providing outstanding accommodations in Eagle River since 1991

[5] Notice to the parties from Judge Nesbett

Bordens set Liston up to fraudulently steal his house by breaking him emotionally and financially for leaving their real estate scammer plantation. Borden hired an attorney Neal Ainsworth (Ainsworth.law) to represent him, but this court official didn’t inform of this known violation of state and federal law.

[6] AK Revenge Porn Laws

AK Courts don’t Care About Obvious elder abuse

[7] Complaint with detailed overview of exactly how Borden scammers had violated Liston.

Submission of stolen photographs TO THE COURT in response to a charge of breaking and entering and hacking Liston’s computer system was a prima facie declaration of guilt. How could this be beyond the common sense and legal acumen of 2019 Gov. Dunleavy appointee, Judge David Nesbett?

[8] Appeal to recognize seriousness of Revenge Porn Offense, March 5, 2024.

Nesbett Didn’t Hear the Case

After a 2-1/2 hour hearing July 28, 2022 Alaska 3rd District Diversity-Equity-Inclusion Judge Pamela Washington in her finding February 13, 2023 didn’t require Borden to pay damages for proven violations of Liston, but she did order that Bordens had 10 days to return some $15,000-$20,000 of cash, valuables and specific items stolen in an admitted burglary of his home (including RING Security System.). This Order was a joke–never enforced in a court system that rewards Outside parasites who use lawfare to scam vulnerable Alaskans. [3AN-22-00086].

Alaskans need to know more about the judges they re-elect every five years.

[9] Alaska District Judge Washington, appointed in 2020 by Gov. Sean Parnell.

The Hearing was Enlightening

Selections from Court transcripts of Hearing [3AC-22-00086SC] held July 28, 2022.

Judge Washington: Introduction–I flipped through (the file) and there are just all these different issues that were raised. I don’t know, when I look just at the complaint, it seems to me that the issue is that the plaintiff is suing for damages resulting from defendants maybe interference with his business ventures, you know, disabling email accounts, disabling different social media accounts? And then there was this motion about return of stolen property, it looks like judge Nesbitt denied it indicating it would be resolved in this matter. So, is there an issue about stolen property still remaining between the parties? Because it wasn’t initially part of the complaint. It just was a motion, the court just denied it. And he says he’s denied it based on the opposition. The only thing the opposition said was, “Hey, we’re fighting about that in the trial.” So what’s the status of stolen property? I’ll ask you first, Mr. Liston.

02:10

Liston: This stolen property was in retribution for me filing this claim. So, then Mr. Borden, went and broke into my home and stole between $15,000 and $20,000…

02:22

Washington: Did you make a police report? Liston: Yes, ma’am. Washington: Okay, so do I need to resolve that issue? This looks like a criminal matter.

02:31

Liston: It hasn’t been taken to criminal court because the (Anchorage) police do what the police often do. And they took a record of it, but they haven’t pursued it.

NOTE: This court appears to deny jurisdiction on criminal matters in response to filing a legal action against somebody. It was clear in this hearing Bordens had broken into my home and stolen a number of items including my RING Security System. The message to Plaintiff was: Criminal trespass is allowed by AK Courts, and without RING security record murder would likely resolve all further responsibility for Defendant.

11:13

Liston Opening Statement: Your honor, we’re all familiar with the fact that in this country, we fought a civil war, in order for people to be free. And many people were not free because we had a tradition of slavery. The tradition of slavery ended with the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln. And instead of enslaving people in the Deep South, they went to a thing called indenture. And indenture meant that they owned you but they didn’t get to beat you up and rape your wife and kids. Instead, you had to do whatever they said or they could destroy you. They could crush you. Well, Mr. Borden is from that tradition. And Mr. Borden has a number of other real estate enterprises where he has his agents who are all independently contracting, who do what he wants. And if they don’t do what he wants, he crushes them. So I had the unfortunate situation of my wife died in 2019. I’m a retired teacher and I was awarded the BP Teacher of Excellence in 2013. I’ve been writing for a long time; I was a reporter for The Daily News during construction of the pipeline. And I aspire to tell the story of Alaska–what’s happened since statehood–it’s been an amazing run. And I came up here at 11 years old and I’ve been writing these stories. I was writing those stories for the Echo Magazine in Eagle River. And I approached Mr. Borden about the idea of setting me up with a blog so that I could publish my writing beyond just a newspaper. And besides, they went broke. So he set me up, he did everything, he put it all together, and I wasn’t paying attention. I didn’t care how the technical part went; I just saw that my stories were getting published. Well, today, I have 120 stories, every one of them 1500 to 2000 words and referenced. And never have I had any challenges on any of my work. I’ve written even about the Alaska court system. One of my advertisers says he considers me the Wall Street Journal of Alaskan boggers. So, I’m very proud of that. But in the first part of this year, Mr. Borden and I had a difference over some things had to do with his unethical actions in a real estate transaction in the valley. And things fell apart really fast. And he then went to work and all the things that he had indentured me with–my blog, my intellectual property. I had advertisers I had at that time, I think six or eight advertisers. And he basically just went in and set it up so that I couldn’t have any control. He just trashed the whole thing. And he went to the state Department of Commerce and stole my company of my name (and took it to Georgia).

Copy of online notice to Facebook published by hacker Borden from Liston’s computer.
.
 

14:43

Judge Washington: What is it? What did you say? What prompted that? What prompted him you said there was a bad real estate deal?

14:49

Liston: Okay. Mr. Borden does real estate in six states including Alaska, little bit in Alaska. He’s got kind of a shadow box in Alaska. He does real estate and he did a sale of an elk farm out in Palmer. One of the themes of my blog is Alaska Food Security. It’s one of the biggest issues I think our state faces and the person who’s the most significant person producing for Alaska food security, is Greg Giannulis. He owns Mt McKinley, Meats and Sausages. And, he’d reached a place where he couldn’t make any money with it because of the fact that he can’t get enough animals in Alaska to be able to slaughter for food security for Alaska. So as this has been a theme, I’ve written several stories on this. Mr. Giannulis told me: “Look, man, I’m really concerned.”

16:03

Washington: I didn’t mean to get you off your opening statement. I just missed why.

16:10

Liston: Okay, let me cut to the chase.

Mr. Giannulis wanted to sell his slaughterhouse. I introduced him to Bill Borden–one of the greatest mistakes I’ve ever made in my life. Bill then created a problem for Greg that was pretty unbelievable dealing with his staff and everything else. Greg said to me, “Don, he says, I trusted Bill because I trusted you, but he’s turned out to be a snake.” And he took back his other listings. And when Borden sold the property, he didn’t sell it. He cut a deal with a guy who had been wanting to buy the thing but couldn’t afford it. Why is this relevant? Well, because it proves that Mr. Borden had broken the law and fraudulently said that he sold it in public, even to the governor. That impacted me because Borden was upset now because I obviously had called his cover. So his goal was to shut me up. Okay, I’m an independent journalist. I’ve been an independent journalist, off and on since 1972. Mr. Borden needed to shut me up. And the way he was going to do that was shut down my business. And he had all the key words, he even controlled the security for my home. So, then he started responding to my pleadings here. And the court admonished him that I shouldn’t have to have an attorney here in small claims court. And so HE got an attorney. The fact of the matter is, he screwed me over every way he can, and he’s costing me well over $20,000. And when I filed it originally, it was said that the most I could expect was $10,000. So I’m here in good faith, I need to get that money back. I’d like to get the things he broke into our house and stole also. And he’s going to come up with a bunch of other stuff. He’s got a whole soap opera he’s going to bring forward, but the fact of the matter is, this is a basic character matter. Mr. Giannulis doesn’t want anything to do with him…we’ve got an outsider who likes to get people involved in things. I want $10,000. I want my company name back if I can get that back. And I would also appreciate it, but this is up to the court, if you would refer his illegal action against me with his first filing, he filed revenge porn to the court. This was incredible. He filed photographs of me and other consenting adults that he had stolen…in his first filing, Your Honor.

This was the trajectory of my original Blogspot until January, 2022 when Bill Borden crashed my business.

Judge Washington was ultimately overturned in this decision by Superior Court Judge Josie Garton in another contortion of justice. This writer produced multiple pleadings to the court representing himself against the variety of Borden scams against him and intends to further document this injustice with additional stories and a book. Liston will reveal what any Alaskan can expect from our compromised justice system at this time in history. For only one example of what this flawed ruling means: Now anyone whose computer is hacked, and personal Facebook page maliciously accessed–with information changed to say the exact opposite of what was originally said online–can expect to lose that case in an AK Court based on this ruling by DEI Judge Washington!

And don’t expect Gov. Dunleavy’s appointed henchman Attorney General Treg Taylor to protect Alaskans from Outside scammers either! Had one of the governor’s daughters been in those stolen photos you better believe the AG would have stepped in! Since it was only photos of unknown women and an old Alaskan on fixed income this is now an Alaska spectacle for amazement of the civilized world.

The AK Court System has always portrayed itself as sacrosanct, but as we witness the national politicization and weaponization of courts all the way to Atlanta and New York City, Americans recognize a new reality. Alaska History will show Gov. Mike Dunleavy was the latest of many to prove why the AG should no longer serve as henchman for the governor. All who care about the future of this state must unite to change that paradigm. A Facebook Group has started to inform and organize for change. Legislation was proposed in 2020 for a referendum. It was assigned to three committees and died.

Alaskans cannot expect elected officials to go against the status quo state government based and controlled in the Seattle suburb of Backwater Juneau.

[10] Alaskans Deserve to Elect Our State AG, DONN LISTON, June 2, 2024

On the occasion of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day Liston seeks justice–an Independent Grand Jury Investigation—not one approved by Gov. Dunleavy’s appointed henchman AG but directly of The People. The AK Court System and the AK Department of Law and the AK Legislature all know why Gov. Dunleavy and the courts don’t want Alaskans to appeal directly to the Grand Jury as provided for in the AK Constitution.

Our State is Now a Banana Republic

The bureaucrats don’t trust Alaskans to take an oath and arrive at an honest report of what they have discovered in thoughtful consideration of the evidence provided by other Alaskans.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image-34.png
Grand Jury pledge.

Liston has all the transcripts from all the hearings detailing this ordeal. He expects to document for readers the many risks faced by anyone living in Alaska today from policies and practices of Gov. Dunleavy and his captured court system. Perhaps November Election will result in elected officials who represent The People in district who elect them instead of the special interests in Juneau who have bought and paid for Alaska privilege.

Alaskans Deserve Better.

References:

[1] Confidence Game, New World Encyclopedia
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Confidence_game

[2] Ibid, Famous Con Artists

[3] The Naked Truth About Alaska Courts, Jessica Pleasant, May 12, 2024
https://donnliston.net/2024/05/the-naked-truth-about-alaska-courts/

[4] AK Statutes RE criminal Use of a Computer

11.46.740. Criminal use of computer.

(a) A person commits the offense of criminal use of a computer if,

having no right to do so or any reasonable ground to believe the

person has such a right, the person knowingly

(1) accesses, causes to be accessed, or exceeds the person’s

authorized access to a computer, computer system, computer program,

computer network, or any part of a computer system or network, and,

as a result of or in the course of that access,

(A) obtains information concerning a person;

(B) introduces false information into a computer, computer

system, computer program, or computer network with the intent to

damage or enhance the data record or the financial reputation of a

person;

(C) introduces false information into a computer, computer

system, computer program, or computer network and, with criminal

negligence, damages or enhances the data record or the financial

reputation of a person;

(D) obtains proprietary information of another person;

(E) obtains information that is only available to the public for

a fee;

(F) introduces instructions, a computer program, or other

information that tampers with, disrupts, disables, or destroys a

computer, computer system, computer program, computer network, or any

part of a computer system or network; or

(G) encrypts or decrypts data;

(2) installs, enables, or uses a keystroke logger or other

device or program that has the ability to record another person’s

keystrokes or entries on a computer; or

(3) uses a keystroke logger or other device or program to

intercept or record another person’s keystrokes or entries on a

computer when those entries are transmitted wirelessly or by other

non-wired means.

(b) In this section, “proprietary information” means scientific,

technical, or commercial information, including a design, process,

procedure, customer list, supplier list, or customer records that the

holder of the information has not made available to the public.

(c) Criminal use of a computer is a class C felony.

[5] Notice to the parties from Judge Nesbett.

[6] AK Revenge Porn Laws

[7] Complaint with detailed overview of exactly how Borden scammers had violated me.

[8] Appeal to recognize seriousness of Revenge Porn Offense, March 5, 2024.

[9] Alaska District Judge Pamela Washington, appointed in 2020 by Gov. Sean Parnell.
https://courts.alaska.gov/judges/docs/psw.pdf

[10] Alaskans Deserve to Elect Our State AG, DONN LISTON, June 2, 2024
https://donnliston.net/2024/06/why-alaskans-deserve-to-elect-our-state-ag/

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