Mike North/Webio/FBI troubles

[G&T]

I know its not hard to simulcast, but like you said a station has to simulcast for you. this chicago webio is trying to get by on Monsters in the Morning and everything else is just on the internet. That aint gonna work(especially considering how bad MITM is)

 

There's no question that they jumped the technology, but I think it could have worked if they had people any anyone wanted to hear. Which they didn't.

[NorthSideSox72]

Hernandez is now officially... missing.

 

[CanOfCorn]

Whats sad about all this is North claimed he did a background check using google on Hernandez before he signed on, and "it came back clean"

 

The guys over at the Chicago sports fan message boards spent 3.95 on some archived articles from the Trib, and found two articles from 2003 and 2004 about Hernandez and his legal troubles, including him being a former convicted felon.

 

It just goes to show you that if you REALLY want something, you will (or won't) see exactly what you want to.

[Dick Allen]

It shows you how dumb North really is. On top of that, he really screwed a lot of people with this venture. If you want a sad read, check out the blog post Matt Weber, one of the hosts at CSWebio, posted last night. Little long, but an interesting read...

http://webbyfiles.blogspot.com/

I work in the financial industry and need to have checks done everyday. We pay services to do checks on people and things get missed all the time. A google search is probably a little lame.

 

Its really a little harsh to blame North for everyone else. They had the same opportunity to do background checks on Hernandez. If you think North is stupid for letting this guy's past slip by him, you should think the same of everyone else.

Edited June 16, 2009 by Dick Allen

[NorthSideSox72]

I really despised the ads for this webio thing anyway - they kept running some chick out there with arms as big around as my thumb to try to get attention. Anorexia just isn't sexy, and even if it was, if I want sports, then I want sports. If I want something else, I'll go find something else.

 

Their whole campaign just seemed slimy to me.

 

[Brian]

It shows you how dumb North really is. On top of that, he really screwed a lot of people with this venture. If you want a sad read, check out the blog post Matt Weber, one of the hosts at CSWebio, posted last night. Little long, but an interesting read...

http://webbyfiles.blogspot.com/

 

I've hear Matt Weber a couple of times on the weekends and he is nothing special. Got a lot of facts wrong and was just bland. Didn't stand out or anything.

 

I'm sure a lot of people are pissed that he has come out public with all that.

[chw42]

Have to feel a bit bad for Weber. But that's what you get for following an idiot like North.

[Brian]

If you read the stories that have been published in the Trib and SunTimes over the last few days, this is the last thing they are worried about. David Hernandez is now missing after the FBI raided his office, and there is talk Mike North could be in some serious legal trouble.....

 

I hadn't heard he was missing. That's crazy.

[shipps]

If you read the stories that have been published in the Trib and SunTimes over the last few days, this is the last thing they are worried about. David Hernandez is now missing after the FBI raided his office, and there is talk Mike North could be in some serious legal trouble.....

 

Hernandez was telling his wife he was worried about people coming to get him. Who knows what is going on right now. He can be trying to flee or he dooped the wrong guy and he got his revenge. Its just crazy.

[easyw]

To North's credit, I heard he wrote Webio employees checks from his personal account.

 

Knowing North, I can tell you he may have missed on Hernandez shady background, but it would be very out of character for North to be the source of the fraud. People may not like him, but he's an honest, hard working guy who deserves what he's earned.

[Steve9347]

I'm sure a lot of people are pissed that he has come out public with all that.

Someone was, because it's down now.

[spiderman]

To North's credit, I heard he wrote Webio employees checks from his personal account.

 

Knowing North, I can tell you he may have missed on Hernandez shady background, but it would be very out of character for North to be the source of the fraud. People may not like him, but he's an honest, hard working guy who deserves what he's earned.

 

Apparently, he knew this guy since 1996, and he claims he did a background search on Hernandez through Google, which, according to him, uncovered nothing.

 

Hopefully, for his sake, just incompetent.

 

If I were him, I'd stop talking. Whether he knew what was going on or not, he was the GM, his wife the COO, and his buddy (Schwartz) was also involved in the business. They were probably just ill-informed, but they were pushing bad money, and selling advertising for a ponzi scheme.

 

 

[smalls2598]

A friend was looking up some information on Wikipedia about Mike North today. Looks like good ole Mike won a pretty impressive award this year:

 

"2009 Moron of the Decade Award from the Obnoxious Fraudulent Jerk Hall of Fame"

 

 

[HuskyCaucasian]

Apparently, he knew this guy since 1996, and he claims he did a background search on Hernandez through Google, which, according to him, uncovered nothing.

 

Hopefully, for his sake, just incompetent.

 

If I were him, I'd stop talking. Whether he knew what was going on or not, he was the GM, his wife the COO, and his buddy (Schwartz) was also involved in the business. They were probably just ill-informed, but they were pushing bad money, and selling advertising for a ponzi scheme.

 

How could he not have known Hernandez's past problems?

[The Critic]

How could he not have known Hernandez's past problems?

"Ay, da Google came up wit' nuttin'! Dat guy'z clean - HE'Z MY GUYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!""

[Soxfest]

Not a Shaer fan but, Chet and North both did a pathectic job of business sense 101 before signing papers with the idiot on the lamb!

[Dick Allen]

Not a Shaer fan but, Chet and North both did a pathectic job of business sense 101 before signing papers with the idiot on the lamb!

I'm sure you've done extensive background checks with everyone you have done business with as well. I understand people don't like North and are probably giddy this sort of thing happened to him and are playing Monday morning QB saying he should have known. Its not so easy. The Tribune had the story on his sentence back in the day. Hernandez has been in the spotlight for several months, and the stories have been out there how the employees were getting triple what they were where they came from. Many questioned the viability of such a business model, yet no one knew anything about Hernandez until it was way too late. North looks like a fool, but I don't think he had malicious intent. The old addage if its seems its too good to be true, it probably is plays out here, but I have a hard time blaming North or anyone else who signed on. They just did what probably everyone here, even the ones who slammed him, would have done. Even if you don't like any of the webio guys, you should feel sorry for their families. All these guys were victims of a criminal.

Edited June 20, 2009 by Dick Allen

[Dick Allen]

Sorry, that doesn't work for me. North staked his entire reputation over a guy he had no knowledge of, and signed on with a guy he did a "google background check on". He involved his closest friends in the operation, and assured them it was a fantastic opportunity(this has been confirmed by a few parties involved). You can defend North all you want, but when guys on message boards spend $3.95 to go back to the Tribune archive and find articles on Hernandez being a felon from 1999 and 2003, it's COMPLETELY irresponsible on the part of North. Thats why you have a lawyer. Spend a few hundred dollars on a background check before you sign a multi million dollar partnership with him, especially if you couldn't pick the guy out of a lineup a week before you signed on with him. There was public information about David Hernandez that was easily accessible, and North and BeBe didn't find it.

 

It's not even about it being Mike North. I would be saying this if it happened to anyone in this situation. There just is no way to defend the guy after he was this irresponsible in signing with Hernandez.

 

 

 

This I agree with. I know a few of them personally, and it's just terrible for guys like Hood and Chet, who really have no place else to go.

So North is the moron for doing business with Hernandez, but the others aren't idiots for doing business with Hernandez because North gave the OK? I'm sorry I don't buy it. If you liked Mike North, I think you and everyone else who is giving him a hard time, would have a totally different take. North lost money as well.

 

I think I'm shocked that no media member or organization was able to expose Hernandez either until it was too late for the innocent. Considering all the questions webio's business model raised from day 1 , you would think someone with access to more information than even Mike North could have at least come up with the fact that this guy did time. If the Tribune had stories on him, how come none of their writers or reporters ever mentioned the information? I'm my line of work, I have background checks on people daily. We pay a service to do them. They don't get everything, and sometimes they get nothing. I'm in the minority as I think, even though I don't particularly care for him, Mike North is a victim. In fact, North may have indirectly been responsible for Hernandez getting caught doing bad things again. Webio wasn't his only crime.

Edited June 20, 2009 by Dick Allen

[Soxfest]

I'm sure you've done extensive background checks with everyone you have done business with as well.

 

I sure as hell have many times!

[Dick Allen]

I sure as hell have many times!

Easy to claim. If you have, good for you, but you still would be in the minority. Most of the people ripping North for doing business with this guy would have done exactly the same thing if they were in his shoes.

[The Critic]

Easy to claim. If you have, good for you, but you still would be in the minority. Most of the people ripping North for doing business with this guy would have done exactly the same thing if they were in his shoes.

 

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume he has an attorney of some sort.

If he didn't authorize his attorney to run a real background check on Hernandez, that's his own damn fault.

And yeah, that goes for anyone else who was risking their future on this guy.

I understand that it's easy to get snowed by a smooth-talking guy who's flaunting his wealth, but for your own sake you've got to be suspicious enough to try to protect yourself.

 

If I'm North, I'm completely embarrassed that some guy online paid 4 bucks to discover "his guy" was a fraud.

 

[Dick Allen]

Where did I say everyone else isn't accountable? Is North a victim? Absolutely. However, he was the spear head behind Webio, Hernandez was his financier. North was the one involved with Hernandez this whole time, and during the recruiting process, sold guys like Weber, Hood, ect on Hernandez. Now, when you realize stuff looked too good to be true, should someone have stepped up and started peaking around? Probably, and thats something I'm sure they look back on and regret. My point is North brought all these parties into the fold and irresponsibly sold Hernandez to everyone after a google background check.

 

http://score670.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=...595&start=0

 

Check out this thread from the radio message boards.

So this guy spent $3.95 AFTER he knew Hernandez was a crook. Do you go to the Tribune archives everytime you have a new business venture or are considering a job change? I doubt it, and my point earlier was when Webio's business model was questioned, and everyone was wondering about all the money they were tossing out, even Tribune reporters who I'm sure wouldn't have to shell out $3.95, didn't have this story, why didn't these stories come out then? Its easy to blame North because he's not a very likeable guy. I would bet if it were someone more people respected, they would get sympathy, not blame. There are even a lot of people who think North is in on the scam. That's ridiculous.

 

For all we know, the information Hernandez provided North about himself didn't include employment at the bank in question. David Hernandez appears to be a pretty common name. A google search using David Hernandez banking gives you 1,440,000 results. Obviously a google search is pretty inefficient if you have any inkling of earlier troubles. But really, what many Monday morning QBs consider standard, they themselves have never done, at least anymore than an obligatory google search.

 

I palled around with a guy at my health club, spotting each other on the equipment, pushing each other on the machines. I went out for beers with him a few times after working out, you know putting the calories you just burned off right back in. (I'm married, so don't think there was more to this than I let on) One day I'm watching the news and they had this thing about sex offenders and you could go to their website and they have a link to see sex offenders in your area. I don't have kids so although I have been aware there are such lists, I've never looked at them. Well, for some reason I linked it up. They had a map with little dots where the offenders were located. You click on the dots and the offenders' name and photo and arrest info pop up. The first one I click on is my "buddy" at the club. I considered him a friend. I introduced him to my wife at the club. We probably would have all done something together eventually. If I had kids and never looked at that site, I probably would have exposed them to him and that's far worse IMO than losing your job because a guy is a phony. Am I a fool for not doing a search on him? If I did, is it a guarantee I would have found something? If anything, and I feel for all webio employees including North, they are guilty of not living by the "if something seems too good to be true, it probably is" rule. You can't blame them for falling for it. The checks didn't bounce for a while. Everything was set up. I know I would have most likely fallen for it. The radio business seems to be dying as well. All the big money guys are taking paycuts. Hernandez tripled their salaries. It was the perfect storm.

Edited June 20, 2009 by Dick Allen

[Dick Allen]

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume he has an attorney of some sort.

If he didn't authorize his attorney to run a real background check on Hernandez, that's his own damn fault.

And yeah, that goes for anyone else who was risking their future on this guy.

I understand that it's easy to get snowed by a smooth-talking guy who's flaunting his wealth, but for your own sake you've got to be suspicious enough to try to protect yourself.

 

If I'm North, I'm completely embarrassed that some guy online paid 4 bucks to discover "his guy" was a fraud.

 

As I've stated before, in my line of business, I have background and credit checks done on people everyday. We've been lucky we haven't been burned, but its amazing how many of these checks come back clean or very close to it, but later we find out its a very different story.

 

The White Sox did business with Hernandez as did Comcast Sportsnet. A lot of people did. To single out North isn't fair, and I'm not a North apologist.

Edited June 20, 2009 by Dick Allen

[The Critic]

As I've stated before, in my line of business, I have background and credit checks done on people everyday. We've been lucky we haven't been burned, but its amazing how many of these checks come back clean or very close to it, but later we find out its a very different story.

 

The White Sox did business with Hernandez as did Comcast Sportsnet. A lot of people did. To single out North isn't fair, and I'm not a North apologist.

I don't doubt that's true, but you do the checks. He didn't, and that's what I think is ridiculous.

It's one thing to take the steps and have something slip through the cracks, it's another to encourage people to join in on something with a guy you took at face value.

 

I agree that it's a little unfair to single North out for criticism, as this guy has conned a bunch of people, but it's an interesting story and people are going to have opinions. As a public figure who (as part of his chosen career) has had strong opinions on a lot of topics and people, it's not unreasonable for him to land on the receiving end of opinions as well.

Edited June 20, 2009 by The Critic

[whitesoxfan101]

The White Sox did business with Hernandez as did Comcast Sportsnet. A lot of people did. To single out North isn't fair, and I'm not a North apologist.

 

I agree with this, which is why I think North is an idiot, everybody else who signed on with CS Webio is an idiot, and Comcast Sportsnet is dumb too for that matter. You make good points that background checks don't always reveal info on people, but Hernandez has a lot of dirt on him and it's clear that even a basic check on him would reveal red flags. The fact that NOBODY knew about it until the FBI came looking for Hernandez shows me how naive everybody involved in this case was, even keeping in mind the fact they are victims.