Racial Bias is the Foundation for a Federal Criminal Case Against Six African-American Businessmen, Says Friends of Justice and a Just Cause

Denver, CO, May 03, 2013 --(PR.com)-- Dr. Alan Bean, Executive Director of Friends of Justice spent several days investigating a Colorado federal criminal case involving six businessmen, now called the IRP6. Dr. Bean interviewed nearly 80 members of the church where the business executives attended.

According to Bean's report, "These are six devout and dedicated executives serving hard time in a Colorado prison and their loved ones don’t understand why.” From the perspective of those who worked and worshiped with these men, "the fingerprints of racial bias are clearly visible to the naked eye." Bean further observed, "FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors never saw this as a civil matter, a case of well-intentioned businessmen incurring business debt. Instead, scores of federal officials concluded, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that a Colorado software development company had no prospects of success, no interest in success, and existed for the sole purpose of defrauding business partners."

“Until you realize that five of the six men at the heart of this story, and the public faces of the company, are African American, nothing else makes sense,” says Gary Walker, CEO IRP Solutions Corporations. “When the FBI raids your business and a white agent asks a black executive, 'If a qualified white woman came here for a job, would you hire her?', the coarsest form of racism is driving the game,” Walker adds.

According to court documents, the six Colorado businessmen developed software for law enforcement agencies which included the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). "This instance of wrongful prosecution didn't just damage individuals, families and businesses, it assured that, after more than a decade of effort and the fruitless expenditure of more than a billion tax dollars, the security issues that left America vulnerable on 9-11 would remain unresolved," says Bean.

The case of the IRP6 (Kendrick Barnes, Gary L. Walker, Demetrius K. Harper, Clinton A. Stewart, David A. Zirpolo and David A. Banks) is currently under appeal in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. The men were convicted in 2011 and have been incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Complex Prison Camp in Florence, Colorado since November 2012.

According to IRP Solutions Corporation’s proprietary documentation, the company was actively engaged with DHS and was working toward a $12 million pilot project. Company records further show email communication where a DHS employee, Bill Witherspoon asked the company to submit cost estimates for them to provide a nearly $100 million module to DHS.

"This case explains why criminal investigators in Philadelphia and New York City continue to use typewriters and why FBI agents still crank out hard copies of their investigative reports," says Bean. Technically Philly, published an article by Juliana Reyes in November 2012 (http://www.technal.ly.com) examining Philadelphia's unsuccessful $7M 10-year ordeal to automate. "These men were doing something good for law enforcement and they were doing something good for the country," says Sam Thurman of A Just Cause. "They had real opportunities with agencies like Philly, but the way this case was handled prevented them from doing business with Philly, which would have allowed them to take care of their debt, and there would have never been a case", added Thurman.

"These men were never involved in criminal activity, they didn't have criminal records, and they were not street thugs, hustlers or drug dealers. So why were they accused, tried, convicted and sentenced for something that happens in American business everyday: incurring debt? The fact that the case is under appeal doesn't alter the fact that these men were really developing software for law enforcement," proclaims Thurman.

Thurman states that A Just Cause is requesting a congressional hearing into how this case was handled and why IRP Solutions Corporation and its executives were singled out.

Dr. Bean concludes, "The answer is race. This case is riddled with anomalies and it keeps coming back to race. American society ignores the obvious, because a case like this shakes their confidence in the concept of a 'justice' system."

For more information about the IRP6 story or for copies of the legal filings go to http://www.freetheirp6.org . For more information on the ongoing appeal or A Just Cause, contact Sam Thurman at (877) 573-5554 or visit http://www.a-justcause.com.

(Case of the IRP 6 is currently under appeal - US District Court for the District of Colorado, Honorable Christine M. Arguello, D. Ct. No. 1:09-CR-00266-CMA; Case Nos: NO. 11-1487, Case Nos. 11-1488, 11-1489, 11-1490, 11-1491 and 11-1492)

Note: A Just Cause is collaborating with Jabar International on the development of documentary telling the IRP Story - "What Is The Color of The American Dream": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T1OlqHa7j8.