KC Magazine provided payday-lending magnate Scott Tucker all of the good press their money could purchase
In November 2012, KC Magazine called Scott Tucker ???a staunch Republican voter and quite a few years governmental activist.??? It absolutely was the most recent of several appearances he??™d made over time in Anthem Media Group??™s regional glossy, a basic of doctors??™-office waiting rooms within the metro??™s suburbs. The admiring mini-feature also described Tucker as a private-equity business owner.
It had been correct that Tucker had completed numerous private-equity ventures. But KC Magazine made no mention ??” then or ever ??” of the industry that made this particular staunch Republican and businessman that is local.
That could be predatory payday financing ??” the industry that in 2010 even offers made Tucker the prospective of federal prosecutors.
KC Magazine???s November 2012 writeup omitted a few other information regarding Tucker. The storyline traced their job course in this way: ???After making university, Tucker embarked on a lifetime career in personal equity and quickly established himself as a fruitful businessman.??? This will leave down a noteworthy attempt that is first making an instant fortune that rather drew prosecution.
After Tucker graduated from Kansas State University, into the 1980s, a federal grand jury in 1990 charged him with fraudulence in link with a bogus investment-bank operation called Chase, Morgan, Stearns and Lloyd (a business title that borrowed from different genuine investment banking institutions in operation at that time). Tucker ended up being convicted and invested a 12 months in jail.
By the 1990s that are late he had installment loans in Indiana no credit check been operating various payday-lending enterprises ??” which certainly led him to success, to paraphrase KC Magazine. But once more, their company transactions have actually placed him within the crosshairs of federal authorities. The indictment brought against him by federal prosecutors in nyc previously this present year alleges that Tucker??™s payday-lending enterprise violated laws that are anti-racketeering.
A few magazines, including this 1, have actually tracked the nature that is shadowy of payday-lending organizations recent years.
KC Magazine will not be among those magazines.
It along with other properties managed by Leawood-based Anthem Media Group took a softer approach with regards to Tucker, neglecting to note the nature that is specific of companies and rather concentrating on their forays into professional car race and touting their participation in politics.
Tucker??™s verifiable link with elective politics happens to be restricted, but he does, as KC Magazine indicated in 2012, favor Republican politicians. On October 27, 2012, Tucker cut a $10,000 check to GOP presidential prospect Mitt Romney. As efforts from millionaires get, that one had been all but completely symbolic.
But also for anybody Tucker??™s that is following complex of organizations, it absolutely was barely worthless.
Into the Federal Election Commission record of the $10,000 check, Tucker listed his target as 7101 university Boulevard, Suite 400, in Overland Park ??” Anthem Media Group??™s workplace during the time. And then he listed their manager as AMG Services ??” the name regarding the leading operation that is payday-lending federal authorities state he nominally included on an indigenous US booking so that you can sidestep state usury regulations, however in reality used 800 or even more individuals in Overland Park.
The intersections between Tucker and Anthem Media Group run far much deeper when compared to a office that is suburban and a collection of initials.
Documents reveal that Tucker happens to be, until extremely recently, a contributor that is financial entities linked to Anthem Media Group, either through direct money assets or contractual relationships involving their lots of enterprises. So that as Tucker??™s wide range has come under risk amid federal investigations to the nature of their payday-loan company, Anthem Media Group seems and also to be in certain state of upheaval. In January, longtime KC Magazine administrator editor Katie Van Luchene resigned through the mag. Its editor-in-chief, Kimberly Stern, left the exact same time.
???My departure from KC Magazine ??” in adition to that of Editor-in-Chief Kimberly Winter Stern ??” came due to the book using an editorial that is different,??? Van Luchene writes towards the Pitch in a email. ???After evaluating that, we made a decision to resign.???
Brian Weaver, the CEO of Anthem Ventures, the umbrella company over Anthem??™s publishing unit, didn’t get back calls through the Pitch as this whole tale had been reported. In a reply that is e-mailed a set of penned questions brought to Anthem??™s workplace, he does not deal with the continuing future of KC Magazine or its cousin book Kansas City company Magazine. He additionally downplays Tucker??™s monetary part in Anthem Ventures and its own relevant organizations.
???We haven’t any company or monetary relationship with Mr. Tucker,??? Weaver writes. ???i actually do think about him a buddy.???
Friendship alone appears a unlikely description for the rosy stories and splashy picture spreads that Tucker received in Anthem Media Group??™s magazines even while news and federal investigations shut in regarding the businessman.
