Dear Editor,

I have been thinking and praying about the Luis Enrique Villalobos case for eighteen months now. I have listened to voices I considered less reasonable regarding what the possible truths in the matter are as well as voices which seem to regard possibilities with a more open mind. The voices have run the gamut from insane to biased to hopeful to insightful.

Those that are less reasonable include another online publication's yellow journalism and obvious anti-LEV slant, including photos of LEV, completely unfounded speculations of the amount he has borrowed, condemning him with no due process of law. Even their description of him as a fugitive is not accurate. Some are investors who wear their loss on their sleeves (to what end, I can’t fathom, because self-pity is not a recognized religion or, as far as I know, a form of clinical depression), using monikers in discussion groups such as Broker N Shitt.

Most of the more reasonable ones have tried to accomplish something positive regarding the LEV case. Examples of these are John Manners, instrumental in the UCCR group and Jack Caine of the Class Action Center. Some of these are simply thinkers over problems who offer their conclusions, like Duke, Hank and Skip.

One thing most of these people have in common (online newspaper editors are exempt from this group, unless I am mistaken in my information) is that they have money that hangs in the balance. Though there are plenty of good intentions and a very great many more inferences, accusations, rumors, lies, fabrications, etc., these not-disinterested parties have largely ignored the most single important aspect of the case: LEV himself. I do not refer to seemingly endless speculation about whether he has absconded or where to or who with, or things of this nature. Consider the man if you want to find out what to do and where to place yourself in the matter. If you are incapable of putting yourself in his shoes, God help you.

My primary example of this tendency to shortsightedness is Hank’s recent publication regarding an alleged letter to Osvaldo Villalobos from his brother Enrique. It is evidence of the deterioration of the thinking of a normally productive member of this community. I will cite some of these things as I go.

Luis Enrique Villalobos ran an operation in which people worked for the opportunity to become involved as investors. They saw no advertisements, no signs, no ostentation, no brochures. I am aware of several instances where people who wanted in begged and/or paid for recommendations. They came to him in what the numbers imply were droves. The reasons are simple: longevity, reputation, and great opportunity (in plenty of cases, read simply: greed).

Greed and self-interest are still the most common aspects of any discussion I have seen about the case. The most well-intentioned has his own hard-earned (or even hard-inherited) money at stake. But what is really going on for LEV? Where is he now? What is he doing? Reasonable speculation will tell you several important things.

1. He is not lying on a bed of roses eating peeled grapes. He is in fact trying to protect the money of the reasonable and the idiot alike, because that was his pledge. If he wanted to save himself, it would have been very easy to buy his freedom by turning over everyone’s money. That possibility I have not seen mentioned anywhere. Ponder also the possibility that this is an avenue that could, theoretically, still be open to him.

2. He has gone into self-imposed exile for the reasonable and the idiot alike. He is far from family, far from his normal business and business apparatus. It is impossible for him to travel (his face is also on Interpol’s website). LEV’s reputation has certainly been denigrated in banks in the Western Hemisphere, Europe, and probably even the whole world. The banks are essentially closed to him while the question of his "illegal" activities is unresolved, since the initial allegations had to do with drug trafficking and money laundering.

3. He is faced with the problem of very likely not being able to ever return to Costa Rica, his native land, where he still has family. The most prominent member, of course, being Osvaldo, now the object of Hank’s apparently increasing desperation. This is compounded by the fact that Hank apparently also threatens Osvaldo, stating that Osvaldo has much to answer for. This is ridiculous, since Hank had and has no business relationship with Osvaldo. But just for the exercise some of our brains badly need, let’s put our thinking caps on: Osvaldo could have fled earlier, too but did not. What kind of silly idea is it that once he did his time, he would abscond now? Not to mention that if he didn’t tell Espinoza anything, Hank, handsome and persuasive though he may be, is even less likely to get a different response. Now Hank also proposes escalating the matter by organizing a posse, one supposes, to keep tabs on Enrique’s other brother.

What would Hank or those less reasonable do if LEV unexpectedly returned to CR before all claims against him were dropped? They would go after him like an angry mob after Frankensteins’ monster, with torches and axes and pitchforks and nary a kind word for someone who had worked so hard to better their lives. Espinoza wouldn’t get anywhere near LEV while their was a piece left large enough to charge with any crime.

It seems painfully obvious that Hank’s apparent new attitude is evidence in favor of the conclusion that I have drawn from LEV’s actions to date: the more trash talked about him in the press, the more lawsuits filed against him, the more veiled threats like Hank’s that are made, the less likely he is to ever show his face. LEV worked in a calm environment, characterized by mutual respect and orderly dealings. I don’t think it is too much to believe that those investors who have contributed to the breakdown of this (and here I most definitely mean those who have filed fraud claims; I am proud to say I am not one) can therefore assume that their funds are forfeit. Think about it. Claim filers are playing into Espinoza’s hands and are literally collaborating with him against LEV. This persecution was not initiated by LEV; it can be traced back as far as the trial by public opinion of LEV in the Tico Times over the Nash case. But it has been made immeasurably worse by impatient idiots who filed claims and are fanning the flames and collaborating with the real enemy. It is stupid to think that the guy who threw the wrench in LEV’s machine in the first place is going to be able to recover anything for you.

Stop. Take a deep breath. Take another. Wait while you smokers stop hacking. Get the oxygen flowing to the brain and, even more importantly, to the heart.

Consider the burden LEV is bearing for your sake, as outlined above. Yes, I claim to know that he is doing it for your sake. Why am I so sure? I met the man on many an occasion, trusted him with my money, feel I know him, and have also examined the evidence available. There simply is no evidence that conclusively points to his having absconded. Re-read point #1 above.

Add to his burden the fact that a good many of the people for whom he is making a sacrifice have turned against him and could now be considering turning against him and even his family. Much he has given up for you and you would bite the hand that fed you faithfully, without fail, while the system he had in place ran unimpeded, before the persecution. He is facing persecution down, for you, while people like Luis Milanes are all but forgotten, much less discussed to death by rumor mongers or even investigated by the authorities (or all-but-slandered in the press).

This is a persecution and today we are still living with the consequences. To ourselves, to a man we trusted and to a country many of us adopted. This could cost LEV his health (or, if the pressure got too great, even the potential to take his own life; greater men have done it for lesser reasons). He has been persecuted in his own country and internationally by Interpol. How would you expect him to be able to comply with his obligations under these conditions? How would you yourself do it, if you think you know better? A lesser man, and certainly a man of lesser faith, would have taken any number of easier ways out long before now. Nothing I have seen leads me anywhere near the conclusion that he has already taken the easy way out. Money is NOT everything, and if Luis Enrique Villalobos thought it was, he would have chosen his moment, not let his enemies choose it for him.

Walk around in his shoes. Don’t take it for granted that it is easy to communicate with desperate (and now potentially dangerous) investors who couldn’t keep their mouths shut when things were going well. Don’t take it for granted that moving money to help, in deference to Hank, virtually in-humanly patient investors under the noses of the authorities is easy or even possible. Don’t take it for granted that he gave up nothing to implement the plan he is now working with. He has given up everything that would have made keeping the money worthwhile: respect, reputation, home, family, friends, stability, his church home, to name a few. Could you do that for someone you loved? Could you do that for someone you respected? Could you that for someone to whom you owed money and for the protection of which you had given your word? Put your hand on your heart, if you have one, and think about it.

J. Wilson

Saginaw, Mich.