CHARLESTON – An official in the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office says there were red flags when a man came into his office earlier this year and allegedly tried to illegally wrestle control of a mining company from its proper owner.
Stephen Moscicki sent someone to the office earlier this year to file paperwork to gain control of Montito Natural Resources, which was and is owned by Geoff Coady.
“This came on my radar when I received a call from an attorney in Kentucky named (Michael or Mike) Lyons,” Chris Alder told The West Virginia Record. “He wanted to come file something. An AAO, which is a really easy and simple form to change agents of a company. It’s one page, and it costs $15 to file. It’s just easy.”
Alder
| Courtesy photo
Alder is Deputy General Counsel and Division Director for Business & Licensing for the SOS office.
“So about a week or so later, this man comes in,” Alder said. “I don’t know if it was his real name or not, but it’s this Lyons guy. He says he is working for Moscicki and wanted to fill out the paperwork. He was here for four or five hours. He was sweaty. He clearly was nervous. He walked out one time with a clipboard and couldn’t figure out this simple one-page form.
“It was bizarre. We deal with all sorts of people, from sophisticated business people to people who can’t or write who want to start their own business. We get all sorts, but this one stuck out. We all were saying, ‘Who was that weird guy?’”
Moscicki also was involved in a situation that led to a $1 million McDowell County lawsuit against another coal company regarding an accusation of unpaid services.
Last week, a six-member jury listened to evidence and convened for about 20 minutes before rendering its verdict in favor of Geoff Coady and Montito Natural Resources after Phillips Management Firm and James Phillips sued them for allegedly not paying about $997,000 for services rendered.
“Despite the ‘evidence plaintiffs’ counsel argues in his Motion to Set Aside or Vacate the judgment this court entered on the Jury’s Defense Verdict, the jury determined the credibility of the witnesses and the weight to be given to any and all evidence,” the July 26 final order from Circuit Judge Edward Kornish states. “The jury determined the plaintiff (Phillips) was not credible, defendant Montito’s evidence was credible and believable, plaintiff’s ‘purported’ ‘contract’ was not a contract, and plaintiff failed to carry his burden of persuasion.”
The order also notes the plaintiffs never even served Coady, who resides in Australia.
Coady said Montito entered into an agreement with Stephen Moscicki on February 7. But he says Moscicki didn’t perform to his satisfaction. Coady told The Record he’s talked to the SOS office as well as the West Virginia State Police about the issue.
Also, the man who filled out the AAO form in the SOS office listed Phillips as co-director of Montito. When that form was delivered to the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office, officials became suspicious of the document’s accuracy and legality.
“The resultant investigation demonstrated doubt that it was lawfully authorized, and the AAO filing was reversed with internal case file instructions to have all future changes for Montito Corporation approved by me personally,” Alder wrote in a July 20 letter.
In addition, Alder said there was a similar lawsuit filed in 2017 in Virginia involving Moscicki.
“It was a similar contractual trap to assert control,” Alder told The Record. “I looked it up when I was trying to figure out who all of these people were. It just struck me as how similar they were to this issue we had here in the Secretary of State’s office.”
After looking at the documents filed by the attorney claiming to work for Moscicki, Alder said he quickly realized it was fraudulent.
“We undid that filing once it was brought to our attention and we were able to do our due diligence,” he said. “I also put a note in the file that none of my staff can touch this file without me being involved.”
Alder said he also doesn’t think the attorney, who identified himself as Lyons, is who he said he was.
“There is only one Michael Lyons who practices law in Kentucky, and he didn’t practice anywhere close to where this guy said he was from. … Maybe there is an answer to that story, but I’m less than certain that guy is who he said he was.”
Alder said he also doesn’t think it was Moscicki because he’s a British citizen
“Nobody (in his office) has forgotten that guy, and we all know the names,” Alder said.
Alder said the actions of the people behind the attempted Montito takeover violated state code that the SOS office enforces.
“But we’re not prosecutors,” Alder said. “What happens is that we often refer such matters to a prosecutor. We know prosecutors have a lot on their agendas, and these sorts of cases are not always picked up.”
He said no further legal action has taken place in the matter yet, but he said that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s over. He said a prosecutor still could be looking into the case.
A quick search for Stephen Moscicki online shows he is listed as CEO of First Coal LLC, M&M Freight LLC and MPC International Developers LLC.
And since 2019, Moscicki has been appointed director of at least six British-based companies, according to a U.K. government website. All of them list the same North Yorkshire address. The companies named are Gem Holdings Ltd., S&L Islands Ltd., Carleton Lodge Developments Ltd., White Bear Resources Ltd., Panther Resources Ltd., The Bear Mining Group Ltd. and Blue Bear Mining Ltd.
He was appointed director of one of those companies – The Bear Mining Group – on May 11, which is the same day he attempted to take control of Montito in the West Virginia SOS office.
“You have to wonder about that company in (England), Alder said. “Is that really the end of this? Is the company acting on behalf of someone else, even one in an unfriendly country? I will say the U.K. company also looked weird to me. Odd is about as far as I’ll go on that.
“But we here at the Secretary of State’s office are aware that there are reasons to be alert when it comes to the energy sector. There are lots of people around the world who would like to get their teeth in the American energy industry.”