12/18/24 – 1 of 2: Mary Foronda

If any of the conspirators think its a good idea to get a lawyer and tell them to threaten me with legal action if I do not take down something I share that was written by you, or a story from a victim with screenshot evidence to back up the claim from you. I would love the opportunity to make you burn through your money as well.

However, any good lawyer will tell you that truth is an absolute protection against defamation, and sharing someone’s proven involvement in a financial crime ring publicly with their own documents against them is not harassment – its evidence. My hope is to get law enforcement more information to look at on this thread and take from it what they need to prosecute all the involved players no matter how large or small.

Initially, I was compelled for various reasons to keep the focus on Ryne and Max Mendelson as the two ringleaders of this operation. However, the continued actions of their accomplices Rhea Bell in Las Vegas, NV and Mary Foronda in Mission Hills, CA to discredit any fraudulent behavior by defending Ryne is inexcusable. What I can prove as 100% factual is that this set of god sisters participated in the following actions. 1. Taking orders for Ryne. 2. Laying out the terms of those orders. 3. Having victims transfer money to Ryne or other individuals for payment. 4. Processing refunds for Ryne out of their own bank accounts. 5. Keeping track of orders for Ryne. 6. Even after confronted, continuing to urge people to not go after Ryne. 7. Soliciting business from victims by offering deals given to them by Ryne. 8. Claim to not be compensated, but also use vacations given from Ryne as evidence to convince more victims.

You can claim to be a victim all day long, and even though I am confident they had some loss to Ryne as well as the walls collapsed, you are still a part of this scheme and must be held accountable. I want everyone here to remember my drive by analogy. These ladies would message victims to lure them in. Then, metaphorically speaking put on a blindfold and drive Ryne to victim after victim. Hearing the shots, they would return home and document the victims. Finally, on one drive by they take shards of glass from a victim firing back and now they want to claim to be victimized. Not going to cut it today.

I’ll break it down one by one with screenshots and evidence.

First starting with the connection to Ryne. An older member of Rheas family was a close associate to Joselito Vitug. Ryne’s grandfather who owned and operated many of the tax service businesses in the greater Las Vegas area. While Joselito lived in Henderson these two families grew close, and have since obviously maintained contact.

According to Rhea, her and Mary are god sisters.

So now that the connection to each others, and the connection to the Vitugs has been made. Lets start with

Mary Foronda

She initially caught my eye when I received the transactions lists from Venmo. In my 70+ day period from June-August of 2024 Mary had 27 transactions to Ryne putting her in the top 1% of people sending money to Ryne. She transfer $43,311 to Ryne all labeled as either “Loan” “Flights” “Other Flights” or “From Loan earlier today” if you have been following this thread you know these labels are codes used between Ryne and the other fraudsters. See the transaction list below yourself.

Originally, I removed suspicious people from my blast email that was first sent out. However, on 12/7/2024 I sent out a blast email to only individuals that I thought were involved to see if any of them respond. Mary responded relatively quickly and decided to use a different email for some reason. See below..

“Is there a deadline?” Chills ran down my spine when I read this sentence. If you have seen the amount of information sent to me, you would know that this is one of Ryne key phrases. “What is the deadline?” He would always ask when discussing refunds. I was livid. However, I waited for Mary to respond – and she never did.

I continued to wait and not press the issue. In that time at least a dozen victims have come forward and put Mary Foronda as their main contact with Ryne. Sharing with me just some of the following.

12/5 – Email from victim #1

“Mary Foronda, I have known for many years through Catholic school and I trusted her. I know believe that she was working with him on this Ponzi scam as she told me that she was born and raised in Chicago and moved to California as an adult, I now believe her to be one of his family members.”

12/6 – Email from victim #2

12/10 – Email from victim #3

12/11 – Email from victim #4

“I came across Ryne because my friend for 15 years mentioned Mary Foronda, a devoted catholic that she know a guy who have deals with travel and I travel a lot.

I got Rynes number and texted him on (redacted date) He is a good salesman and since he was referred by a devoted catholic and he seems clear as a lawyer in Chicago I trusted him. He never deals on calls only text but in short he got $(redacted amount) from me. I asked him to book me ,my (redacted) and my (redacted), a trip to (redacted) but because it sounds too good to be true I tested it first by asking him to book me a hotel close by in (redacted) Beach. He gave me confirmation and because I was so Naive I got so excited that “wow he actually booked it” so I got more passes.  THEN I went to the hotel and it was boom but not paid so I called ryne and then Mary and told them I want my money or they have to fix it. The hotel was expensive $(redacted amount) total and ryne fix it after 2 or 3 hrs. 

Then (redacted location) came and ticket was not yet on the system and I begged him, mary also and finally they fix it. We arrived and surprisingly hotel was booked and paid, so I started trusting him again and got more deals then flight back was a mess and ended up paying for it with a guarantee that he would reimburse me the following day and did not happen. Long story short I was able to talk to ryne because he asked me for help to get a loan but it did not happen.  Mary I have doubt on what her involvement with him but at some point I think she is part of it, as well as her grandma and mom whom I sent the payments.”

And while I have plenty more screenshots of Mary being involved with people all over, its best to keep it concise and point you towards a victim story that I have spent a lot of time putting together with a text thread with Mary herself located below….

Victim #5 Story

18 Years of friendship? Gone.

Mary lays out the pricing of these specific trips for her friend Sandra. She tells her that “my friend is a high roller a casino and gets a lot of perk he extends to us.” (us being Rhea, Mary and the others involved) she lays out terms for Ryne “He just needs 45 days in advance notice...he has tons of deals. All are refundable too in case.” and even drops the payment information “Ryne accepts only Apple Cash or Zelle..My godsister has bought and used soooo many offers from Ryne so it is legitimate.” and then hits Sandra with the infamous “Looks like the Aulani deal ends tonight…you can purchase tix now and pick dates later….last day for the offer if you’re still interested.”

And while there are multiple damning pieces that I can pull from Sandra’s story by itself. Let me just impress upon you these shots.

Here we have Mary asking for our victim to Zelle the money tonight. And telling our victim that her god sister, Rhea, is to be copied on all the emails. She re-emphasizes that all trips are fully refundable at any time. Then the last message, skipping forward is where our victim asks Mary who I am. Her response? “someone thats upset and trying to get people to sue Ryne. Suing will take longer plus legal fees would add up.”

An admission that her god sister was in charge of filing orders with Ryne. After Mary procured and set up payments with perspective victims and handed them off. All the while trying to dissuade people from going through legal or law enforcement channels after the scheme begins to fall apart. Its because she is involved!

On 12/9 I received this email from Mary.

To which I responded

“For sure, for sure. 

Right after you explain why you moved $43,311 to Rynes account from June to August of this year? Ironically enough you are only one of a handful of other people that mirror the same note as ‘loan’ the others being his parents, grandparents, rhea bell (your god sister) and a couple of other friends we wont get to yet.”

Mary was silent.

Then on 12/16 at 11:32pm what did I get via email? Mary, like any normal victim, hired a lawyer to send me a cease and desist.

“Jason Anderson
rynevitugfraud@gmail.com

    Re:     Mary Foronda
CEASE & DESIST
ALL HARASSMENT ACTIVITIES

Dear Sir/Madam:

    This office represents Mary Foronda regarding the above referenced matter.  Please respond to me in writing.

    Ms. Foronda has informed me that you have been harassing her including, but not limited to:
    1.    Defaming her in public website
    2.    Making false statements against her on social media

    California Civil Procedure §527.6 defines “harassment” as unlawful violence, a credible threat of violence, or a knowing and willful course of conduct directed at a specific person that seriously alarms, annoys, or harasses the person, and that serves no legitimate purpose. The course of conduct causes a reasonable person to suffer substantial emotional distress. Course of Conduct is defined as a pattern of conduct composed of a series of acts over a period of time, however short, evidencing a continuity of purpose, including following or stalking an individual, making harassing telephone calls to an individual, or sending harassing correspondence to an individual by any means, including, but not limited to, the use of public or private mails, interoffice mail, facsimile, or computer email.

    Your course of conducts have constituted harassment per California Civil Procedure above.

    Ms. Foronda has sent requests to you without any response.  Ms. Foronda plans to file a defamation lawsuit against you.  

    Ms. Foronda demands that you:
    1.    Take down anything posted in public about her
    2.    Stop all harassment activities
    3.    Stop all defamations
    4.    Stop making false statements to 3rd parties on social media and anywhere
    5.    Stay 100 yard away from her home and her office and her vehicle

    If you do not stop your harassment activities, Ms. Foronda has no choice and will file a petition for a restraining order against you under the Domestic Violence Prevention Act (DVPA) California Family Code §6200 et seq. and request the Police to file a criminal charge against you under California Penal Code 273.5.   If there is any restraining order proceeding against you, there will be records under your name affecting your license status, employment, application with any government agencies, and any of your future career advancement. I hope you take the matter seriously.

    Thank you for your anticipated cooperation.

                    Very truly yours,

                    Hedy Zhang     
cc:     ClientHedy Zhang
Attorney at Law
1820 Butler Avenue, Suite 5
Los Angeles, CA 90025
310-312-1996
hedyzhang@aol.com
www.hedyzhanglaw.com“

To which I promptly responded on 12/17 at 2:02am…

“Thanks for your email. Let’s address it point by point.

1. “that serves no legitimate purpose” I am in possession of Venmo records that show that Mary was a key player in scamming dozens of victims out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Our purpose is to get law enforcement to bring criminal charges against your client and for her to go to prison with the rest of the conspirators. 

2. “Ms. Foronda has sent requests to you without any response.” This is a lie. 8 days ago when your client reached out via a secondary email I told her I was willing to take down any information against her if she could explain how she moved $43,311 to the main perpetrators venmo in just over 70 days starting in late June this year. All while we have dozens of emails, texts, and money transfers to/from your client from other victims she helped scam. It was in fact Mary who did not answer my request when I asked her to explain herself.

3. Let us counter with our own set of demands.

    1.    I will take down anything posted in public about her once she files a police report against Ryne claiming to be a victim herself. If she had money stolen as well this shouldn’t be a problem.
    2.    Stop all harassment activities against any other victims – especially ones that Mary actively participated in to help scam. 
    3.    Stop all defamations against myself and any other victims. Any good lawyer knows that truth is an absolute protection from defamation. We can prove that we are being true, Mary cannot. 
    4.    Stop attempting to get other victims from filing police reports. Mary had an active role in this scheme. It’s time to take responsibility.
    5.    Stay 100 yards away from any victim that Mary helped to scam either directly or indirectly.

Beyond that we welcome police reports and more court filings. Mary can have you attempt to bluff us victims all day long, but what she fears most is this coming to light in a courtroom.

We will not be bullied or harassed by Mary or any other conspirator any longer. Justice is coming. Better start working on your defense.

Signed,

Every victim Mary helped scam”

at 8:50 am that same morning Mary, not her new lawyer, responded…..

“I’m a victim like you” – no Mary. You are not a victim like me.

I did not recruit other victims for Ryne and Max.

I did not lay out his terms for them.

I did not discuss how to pay Ryne.

I did not tell people to email details to my family members and Ryne.

I did not tell people its fully refundable.

I did not tell people I have used his services so they are legitamate.

I did not send photos on trips paid for by Ryne while selling Ryne’s services.

I did not try to dissuade people from going after him after realizing we had been robbed.

We are not the same. I hope you filed that police report. It’s not too late to flip on Ryne, Rhea, and Max, but you better act quick. This deal ends tonight.