Solar's David Ringer siphoned $800k+ from Club..

scrdad wrote:"no one questioned his bookkeeping until just a few months ago when checks to coaches started to bounce" -- that's a quote from the story. However, my understanding is that this situation was discovered over a year ago and Solar coaches have been getting paid this season. I feel uncomfortable asking a coach if he's getting paid, so does anyone know if the Solar coaches are all up-to-date on their comp? Thanks.

scrdad,

The story may be a little misleading. Last year Solar was going through some hard times dealing with the loss of the Prince of Peace fields (Prince of Peace wanted to build a football stadium on the land). POP used a loop hole in their contract with Solar to end the field partnership with Solar two years before the contract would expire. After this ordeal Solar decided to build their own soccer complex. After many months of looking and negotiating on several sites Solar procured the rights to a piece of land and procured a bank loan. All they needed was a hefty investment up front to get the deal to go through (they still needed a variance to build a soccer complex on the land). Solar approached its parents and associates for donations towards the complex. During this process there seemed to be some reluctance by David Ringer to release financial information to some of the parents who were willing to give Solar substantial money. No one wants to put up large sums of money without looking at the books, so to speak. So the soccer complex deal seemed to be faltering because no financial information was being released. During this time period a parent got a hold of 2 years of Solar back tax returns, public records, that had what seemed to be some substantial fees being paid to David Ringer over a two year period. This was brought to the attention of the other Solar board members. After closer inspection of the details the board decided that it was in the best interest of Solar if David Ringer would step down. A new temporary management team was brought in and a more robust management structure was initiated. To my knowledge all coaches have been and are up to date with their fees since this ordeal went down.

My speculation is that the reason this is hitting the news now is possibly because Solar has finished its audits of the books back several years and have decided to try and recoup some of the money in question. And evidently Ringer has decided to file bankruptcy to protect himself from having to pay the money back.

I am not a spokesperson for Solar so take any of this at face value. Unsubstantiated gossip on a soccer chat forum.

soccergrinder wrote:

scrdad wrote:"no one questioned his bookkeeping until just a few months ago when checks to coaches started to bounce" -- that's a quote from the story. However, my understanding is that this situation was discovered over a year ago and Solar coaches have been getting paid this season. I feel uncomfortable asking a coach if he's getting paid, so does anyone know if the Solar coaches are all up-to-date on their comp? Thanks.

scrdad,

The story may be a little misleading. Last year Solar was going through some hard times dealing with the loss of the Prince of Peace fields (Prince of Peace wanted to build a football stadium on the land). POP used a loop hole in their contract with Solar to end the field partnership with Solar two years before the contract would expire. After this ordeal Solar decided to build their own soccer complex. After many months of looking and negotiating on several sites Solar procured the rights to a piece of land and procured a bank loan. All they needed was a hefty investment up front to get the deal to go through (they still needed a variance to build a soccer complex on the land). Solar approached its parents and associates for donations towards the complex. During this process there seemed to be some reluctance by David Ringer to release financial information to some of the parents who were willing to give Solar substantial money. No one wants to put up large sums of money without looking at the books, so to speak. So the soccer complex deal seemed to be faltering because no financial information was being released. During this time period a parent got a hold of 2 years of Solar back tax returns, public records, that had what seemed to be some substantial fees being paid to David Ringer over a two year period. This was brought to the attention of the other Solar board members. After closer inspection of the details the board decided that it was in the best interest of Solar if David Ringer would step down. A new temporary management team was brought in and a more robust management structure was initiated. To my knowledge all coaches have been and are up to date with their fees since this ordeal went down.

My speculation is that the reason this is hitting the news now is possibly because Solar has finished its audits of the books back several years and have decided to try and recoup some of the money in question. And evidently Ringer has decided to file bankruptcy to protect himself from having to pay the money back.

I am not a spokesperson for Solar so take any of this at face value. Unsubstantiated gossip on a soccer chat forum.

That all sounds plausible. If the treasury hadn't been raided, would the $$ for the soccer complex have been there? Sounds like maybe it would have,( although maybe it would have been spent on something else too).

Ringer was probably like that guy in FARGO at the car dealership, writing things so small that the fax machine would not print them legibly, lol

anselansel wrote:Ringer was probably like that guy in FARGO at the car dealership, writing things so small that the fax machine would not print them legibly, lol

Exactly; his stomach must have been tied in three kinds of knots when those potential contributors started asking to see the books. Wonder what he spent $800K on?

I wonder if it is the organization or its bonding agent trying to recoup. It is inconcievable that an organization with such sustantial monies would not bond every person with checking account access.

soccergirl11 wrote:It is so sad when you think of someone being in charge of an organzation that is built for kids and for them to steal from them. Do you not have any ethics or morals? This is my first time to post on here and I felt like it was time to say something about this. Just sad!!

I agree. I am learning more and more about these clubs and the more I hear the more I am very put off. If this man is truly guilty of such theft what amazes me even more is the lack of common business sense in not having any checks and balances system in place all this time so one individual wouldn't have all this power or sole access to the money. But hey if Solar wants to regain some of its cash back to build its own fields might I suggest a book or movie deal. This organization has all the makings of a bestseller from what I hear. Now this? Crazy stuff.

from the looks of ringer, i would say some ladies at the local strip bar received some substantial coin......

I agree with ringer issue its surprising how much this big soccer clubs charge there players just enough to pay coaches an extra income and enough for ringer to live off of aswell. Its a shame how someone like ringer can steall money from kids like that. Its also surprising how parents agree to pay this soccer clubs that much money to have there kids benched so a better player can play with the benches players money. Ive seen it so much, well heard it from many parents that have been in big clubs they pay upto $2500 and there kid gets put in da field 5 minutes. Hey lucky the ones dat do know how to play. Me and my son are new at this but ive heard so much from parents here and there, that have already been in those clubs. I hope my cjild doesmt get put threw all dat bench situation

uh, dat is not a real word unless you are presenting at the hip hop awards banquet........

Steve Rice was convicted and did jail time in the 80's for embezzling from North Texas State Soccer Association. The bookeeper for the Lightning pleaded a deal (I believe) 00's for embezzling.
Why is Mr. Ringer not being criminally charged for embezzling?

anselansel wrote:uh, dat is not a real word unless you are presenting at the hip hop awards banquet........

anselansel wrote:uh, dat is not a real word unless you are presenting at the hip hop awards banquet........

Or unless you last name is Nguyen, perhaps.

crfan wrote:

soccergirl11 wrote:It is so sad when you think of someone being in charge of an organzation that is built for kids and for them to steal from them. Do you not have any ethics or morals? This is my first time to post on here and I felt like it was time to say something about this. Just sad!!

I agree. I am learning more and more about these clubs and the more I hear the more I am very put off. If this man is truly guilty of such theft what amazes me even more is the lack of common business sense in not having any checks and balances system in place all this time so one individual wouldn't have all this power or sole access to the money. But hey if Solar wants to regain some of its cash back to build its own fields might I suggest a book or movie deal. This organization has all the makings of a bestseller from what I hear. Now this? Crazy stuff.

Do all the clubs have a checks and balances system in place? Makes you wonder about all the other clubs. How can we make sure our club dues are not maintaining our bb's club 'ringers' lifestyle? It is our money after all!

Make sure an outside audit is done once a year and bond all who have bank account access.

94fan wrote:Interesting...several years ago when my son first started playing for Solar in U11 the club sent out notices they were looking for people interested in being on the Solar board....given I'm a practicing CPA and do treasurer duties for companies alot, I offered up to help...I even spoke to Ringer...strangely enough he had no interest in using me or changing his "bookkeeping" arrangements. I wasn't even planning to charge him to do it...Now we all know why he had no interest!

We are moving to the Frisco area. I have two boys, ages 8 and 10. We were interested in the Solar Club. Very concerned and confused about which club is best, after hearing horror stories regarding Solar and Andromeda.

To my knowledge Solar is hanging in there unlike Andromeda is pretty much off the map after their last governing board pooched things.

FC Dallas Youth has several 02 and 01 teams in the Frisco area that might be worth checking out.

Not sure if Liverpool has teams in your area but might be another viable option perhaps.

Others may chime in also, Good Luck ridley

ridley wrote:

94fan wrote:Interesting...several years ago when my son first started playing for Solar in U11 the club sent out notices they were looking for people interested in being on the Solar board....given I'm a practicing CPA and do treasurer duties for companies alot, I offered up to help...I even spoke to Ringer...strangely enough he had no interest in using me or changing his "bookkeeping" arrangements. I wasn't even planning to charge him to do it...Now we all know why he had no interest!

We are moving to the Frisco area. I have two boys, ages 8 and 10. We were interested in the Solar Club. Very concerned and confused about which club is best, after hearing horror stories regarding Solar and Andromeda.

Solar is fine financially. The problem with Andromeda was they had a very large facility with a heavy debt load. Solar doesn't have that situation. They have one facility in the McKinney area that is 100% owned and paid for by a 3rd party. The money that Ringer allegedly used was money designated for a brand new facility, not operational funds.

JustPlay wrote:

ridley wrote:

94fan wrote:Interesting...several years ago when my son first started playing for Solar in U11 the club sent out notices they were looking for people interested in being on the Solar board....given I'm a practicing CPA and do treasurer duties for companies alot, I offered up to help...I even spoke to Ringer...strangely enough he had no interest in using me or changing his "bookkeeping" arrangements. I wasn't even planning to charge him to do it...Now we all know why he had no interest!

We are moving to the Frisco area. I have two boys, ages 8 and 10. We were interested in the Solar Club. Very concerned and confused about which club is best, after hearing horror stories regarding Solar and Andromeda.

Solar is fine financially. The problem with Andromeda was they had a very large facility with a heavy debt load. Solar doesn't have that situation. They have one facility in the McKinney area that is 100% owned and paid for by a 3rd party. The money that Ringer allegedly used was money designated for a brand new facility, not operational funds.

So in a sense Ringer saved Solar from making the same mistake Andromeda made. Just kidding.....

THE NEEDLE wrote:

JustPlay wrote:

ridley wrote:

94fan wrote:Interesting...several years ago when my son first started playing for Solar in U11 the club sent out notices they were looking for people interested in being on the Solar board....given I'm a practicing CPA and do treasurer duties for companies alot, I offered up to help...I even spoke to Ringer...strangely enough he had no interest in using me or changing his "bookkeeping" arrangements. I wasn't even planning to charge him to do it...Now we all know why he had no interest!

We are moving to the Frisco area. I have two boys, ages 8 and 10. We were interested in the Solar Club. Very concerned and confused about which club is best, after hearing horror stories regarding Solar and Andromeda.

Solar is fine financially. The problem with Andromeda was they had a very large facility with a heavy debt load. Solar doesn't have that situation. They have one facility in the McKinney area that is 100% owned and paid for by a 3rd party. The money that Ringer allegedly used was money designated for a brand new facility, not operational funds.

So in a sense Ringer saved Solar from making the same mistake Andromeda made. Just kidding.....

Are you trying out for his defense team? In the Charlie Sheen thought process - Solar owes him more money as he prevented the destruction of their club.