A new deal for a ‘new nation’

Fraud or visionary? The federal government tried to discredit the leader of the newest country in the world — only to discover it was wrong.

Federal Judge Michael Burrage on Friday, April 9, granted the Securities and Exchange Commission’s request for an emergency restraining order against Prince Lazarus R. Long and New Utopia. The restraining order put a freeze on all New Utopian funds.

New Utopia is the world’s newest country, which is about to be built on platforms supported by an underwater island in the Caribbean. The constitutional monarchy is headed by Prince Lazarus.

“This is an example of why we need New Utopia,” Prince Lazarus said of the legal action taken against him. He said it was nothing more than harassment and that he was being used by a federal agency trying to make it look like they are fighting fraud on the Internet.

New Utopia wanted to sell bonds to finance the construction of its island nation. Those bonds were only offered outside the U.S. They also requested that those interested in citizenship loan New Utopia $1,500 to be paid back with interest. An invitation to become a citizen is sent to everyone who gives the country a loan.

“What they’re saying is that the bond issue was not approved for U.S. consumption, so to speak. The strange thing is, everybody knew that,” explained spokesman Phil Butler. The New Utopia website clearly stated in at least 10 places that U.S. citizens were not eligible to purchase the bonds.

On Monday, the SEC and Prince Lazarus reached an agreement that resolved the court challenge. New Utopia will revise its website so that it does not appear to promote the sale of bonds, even though Americans can’t buy them. It will also continue to ask for $1,500 from those who wish to be citizens, but the payment will be a donation.

“We didn’t do anything wrong, but there’s things they didn’t approve of,” Prince Lazarus explained. “They saw on our website that we were going to sell $350 million worth of bonds and even though we said in ten places on our website that they were not available to U.S. citizens, we had a link going to the foreign website where Ian Sawyer is handling that.

“Once they got into it, they found we hadn’t sold any bonds, then they turned to this loan that we were requesting people to make where we repaid it with interest. I can’t understand why they would think that is a security. I would think every bank would be guilty,” said a frustrated Prince Lazarus.

Meetings with other officials from the soon-to-be-born nation over the weekend changed the initial plan to fight the charges. Rather than take the U.S. government on in a lengthy court battle, New Utopia agreed to settle quickly by removing items of concern, even though they do not believe they violated any laws or defrauded anyone.

“So we got past that and they just want to be sure we are not misleading people in any way,” explained Prince Lazarus. “It’s just a big hassle and it has no reason to ever have happened.

“What they did, of course because we’ve had such a high profile, they’ve gotten a lot of publicity for their efforts to clean up fraud on the Internet by putting out a press release.”

Prince Lazarus had the website shut down to clarify all portions in such a way as to remove all doubt about the donations, currency, and bonds. In addition he has agreed to supply the SEC with information about who has invested and where the money has been spent.

“There’s a lot of fraud going on the Internet, and I think that ought to be cleaned up, but they used us and our high profile to get some publicity for their program,” remarked the prince.

The SEC news release resulted in an Associated Press wire story that was carried by a number of newspapers over the weekend.

“But would you believe a country called New Utopia, built on concrete platforms on an underwater land mass? Unfortunately, investors fell for it on the Internet and sank money into a phony $350 million bond offering, federal securities regulators say,” the AP story reported.

Prince Lazarus claims he explained the nature of the charges to the press, but his side of the story was not told as the story broke in papers across the country.

“It doesn’t make any difference what you say, it’s painted with a brush the way they want it,” he commented. “They’re going to great lengths to hassle people who aren’t guilty just to have something that they can get some publicity from.”

The New Utopia website has received as many as 3 million hits in only a few hours. Prince Lazarus has become a frequent guest on talk shows resulting in significant Internet traffic. He believes the high volume of visitors to his website prompted the SEC to come after him even though the charges were weak.

Harold Degenhardt, the SEC’s district administrator in Fort Worth, Texas, listed his complaints to the press. He claims that Prince Long changed his name and was previously Howard Turney from Tulsa and Houston. He also pointed out that a picture of the prince appears on the country’s new currency, and he joked with one reporter saying, ”Who knows? He may have bubbled up from the sea like the Goddess Aphrodite.”

The prince takes it all in stride, even though he feels put out by the attacks he claims are unfounded and exaggerated. His name change was mentioned on the website because of his pursuit of medical advances dealing with aging. Prince Lazarus, 67, plans a full medical center for the new country. He assured WorldNetDaily that he did not “bubble up from the sea.”

The currency has been made available as a collector’s item, but not as an investment, according to information on the website. The currency will not be officially available as currency until the country is actually officially up and running. That day is growing closer.

A news conference and black tie gala are scheduled for April 30 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to announce the start of construction of the platforms on which the country will be supported above the sea.

The architect and contractor for the work will be present at the event to address questions from the press. Media representatives from many nations have expressed an interest in attending what Prince Long calls, “a most historic event.”

In addition to presentations on construction, members of the New Utopia Board of Governors will address the press, along with doctors who will operate the medical center and university, according to Grace Caswell, information officer.

Actual construction is expected to begin in May on top of the submerged mountain peaks only a few feet below the ocean surface. “It is interesting to note that the area where we will start construction is almost flat rock surface with a dusting of sand, but no coral,” described Caswell.

“Unlike the Pacific and the New England coast, the water where we are is very calm, like glass most of the time. Our high tide is between 6 and 10 inches depending on the season. Hurricanes as a worse case, can be expected on average of once every 7 years, based on tracking charts dating back to 1834.

“The wind and rain have no bad effect on the concrete and steel buildings. Think of the worst news story you ever saw about hurricane damage. The high rise office and condo buildings were not what was damaged.”

The new nation will be located 115 miles to the west of the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean.

“The technology is the same as a freeway bridge over a river with a lot less abuse than all the traffic. These are the same building foundations as all the coastal development in Florida. They must build exactly like this with the pilings because of the high water table. Every high rise building in Miami for instance is built in just this manner,” explained Caswell.