My Weasel Traps Are Set And Working

According to Webster, a weasel is not only a carnivorous mammal feeding on other animals, but is also a "cunning, sneaky person." It goes on to say, "to be deceptive or evasive in actions or speech; to renege on or escape from a commitment or duty." As a follow up to my previous Blog titled Weasel Hunting Season Has Begun, this Blog is about trapping the biggest weasel in the county. The intelligent reader might not always know what a weasel looks like until they actually get duped by one. So this episode is about how I discovered a big fat vermin scavenging in my own office.


As a youngster, I loved watching 60 Minutes and would patiently wait for Andy Rooney's signature end-piece. I also enjoyed listening to Paul Harvey's, "The Rest of the Story." These two men along with Judge Wapner (The People's Court) became my idols as a teenager. I appreciated and respected people who were assertive and had the courage to speak their minds or call people out when being unscrupulous. I always found comfort in justice prevailing. Lots of weasels were exposed through these venues. Well, what you are about to read is, my version of. . . “Whodda thunk” a wine-sipping weasel was running Foyer Magazine.


I was approached shortly after opening Preferred Properties by Nikki Ellenburg, AKA Nick Ellenburg. He announced he had been asked to leave Coldwell Banker. He explained his immediate exit from Coldwell Banker was a result of recently getting his Broker's License. He informed me that Coldwell Banker was threatened by his new designation as a Broker. Later on I discovered, according to his clients, Nick Ellenburg tried to cut his previous broker out of 2 real estate transactions and did a trade for the commission (under the table) with the seller. Nick was always looking for a new way to skin a cat.


So being naive and trusting. . . I told him I would think about bringing him on as an agent in my company - I had a little hesitancy - after all, I was a new broker myself. When I hesitated, Nick jumped in and said, “I am prepared to offer you two full pages in Foyer in exchange for a generous commission split. Foyer Magazine is thriving as Walla Walla County’s only full glossy lifestyle magazine and we are up to 16,000 copies each publication.” This information sold me on signing Nick on as an agent for my company. It penciled out when I looked at my advertising budget and the additional exposure my listings would receive.



Early in 2007, Nick came to me with a proposal for moving my office downtown for better visibility. He planned to lease a space for Foyer and wanted me to lease the space next door. The only catch was there was close to $20,000 worth of remodel work that needed to be done to both these suites. I agreed and remodeled both because some of the Real Estate offices would be in the suite Foyer was leasing. We moved into the suites middle of March and Preferred Properties was now downtown next to Foyer Magazine. Foyer/Nick Ellenburg was 3+ months into his lease when he was served with a "get out you haven't paid your rent notice". I freaked out because I spent a lot of time and money remodeling the suite and I used a portion of his suite for office space. I then agreed to assume his lease to the tune of about $1500 a month in exchange for 2 more pages of advertising in Foyer. This new trade made sense because Foyer was growing and up to about 20,000 copies each month (or so Nick claimed).



Over the course of the next couple months I started receiving alarming calls from investors and employees of Foyer. The designer quit and was owed $16,000. New designers were brought on, never paid and quit, two investors were seeking judgments, one for $40,000 and the other for $25,000. I addressed these concerns with Nick and he always had an explanation - usually a really good story that made him look like this poor victim who was just a magazine publisher struggling to survive - stories like, "I am getting a divorce; I just discovered my wife has not been paying the bills." Then his wife Angela would come into the office in tears pretending not to know how to deal with Nick (trying to evoke sympathy and compassion from me which initially worked). After a while, I saw through his double talk con job and asked him to leave my company. I was not going to be affiliated with someone so deceptive and malicious. Once word got out of my extricating myself from Foyer and Nick Ellenburg, I received more calls and concerns from advertisers, Foyer Writers, and investors who had all been duped.



I learned this smooth talking salesman had a nickname, "Slick Nick." He was very charming, calm and convincing. I finally realized Nick's modus operandi was self-serving and that he was willing to lie, cheat and steal at the communities expense. Not only was I outraged by what he had done to me, but to the large group of advertisers, former employees and investors – all local people. In addition to this, I was tipped off by someone in the advertising industry that he was not publishing as many magazines as he professed. I was given the name of Scott Rowland of Lynx Publishing in Salem, Oregon. I called Scott and talked to him on the phone and explained the situation. Scott told me "off the record" that Nick Ellenburg was printing less than 10,000 copies a month. I asked Scott Rowland if he will please give me the print receipts that proved this . . . Scott Rowland said, "If your attorney will contact me, I will cooperate and turn over the print receipts." So, I had my attorney, Bill McCool contact Scott Rowland. From that point the circus began. . .A circus orchestrated by Nick Ellenburg himself in an obvious attempt to distract and confuse everyone, and to pull the attention away from himself and Foyer Magazine, Nick Ellenburg maliciously came up with a ridiculous, unfounded charge against my attorney, Bill McCool. In addition, it was obvious Nick was trying to get me back for attempting to seek justice (i.e., firing him from Preferred Properties and trying to conceal how many Foyer Magazines had been printed).



What happened next . . . Nick Ellenburg went to the Sheriff’s office and falsely accused my attorney of trying to obtain financial information, in reality, we were only trying to get a number of how many magazines where printed each month. The reason we needed to know this was to prove that Nick Ellenburg had lied and deceived about the number of publications that advertisers where paying for. So now the Attorney General is involved and my attorney is having to jump through hoops to prove the allegation/charge is FALSE. This chaps my hide because now, not only has Nick Ellenburg screwed over the investors, designers, writers, advertisers and me – BUT NOW the taxpayers! What a waste of taxpayer money. But, then again, would you expect anything less from a weasel?


Of course the Sheriff’s office has a duty to investigate all complaints. However, it does seem that law enforcement has been overly zealous in wanting to sink their teeth into this one. Why? Is it because they have a chance to prosecute one of the most prominent, successful, high-profile, criminal defense attorneys in the State of Washington?



I realize to some, Bill McCool is a name that screams controversy. People either love him or hate him. For those that aren’t fans of Bill McCool – they will tell you if they get into trouble - whether they are guilty or innocent the first person they will call is Bill McCool. And for those of us that know Bill McCool on a personal level, I have this to say. Bill McCool is a good person through and through. He is the type of guy that will give you the shirt of his back if he thought you needed it. He is by the book and ethical. If he “gets people off” it is because they were innocent or there has been an oversight and he finds the technicality. This is his job and he is good at it. I stand behind my attorney and appreciate the fact that he tried to help me seek justice by trapping a weasel.


The bench trial is set for this Wednesday (September 9th) and if you have been taken advantage of by Nick Ellenburg or Foyer Magazine I hope you show up. So far, 4 individuals who have been burned by Nick Ellenburg to the tune of $100,000 plan to be present.