Any documents related to Lakshminarayan "Lucky" Srinivasan, Sterling Reit, Gate One FBO, Plains Capital Bank

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Texas Public Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. 5 U.S.C. § 552, et seq.

I request that a copy of the following documents [or documents containing the following information] be provided to me: anything related to Lakshminarayan "Lucky" Srinivasan and/or Plains Capital Bank and/or Sterling Reit and/or Gate One FBO.

As you know, FOIA requires agencies to release information unless it is specifically exempt from disclosure, and also requires agencies to release all reasonably segregable nonexempt portions of documents, i.e., to redact exempt portions of documents and release the rest. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(8). In order to help to determine my status for purposes of determining the applicability of any fees, you should know that I am a freelance journalist and author. I collaborated with journalist Alissa Fleck on a story related to Mr. Srinivasan and associates and their decades long running Ponzi ring: https://www.crimescoop.org/news/a-houston-racketeering-ring-of-mini-madoffs-has-been-extorting-victims-out-of-their-life-savings-for-decades-the-syndicate-is-also-linked-to-a-tragic-2016-murder-suicide-involving-two-children

I am currently a reporter for The Latest and various other publications, and this request is made as part of news gathering and not for a commercial use; affiliated with an educational or noncommercial scientific institution, and this request is made for a scholarly or scientific purpose and not for a commercial use; an individual seeking information for personal use and not for a commercial use; affiliated with a private corporation and am seeking information for use in the company’s business.

I am willing to pay fees for this request up to a maximum of $75. If you estimate that the fees will exceed this limit, please inform me first.

I do, however, request a waiver of all fees for this request. Disclosure of the requested information to me is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government as well as potentially protecting future consumers from a financial fraud ring that has operated for nearly 4 decades and is not primarily in my commercial interest. The information will be disseminated via The Latest, a publication where my only pay is my byline and Crimescoop.org which is an ad-free, non-monetized public source of information regarding current, former and ongoing criminal cases and investigations. Sharing more information about the many crimes of "Lucky" and his co-conspirators could potentially prevent more innocent victims. As of late 2020 Lucky was still attempting to defraud victims.

I request that the information I seek be provided in electronic format.

I ask that, if at all possible, my request receive expedited processing because it is in the benefit of the public that these ponzi schemes, real estate fraud, check kiting and other financial crimes continue no further as myself and my co-writer investigative journalist Alissa Fleck believe there is a compelling need to expose the crimes and criminals to safeguard against the cycle continuing.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires. Thank you for your prompt consideration of this request.

Sincerely,
Philip Fairbanks

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Philip Fairbanks

Any followup on this yet? I am now being asked by a law firm (Lambert Worldwide, show up in about a dozen articles about SLAPP suits and media suppression/chilling effect) to remove my reporting without any reason given other than "context" they claim they have but have not shared with me. I understand covid is slowing everything but hoping that this request gets seen at some point as I have evidence this fraud ring is still in activity and at this point apparently my reporting is concerning enough for them to hire a law firm to handle it.

I'll reshare the request here, I'm using the Muckrock platform and not familiar with how followup requests work the FOIPA search didn't bring back anything but not sure if I'm entering the numbers correctly:

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Texas Public Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. 5 U.S.C. § 552, et seq.

I request that a copy of the following documents [or documents containing the following information] be provided to me: anything related to Lakshminarayan "Lucky" Srinivasan and/or Plains Capital Bank and/or Sterling Reit and/or Gate One FBO.

As you know, FOIA requires agencies to release information unless it is specifically exempt from disclosure, and also requires agencies to release all reasonably segregable nonexempt portions of documents, i.e., to redact exempt portions of documents and release the rest. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(8). In order to help to determine my status for purposes of determining the applicability of any fees, you should know that I am a freelance journalist and author. I collaborated with journalist Alissa Fleck on a story related to Mr. Srinivasan and associates and their decades long running Ponzi ring: https://www.crimescoop.org/news/a-houston-racketeering-ring-of-mini-madoffs-has-been-extorting-victims-out-of-their-life-savings-for-decades-the-syndicate-is-also-linked-to-a-tragic-2016-murder-suicide-involving-two-children

I am currently a reporter for The Latest and various other publications, and this request is made as part of news gathering and not for a commercial use; affiliated with an educational or noncommercial scientific institution, and this request is made for a scholarly or scientific purpose and not for a commercial use; an individual seeking information for personal use and not for a commercial use; affiliated with a private corporation and am seeking information for use in the company’s business.

I am willing to pay fees for this request up to a maximum of $75. If you estimate that the fees will exceed this limit, please inform me first.

I do, however, request a waiver of all fees for this request. Disclosure of the requested information to me is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government as well as potentially protecting future consumers from a financial fraud ring that has operated for nearly 4 decades and is not primarily in my commercial interest. The information will be disseminated via The Latest, a publication where my only pay is my byline and Crimescoop.org which is an ad-free, non-monetized public source of information regarding current, former and ongoing criminal cases and investigations. Sharing more information about the many crimes of "Lucky" and his co-conspirators could potentially prevent more innocent victims. As of late 2020 Lucky was still attempting to defraud victims.

I request that the information I seek be provided in electronic format.

I ask that, if at all possible, my request receive expedited processing because it is in the benefit of the public that these ponzi schemes, real estate fraud, check kiting and other financial crimes continue no further as myself and my co-writer investigative journalist Alissa Fleck believe there is a compelling need to expose the crimes and criminals to safeguard against the cycle continuing.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires. Thank you for your prompt consideration of this request.

Sincerely,
Philip Fairbanks

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Philip Fairbanks