Posted on 05/14/2004 3:43:32 AM PDT by calcowgirl
Prometheus Methods Tower Services Inc., the business that cost Nick Berg his life in Iraq, has no records with the Pennsylvania Department of State.
The company that specialized in building communications towers never registered with the Pennsylvania Corporation Bureau, said Brian McDonald, spokesman for the state department.
McDonald conducted a search of the bureau’s online list of registered businesses, but found no matches.
The same search done by a Daily Local News reporter produced the same results -- several businesses contained the word "Prometheus" in their names. Only one is located in West Chester, and it is not related to Berg’s business.
Companies are not legally required to register with the state, but McDonald explained it is usually the first step an owner takes.
"You’d be very foolish not to register your business with the department," he said. "It is nearly impossible to exist without doing it."
Registering allows an owner to set up his business’s tax structure. It also establishes how the business is run, for example, whether or not it is for-profit or nonprofit.
"It is basically the infrastructure by which businesses are set up in the commonwealth," McDonald said.
McDonald added it is possible the business could be listed in the bureau’s records under a different name.
Searching the statewide yellow pages online found two company names containing the word "Prometheus" in Philadelphia. One is an Internet consulting business.
An employee at the second one, which is called Prometheus Radio Project, said it was not affiliated with the business owned by the local man slain in Iraq by members of al-Qaida.
Officials at the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue and the Internal Revenue Service said state and federal laws prohibited their agencies from providing any records they had of Prometheus Methods Tower Services -- even whether the company had ever filed a return.
"Any information that we get or is contained on a tax return I can’t release," said Steve Kniley, press secretary for the state revenue department. "It is considered confidential under tax law."
Tax records become public information only if a lien is filed against a business. According to Kniley, there are no liens against Berg’s company.
Bill Cressman, spokesman at the IRS’s Philadelphia office, said the only companies with public tax records are nonprofit corporations.
At least one person claims he can confirm Prometheus’ existence.
Jay Shur, who works at the radio station WCHE 1520 AM in West Chester, said on Wednesday he was in the process of hiring Berg to build a communications tower for the station when news of his death came out.
The station was awaiting approval of plans from both the borough and an environmental agency before construction could begin, according to Shur.
"There’s a lot of paperwork to go through, and the area we were looking at was a marsh- land so we had to get clearance," he said."When I do get the OK, I’ll have to look for another contractor."
Michael Berg briefly spoke about Prometheus during a press conference Thursday morning outside his home.
"My son was not over there to make money," Michael Berg said. "My son’s business, which was very profitable before he went to Iraq ..I will make good on anything the company owes anybody, but it’s pretty much going to be defunct."
It is unclear how many employees Prometheus had. Michael Berg spoke of a "foreman" during the press conference. However, Nick Berg traveled to Iraq alone.
Staff Writer Jill Nawrocki contributed to this article.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/13/iraq.berg/
Other developments
Berg's father said Thursday his son was someone who simply wanted to "help people, not to hurt anyone." "He was not disrespectful of danger, he just didn't recognize danger in people," Michael Berg said. "The al Qaeda that killed my son didn't know what they were doing. They killed their best friend. Nick was there to build Iraq, not to tear it down."
No... it hasn't been posted. IMO, it's garbage coming from the "Bush Knew" crowd.
I'm assuming you got it here:
http://marc.perkel.com/archives/2004_05.html.
Great Summary TM. Thanks
And probably a proud member of ANSWER.
You are surprisingly willing to place more favorable words in Mr. Berg's mouth than he those chose to spew.
I am sorry Mr. Berg lost his son. But his comments are indefensible."Nicholas Berg died for the sins of George Bush and(Defense Secretary) Donald Rumsfeld," Michael Berg told ABC television Thursday."The al-Qaeda that killed my son didn't know what they were doing," Berg's father, Michael, told reporters camped outside his house today. "They killed their best friend."
Sounded like Arabic to me.
Whew your litlle leftist(al-jazeera) tinfoil crew is out tonight.
Did Ashcroft lie to us today? What motive would Ashcroft have to lie about who Nick Berg was and why he was killed? Is he protecting Bush? If so, from what?
You're kidding, right? Twilight Zone? Is this DU?
You would think Nick would help his uncle during his first trip.
OK, I'm just a good ole girl from BFE Ohio. But Nic Berg shared a room in college and an email address with one of the 9-11 murderers? Hmmmm.
The answers are out there, if the liberal press wants to find them. Where are the Woodward and Bernstein's when you need them?
All entities need to register to do business (otherwise, the state can't get their tax revenue). The research for the original article, as well as all the research performed on this thread, has yet to come up with any official registration of Prometheus Methods Tower Services, Inc.. Was he running an under-the-table operation? Maybe. But that hardly makes the business "legitimate", nor does finding a reference on an obscure website.
The only semi-official validation that PMTS, Inc. exists is a credit report at Dun&Bradstreet. That could be the result of a good report... or a bad report (i.e. bills not paid).
What does all that mean? To me... it says that we are where we started. PMTS is either a two-bit one-man under-the-table operation that operated out of Penn, or it was registered as a foreign Corporation in an unknown land for revenues earned outside the country, or it didn't truly exist at all in the sense of a true business.
With respect to the convention at which Nick Berg had a booth... hanging a sign at a small convention does not make a legitimate business. If there was a big fancy website, it still proves nothing. It might help... as it did with hundreds of dot.com wonders that swindled investors out of megabucks. If you read any of those stories, they were eye-opening. Shell companies (no employees, no assets, etc.) who set up websites, listed names of executives and biographies (all bogus) with pictures (stolen from various places on the web... totally fictitious), completely fabricated financial reports and information. Many of these companies even had glowing reports written up in local newspapers who were taken for a ride with all the rest. These type of companies were not legitimate companies... but even they filed with the respective state.
Yes, I can confirm it isn't true. I was there.
Ping to 553. IMO, nothing has been debunked.
A Keeper
Ditto That.
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