"Chelekis agrees that getting something for practically nothing is rare, but he said that substantial bargains - between 30 and 70 percent below the appraised value - can regularly be had. Sometimes govemment officials are reticent to admit that such things happen, he said.

'Catching them in their own lies is rather fun sometimes,' he said."

by Terese Burney
St. Petersburg Times, May 24, 1989

CLEARWATER - Nearly every day, somewhere in the country, a government agency auctions something off.

The items on the block could be as mundane as a well-used police car or low-level bureaucrat's desk, or as exotic as a Porsche or mink coat confiscated from a convicted drug dealer.

Whatever is for sale, chances are most people don't know about it. And sometimes, because so few people show up to bid, the goods can be had for a bargain.

That's what George Chelekis says. About a year ago, he set out to prove it. The result was The Action Guide to Government Auctions, a paperback book that explains how to find out when and where government agencies hold auctions. The book also gives tips on bidding and explains that almost all purchases must be made in cash.

Chelekis, 37, started selling the book in January. Since then he has sold "tens of thousands" of the $79.95 book, bnnging in more than $1-million in revenue each month, he said.

Rex Publishing Co. has doubled in size just since January and now has 100 employees. People working the company's telephone banks sit nearly elbow to elbow in the Republic Bank Building and they just leased more space there.

In addition to the book, Rex Publishing's clients also get a telephone number that they can call to find out when auctions will be held in their area.

Elizabeth Gay, who is in charge of Rex Publishing's research department, can tick off bargain after bargain people have found at government auctions.

For instance, there was the house in Atlanta's expensive Dunwoody section valued at between $150,000 and $200,000. It was sold for $15 at a Sheriff's sale for back taxes about four years ago. A sheriff's department official verified that the sale occurred.

In Riverside County, Calif., a Porsche with 500 miles on it and valued at $60,000 was sold for $39,000.

In Detroit a $5,000 mink confiscated from a convicted drug dealer, with the price tag still on it, was purchased for $600.

In Providence, R.I., a fishing boat valued at between $40,000 and $50,000 was bought for $10.

"That's an aberration," said Donald White of the U.S. Marshal's office in Providence. "It's not going to happen again."

Other officials said the same thing after verifying the bargains: The truly low-priced deals are the exception, rather than the rule.

Chelekis agrees that getting something for practically nothing is rare, but he said that substantial bargains - between 30 and 70 percent below the appraised value - can regularly be had. Sometimes govemment officials are reticent to admit that such things happen, he said.

"Catching them in their own lies is rather fun sometimes," he said.

Government agencies now sell much more than used vehicles and office equipment. With new forfeiture laws, governments are allowed to confiscate and sell items that they can prove were used or bought from the proceeds of illegal activities, particularly drug smuggling. And then there are items seized by Custom officials.

Some of the items are unusual.

"What we are finding is incredible," said Ms. Gay. "There was one agency that had an authentic mummy. This stuff never ceases to amaze me."

Chelekis is not surprised his book is selling well.

"I test marketed it for two years," he said.

Chelekis also owns a public relations and advertising business in New York City called Rex Communications Inc. Rex Communications had promoted two other people's books on government auctions, but Chelekis was dissatisfied with their quality.

"They were just in it for a quick buck," he said. Yet the books sold well.

So he decided to write a similar book and do a better job. He moved his wife and 2-year-old daughter to Florida about a year ago to do it.

Because of his public relations experience, Chelekis knew just who to call to market his book. He has been buying relatively inexpensive advertising time on radio and is on the talk-show circuit.

Chelekis has three other book projects in mind for Rex Publishing. One is a children's book. The other two, he said, he can't talk about yet.

by Curtis Krueger
St. Petersburg Times, Mar. 10, 1990

City Commissioner Don Winner's campaign war chest for the mayor's race is twice the size of Mayor Rita Garvey's, according to reports filed Friday.

The documents show Winner has raised $20,685 in contributions compared with $9,816 for Garvey. Garvey also listed $1,145.60 in in-kind contributions.

In other races, candidate Lee Savage has raised $15,288 in contributions, far more than any of his four opponents for City Commission seat 3.

Most of the money is being spent on the traditional costs of campaigning, such as newspaper and radio ads, brochures, signs and so on.

Winner's advertising includes radio spots donated by Rex Publishing Co., 519 Cleveland St. George Chelekis, president of the company, said he has taken various Scientology courses. He said the Scientology courses strengthened his belief in the Greek Orthodox Church.

Scientologists follow the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard, the late science fiction writer. The Church of Scientology maintains its spiritual headquarters in Clearwater. Members say Scientology is a genuine nligion, critics brand it a cult or a moneymaking operation.

Winner said that at the time he accepted the ads he did not know anyone at Rex Publishing might be a Scientologist. If he had known, he said, he's not sure if he would have refused the contribution. But he said he would have frowned on a contribution from any organization formally affiliated with the Church of Scientology.

Chelekis said in a prepared statement, "There is no formal connection between Rex Publishing Co. and any church. There never was and never will be."

Chelekis said Garvey has been unresponsive to his complaints about alcoholics and prostitutes in downtown Clearwater. He said he met with Winner and was impressed with his ideas for solving several of Clearwater's problems.

Winner has said previously that he would like to see the Church of Scientology move out of Clearwater; but he has pointed out the city can't force anyone out of town.

"My feeling is that i would have refused the ads," Garvey said.

The campaign reports also show Rex Publishing gave $900 in in-kind contributions for radio ads to Jay F. Keyes, a commission candidate.

"If I'd known, I wouldn't have taken them," Keyes said. He pointed out that he was once active in a group called the Scientology Victims Defense Fund, which he described as an organization designed to help former Scientologists.

The campaign reports show city employees' unions gave the largest contributions in the mayoral race. The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) and the Clearwater Firefighters Association each gave $1,000 to Garvey's campaign. She also received $100 from a union of police sergeants and lieutenants and $60 in in-kind contributions from the Communications Workers of America, which represents general city employees. The unions collectively endorsed Garvey.

However, Winner earlier reported receiving a donation of $50 from the FOP and $100 from the firefighters association. Peter Fire, president of FOP Lodge 10, said the union bought tickets to a fund-raiser before the endorsements were made.

The reports, which cover the period from Feb. 24 through Thursday, show Winner received a $250 donation from Clearpac, the political action committee affiliated with the Greater Clearwater Chamber of Commerce. Clearpac endorsed Winner.

Winner also received $500 from the Realtors Political Action Committee.

Although this is a non-partisan campaign, Garvey also received $100 from the Democratic Women's Club of Upper Pinellas.

The reports also show:

Commission candidate Sue Berfield collected $6,984 in contributions, $346 in in-kind contributions and a loan of $100. She also received contributions from the city employees unions, as did Garvey.

Keyes collected $4,436 in contributions and $2,317 in in-kind contributions.

Commission candidate Frank Mason has collected a total of $825. This includes the $800 he loaned to the campaign.

Savage received $1,000 from the Chamber's political action committee and $300 from the Realtors Political Action Committee.

Commission candidate Robert E. Wright collected contributions of $1,775 and loans of $200.

"Winner said that at the time he accepted the ads he did not know anyone at Rex Publishing might be a Scientologist. If he had known, he said, he's not sure if he would have refused the contribution. But he said he would have frowned on a contribution from any organization formally affiliated with the Church of Scientology."

by Curtis Krueger
St. Petersburg Times, Apr. 17, 1990

U.S. marshals claim Rex Publishing Co. in Clearwater is using misleading advertising to sell its books about government auctions.

But George Ckelekis, president of Rex, says the Marshals Service is just upset that he has exposed some government giveaways. Rex Publishing sells a 560-page book explaining how to buy property through government auctions.

The Marshals Service, which handles some of the auctions mentioned in the book, says Rex is exaggerating claims about the deals that people can find at government sales, spokesman Stephen Boyle said.

One of the company's ads in a national magazine mads. "I BOUGHT A $50,000 BOAT FOR ONLY $10."

Boyle, based in Washington, D.C., said such ads make it sound as though the federal government gives away valuable property that it could sell.

"They give the misleading impression that the public can purchase objects seized from drug traffickers and other criminals at a fraction of their true value. That simply is not the case, Boyie said.

The Marshals Service sells goods at auctions for about 90 percent of the appraised value, Boyle said.

While insisting that the boat example was an aberration, Boyle acknowledged that such a boat was sold in Rhode Island because the Marshals Service failed to set a minimum bid for the boat. "It did happen. We know it happened. It shouldn't have happened," Boyle said.

The Marshals Service has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether the magazine and radio ads violate federal rules requiring truth in advertising.

"I would have thought the Marshals Service would behave more professionally in these matters," Chelekis said in a written statement. "They seem pretty frantic and eager to force me to stop talking about that $10 boat."

By Curtis Krueger and Sue Carlton
St. Petersburg Times, Jul. 8, 1991

George Chelekis was making money and making headlines in downtown Clearwater.

He was the successful businessman who employed 100 workers and claimed his company pulled in $1-million a month.

He was the brash publisher who embarrassed government bureaucrats, showing how they sometimes gave away surplus property at ridiculous, fire-sale prices.

But now the one-time president of Rex Publishing Co. has taken on a new persona:

The missing person.

At least six companies are chasing Chelekis or Rex Publishing and demanding a total of more than half a million dollars. In Hillsborough County, a judge ordered him to spend five days in jail for contempt of court.

They haven't found him. Chelekis, the seemingly successful businessman and the brash publisher, appears to be in hiding.

"I've had a lot of people that have called me from all over the country trying to find him," said Larry Linder, whose real estate business is in the same building Rex used, at 519 Cleveland St. "I've had former customers in here, I've had former employees and I've had creditors."

He doesn't know where to send them.

Chelekis, originally from New York, moved to Florida more than three years ago, he said in a 1989 interview with the St. Petenburg Times.

He set up a business office on the western end of Cleveland Street, where many of the business owners, including him, were Scientologists. Clearwater is the spiritual headquarters for the Church of Scientology, which members call a religion and critics call a cult.

Rex Publishing started selling its prime product, The Action Guide to Government Auctions, in 1989. The book gave information on how to buy property through government auctions and strongly hinted that outrageous bargains were available.

Chelekis used ads in The New Yorker and elsewhere that drew customers quickly. The New Yorker ad carried the headline: "I BOUGHT A $50,000 BOAT FOR ONLY $10."

Red-faced government officials admitted that the sale took place, but called it an "aberration" that would not happen again.

The company ran radio ads in several big cities. Chelekis was quoted in the Washington Post and other publications and told tales of other fantastic deals.

In a written statement he gave to a St. Petersburg Times reporter last year, Chelekis said: "My company and I have received national and international attention, have appeared on television and radio throughout the United States, and have appeared in newspaper articles throughout the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, England and Europe."

He added: "By the way, I always mentioned that I was from Clearwater, Florida. This has been very good public relations for Clearwater."

But not all the relations with the public were good.

In 1990 and this year, more than a dozen people filed complaints with the Pinellas County Department of Consumer Affairs, saying that Rex wasn't living up to its money-back guarantee.

Some of the complaints came from people who called the auction book outdated and virtually worthless, and said they couldn't get refunds.

Joseph DellaRocco of Sparta, N.J., ordered $140 worth of the auction books in the summer of 1990, was dissatisfied, and asked for a refund. He didn't get one, according to county records.

"In essence, they have stolen my money," DellaRocco wrote.

In a letter to Rex, he said: "I could never believe that $140 means nothing to you. It means a great deal to me, since I am unemployed."

Most of the complaints eventually were resolved, although the file does not indicate whether DellaRocco was repaid.

But that file and others do say the Clearwater Police Department was investigating whether Rex's staff was making unauthorized sales to customers on their credit cards.

At least two of the people who complained said that they were charged by Rex for books they never ordered.

And in March, a credit-card processing company, the National Bancard Corp., or NABANCO, filed a lawsuit against Rex.

It accused the company of racking up $341,600 worth of "chargebacks." A chargeback is the term used when someone's credit card is charged for a purchase that they did not make, or for defective merchandise.

In January, the state Department of Revenue slapped Rex with a warrant for failing to pay delinquent sales taxes, plus penalties and interest, of $7,339.82. The company paid it, but in May there was another warrant for $10,393.60. The company paid that, too.

In the meantime, Chelekis' creditors were getting fed up:

Orix Credit Alliance of New York filed suit in May, claiming that Rex Publishing Co. and Chelekis (misspelled as "Chalekes") had stopped making rental payments of $348.44 per month on equipment.

WOR-AM of New York filed suit in May, claiming that Rex Publishing and Rex Communications owed advertising costs of $5,580.

Georgia Television Co. obtained a final judgment against Rex Publishing this year ordering the company to pay $25,369.66.

Radio stations KPLX and KLIF of Texas sued in May for $21,996.67.

TMC of Southwest Florida sued Rex Publications for failing to pay for long-distance telephone service and for other violations of a contract.

In March, a circuit judge in Hilisborough County ordered Rex to pay TMC $122,508.34.

After the judgment, Chelekis was ordered to appear before attorneys April 20. He didn't show. That's when a Hillsborough judge ruled that he should spend five days in jail for contempt of court. Jail officials said they had no record of him having served his time.

The judge wasn't the only one who wanted to find Chelekis.

NABANCO submitted a subpoena demanding that Chelekis appear for a deposition in May. It warned him that by failing to appear, "You may be in contempt of court." But the process server couldn't find him. Orix couldn't, either, after three tries.

Rex Publishing was dissolved last month. Steven L. Hayes, a Los Angeles lawyer who has represented Rex Publishing, said he could not comment on Chelekis' whereabouts or on whether he was handling any current cases for the defunct company.

But at least one company formed by Chelekis survives.

In February, Chelekis formed a new company, called Raynercourt Limited. Two months later, he sold it to Victor Burton, according to county records.

Burton maintains an office at 1150 Kapp Drive, off Hercules Avenue in Clearwater. He said he used to work for Chelekis as a researcher but he hasn't seen his old boss in a long time and doesn't know how to contact him.

Burton said Raynercourt's main business is to contact foreign investors and tell them about real estate for sale in the United States.

Asked why Chelekis left his businesses, Burton speculated, "I think he personally got more satisfaction from creative writing than being in business."

Burton denied knowing the cause of Chelekis' business problems.

"lt's a bit of a mystery, as far as I'm concerned," Burton said.

"At least six companies are chasing Chelekis or Rex Publishing and demanding a total of more than half a million dollars. In Hillsborough County, a judge ordered him to spend five days in jail for contempt of court. They haven't found him. Chelekis, the seemingly successful businessman and the brash publisher, appears to be in hiding."

"After the judgment, Chelekis was ordered to appear before attorneys April 20. He didn't show. That's when a Hillsborough judge ruled that he should spend five days in jail for contempt of court. Jail officials said they had no record of him having served his time."

"The judge wasn't the only one who wanted to find Chelekis. NABANCO submitted a subpoena demanding that Chelekis appear for a deposition in May. It warned him that by failing to appear, 'You may be in contempt of court.' But the process server couldn't find him. Orix couldn't, either, after three tries."