My first suspicions about Maestro started when I read posts based on Maestro's mapping about the road coursing through MMTE's concessions in the Atacama. This road was said to be proof of how valuable MMTE's concessions were, and were said to be MMTE's ticket to the promised land. You know, the land where all investors would be rich and would be partying in Vegas. After all, everyone else must come knocking on MMTE's door if the want to work there. Right? I mean, right?
Holy Smoke Bat Man! One would think this road was a multi-lane paved highway from the way people talked. Instead, the road was a bulldozed or road graded dirt path through an empty and barren desert. In fact, pictures of this dirt pathway were actually displayed on MMTE's website. Yet, no one questioned these statements at all, and everyone appeared to praise Maestro for all his valuable mapping. Great job Maestro. Your mapping helped MMTE investors a lot --- it served to seal the doom of so many.
In the end, we may never know who Maestro really was. He came out of nowhere around the time these great stories appeared, and he disappeared just as suddenly in August of last year, never to post again on any board. Maestro posted on about a dozen different IFlub boards, all displaying his mapping, and all involving MMTE. Yet, no one questioned anything, and how dare anyone ask a question now. Today, with hindsight, you can easily see the elements of the con. But at the time, most investors were simply so hungry for news that anything from anywhere would do (unless it did not fit the preferred narrative). And, with all the claims of the great due diligence on the MMTE board, no one ever asked any serious questions. You see how easy it was to work a con? Take notes, the classroom is open.
