#redflex scam

Regular folks have a reason to celebrate today. On Monday February 6th, 2017 a despicable criminal had to report to the women’s prison in Victorville, CA.

Of course, we knew all along she was stealing our money with the help of government cronies. But now in a stroke of real justice she’s being locked up.

Former CEO of Redflex Traffic Systems and Arizona resident, Karen Finley is going to be behind bars in a minimum security prison for 30 months.

Amen.

Her company stole from millions of motorists.

She instructed her henchmen to lie and bribe to get their way in Chicago and other cities like Columbus, OH.

Finley and those same henchmen were investigated by major newspapers and the FBI. Then they were exposed and indicted - Finley herself on 16 counts. 

And now they have to pay.

We have to relish real justice when it comes around, because things don’t always work out this way. Sure Finley and Redflex have stolen untold amounts of money through fraud that will never be recovered, but at least she and a few others now know what the inside of a prison cell looks like.

For a calendar year, revelations about Redflex's shady and illegal business practices have been fed to the public through a steady diet of damning admissions. Journalist David Kidwell of the Chicago Tribune has written about the subject comprehensively. [link to archives]

During the period since the first blockbuster article by Kidwell in March of 2013, Redflex has been hemorrhaging contracts and money.  Curiously not in Arizona, however, which houses the Australian-based camera vendor's U.S. headquarters.

Paradise Valley, AZ (PV) could not have turned a more blind eye to the corruption as they not only renewed with Redflex in 2013 for a whopping 5 years, but agreed to double the size of their contract.  In fact, PV hardly even considered using a different vendor, such as American Traffic Solutions (ATS), who also operates nearby in Scottsdale.

The city of Phoenix also renewed its contract with Redflex, without even putting the issue up for public debate. Of course, they later admitted their actions were improper (code language for "illegal"), but by then it was too late.

Now that Redflex and their designated scapegoat, Aaron Rosenberg, have exchanged lawsuits it's starting to become clearer that bribery wasn't just an issue in Chicago, but "Standard Operating Procedure" for the camera vendor.

The former EVP, Rosenberg, has not taken too kindly to the remaining brass at Redflex blaming all their transgressions on him and him alone. He's firing back, not by proclaiming his innocence, but by presenting evidence that he was just a cog in Redflex's bribery machine.

It's getting ugly, real ugly.

With just a few pages released by Rosenberg's attorneys, we now have black and white evidence, which shows that illegal campaign contributions and gifts were used to sway politicians and party officials in Florida and Arizona. More info will be released from Rosenberg's side, but probably not until summer of 2014. [Lawsuit]

Here's what we know so far:

Arizona - Illegal campaign contributions to both the Arizona Democrat and Republican Parties by Mr. Rosenberg that was reimbursed by Redflex and signed off on by then-CEO Karen Finley.

Florida - Two dozen state legislators and their wives were invited to an expensive dinner at Morton's Steakhouse, which was paid for by the company and not reported. Internal emails and expense reports show the dinner cost over $3,200.00.

And this is just the beginning. Rosenberg is alleging bribery was all part of the standard ops in 13 states.

The latest from the Chicago Tribune foreshadows what's to come:

In his counterclaim against Redflex, Rosenberg said he was simply "carrying out orders" and that other company executives also participated in a "pattern and practice" of wooing potential clients with perquisites including meals, golf outings, professional football and baseball games — all covered under a liberal company policy for "entertainment" expenses.

"A budget for these items was approved, and there was never a distinction between these types of entertainments and expenses that are considered gratuities and bribes," Rosenberg alleged in the filing.

Rosenberg said that during his tenure Redflex "bestowed gifts and bribes on company officials in dozens of municipalities within, but not limited to the following states: California, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Florida, New Jersey, Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia."

Arizona and Florida seem to be a main focus of Rosenberg and his attorneys, and for good reason. Arizona is the hub, where the executives are housed and will almost certainly be where most of the bodies are buried. After all, Redflex "won" the competition with ATS for the statewide freeway photo radar contract from 2008-2010 and it certainly took more than just a convincing slide show to woo Janet Napolitano and the state legislature. They then looked the other way while she jammed this massive program into a byline on the state's budget.

2014 is here!

Alas, another year has gone by where drivers in 33 states were having their wallets drained by flashing boxes in intersections and creepy vans parked along the side of the road.

2013 also marked the largest and most widespread scandals the industry has ever been exposed for and it only promises to get worse for Redflex, American Traffic Solutions (ATS), Affiliated Computer Services (ACS - Xerox) and others in the new year.

In light of that good news, we bring you:

TOP 10 TRENDING SCAMERA STORIES OF 2013

10. License Plate Scanners Being Used in Red Light Cameras to track every driver

Although this little nugget of info has been known for years, the ACLU uncovered the widespread use of license plate scanners which were set to data mine every driver passing by, regardless of any suspicion that they were violating the law. In a year where blanket surveillance came under major fire, this was more ammo for motorists' rights advocates to heavily criticize the dubious nature of red light cameras. Read more - [link]

9. Judge in Ohio Orders Refunds, Camera Seizures

A Cincinnati area Judge really put the hammer down hard on red light cameras in a nearby village. He ruled Elmwood Place and Optotraffic in contempt of court for continuing to issue photo tickets for months after he initially ruled them illegal.

Refunds were also ruled by Judge Ruelman and the cameras were to be seized. [read more]

8. $4.2 Million in Camera Ticket Refunds for New Jersey Drivers

American Traffic Solutions (ATS) were caught up in yet another multimillion dollar lawsuit, this time in the Garden State, where drivers were awarded over $4 Million in refunds. Why? So glad you asked. It's because they were issuing red light camera tickets in 18 municipalities where they were actually illegal. Minor detail, of course. Read more - [link]

7. Michigan Kills Red Light Cameras Before They Go Up

We are proud to say that this website actually sounded the alarm in Michigan when a camera shill of a legislator was trying to sneak through a Red Light Camera bill back in May. Michigan Campaign for Liberty's Tony DeMott lead the rally cry to successfully defeat the cameras before a single one could be installed. Thanks Tony!

6.  Protestor Arrested in Florida

Wayne Schmidter, a man who has had to defend himself from violations of his free speech in the past, was handing out flyers at an intersection with Red Light Cameras in Apopka, FL. An overzealous police officer demanded to see both his permit to hand out flyers and his ID, neither of which are required under any law in that jurisdiction. Schmidter answered he did not have either, nor did he need them and was then arrested. Amazingly, the Judge who heard Schmidter's previous civil rights suit was eating at an establishment near by and ran out to tell the officer he'd better back down! Read more - [link]

5. Multiple States Move to Ban Photo Ticketing

State Legislatures in Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Missouri and Ohio all advanced bills in their 2013 sessions to make red light cameras and photo radar completely illegal. Citizen backlash against the unconstitutional camera systems has demanded legislators file these bills - in some cases under major duress! Expect these states as well as others to take the issue up again in 2014. After all, the Cameras Are Coming Down!

4. Redflex Faces Massive Financial Troubles

Fallout from the bribery scandal in Chicago (don't worry, that one's coming too) crushed any expectations of staying above water that Redflex may have had. Shortly after it was announced that they were losing their contract in Chicago, Redflex put out a press release that detailed their grim fortunes to come - [link]

Later on in the year, the camera vendor announced that their profit had dropped a whopping 50 percent! Look out below! [read more]

3. Missouri Court System Condemns Red Light Cameras

Missouri courts spend the last 4 months of 2013 absolutely obliterating the state's red light camera scheme. In September, they deemed that it violated due process. In November, the 2nd highest Court in Missouri ruled that red light camera programs are unenforceable and thus void. Later that month, the MO Appeals Court agreed and upheld that ruling. And in December, the MO Appeals Court ruled that red light cameras are unconstitutional!

2014 should be the end of red light cameras in Missouri and the court system, not legislature, will be the ones to thank for that.

2. Florida Caught Up in Yellow Light Time Shortening Scandal

And they say Journalism is dead in this country. One News Affiliate in Tampa Florida proved that it's still alive in 2013 when they blew the doors wide open on a $50 Million dollar yellow light shortening scheme being carried out by American Traffic Solutions and several municipalities. They estimate that $50M figure is what's been stolen by ATS by lowering yellow light duration to illegal and very dangerously short durations.

Thanks to WTSP (Tampa) for doing this great public service and the fallout continues to be felt across the state [read more]

1. Chicago-Redflex Bribery Scandal

And now the Granddaddy of them all and the scandal which rocked the entire mafia of photo ticketing, the Chicago Bribery Scandal. To prop up their $80M per year photo ticketing racket, a few palms need to be greased, right? Chicago is no stranger to this form of corruption, but the city never seen a scandal with bribery that tallied as much money as Redflex was dishing out, under the table.

[read more] from Chicago Tribune's David Kidwell

In true Chicago style, the contract with Redflex, which was announced to be dead and gone in 2013, by Mayor Emanuel, has been quietly extended to January of 2014. When the Redflex cameras are finally shut off, and they will be, that company will plunge into multimillion dollar deficits from which it will be nearly impossible to dig out of. 2013 brought more citizen, lawmaker and court backlash against red light cameras and photo radar than ever before. It will only continue to grow and crescendo in 2014!

This is just about as bad as it can get for Redflex on a Saturday.

The third trading halt in less than a month is still in effect for their stock and the news they had been crisis-managing has hit the wires:

Three Top Redflex Executives Out as Corruption Probe Widens

One of those three is their CEO Karen Finley who resigns in shame with her company ripping apart at the seams. 

Is this the final countdown in the Redflex Death Watch 2013?

From CameraFRAUD.org

Arizona, this one’s for you.

More fallout from the Redflex (we’re too corrupt for) Chicago Scandal. This time investors and bought politicians should be running for cover, deep cover. That being said…..

Memo to Arizona Politicians: [READ MORE]

Far be it for a driving politics website like this one to make a judgment call on investing, especially in foreign trades.

However, it's easy to spot a company who's panicking as they're usually the ones running around with their pants on fire.

From the "we swear this is standard procedure file," Redflex Traffic Systems has been forced to announce a request for a trading halt on the ASX (Australian) where shares of Redflex Holdings, Inc are exchanged.

This is the second time this month Redflex has requested such a halt ahead of big news about the results of ongoing investigations into the company's business dealings.

Since the February 6th announcement, shares of ASX:RDF are down 33%. Another such drop would place them well below $1.00 (AUS) per share, which would be near 10 year lows for the stock.

The company making the same move twice in the same month, along with all the other bad news out of Chicago spells trouble for Redflex, all over the globe.

Redflex Holdings, Inc. Trading Halt Announcement 2.27.13

Redflex continues to prove the maxim, "there's no honor among thieves." 

Instead of waiting for all the gory details about massive corruption within the company, relating to the decade long (and soon to be terminated) contract with Chicago, Redflex is sticking their head in the dirt.

It's back to court for the camera vendor, who has now filed suit against their own VP, Aaron Rosenberg. Nevermind that he's been conducting himself in the same way for the last 10 years, while the upper brass at Redflex defended him publicly.

The case has been filed in Arizona Superior Court, near Redflex's U.S. headquarters.

[Chicago Tribune Article 2.22.13]

The Redflex scandal in Chicago isn't going away, any time soon. Politicians who may or may not be in bed with the camera vendor in other cities and states may claim that Chicago's corruption doesn't apply elsewhere.

Anyone using this excuse is either lying, ignorant or both.

Let's take the entire state of Arizona as an example. More than 10 municipalities, such as Phoenix, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Tucson, Chandler, Prescott Valley, Surprise, etc still use a combination of speed or red light cameras. Despite the fact that photo tickets sent by mail are not legally binding in Arizona, millions of dollars in fines are still collected.

10% of that money goes into a fund ironically called "clean elections," which provides public funding to political campaigns, like members of the Arizona Senate and House of Representatives. These folks, not coincidentally, are responsible for allowing photo radar and red light cameras to litter the roads and scam Arizona motorists. 

What's also NOT a coincidence is that 80% of candidates for Arizona Legislature use "clean" election money to fund their campaigns. If you connect the dots, that means that Redflex and American Traffic Solutions fund their operation and basically own them. If a bill (currently HB 2579) to ban them passes, most of that clean election money will instantly vanish. The political gravy train would stop dead in its tracks and there would be quite a few state senators and reps scrambling to find a way to fund re-election in 2014.

Those are the hard facts and they're undeniable. Chicago-style corruption with backdoor payola is still likely to be going on, but the scheme in Arizona is right there in plain sight.

Despite the fact that two private companies with their high dollar lobbyists have taken ownership over Arizona legislature, bills to ban the system have failed by one vote in 2011 and 2012 after massive pressure by activists who won't stop until they rid their state of these thieves.

Redflex and American Traffic Solutions (ATS) operate in several other states, but none of them have a system set up that allows for legislators to be bought and traded like old baseball cards. Arizona takes the cake in that department.

2013 brings Arizona legislators yet another chance to send themselves to rehab to kick that nasty "free money from lobbyists" habit.

HB 2579 goes to a committee hearing on Thursday February 21st in the state House of Representatives. How the committee members vote will say a lot about who they work for.

Chicago may have a trademark on their own style of corruption, but in some ways Arizona has done them one better.

Chicago news outlets had reported that a contract between the city of Chicago and Redflex Traffic Systems of Australia had been given a 6 month extension on their massive scamera contract which is set to expire in just over two weeks.

The problem with this news is that Redflex never got the memo from the city and because they're an Australian publicly traded company, they're forced to make a public announcement (below) that their contract with Chicago is still set to expire without an extension.

Updates to follow...