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.
Your analysis should be a model for the rest of us when issues like this come up. Commendable job!
Williams Mullen - Sara L. Berg's employer - a Law Firm in VA Beach.
A merger announcement involving this firm... with an interesting quote, extracted below....
Quote: "We are pleased to see the additional local growth of Williams Mullen as we know more experts in house benefits the client," said A. Eugene Loving, Jr., Chairman/CEO, Max Media, LLC. "The management team at Max Media has worked with the attorneys of the Williams Mullen Virginia Beach office for over 20 years. They have handled our business and personal interests with the expertise of the top law firms in America," Loving added. "Through taking a company public in 1985, selling it to Paramount Pictures in 1991, dozens of acquisitions and sales of television and radio broadcast stations ..... "
'nother quote: "We are not only relying on the local attorneys we have trusted for so long, we now have work being done by their Richmond and Washington offices, especially when we are involved in multiple transactions simultaneously," Loving said. "Another facet of Williams Mullen's support to our company has come from the firm's government affairs subsidiary in Washington. Williams Mullen Strategies, working in concert with the law firm, has been able to arrange and prepare us for every appointment I wanted and needed with members of Congress and the federal agency that regulates our business." [A-ha! Verrrrry interesting indeed!]
More: "Attorneys in our offices in Virginia, Washington D.C., and London bring their experience and expertise to the work of solving the myriad legal needs entrusted to us by a diverse group of clients. Close working relationships with clients have been the foundation of Williams Mullen's progressive approach to law practice since the firm was founded more than 90 years ago."
Ping!.....
Very interesting...thanks.
The father of Nick Berg is just as disgraceful as the 9/11 families who took the public's money and then prostituted that death for political gain as well.
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