This letter was sent far before I started my investigation into her, and there are many more to follow. I encourage you to do your own research into the claims made in the letter (as I have), so you can see for yourself that the claims made are all 100% legitimate.

As you can see, corruption and conflicts of interest are running rampant in the Florida NPC, and the president of the organization, Jim Manion, is well aware of the situation and has been for quite some time. Many people within the organization are calling for Ms. Dey to be removed from her position, and their numerous well-documented requests are falling on deaf ears. This letter was sent far before I started my investigation into her, and there are many more to follow (note: if the letter is too blurry for you, click on it, and you will be taken to a page where it is more easily read):

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Taken from CorporationWiki.com: * Club Boom, Inc: Incorporated by Robert A Rosetti, Club Boom, Inc. is located at 182 Coquina Key Dr Ormond Beach, FL 32176. Club Boom, Inc. was incorporated on Wednesday, September 22, 2004 in the State of FL and is currently active. Shannon Dey represents Club Boom, Inc. as their registered agent.

Taken from WCTV.TV:

A fitness club owner arrested last week is now facing additional charges in a credit card fraud scheme.

Valdosta Police arrested 46-year-old Michael Vona on Friday in front of the Boom Fitness Club.

Mike Vona of Boom Fitness is now facing twelve counts of identity theft — that’s up from the 8 counts he faced on Friday.

Police say he’s been pulling thousands of dollars from his clients’ bank accounts.

The Valdosta Police Department spent today typing up reports from the town’s most recent fraud victims.

So far, 35 Boom Fitness members have filed police reports, stating they’ve had money withdrawn from their bank accounts without authorization.

“We’ve had people that join on a monthly basis for ten dollars a month and come to find out within a month they’ve had $100-$150 taken out of their account. It’s bad that people go to a place to make themselves better and come to find out they’re getting ripped off,” said Officer Brian Becton of the Valdosta Police Department.

Police say fraud victims continue to flood their station and their detectives are working hard to investigate each and every report.

The judge did deny bond for Mike Vona. Officers say they have reason to believe Vona is a flight risk, meaning if he did post bond and leave jail, he may not show up for his trial.

Police say this has been going on for at least two to three months and they say Vona has NOT given a reason as to why he took the money.

————————————————————————–

Updated 11;51 a.m. (5/11/09)

Valdosta Police Department has charged Mike Vona with four more counts of credit card fraud.

Vona is now charged with 12 counts of credit card fraud.

Also, a no-bond has been issued for Vona since authorities believe he poses a flight risk and may flee the country if bonded from jail.

—————————————————
Shrinking waistlines turn into shrinking bank accounts for some members of a Valdosta fitness club.

Now, police have arrested the owner in connection with multiple cases of credit card fraud.

Around 3 PM on Friday, Valdosta Police arrested 46-year-old Mike Vona in front of the Boom Fitness Club in Valdosta. They say he’s been pulling money from his clients’ bank accounts.

Strapped in handcuffs, Michael Vona is the number one suspect in a credit card fraud investigation at a fitness club.

When asked if he took money from his clients, Vona responded, “Absolutely not.”

Vona is the former owner of Boom Fitness Club in Valdosta, where police say he illegally took thousands of dollars from his clients’ bank accounts, including Valdosta Police Captain James Waters.

“On Tuesday of this week I overheard another officer complaining about a fitness center called Boom Fitness,” said Waters.

Waters had no idea trying to get fit would lead him to become a fraud victim.

“He was telling me that he had some illegal, unauthorized transactions from his checking account. So I called my bank to check on mine and sure enough, there was four unauthorized uses of my debit card,” said Waters.

Police say Waters is one of many victims who are furious about their missing money.

“I feel like I’ve been betrayed. I trusted these people to do the right thing,” said Jacquie Coker.

While these victims have lost more than just weight at this gym, the new owner is working hard to make sure each case is resolved.

“I just hope everybody gets their money back and all these issues resolved but it’s in their hands now,” said Scott Chapman, the new owner of Boom Fitness Club.

“The humorous part of this is when I went out to join, I told ‘em I wanted to get lighter. I just didn’t know they were gonna lighten my pocketbook, ” said Waters.

Vona is being charged with eight counts of financial transaction card fraud.

Police say the victims will eventually get their money back, but they do not know when.

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A lot of the top girls wear her suits, and she’s a pretty big deal in the world of stitching sequins to thongs.

Well apparently, she was upset because yesterday’s blog post included a picture that she happened to be in. She claims that I have defamed her, and that I don’t have permission to use her picture (which was previously published online, taken in a public place, doesn’t belong to her, and for which I credited the original photographer and site it was found on). The photo itself is important to the blog post (it shows Shannon Dey at a particular time and place that is relevant to the post), and it doesn’t diminish from the commercial value of the photo having originally been posted on Bodybuilding.com. She demanded that the picture be taken down and threatened to call her attorney. She also states “someone asked me to take a pic and I agreed” – yeah, well, that’s the point isn’t it? She was asked, by a professional photographer, working for an online site, if he could take her picture. The photo falls under “fair use” exemptions to copyright for for those reasons, and as to her claim of “defamation,” I find that laughable since I didn’t mention her at all, nor say that it was her in the photo with Shannon.

However…

Had she not mentioned calling a lawyer, or tried to throw her weight around (as if I care that she is an “IFBB Professional” or that she “makes all the suits for the pro bodybuilders“), I would have cropped her out or pixilated her face, or whatever. I’m not unreasonable. Asking politely would have gotten the picture altered immediately, but talking about defamation and how I don’t have her permission and she’s going to get a lawyer, blah blah blah, is exactly the opposite way to get me to do something. In fact, it’s a great way to get me pissed off.

I’m not taking the picture down, but I am posting her email. Oh…and here’s a hot tip: If you want to be taken seriously when you threaten to sue someone via email, try selecting a more professional font than  Comic Sans MS.

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Throughout all of this, the gym kept signing members up and allowing them to pay their monthly fees. And Shannon somehow found enough money to go to the Arnold Classic this year and get her photo taken. Hell, just because you are in debt for over a quarter million dollars, and your gym’s members have nowhere to train, doesn’t mean you can’t go to the Arnold Classic and have some fun, right Shannon?

You can read all about how much fun she had at the Arnold Classic through her Twitter account.

The following article was taken from The Daytona Beach News-Journal, detailing the closing of her gym and the vast sums of money she still owes:

Members in dark as Ormond Beach fitness club closes

By BOB KOSLOW , BUSINESS WRITER

March 3, 2010 12:05 AM

Posted in

ORMOND BEACH — Boom Athletic Club here closed Thursday night, leaving members uninformed about its future and concerned about the status of their prepaid long-term contracts and monthly automatic bank withdrawals.

“There are a lot of angry people because some are paying very high monthly memberships and others paid for years in advance,” said member Miriam Triani, a local resident.

Boom’s state license belonged to club owners, husband and wife, Robert A. Rosetti and Shannon D. Dey, but it expired Feb. 11. Because the club sold advanced memberships, they had to post a $50,000 bond to cover those memberships, according to a Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs spokesman.

Complaints and refund requests can be made online at 800helpfla.com or by calling 1 800 435-7352.

The closing caught members off guard.

“This was a real surprise, we had no warning,” member Courtney Derreberry said Monday evening upon arriving for an exercise class. “The classes were packed and the place was busy. I wonder what’s going on?”

Owners of the property at 1 S. Old Kings Road where Boom called home for the past five years, Elaine and Steve Xynidis, had a hint of trouble.

Boom’s owners had not paid rent since December, there were ongoing lease negotiations that included a possible rent delay and the Rosetti’s asked them to take over the business at the 11th hour, Elaine said. The Xynidis’ ran the racquetball and fitness center for 25 years before selling it in 2005.

“We are not physically able to do it. I do not have a membership list or know who the equipment is leased from. I don’t even have a license,” Elaine Xynidis said. “Besides, they owe us $230,000 from a loan we gave them to buy the business and they owe ABC Financial Services another $33,000.”

The financial company handles the club’s automatic withdrawal billing. The company did not return a call seeking comments.

Rosetti and Dey could not be reached for comment.

Triani said she called ABC Financial Services and was told to wait 13 days for the club to reopen and call back then to learn the status of her $12.78 monthly withdrawal contract. Closing the bank account could result in a collection agency being alerted for a nonpayment of debt, she said.

Elaine Xynidis said she is working with an attorney to learn her options of reopening the club, finding a new owner or seeking financial justice for herself and club customers through a possible criminal complaint.

“I can’t take over or resell the business if the collateral is all tied up,” she said.

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A letter from Senator Orin Hatch, the man who sponsored the Dietary Supplement Health Education Act (DSHEA) to McCain has been posted online, indicating that the Bill will not be passed in its current form.

McCain himself has not yet made any public statements to this effect. however, a letter from Senator Orin Hatch (R-UT) to McCain has been posted on the McCain senate website and indicates the current bill is dead. There is, however, the potential for a compromise Bill with Hatch, so the supplement industry is not out of the woods yet. Not too long ago, then-Senator Biden managed to pass an anti-drug bill (called the Rave Act) by tagging it onto the Amber Alert laws (inexplicably).

McCain is certainly not above similar tactics, and this situation needs to be watched closely. Now is not the time for a victory lap, it’s a time for renewed vigilance.

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(h/t to dilatedmuscle on Rx).

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You’ll also note that Clapp says “If they didn’t want to censor competitor’s URL’s they should not have put it in the contract….” or whatever. In fact, this is a lie. Without the censorship clause, he would have never sponsored the site, and the fact is that Brian wanted much more than the censorship of competing URLs; he wanted the membership to be censored with regards to talking about him and his other businesses entirely. Here’s the post where he openly states that this is a condition of his advertising:

This is typical revisionist history from Brian. Here’s another example of his Big-Shot-ism: He says his company has “six warehouses.” This is a lie. He buys from Europa, and THEY have six warehouses, not him. They ship the items, not him. Below you’ll find a screenshot of his attempt at looking like a major player in the industry, talking about all of the warehouses that DiscountSupplements has (and still trying to pretend he’s not the owner)-

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So, predictably, when Clapp pulled out (as I predicted), the members saw the opportunity to speak their minds…

…and it was censored, and posts were deleted, and the thread was removed entirely – supposedly because Clapp posted some private emails between himself and John Romano & Dave Palumbo, the site’s owners. Look, if the emails were out of line, then delete them…but don’t stop the membership from voicing their opinion. I’ve saved screenshots of the thread (because I knew they’d be censoring it), and have already posted them on my blog. It’s a sad day when a so-called  “no bullshit” and “uncensored” site becomes so prohibitive to free speech that I screenshot anything of interest, because I think it’s going to be removed (and….was…proven…right!). Honestly, it’s bad enough that it goes on, but the fact that it’s become so commonplace as to be easily predictable is shocking. I think enough of the membership from RxMuscle to not only save their posts and thoughts, but I think enough of them to publish them on my own site, unfiltered and unedited. What does that say?

And with John and Dave about to launch a magazine, who the f*ck would want to read it, if they’re going to bow down to advertisers like this? What I feel that they don’t realize, is that by working with disreputable people, and censoring their membership so heavily, they draw on the bank account that has been filled with their previous 20 years of credibility.  Like it or not, their site represents the “John and Dave” brand…and launching a successful magazine while simultaneously destroying their personal brand is an untenable situation.

AND, of course, let’s not forget that they also run Species Nutrition. I have no idea if the products themselves are high-quality or not (I’ve never used any), but they are certainly not unique, i.e. you can get protein powder and fat-burners from anyone. There isn’t a single ingredient in a Species Nutrition product that isn’t available in another, similar product, elsewhere. If you buy Species Nutrition products, you probably buy them because you like Dave, because you trust him, respect him, or because you want to support a bodybuilder-run company, or whatever. You’re not buying them because you can’t get those kinds of formulas or ingredients elsewhere. Literally every single ingredient in a Species product has already been on the market, and none were unique introductions to the nutritional supplement field.

Think about it: No nutritional company is copying his ideas. Nobody is stealing his ingredients. There are no “clones” of his products. That, in a nutshell, means nobody in the industry thinks much of the products. Hence, the brand’s somewhat limited success is predicated on the Palumbo-name. Nothing is wrong with this, although is probably comes off as somewhat harsh – I’m not saying anything that’s not a known fact within the industry.

And this brand will also take a hit when the owners of the company work with dishonest people. That is also an undeniable fact.

The censorship pissed everyone off the first time, and this time around, it’s no more palatable. Even worse is that John and Dave were never given the chance to reply to their membership, which I think would have gone a long way to healing the wounds caused by taking on such a disreputable sponsor. The now-deleted thread ran literally 4 pages, and very little support (*none) was shown towards site owners John Romano and Dave Palumbo. Members make or break a site, and membership numbers give a site like theirs (*part of) the ability to charge what they do for advertising.

And the other thing that gives them the ability to charge what they do is their industry-recognition and their credibility. Frankly, based on sheer hit/visit numbers and SEO, the cost of their advertising is grossly overpriced compared to other bodybuilding sites. The credibility and recognition of working with John and Dave is what makes up for those numbers.

Having DiscountSupplements.com on the site has greatly reduced the value of sponsorship to every single other advertiser, because it tarnished the RxMuscle.com name. And now, the censorship continues, and because Brian is still dangling money over John and Dave’s heads (”…maybe we can work together in the future…”), they haven’t openly commented on the situation. I think they owe the membership as well as their current sponsors an explanation, and I think they need to come clean about this. When the money from Brian was flowing into their pockets, they found the time to post numerous “I buy all of my supplements from DiscountSupplements.com” threads. Now they should find the time to give their members and sponsors a much-deserved explanation (read: apology). And I’m not talking about a “we did nothing wrong” kind of post…I’m talking about the kind that puts some currency back into their credibility-account. They know they f*cked up, we know they f*cked up, and their whole site knows they f*cked up. They just need to admit it and move on.

When I’m wrong, I admit it. It’s not fun, but that’s the price of credibility. The people who read my blog know that I’m usually right, but they also know that when I’m wrong, I man up and admit it.

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On a slightly more personal note, it’s a big moment because I’ve managed to get an article into the same issue as a lot of the guys who I grew up reading in the old Muscle Media 2K magazine, so that’s really mind blowing – when I was 16 I was reading articles by these guys, and now one of mine is side-by-side with theirs. Pretty cool.

If you’re at the Arnold Classic, pick up an issue, read my article, and drop me an email to let me know what you think.

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