German Lunar Embassy
offices raided in fraud inquiry
Former East German Army Officer declares property
deeds are a novelty, "simply an unusual gift"
LUNAR JOURNAL STAFF
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Holger Czajka, a former
East German Army officer during the Soviet Union's
authoritarian rule, also sold horoscopes, novelty deeds
to Mars and Venus, offered to "re-name prominent stars,"
and launched a scheme through which customers could
adopt an olive tree. |
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LANDSHUT, GERMANY / 21 JUNE / --
German police have raided a novelty gift company that promises
customers the stars, in the form of land certificates for the
Moon and other heavenly bodies.
The offices of the company, Astrox,
have been raided on suspicion of fraud, prosecutors in the
southern German town of Landshut said. Some customers might
believe they owned 1,000 square meters of the Moon's surface
after paying €29 (EUR), a spokesman said.
Holger Czajka, the founder of Astrox,
affiliated with the American-based "Lunar Embassy" novelty deed
company, said the certificates were simply an unusual gift. He
was sure the inquiry would peter out.
Czajka offered lunar deeds under the
"Mondmakler" ("Moon Broker") brand name.
Astrox not only markets personalized
horoscopes, but says it will also re-name prominent stars in the
sky after customers — for a fee. For the truly star-crazed,
there are pieces of paper declaring the holder to be the
proprietor of land on the Moon, Mars or Venus.
The more practical can "adopt" an
olive tree in Spain for one year, and receive two liters of
cooking oil from their "child."
Reports about Czajka, 45, who hung up
his East German army officer uniform to make money out of
novelties, are a mainstay in the German media on slow days when
nothing else is happening. Czajka claims to have bought a large
area of the Moon from American
Dennis Hope, a former bit-part actor, shoe salesman and
ventriloquist who refers to himself as "The Head Cheese."
In 1980, Hope exploited what he
believed to be a "loophole" in US law to register "ownership" of
the Moon. His purported claim — predated by
another American claim fourteen years earlier — is not
taken seriously by the United States or any other country, and
is roundly scorned by space law experts. Various online shops,
ten of them in Germany alone, offer "land certificates" for
lunar subdivisions under Hope's scheme, known as "Lunar
Embassy," headquartered near Reno, Nevada.
The Astrox inquiry is another in a
growing list of legal problems involving Lunar Embassy and its
affiliates. Hope's Canadian "ambassador," Lisa Fulkerson of the
former Moonland Registry, became a fugitive after she failed to
make a court appearance in November 2003 when she was expected
to plead guilty to theft and fraud charges involving the
disappearance of more than $600,000 (CAD; about $450,000 US) in
investor funds. She was
arrested in January 2004 in Las Vegas and is currently
awaiting trial.
Hope also filed suit against his own
Netherlands "ambassador" when promised royalty payments weren't
received. The case was thrown out of court when a Dutch judge
decided he had no jurisdiction over the Moon.
Prosecutors in Germany said the
Astrox inquiry began after a fraud complaint from an
unidentified association. They said sales brochures were seized
and were being examined to see if they were legal.
This report was
compiled by Lunar Journal from staff and wire service reports.
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In 1966
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