Tuesday, February 26, 2013

AP weighs in on coach Mike Saltzstein and James Pantera's "street fight."

Coach James Pantera is a complex man: He has nearly a dozen identities, three birth dates, a felony conviction for fraud, his resume has questionable items therein and now he is accusing Mike Saltzstein of being a bully by going to Associated Press and telling them all of the above.

Associated Press has a cursory overview of this silly allegation leveled at Mike Saltzstein by James Pantera:

A San Diego swim coach alleged to have multiple identities and a felony conviction fired back Tuesday, calling his accuser a "bully" with a checkered past.

"... James Pantera issued a statement one day after a complaint was filed with USA Swimming by Mike Saltzstein, a former vice president with the governing body.

The statement said Saltzstein is "attempting to smear the name of a well respected and liked swim coach and official" who has passed numerous background checks*. It also points to Saltzstein's legal issues, saying he was involved in an insider trading case more than a decade ago. ..." 
"... The statement also referred to a 1999 case that Saltzstein settled by paying about $6,000 to the Securities and Exchange Commission, without conceding any wrongdoing. 
[Link]

*I am going to put that to a test tomorrow. I will pay for a background check and post all the results.  If he has a felony record then one has to ask why is allowed to coach? Why, at the very least has he not been suspended pending a USA Swimming investigation?

If he was never certified a level 5 ASCA coach then would this act of lying preclude him from being a part of ASCA or is ASCA okay with that?




5 comments:

Anonymous said...

There is an article about him in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel from Dec 2, 1998. He was in jail for submitting false information to get a passport. The prosecutors couldn't figure out who he was, so they called him John Doe. The description of Medical College of Wisconsin student matches James Pantera, the swim coach, website. He is also mentioned in an FBI fingerprinting report because he enlisted in the military under two different names.

Anonymous said...

I know James personally. He is the softest, kindest person (and boss) you will ever meet. Here is the truth. He had some bad grades as a junior in college, broke into the US State Department computer obtained a passport from a person who no longer needed it, started college all over again, then applied to medical school. You CANNOT be convicted of student loan fraud as a medical student, your student loans are attached to your medical license, but he was tired and broke from fighting the federal government. This was a one time incident and he has been a volunteer in the community and successful businessman for over 14 years. Please don't make assumptions about a peson you don't know. I think that is a real crime. We love James.

Anonymous said...

I know James personally. He is the softest, kindest person (and boss) you will ever meet. Here is the truth. He had some bad grades as a junior in college, broke into the US State Department computer obtained a passport from a person who no longer needed it, started college all over again, then applied to medical school. You CANNOT be convicted of student loan fraud as a medical student, your student loans are attached to your medical license, but he was tired and broke from fighting the federal government. This was a one time incident and he has been a volunteer in the community and successful businessman for over 14 years. Please don't make assumptions about a peson you don't know. I think that is a real crime. We love James.

JM said...

I thought he got through the background check because USA has a loophole. They don't check new members with an existing team. Just people trying to join to affiliate with an existing team.

Tony Austin said...

The FBI disagrees with you for they held up James Pantera as example of a fraudster who got caught.

Your buddy is mentioned in a technical report written for the "Defense Personnel Security Research Center" , The "Department of defense" & the "Federal Bureau of Investigation/Criminal Justice Identification Services Division."

It was titled: "Results of a Pilot Test of the FBI Civil Fingerprint File."

It's purpose was to test the efficacy and "...the importance of having secure means of vetting the identities of individuals who apply for government-issued credentials or access to sensitive government
facilities, information systems, or classified information. ..."

On page-2 the bullet point states the following:

"• James David Land AKA James Pantera AKA James Sabre Pantera AKA Robert Michael Binkin enlisted two different times in the armed services under two different names. ..."

I don't make assumptions, I look at the facts and the facts are certifiable that he has a checkered past.