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Howard Turney (Lazarus Long)

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Lazarus Long
a.k.a. Howard Turney
Born Howard Turney
1931
Died 26 April 2012

Howard Turney (1931-2012), also known as Lazarus R. Long[i] and Prince Lazarus I, was an American entrepreneur and self-proclaimed monarch of the Principality of New Utopia. By his own accounting, Turney was a self-educated genius, and in the 1970s was the inventor of Otter Pops, a frozen fruit juice snack, as well as varied other products.[ii] During the 1980s, Turney ran a cogeneration power plant business,[iii] promoted methods for the mass farming of shrimp,[iv] and operated a star-naming registry,[v] eventually moving on in the 1990s to the promotion of rejuvenation and longevity via HGH (human growth hormone) injections,[vi] and, ultimately, the establishment of his own constitutional monarchy in the Caribbean.

Press Coverage

Pre-Utopia

  • Talley, Olive (7 Dec. 1984), "Man changed vagabond life into story of success", Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, TX): 27-A, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/638516119/, "He invented toys, liquid cleaners and some food products, including an item called 'Otter Pops,' fruit flavored frozen popsicles still sold on the West Coast. 'I invented a lot of items and products I sold that the world could easily do without,' Turney said. 'In 1976, I decided that if I was going to develop products, it would be things that would be beneficial to mankind.' In 1979, Turney formed King James Shrimp Co., a commercial shrimp-growing operation near Chicago — 1,000 miles from any ocean. He invented a process to make sea water and built a biological filtration system to grow shrimp year around. He believes that his process will one day provide an inexpensive food source to feed the poor." 
  • Talley, Olive (7 Jan. 1985), "Former dropout turns imagination into millions", Odessa American (Odessa, TX): 5-B, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/299558749/, "Turney's biggest money-making project is the construction, sale and operation of cogeneration power plants throughout the country. Because Systems International Inc. is privately held, its financial figures are not public." 

New Utopia

Legal Documents

  • SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION v. LAZARUS R. LONG (a/k/a Howard Turney), individually and doing business as NEW UTOPIA Civil Action No. 99CV0257BU(M), USDC, ND/OK, (Tulsa Division), https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/lr16110.txt

    Today Judge Michael Burrage, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Oklahoma, Tulsa Division, granted the Commission's request for an emergency restraining order to halt a fraudulent nationwide Internet scheme involving the offer and sale of a bogus $350 million bond offering. According to the Commission's Complaint, Lazarus R. Long, a/k/a/ Howard Turney, and doing business as New Utopia, used an Internet website called "New Utopia" to entice and solicit investor funds for the development of a supposed new "tax haven" country called "New Utopia." This new country would be located approximately 115 miles west of the Cayman Islands. According to its website, New Utopia is a country that will rise from the Caribbean on giant concrete platforms built on an underwater land mass. In addition to offering the unregistered bonds, Long represented that currency investments in New Utopia would yield up to a 200% market rate of return. "Prince" Long used E-mail to tell investors that they could buy a New Utopia government 5 year note at 9.5%, and invited them to become charter citizens of the new country. Long has also touted his Internet offering through the use of print and radio media, including the London Times, Dallas Morning News and a nationally syndicated radio show. The complaint reveals that Long's Internet website received over 100,000 Internet "hits." The site itself is over 100 (printed) pages with electronic links to numerous other sites.

  • SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION v. LAZARUS R. LONG (a/k/a HOWARD TURNEY individually and doing business as New utopia,) USDC/NDOK/TULSA CA No. 99CV 0257BU(M), https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/lr16425.htm

    The Complaint, which was filed by the Commission on April 8, 1999, alleged that between May 1998 and March 1999, Long offered and sold securities over the Internet to purportedly fund a new country he claimed was being developed in the middle of the Caribbean Ocean. Long named his new country "New Utopia." In connection with the sales of the New Utopia securities, the Complaint alleged that Long made material misrepresentations and omissions concerning, among other things, the status of construction of the project, the companies associated with the project, the safety of the investment, and the status of the Commission's investigation into his activities. Long was successful in raising $24,000 from the sales of securities.

Notes

  1. ↑ After the character Lazarus Long in Robert Heinlein's Time Enough for Love (1973).
  2. ↑ Per Talley, "Man changed vagabond life into story of success," in Fort Worth Star-Telegram of 7 Dec. 1984; in later reports on his activities, Turney described himself as a distributor without mention that he invented the products.
  3. ↑ Turney's Systems International Inc., incorporated in 1983, dissolved by 1987 due to tax forfeiture: https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_tx/0065965200
  4. ↑ Turney reported that he had developed a method for the bulk harvesting of shrimp raised in artificial pools, plans that involved his companies Aquabiotics, Inc., King James Shrimp Co., and Systems International Inc., his power plant company.
  5. ↑ Turney ran a privately-run index of unnamed stars as the Cheon Star Educational Trust of Houston. The program was criticised by the International Astronomical Union, which claimed the sole right to name stars.
  6. ↑ Through the auspices of El Doral Rejuvenation and Longevity Institute in Mexico.
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