Son of Super Swindler 

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"My feelings were that his biggest operation was in California, and I tied it back into that company that was selling [living-trust] kits," St. Laurent says. "I think they were training the second generation."

I began talking to St. Laurent before Paul Noe Sr.'s recent trial had concluded. The ex-prosecutor told me he suspected Noe Sr. might submit evidence showing the connection between his son's West Coast trust mills and Great American Trust, to bolster the argument that he was running a real business, not a con game.

"But he'd put his kids at risk," St. Laurent said. "Either he's going to keep quiet to protect the kids, or he's going to go ahead and introduce it, hoping nobody makes the connection."

Two weeks later, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Columbia, S.C., faxed me the letter, submitted by Paul Noe Sr. in his own defense, that documents the connection between AAIP, the California living-trust operation, and Great American Trust, the East Coast swindle.

Although the Super Swindler connection now has been made public, I have doubts that law enforcement will investigate it thoroughly. I have doubts, even though Noe-related trust mills are already under scrutiny by the California Department of Insurance. I have doubts, even though the Noes' history of scheming appears to represent a real threat to the finances of elderly Californians.

I have my doubts, even though there are multiple regulatory agencies -- including the Attorney General's Office, the State Bar, and local district attorneys' offices -- that have the authority to attempt to curb the types of practices outlined in the Department of Insurance accusation against EPI, EPICO, Robin Noe, and Paul H. Noe II.

I doubt anyone will really look into the Noe trust mills of California because, despite summer campaign-trail rhetoric to the contrary, California is a very "business-friendly" state.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is one prominent proselyte of a commonly accepted doctrine holding that California government needs to become friendlier to business if the state's economy is to revive. Actually, though, the Noe family trust mills operate in a California environment so friendly to business that they feel no compunction about routinely buying large newspaper advertisements announcing their activities. In fact, if the Noes are any guide, California is a state so friendly to business that the only way to make it friendlier would be to adopt a policy of overweening obsequiousness. I suppose that wouldn't make much of a campaign slogan, though.

I laud the California Department of Insurance for its efforts to investigate the Noe family's California companies. But the department is fighting an uphill battle. Investigations into widespread and sophisticated financial wrongdoing require huge investments of time on the part of investigators, attorneys, and regulators, and large amounts of taxpayer money. California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi was recently quoted in the legal newspaper the Daily Journal as saying the division that investigates consumer complaints has 17 staff vacancies and is operating under a hiring freeze because of California's budget deficit.

And the state's continuing financial problems will almost certainly lead to cuts in the staff of state regulatory agencies, making California business-friendlier still.

Pat McGinnis, director of California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, which lobbies for stiffer laws against the financial abuse of seniors, believes state Attorney General Bill Lockyer would do more to combat elder financial abuse under current laws -- if he had the staff.

"Bill Lockyer has done more in five years than in the previous 16 years in terms of going after abuse, neglect, and fraud. He's prosecuted well over 100 cases," McGinnis says. "We got statistics in 1998 from the attorney general at the time, and there had been 10 investigations, one prosecution; there was hardly anything. We feel hopeful that Lockyer's office will take this on as well."

But McGinnis acknowledges it might be a strained hope.

"The whole enforcement system needs to be beefed up," she says. "There's no question about it: If you want to really go after people for elder fiduciary abuse, you need staff, you need time. But everybody's budgets are being cut."

It's said that Americans over 50 hold more than two-thirds of the nation's household net worth, some $7 trillion. The largest population of these elderly people resides in California and Florida, states with their fair share of sharpies anxious to exploit a friendly regulatory attitude.

Those who doubt the preceding statement should direct their attention to a September 2003 schedule of public events at the Huntington Beach Public Library. Last Saturday, a company called Estate Preservation Inc. advertised a "Living Trust Seminar" at the library, and left a number interested elders could contact.

"Thank you for calling EPI Estate Preservation Inc.," a recorded voice said when I called the number this week. The voice then directed callers to a company directory, which offered the extensions of four people with the last name Noe, including a Paul Noe.

Note: Readers who have bought, or know someone who has bought, a living trust or similar product from a company with the name EPI, EPICO, EPoC, or AAIP should feel free to contact me at matthew.smith@sfweekly.com or 541-0700. I would also like to hear from anyone who has encountered the names Great American Trust Co., GATCO, or GATCORP in legal or business documents.