The dream, however, quickly turned nightmarish
January 8, 2024 2:02 AM Subscribe
“The real toll your behavior is going to take is priceless,” she continued. “How dare you pretend to care about justice involved people? How dare you pretend to care about Black businesses? How dare you sit at the Black leadership table with people who have cried, fought, and hustled to build real businesses and brands with nothing and from nothing…. You frequently talked about letting Black women lead. And even though that was clearly [a] fraudulent narrative you used to gain entry, you weren’t wrong. It’s Black women who will ensure you never do this again.” from Meet the Con Artist Who Deceived the Front Range Tech Community
Not to detract from the article, but to save others a few minutes trying to figure out what "Front Range" means -- the article doesn't explain it, and I thought it was a technological thing, like "back-end" for web sites -- it's the Colorado/Wyoming section of the Rockies, for those not familiar with the region.
posted by Shepherd at 2:30 AM on January 8 [21 favorites]
posted by Shepherd at 2:30 AM on January 8 [21 favorites]
I managed to read the article second time around, by switching to 'reader' view on iOS before the popup lock screen.
Horrible popup though, I couldn't even ise the back option on my phone once it engaged.
As for the article itself though: it pretty harrowing tale to me, of a manipulator and con artist.
Felt similar vibes of charasmatic non-remorse, to the small town employee who'd stolen millions from the town, to be huge in the horse circuits (that was linked through here within the last couple of months too).
posted by many-things at 2:59 AM on January 8 [3 favorites]
Horrible popup though, I couldn't even ise the back option on my phone once it engaged.
As for the article itself though: it pretty harrowing tale to me, of a manipulator and con artist.
Felt similar vibes of charasmatic non-remorse, to the small town employee who'd stolen millions from the town, to be huge in the horse circuits (that was linked through here within the last couple of months too).
posted by many-things at 2:59 AM on January 8 [3 favorites]
Here's an ungated version that should resolve the popup issue
posted by chavenet at 3:17 AM on January 8 [2 favorites]
posted by chavenet at 3:17 AM on January 8 [2 favorites]
But when she met Clark, she was impressed. It wasn’t just that Clark paired his apparent convictions with enviable confidence; he also demonstrated considerable skill in facilitating difficult conversations, something Herrera Moreno witnessed firsthand. She watched as Clark discussed race with white business leaders in a way that not only directly challenged them but also got them to open up, all while not damaging the professional relationship. Clark may have been new to the Centennial State, but Herrera Moreno’s excitement about and trust in him grew quickly. “He was extremely talented in garnering commitments from people,” she recalls. “And he was a really great salesman."Besides the harm done, it's the waste that gets to me. To have that much charisma and social skill and energy and sheer effectiveness and just use it on cheap scams, in this world - the thought of what I'd put even a quarter of that ability towards drives me crazy. It's like watching some billionaire throw away their money on NFTs and whatnot when there are so many people who would use that money to actually try to make things better. Such an insane waste.
posted by trig at 3:34 AM on January 8 [17 favorites]
Christ, what an asshole. Like, seriously.
That affinity fraud link made me think immediately of Trump. Posing as one of a group in order to fleece them.
posted by From Bklyn at 3:34 AM on January 8 [7 favorites]
That affinity fraud link made me think immediately of Trump. Posing as one of a group in order to fleece them.
posted by From Bklyn at 3:34 AM on January 8 [7 favorites]
I click on the link and get a non-removable pop up asking me to sign up for a Forum on Colorado’s Economy fyi.
I just hit the escape key and it disappeared, in both Chrome and Firefox.
posted by Umami Dearest at 5:16 AM on January 8 [2 favorites]
I just hit the escape key and it disappeared, in both Chrome and Firefox.
posted by Umami Dearest at 5:16 AM on January 8 [2 favorites]
The personal conduct was very harmful to the community, but this quote really got my blood boiling.
“white-collar crime prosecutions by the U.S. Department of Justice are hovering near a 20-year low, largely due to the FBI shifting its priorities to anti-terrorism efforts after 9/11.”
The “war on terrorism” has to be one on the great cons of the last quart century, if if mega-con Trump made GW bush look minor league
posted by CostcoCultist at 5:40 AM on January 8 [10 favorites]
“white-collar crime prosecutions by the U.S. Department of Justice are hovering near a 20-year low, largely due to the FBI shifting its priorities to anti-terrorism efforts after 9/11.”
The “war on terrorism” has to be one on the great cons of the last quart century, if if mega-con Trump made GW bush look minor league
posted by CostcoCultist at 5:40 AM on January 8 [10 favorites]
"I am not an operator and finisher of things.”
Sounds like you actually are.
posted by doctornemo at 5:59 AM on January 8 [2 favorites]
Sounds like you actually are.
posted by doctornemo at 5:59 AM on January 8 [2 favorites]
Holy shit, I know this dude. He had a "start up" supposedly selling fruit juice made by ex-cons. I drank the juice. It was not good. I was pregnant at the time and I still wonder what was in it...
He also said he was a pastor. He then rented a retail space from a church, brought in other small food businesses and then ditched when rent was due sticking them with the bill. Then he disappeared. And now we know where he went...
I've told people this story before because it was so weird weird weird, and I don't know that people believed me. But now I can point to this article because sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.
posted by Toddles at 6:53 AM on January 8 [36 favorites]
He also said he was a pastor. He then rented a retail space from a church, brought in other small food businesses and then ditched when rent was due sticking them with the bill. Then he disappeared. And now we know where he went...
I've told people this story before because it was so weird weird weird, and I don't know that people believed me. But now I can point to this article because sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.
posted by Toddles at 6:53 AM on January 8 [36 favorites]
The popup has a barely-visible [X] in the upper right corner, that you can click to close it.
posted by xthlc at 7:50 AM on January 8 [6 favorites]
posted by xthlc at 7:50 AM on January 8 [6 favorites]
I wish the article had a photo of him on it...
posted by suelac at 9:11 AM on January 8 [7 favorites]
posted by suelac at 9:11 AM on January 8 [7 favorites]
I didn’t have a problem with the pop-up but I would note that in light of the judicial system not taking financial crime seriously, local investigative journalism is more important than ever.
As I was thinking about this more, the Music Man kept popping up in my head. Charismitc newcomer to town taking advantage of a moral panic? I support both marching bands and DEI initiatives. Very frustrating to have someone wrap their garden variety fraud in a way that damaged real DEI practioners.
posted by CostcoCultist at 9:21 AM on January 8 [8 favorites]
As I was thinking about this more, the Music Man kept popping up in my head. Charismitc newcomer to town taking advantage of a moral panic? I support both marching bands and DEI initiatives. Very frustrating to have someone wrap their garden variety fraud in a way that damaged real DEI practioners.
posted by CostcoCultist at 9:21 AM on January 8 [8 favorites]
https://web.archive.org/web/20240105050211/https://www.5280.com/meet-the-con-artist-who-deceived-the-front-range-tech-community/
For some reason the archive.org URL gets mangled if copied from the address bar while viewing the cached article. Maybe some kind of redirect fuckery? Also the popup somehow survives the caching. But the link above should at least load the article.
posted by ryanrs at 9:57 AM on January 8 [1 favorite]
For some reason the archive.org URL gets mangled if copied from the address bar while viewing the cached article. Maybe some kind of redirect fuckery? Also the popup somehow survives the caching. But the link above should at least load the article.
posted by ryanrs at 9:57 AM on January 8 [1 favorite]
Even an ordinary con man might have the sense to recognize he’d struck gold with the DEI consulting business; that he’d perhaps accidentally created a real business capable of making him rich without fraud. If he had figured that out, with his trajectory, he might be giving TED talks and having polycules today, with a great deal more wealth than the $500,000 he absconded with. And instead, he badly damaged a community’s trust in social justice in exchange for not much at all.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 10:48 AM on January 8 [7 favorites]
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 10:48 AM on January 8 [7 favorites]
I also encountered this guy as Perrin Clark (along with his wife, Rachel)—I actually still have his old email address in my contacts.
I met him when he was in the middle of scamming various small food manufactures with a storefront pop-up in downtown Oakland: he told me he'd secured the space as a donation to help rehabilitate the neighborhood, but really had just taken out a conventional lease, taken "rent" from these different little makers, and then split with the money. He talked a very slick game, and definitely put up a front as a renaissance man, someone able to jump divides, and doing what amounted to a mini-speaking circuit of coworking spaces in the Bay Area back in 2014 or so. Like toddles, I also drank his scam juice, which tasted like beets and mop water.
When the con finally came out, I was pissed off. Here we were, in the cradle of dumb money, billions of dollars flying overhead to the most inane "startup" pap wrung out from the sweaty jockstraps of a thousand fast-talking white imbiciles, and instead of targeting that juicy and largely deserving group, Clark was going after tiny, low-margin businesses, often owned by POCs or families. He never got anything from me beyond a couple bucks for his shit juice, but when he went back to prison (as the article mentions, he was on parole for embezzling from Sonoma Sausage Company) I honestly hoped he would at least start fleecing folks who could afford it.
But of course, when he does start scamming the dot-com numbnuts, who does he end up hurting? Black and POC activists and businesspeople.
In terms of what trig and qxntpqbbbqxl have said about the waste of his social skills: one thing to keep in mind about glib assholes like this is that it's easy to convince folks (especially terminally gullible tech bros) of the power of your ideals when you don't really have any ideals to begin with. Liars don't ever need to grapple with upsetting the powerful in any real way, or negotiating the needs of different communities or interest groups, or making compromises in order to push forward their core agenda. All things real activists and organizers need to do, and the reason political change is hard.
Ultimately he seems to just be a compulsive thief, grabbing whatever money was closest at hand with absolutely no longer-term planning.
posted by Playdoughnails at 11:44 AM on January 8 [12 favorites]
I met him when he was in the middle of scamming various small food manufactures with a storefront pop-up in downtown Oakland: he told me he'd secured the space as a donation to help rehabilitate the neighborhood, but really had just taken out a conventional lease, taken "rent" from these different little makers, and then split with the money. He talked a very slick game, and definitely put up a front as a renaissance man, someone able to jump divides, and doing what amounted to a mini-speaking circuit of coworking spaces in the Bay Area back in 2014 or so. Like toddles, I also drank his scam juice, which tasted like beets and mop water.
When the con finally came out, I was pissed off. Here we were, in the cradle of dumb money, billions of dollars flying overhead to the most inane "startup" pap wrung out from the sweaty jockstraps of a thousand fast-talking white imbiciles, and instead of targeting that juicy and largely deserving group, Clark was going after tiny, low-margin businesses, often owned by POCs or families. He never got anything from me beyond a couple bucks for his shit juice, but when he went back to prison (as the article mentions, he was on parole for embezzling from Sonoma Sausage Company) I honestly hoped he would at least start fleecing folks who could afford it.
But of course, when he does start scamming the dot-com numbnuts, who does he end up hurting? Black and POC activists and businesspeople.
In terms of what trig and qxntpqbbbqxl have said about the waste of his social skills: one thing to keep in mind about glib assholes like this is that it's easy to convince folks (especially terminally gullible tech bros) of the power of your ideals when you don't really have any ideals to begin with. Liars don't ever need to grapple with upsetting the powerful in any real way, or negotiating the needs of different communities or interest groups, or making compromises in order to push forward their core agenda. All things real activists and organizers need to do, and the reason political change is hard.
Ultimately he seems to just be a compulsive thief, grabbing whatever money was closest at hand with absolutely no longer-term planning.
posted by Playdoughnails at 11:44 AM on January 8 [12 favorites]
As someone who has floated around all different kinds of community organizing/activist/nonprofit/etc circles over the years, and worked at some big name Doing The Work orgs...
I'm genuinely shocked that this kind of thing doesn't happen more, and the amount it does is massively downplayed and swept under the rug. I genuinely feel that these kind of Changing The World charismatic roles & orgs where people congratulate you on fighting the good fight attract a line around the block of narcissists and manipulators.
And i mean, i have my own opinions on NGO/nonprofit and corporatized DEI stuff being an ideological dead end, farce, and basically scheme to pilotfish money out of corporations and government grants but... that's its own rant.
And instead, he badly damaged a community’s trust in social justice in exchange for not much at all.
I have literally heard this story like, i shit you not, dozens of times. Possibly even that many just locally. With that being the exact conclusion too. The only thing notable here is that it got an article, for how much this happens. I'm even including the "harmed other people, stole their paychecks/money" part of it in there. I've seen that happen so so many times going all the way back to being a young teen involved in stuff vaguely like this.
Actually wait, no, i was even younger. Watched a guy a lot like this charismatically raise tons of money over the space of years to start a music school for underprivileged children(which i attended! for years!) just to steal all the money and disappear. I think that got an article like this, too. It had definitely gotten national coverage before that as being a Super Good Thing lead by Great People.
Sigh.
posted by emptythought at 4:55 PM on January 8 [8 favorites]
I'm genuinely shocked that this kind of thing doesn't happen more, and the amount it does is massively downplayed and swept under the rug. I genuinely feel that these kind of Changing The World charismatic roles & orgs where people congratulate you on fighting the good fight attract a line around the block of narcissists and manipulators.
And i mean, i have my own opinions on NGO/nonprofit and corporatized DEI stuff being an ideological dead end, farce, and basically scheme to pilotfish money out of corporations and government grants but... that's its own rant.
And instead, he badly damaged a community’s trust in social justice in exchange for not much at all.
I have literally heard this story like, i shit you not, dozens of times. Possibly even that many just locally. With that being the exact conclusion too. The only thing notable here is that it got an article, for how much this happens. I'm even including the "harmed other people, stole their paychecks/money" part of it in there. I've seen that happen so so many times going all the way back to being a young teen involved in stuff vaguely like this.
Actually wait, no, i was even younger. Watched a guy a lot like this charismatically raise tons of money over the space of years to start a music school for underprivileged children(which i attended! for years!) just to steal all the money and disappear. I think that got an article like this, too. It had definitely gotten national coverage before that as being a Super Good Thing lead by Great People.
Sigh.
posted by emptythought at 4:55 PM on January 8 [8 favorites]
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posted by whatevernot at 2:22 AM on January 8 [1 favorite]