On today's show: 1. Death toll hits 24, making Helene one of SC’s deadliest storms in recent history - https://www.yahoo.com/news/death-toll-hits-23-making-154253883.html 2. Sweet Grass Vodka owner says he’s a victim of swindlers in new lawsuit - https://www.postandcourier.com/business/sweetgrass-vodka-sues-over-scam/article_87406c00-7a97-11ef-97c2-17b5e2b9fe95.html 3. Titan submersible implosion hearings in North Charleston end as testimony paints tale of ambition, greed - https://www.postandcourier.com/news/coast-guard-titan-hearings-charleston/article_db2b50d8-7cd5-11ef-b243-6b8da01a1cbc.html This episode's music is by Tyler Boone (tylerboonemusic.com). The episode was produced by LMC Soundsystem.
Holy City Sinner Radio
Episode 298 - Sweet Grass Vodka owner says he’s a victim of swindlers in new lawsuit - (9/30/24)
Holy City Center Radio does episode 298, and I am your host Christian Sanger today is Monday, September 30th, 20, 24. Yes, it is the last day of September. I hope you had an amazing month as we greet October in just about 24 hours and we are right in spooky season, which I know a lot of you like, whether it's the pumpkin flavored everything. The Halloween movies and TV shows and specials, or, you know, decorating costumes, all that good stuff. I know a lot of people love this time of year. I always enjoyed the fall. The weather, regardless of, you know, being down here in South Carolina, or where I grew up in Connecticut, I've always enjoyed that weather. A little bit cooler, obviously here can still feel quite balmy on some days, but not usually, for the most part, not like it is in July and August, of course. And it was always the start of the school year, you know, when you were a kid, new beginnings, excitement, football seasons underway, good stuff, you know, I do enjoy this time of year and happy to be back with you on the microphone today as well. So, first of all, I hope everyone got through the storm. Okay, it seems in Charleston County, it went about as expected, which was, you know, not a ton to be super concerned about, but there was a chance of, you know, flooding, flash flooding, pop up tornadoes. I know saying, like, not too bad when we're talking about a tornado, but, you know, the tornadoes that were expected, if there were going to be any, we're going to be similar to last time. You know, we're not talking about those huge gigantic things you see in the Midwest, you know, movies like Twister, Twisters, now as the sequel came out, but, you know, obviously still dangerous, but we're not talking on that grand scale. Good morning. I'm sure some of you, like myself, were woken up very early in the morning as your phones were going off. I had a few warnings, one kind of earlier in the evening on Thursday, and then one very early in the morning on Friday, where there were some, you know, rotations that were coming off a folly beach area and might be coming down, you know, on land and going through James Island, and some did, and there was some talk that they went through North Charleston or West Ashley or whatever it may be, but it seems, for the most part, in this area, we got out relatively unscathed. You know, there was the typical kind of flooding and, you know, some branches here and there, some trees fell, of course, but it appears from reporting and everything, no injuries here in Charleston area, which is great. Where I live, there actually was a tree that came down and it hit one of the buildings in my complex, thankfully not my building, and even more importantly, no one was injured, so very thankful for that did cause a little bit of damage to the, to the building, it hit, of course, and crews were out by, you know, noon on Friday, already, you know, getting the tree out of the way and everything because, you know, the weather had gotten good enough for. Yeah, it was a little windy out, but you could be out and about with having to worry about any danger. So that was the closest brush with anything even remotely bad that I had, and it seems that was kind of the same throughout this area. Unfortunately, we saw a much different story in other parts of the state and in other states like Tennessee and North Carolina where communities are just devastated, and we'll get into that here at a moment. So I hope you're having a good start to your week, like I said, October just around the corner, and without any further delay, let's get into the news. So as I said, the hurricane slash tropical storm Halloween, or however you pronounce it, I'm still not 100% sure didn't do too much damage in this Charleston area, but as I said, just a few moments ago, we're not so lucky in other parts of the state or in other states. As of this recording, at least 25 people have died across South Carolina, I was about to say 24, and just got a text alert saying that that number had jumped to 25 so just an FYI. That could change by the time you hear this let's hope not but so far they have reported 25 deaths across South Carolina after the hurricane slash tropical storm came through it's one of the largest storms and decades in terms of how much devastation it caused in the southeastern United States, causing widespread flooding damaging roads and homes, and left more than a million people without power across the southeastern United States. Now that death toll 20 now 25 has eclipsed the 19 deaths that were caused by the state's historic flooding back in 2015, and it's closing in on the 26 deaths caused by hurricane Hugo in 1989. So that's that may be shocking to you. You know about the devastation at Hugo cause especially in this area. And we didn't even have anything remotely close to a direct hit here in Charleston, but the fact that across the state, we are just, you know, one death shy of what Hugo's devastation did. And, you know, that of course was back in '89 we're talking decades ago, where technology and planning, you know, obviously is different than it is now and so very, very sad that that has happened and I was somewhat shocking. You know, I was expecting stories like that from Florida because they just got slammed when it came ashore, but was not expecting the devastation that this storm wrecked on other parts of this state in other states, very shocking and very sad situation. Why all those deaths, in most cases, at least in South Carolina, the victims were killed when trees fell on them. So, you know, you think of these storms, you're thinking flooding, maybe someone drowned or something like that, but shockingly it's more from things like trees falling. So just keep that in mind is, you know, storms come in the future, be very mindful of that if there's going to be strong winds, possible tornadoes, do what you can to be in a safe space. And away from any tree that could fall and, you know, if you're in a complex like me where there really is no escaping the handful of trees around, you know, if you have upstairs downstairs situation, probably best to be downstairs. And away from windows, if a tree is out in that way, you know, you know what your house is like and what's around it or your apartment or whatever. So, yes, in addition to this just other devastation as far as property and everything. It took some time, obviously, because a lot of people lost power, including internet and cell phones, so there wasn't a lot of like pictures and videos and news coming out like on places like social media, even some news stations in this, you know, other parts of this state were without power. So very devastating seeing those videos and photos now that power starting to be restored, just entire areas just wiped out it's shocking and definitely, you know, encourage everyone to look for anywhere that is accepting donations. I know the blood connection, which is throughout the country, but is really picked up here in the Charleston and South Carolina areas as far as a company where you can donate blood. They're asking for help with that. Of course, there's places like Red Cross where you can donate to, and I'm sure there's plenty of GoFundMe's for individual families and people who need help. So be sure to look into it because there's a lot of people who are going to need a lot of assistance after that storm. So we have the 25 deaths here in South Carolina. And across the Southeast, that total is 44 people. That's according to the Associated Press, that number may have changed as well by the time you hear this. Now the storm, as I mentioned, not only hit South Carolina because a lot of damage in Georgia, North Carolina, Florida and parts of Tennessee. So those are really the places that just are dealing with a lot of devastation right now and again. I encourage you to look out and look for places where you can donate or help folks out because they're certainly going to need it. All right, switching gears. Here's an update on that sweet grass vodka situation. Those who don't remember. There's a lot of accusations against the owner of inflating how much the business was actually worth, building people out of money, et cetera, et cetera, before everything just kind of collapsed on the business. Well, now in a twist of irony, the owner of sweet grass vodka, Jared Swanger is accusing others of doing what he's been accused of. So while he was deflecting investors who are, you know, trying to find out when they're going to get money back. You know, people had already given him money like, Hey, we were supposed to have a payment back by this time or, you know, where's money from creditors and debtors and things like, or creditors. Yeah. And he get telling them the money's on the way, money's on the way and the money never came. Well, he's accusing someone of doing that exact same thing. Actually, a few people. On September 13th, his company, which the parent company name is known as might be hung over sued a mix of nine people and shell companies accusing them of scamming Swanger out of more than $80,000 on a false promise to invest 10 million. As I mentioned, sweet grass vodka, they shuttered in April with these mounting financial problems after just being in business for three years. But in this 40 page, I'm sorry, 46 page lawsuit. They are laying much of the blame on a person by the name of Rodney Coke, who is a Las Vegas investor who allegedly failed to deliver, you know, the cash that Swanger needed to keep his business going. Coke is named in two other federal lawsuits, actually accusing him of nearly identical schemes. Canadian regulators also imposed a 25 year trading ban against him in that country for an investment scam he oversaw. This is according to government documents. So this is by no means something where it looks like Swanger is just flailing and trying to, you know, don't get me wrong, Coke could actually be innocent of these accusations. But given the track record that I just mentioned, you know, there is a very distinct possibility that, yes, Swanger was a victim as well. Now that doesn't necessarily mean that anything he's accused of. If it turns out that's true, you know, that that excuses that behavior, of course. So, Swanger alleges he lost $83,400 to Coke in a transaction. And that, but as opposed to courier mentions, Swanger's debts had already been mounting well before that wire transfer. So this is how he lost that money, according to the lawsuit. They had discussion Swanger and Coke about a cash infusion, which began in December 2023. That's when investors led by Coke offered first $5 million than $10 million, but they had the stipulation that the money must be repaid in five years. Swanger agreed. And in turn gave Coke 20% of the company as part of this arrangement. Now Swanger was also required to pay $83,400 as an insurance fee before Coke's group wired him the money. Swanger, according to lawsuit handed those funds over on December 20. And then that's when the stalling started on Coke's end. Swanger repeatedly asked for the cash saying he needed short term capital, but Coke failed to deliver all the time promising the money is on the way. This again, this is all according to the lawsuit. As that weight continued into the new year, Swanger's company took out two short term loans to cover his bills. One loan was $100,000 at 12% interest, which was due March 24, a second for $90,000, which had an interest accruing at $1,500 a day the lawsuit stated. By April, there was still no cash from Coke. Swanger's company couldn't repay those loans I just mentioned or follow through on some other deposits made regarding the business and some other transactions. And that's when things really, really started to collapse as I mentioned and the business was forced to close and all these accusations against Swanger mounted. So basically, he was thinking he was going to get a huge investment, which the company obviously needed his debts were mounting and first he had to pay this insurance fee. And that that was supposed to, you know, after that was done, it was supposed to lead to this cash coming in and Swanger's alleging it never did. So an interesting twist, it's been a long time, you know, since the story came out that we've had updates from Swanger's end and of course he may remember the family was going through a tragedy as well. In addition to dealing with whatever was going on with the business. And this is the first time that, you know, we've sort of heard from his side. There's been little things here and there from lawyers and whatnot, but very interesting to see that the stuff he's being accused of, he's accusing others of doing the same to him. And it makes you wonder, you know, yeah, his debts were mounting, but like if he had gotten this cash infusion would that have changed things around and, you know, not led to him making promises that he couldn't keep. Now, again, that doesn't excuse what he did, but it's just curious to know how this whole thing might have played out differently. So we'll keep an eye on this, just like the whole, the story in general, and I'll let you know if there's any updates. And the final update from this weekend. You may remember that. No, I'm sure you remember the story of the Titan submersible that was going down to the wreck of the Titanic, and had a catastrophic implosion, which led to the deaths of everyone on board. I'm sure you remember that story, but did you remember when I talked, I mentioned this previously that they were going to have the hearings here in the Charleston area. It was really interesting. There was really no tie to Charleston, but the Coast Guard decided to host the investigative hearings here. Well, after about two weeks it is wrapped. The whole point of the hearings was to try to find out why this experimental submersible imploded with the five people on board. For two weeks, as I said, the Coast Guard investigators heard testimony from people like deep cease diving experts and former company employees, managers, and even some of the founders of Ocean Gate, which is the company that sent the Titan to the Atlantic to see the Titanic Titanic, excuse me, several times successfully between 2021 and 2023 until that horrific disaster in June of 2023. Now, you can go and look into details of each day's testimony, but it's, I didn't think anything really shocking or relevatory came out of the hearings. It was kind of what we have been told and expected. It's that Ocean Gate and its co-founder, Stockton Rush, who was one of the people on board the submersible when it imploded, either ignored warning signs, warning signs, excuse me, in the pursuit of short-term profits, or were just blinded by its pursuit of pushing the boundaries of what could be achieved, and, you know, just making this trip to the Titanic and having this like, you know, instead of just, you know, companies and explorers going down there, they're making like a tourist and just trying to make a tourist industry out of this. And those two things were constant themes throughout the testimony. And again, I think we all kind of assume that based on previous reports in the median things. It was, it was pretty clear that they ignored warning signs and just blindly move forward, thinking that they knew better and we just got to make this money and, you know, we don't need to jump through these, you know, regulatory loopholes and make sure everything is as safe as they say, they go overboard, you know, just attitudes like that. So that's, that's really the gist of it. I wanted to provide an update in case you hadn't been paying attention to it or forgotten about it. But like I said, nothing really shocking or revelatory or really anything that's going to change the narrative that was already out there. It certainly seems that what we all kind of assumed is exactly what was the case so I do, though, however, encourage you to visit either the link in the show notes, or, you know, just Google the hearings if there's something specific you want to see, you may find some of it interesting just hearing some background about the company and how things, you know, specifically went wrong instead of just we know vaguely that they did and why so I just didn't feel it was necessary to really do a deep dive no pun intended into the story. Since it's basically what everyone assumed it was going to be. And that will wrap up this edition of Holy City Center radio I hope you have an amazing rest of your week and an amazing month of October ahead of you. Big thanks to Lindsay Marie Collins with LMC sound system for producing this in every episode of Holy City Center radio, and a big thank you to Tyler Boone who's music you hear in each and every show. If you're listening if you can rate review like subscribe all that good stuff that helps get this podcast out to more folks. We back this week, hopefully on Wednesday barring any crazy change of plans I'm not anticipating any but you never know. I'll be back on Wednesday is normal and of course Friday as well until then though good night and good luck. Bye. .