WTH did Mark do with all the money he gathered to float his company from raffles and denied refunds? Personal stuff? Medical care? What?
Please allow me to offer insight into your question rather than Sean for reasons I've already enumerated. Also, realize that all the raffle money and denied refunds as well as other shenanigans like store credit are but a fraction (I would say well under 25%) of the monies he got from business partners that he's not paid.
No one will ever know exactly where all the money went. Record keeping was sloppy or non existent and he didn't just keep the monies for himself nor did everyone know, even those closest to him, what it was being spent on. However, based on numerous discussions I've had, and Sean is not part of this, with people he's dealt with both professionally or when he thought they'd never, ever say anything, I can offer you this as a partial explanation of what was going on. Bear with me.
The monetary compensation he gave to himself and to his step-daughter was generous. In this case, generous means large. Very large and disproportionate to the amount of money coming in. When that was insufficient, the Graham Company came to the rescue by striking a deal with a distributor of electronics that Mark would bundle with AV451 products. The profit margin on these electronics was pretty large with most of the profits going to him, Suzy, and only a pittance to those who sold them.
Mark spent excessively on GTG's, prizes, the renting of that hotel space in Colorado to feature his producs, and ancillary entertainment costs. They never generated the sort of sales that would justify their expense but lots of people said he was a great guy. Bad businessman though.
Mark would travel overseas for extended periods of time. We're talking weeks and months here. That costs money. He was also free with his money there. Not only did he entertain others, he entertained himself. To draw an analogy, he was the Tiger Woods of the audio industry. Monies were spent in China on relaxation places. A place where a businessman could go for a massage and more like a happy ending. There were tons of those and while not unusual to Chinese culture, they do cost money especially if you need to relieve your stress frequently during the day and you're staying there for weeks at a time.
There were numerous trips to Russia. The Khabarovsk area if you will. There's a woman there. Call her a girlfriend, a mistress or whatever. You'll see him refer to it coyly upon occasion as a certain little red-head. Mark would refer to that part of the world as his other home and indeed it was. Mistresses cost money. The younger the mistress, the more they cost, and this one was younger than he by a good amount of years. To Khabarovsk, he sent at least two vehicles. He sent a dog. He bought furnishings and other things. He paid the rent. She ran up bills, and what good mistress that's offering up goodies to her sugar daddy doesn't? Those somehow made their way to a secret mail account that only he thought he knew about but he would pay the bills. I think that's changed now. He also paid for her to fly here and in a GTG that was written about in AffordableAudio, there was mention of a Russian woman who accompanied him. Note, that he has shown her picture to others as well as bragging about her. The one question I can't answer is whether the cuffs and collar matched.
That's not the only woman though. There was a fitness instructor in Colorado who also conferred her own special personalized exercise program. As you can see, Shifty's not some Hollywood hunk and when you're not, you've got to find other ways to catch fish. That's enough for now.
Mark also liked to live well. The home he's living in now costs considerably more than his previous one and homes need to be paid for and furnished. He drove very nice cars - Benz & Porche & others. Those need to be paid for, insured, and maintained. He also has a thing for expensive watches and pens and enjoyed going to good restaurants. Whoever was home wasn't whipping up franks and beans or making fried chicken for dinner.
He has had his grand-daughter living with him for a number of years and dotes on her. Nothing wrong with a grandfather loving his grand-daughter but spending money that isn't there is not the way to show love, IMO. AFAIK, he funds her college education.
There were also extended trips to Colombia where he and his wife went on business - together as well as apart. Those cost money.
Hopefully this will suffice to answer your question.
