HUNTER WALKER
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John (left) and Phil (right) Kueber
A pair of brothers have been tied to the mysterious social networking company with the stock that surged 25,000% since its inception — and one of them has a history of involvement in questionable businesses.
CYNK was founded in Nevada by a businessman named John Kueber in 2008. The company appears to be dedicated to a website called Introbiz that purports to help people connect to celebrities and business leaders for a fee. However, CYNK does not appear to have ever had assets, revenue, or more than one employee. Because of the company’s mysterious dealings, its astronomical rise made international headlines. CYNK’s surging stock also drew the attention of the SEC, which halted trading in the stock last Friday citing “concerns regarding the accuracy and adequacy of information in the marketplace and potentially manipulative transactions in CYNK’s common stock.”
John Kueber, who is currently the COO of Tiger Oak Media, spoke to Business Insider on Monday about the business he founded. He said he eventually decided to abandon the idea for the company and sold it to “a friend” of his brother, Phil Kueber. John Kueber said he received a “modest consulting fee” that was “like 6,000 bucks” at the time of the sale.
“I agreed to sell these shares based on the idea that I didn’t have a lot of confidence in the concept and I was busy selling a privately held media company to Tiger Oak,” John Kueber explained.
Phil Kueber, who is an officer of at least 10 corporations registered in the state of Nevada has a long paper trail of business activity, some of which has run afoul of law enforcement and investors. Users of the stock forum InvestorsHub have extensively criticized Phil Kueber’s business dealings. In 2004, the B.C. Financial Institutions Commission in British Columbia, Canada shut down Phil Kueber’s business, First Cash Card, after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were contact by the Beverly Hills, California police department and asked to investigate a claim made by an “elderly” woman who said she received a phone call from the company “advising that she had won $1.2 million” and had to pay $12,200 to First Cash Card to receive the prize. The Canadian investigation subsequently ruled Phil Kueber’s business was “unauthorized.”
John said he agreed to sell CYNK to his brother’s friend even though he was “fully aware of some of my brother’s history that’s on the internet.” In October 2011, filings show a man named Kenneth Carter bought 6 million shares of CYNK and became the company’s second chief executive and sole employee. On Facebook, Carter uses the alias “Kenny Blaque” and calls himself the “owner and founder” of a Vegas-based “internet marketing company” called Blaque Technology. Carter told Buzzfeed he partnered with John Kueber and purchased the shares from him. John Kueber claimed he could not recall the name of his brother’s friend who purchased CYNK.
“This is something where I’m an entrepreneur, I’ve come up with a bunch of stuff, my brother, it’s pretty well documented on the internet how he’s made his living,” said John.
Tiger Oak operates several local glossy publications including Seattle magazine, Arizona Bride, and Minnesota Business.
John Kueber said he is currently “not involved in business with any family.” He claimed he has received “a lot of phone calls” since CYNK’s stock began exploding in mid-June.
“I’m as bewildered as just about anyone about my connection to this,” said John Kueber.
He went on to describe his experience since CYNK’s explosion as a “nightmare.”
“I would say, in 1997 I moved to Seattle. I went to school here and, since I moved to Seattle, I’ve pretty much done my own thing,” he explained. “I’ve been legitimately employed in building up a privately-held media business in town for the last six years and that’s been the focus of my efforts. And, you know, family’s, family, but from a business standpoint, I’ve distanced from my brother and his activities.”
John Kueber said he “thought that was it” when he sold CYNK to Phil Kueber’s friend. He also claimed he does not know what Phil Kueber’s current “connection to the company is.”
“You’d have to ask my brother, to be frank, I haven’t seen my brother in probably two years,” John Kueber said.
Phil Kueber can be directly connected to CYNK in several ways.
CYNK Technology Corp. was registered in the state of Nevada on May 1, 2008. At the time, a man named Javier Romero was listed as the company’s director, treasurer, secretary, and president. Records show the business is still active. However, on May 30 of last year, someone using the name “Phil Keeber” attempted to reserve the name Cynk Technology Corp. again in Nevada. That reservation expired three months later. “Keeber” used the address 8350 Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills, California. That address has been used by Phil Kueber for multipleother businesses.
John Kueber’s claims about his brother’s role in the company and the use of his business address aren’t Phil Kueber’s only link to CYNK.
Phil Kueber and his family have ties to Belize, where filings show CYNK is currently based.
Specifically, court records show Phil Kueber has also previously used the address of The Matalon, a business center where CYNK is located. Additionally, social media pages link Phil Kueber to a luxury resort project in the small Central American nation.
Phil deleted his Facebook page after Business Insider began working on this story. However, a handful of pages that formerly appeared on the site showed him tagged in photos for Diamante Belize — a high-end waterfront luxury resort that’s currently under construction in San Pedro, Belize.
Multiple YouTube videos showing the Diamante project were made private on Monday. Business Insider viewed those clips over the weekend, and the narrator identified himself as “Phil.” Phil’s wife Christa, a recent graduate of Parsons School of Design in New York City, appears to be part of the team working on the development. She’s also tagged in several photos on the Diamante Facebook page.
Last month Las Vegas lawyer Harold P. Gewerter, who formerly represented CYNK and has worked with multiple businesses linked to the company’s executives wrote a letter to OTC Markets Groupindicating a Belizean man named Javier Romero became CYNK’s CEO on Feb. 20. A filing with OTC Markets, the platform where CYNK was traded, described Romero as “the President, CEO, Secretary, Treasurer, and Director of CYNK Technologies, Inc.” and said, “since 2009 Mr. Romero has been a Fisheries Officer for the Government of Belize.”
Since last Friday, Business Insider has had multiple bizarre conversations with a former fisheries officer from Belize named Javier Romero. In those conversations, Romero denied being involved in the company or knowing any of its executives although he admitted there was a “proposed transaction” for him to purchase shares from a former CYNK CEO.
Romero is from San Pedro, where Diamante Belize is located. He recorded a reggaeton song entitled “San Pedro (I Love You)” about his ties to the town. On Monday, after learning of Phil Kueber’s role in CYNK we called Romero again and asked if he could tell us about Phil Kueber.
“I’m not going to tell you more than you already know,” said Romero.
Business Insider specifically asked Romero if he knew Phil Kueber.
“This has nothing to do with Phil. I don’t know what you’re trying to get to,” he said.
Romero then appeared to admit he knew Phil Kueber, though he indicated this was only a result of being from San Pedro and not due to a connection to CYNK.
“It’s a small island. Everybody knows everybody on the island,” said Romero. “OK. I really don’t want to get more involved in this crap I swear to God.”
In one of his prior conversations with Business Insider, Romero identified a man named Howard Berkowitz as CYNK’s top executive. Berkowitz could not be reached for comment, but documents tying him to the company also listed a trio of executives who previously worked together on other ventures. None of them responded to requests for comment from Business Insider. A phone call to a CYNK phone number with a Miami area code also went unanswered.
Business Insider made multiple attempts to contact Phil Kueber about his role at CYNK. This included leaving a message with his attorney, Steven Young, and attempting to relay an email message through John Kueber who said he would “consider” passing it along to Phil. As of this writing, we have not received a response.
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