Michael “Mike” Torres, Phony War Veteran

Mike Torres talked about his background. He was an Army Ranger and cryptocurrency millionaire. He was a professor, a systems engineer, and a coder. Not willing to quit at being a decorated veteran, or just focus on being a professor, Mike Torres claimed to have created satellite communications at well-known laboratories. A fraction of his work was classified.

Without Seafarer Exploration’s ability to spot a phony war veteran just from his claims, they hired “Dr. Michael ‘Mike’ Torres”. He was in combat. He earned a doctorate and was involved with laboratory work. He was just the motivated well-rounded type of engineer needed on their treasure hunting team.

Since this story was referred to us, you guys could already guess whether his military claims are true or not. When one of his claims was discovered to be false, Seafarer dived deeper into Michael Torres’s claims. They discovered that his other claims were false.

From the Tampa Bay Times:

It was all fake, Kyle Kennedy, CEO of Seafarer Exploration told the Tampa Bay Times. “This guy can spout this stuff off like no tomorrow,” he said. “Absolutely none of it was true, but unless you’re an engineer, you’d never know that.”

Last week, Seafarer filed a lawsuit in Hillsborough County demanding Torres pay back $96,583 in wages plus $6,986 charged to a company expense account. They also want him to return his 61 million shares of Seafarer stock.

The lawsuit accuses Torres, 37, of presenting a fraudulent resume that included two tours of duty in Afghanistan, a long list of medals and multiple degrees including a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from the Citadel and a doctorate in aeronautical engineering from Duke University.

The lawsuit claims Torres flunked out of the Citadel with a 1.3 GPA, and Duke does not even offer a degree in aeronautical engineering. It also claims Torres lied about being an adjunct professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Contacted by the Tampa Bay Times, Torres said it was his boss Kennedy who’d padded his resume to make Seafarer look good, but that he’d gone along with it. He said he never claimed to be an Army veteran or have a doctorate. He was simply an engineer hired to do a job, but was never given the proper resources to do it.

“They want to discredit me because it somehow serves whatever scam they’re pulling,” Torres said, claiming he’d soon file his own countersuit against Seafarer.

Torres said he really did earn a degree from the Citadel and served in the Air Force. Contacted by the Tampa Bay Times, the Citadel said Torres left in 2003 without graduating. Military records show he was forced out of the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps that same year for poor academics. Duke University did not respond to a request for comment.

Considering that Michael Torres cast a wide net with his phony tales, he got busted from another kind of professional. Scientists that Seafarer hired described Michael Torres as not knowing what he was talking about.

The Tampa Bay Times has more information here. This article is a good read as far as phony veteran claims go. He went all out. Michael Torres provided a similar excuse in response to being called out for his fake claims… “Someone else” made those claims. Mike Torres just went along with it. Thanks to LC for the link.

Thanks to Bim, we have this news segment from ABC 4 News on an underwater find involving a Confederate ship. In both the article and video, Michael Torres, labeled as “Dr.”, talks about the find. Notice the medals in the background.

Investors Hangout published the text of the lawsuit. It provides the details of their argument of what Michael Torres did.

From Investors Hangout:

29. Further, Torres representations to Seafarer, its board of directors, consultants, and advisors, as well as shareholders on many occasions, including in his resume, that he was a veteran of the United States Military, representing that Torres was a military intelligence specialist with the United States Army, in Military Occupation Specialty 35G, being a Geospace Imagery Intelligence Analyst, for the period of 2003 through 2008 was false.

30. As a matter of fact, upon a public information request, Seafarer was able to ascertain through the National Personnel Military Records Center, that Torres was disenrolled from Air Force ROTC within two years of enrollment for failure to maintain military standards, and having a GPA of 1.2 at the Citadel. Torres had no other military career or involvement at all according to such records.

31. All of Torres’s representations of military experience were false. All of his representations of education were false as well. Torres completely misled all of Seafarer, its management, its directors, shareholders and the public about every material representation he had made about himself.

Tags: Michael Torres, Mike Torres, Torres

Category: Phony soldiers, Stolen Valor, Valor Vultures