The established record — the graded, documented fact-spine behind the investigation, divided by the firewall: the FRANCHISE facts (BAM and the Salem field) and the APEX facts (Daniel McNeff / Legally Mine). Every fact carries its eight-grade pill and opens its source; nothing here is a finding of guilt, and nothing is summed.
How to read the grades
ADJUDICATED court-decided · ADMITTED party-admitted · CONFIRMED primary document · CORROBORATED multiple sources · ASSERTED alleged, not decided · INFERENCE reasoned read · UNRESOLVED open · METADATA index/metadata only · REFUTED contradicted by the record
FRANCHISE — BAM and the Salem field (14)
What is documented on the franchise side — the registered mark, the self-impeaching disclosure, the insolvency, the insider resale, and the corrected damages posture.
- ADJUDICATEDBricks & Minifigs / BAM owns the registered BAM standard-character mark (Reg. 8,046,031, Principal Register, 12/2/2025), to BAM Franchising itself; the TTAB opposition against the look-alike was sustained. FDD - Franchise Disclosure Document BAM FDD 2026
- ADMITTEDBAM’s 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document contradicts itself on whether it has a parent: Item 1 says “no parents,” while the CFO’s own Item 2 bio describes a “Franchisor’s Parent” he has run since June 2016. FDD - Franchise Disclosure Document BAM FDD 2026
- CONFIRMEDBAM is a Delaware corporation (redomesticated from Oregon by a survivor merger, effective for accounting 12/18/2023, filed in Delaware 4/18/2024) — not a merge-up into a hidden parent. Delaware Certificate of Merger - BAM Franchising (Oregon) into Delaware - File 2482543, Reg. No. 2482543 Delaware BAM Franchising Entity Status
- CONFIRMEDThe FDD reports zero Oregon outlets reacquired in 2024 and zero sold to franchisees in 2025, and carries no related-party footnote — yet BAM’s own complaint swears it repossessed the Salem store (11/14/2024) and sold it (Q1 2025) to a BAM recruiter and its repossession inspector. The transaction at the center is the one the regulated filing omits. FDD - Franchise Disclosure Document BAM FDD 2026 Verified Compl., BAM v. Schneider-Mansell, No. 260402353
- CONFIRMEDThe Ohio Supreme Court entered a consent decree (2/20/2025) enjoining Legally Mine and Daniel McNeff from the unauthorized practice of law, on admitted conduct with an express hearing waiver, plus a $5,000 penalty. Final Order, Ohio Bar v. Legally Mine Ohio Bar v. Legally Mine
- CONFIRMEDBAM Franchising’s audited financials show balance-sheet insolvency from FY2022, deepening to negative equity of −$621,091 at FY2025 under a clean opinion and a going-concern recital. FDD - Franchise Disclosure Document BAM FDD 2026
- CONFIRMEDBAM IP Holdings LLC (formed 7/16/2025, managed by Ammon and Matthew McNeff) is a separate vessel built to hold the franchise IP — but the marks still name BAM Franchising and no USPTO assignment has recorded. The carve-out is built, not fired. Utah UCC No. Utah UCC - BAM IP Holdings Business 14333873 Detail Certificate of Organization BAM IP Holdings LLC, Reg. No. 5227635
- CONFIRMEDThe operating company pledged its assets to JPMorgan Chase while Legally Mine pledged 450,000 of its shares to outside lenders — the collateral net binding the entity pool. Utah UCC No. Utah UCC - BAM Franchising Detail Secondary Copy Utah UCC - Detail
- CONFIRMED“Legally Mine” as a live brand is now an assumed name owned by Centra Wealth Solutions LLC, with BTJD Corporate Services as registered agent — a fresh wrapper around the old product. Filing History Centra Wealth Solutions LLC, Reg. No. 14421835
- ADJUDICATEDIn a Washington bankruptcy, a $7,800 payment to Legally Mine was avoided under §549 and a judgment entered (2019), later fully satisfied — a single avoided transfer, not a fraud finding, and stated individually, never summed. Compl., Peterson v. Legally Mine Peterson v. Legally Mine Peterson v. Legally Mine
- CONFIRMEDThe insider resale is on the record: a failed Jace & Ace franchise ran from the independent franchisee to a company-owned store and onward to Baker-affiliated buyers under a 3/27/2025 asset-purchase agreement. Jace & Ace (bankruptcy) 20-40193 doc23 Schedules Original Jace Ace LLC Jace & Ace (bankruptcy) 20-40193 doc29 Disclosure Statement for Small Business FDD - Franchise Disclosure Document Bricks & Minifigs 2023 FDD
- REFUTEDThe pleaded “$200,000 stolen” consignment figure traces to a 2023 store promotional valuation; the genuinely unexplained gap is modest (~$10–20K net) and routes principally to Chrystal Law / the Salem-Keizer franchise (Exhibit A signed “by Chrystal Law, Owner”), not BAM corporate. “$17,559” is a BAM sales-tracking figure, never a paid-to-Mansell number. Verified Compl., BAM v. Schneider-Mansell, No. 260402353 BAM v. Schneider-Mansell, No. 260402353
- CONFIRMEDLEGO’s own 2/28/2025 letter disclaims any affiliation, refuting the “authorized LEGO reseller” pitch — a fraud-in-the-inducement hook on the franchise sale. FDD - Franchise Disclosure Document BAM FDD 2026
- CORROBORATEDBAM’s Josh Johnson resolves to 374 S Storrs Ave, American Fork, Utah (parcel 13:044:0158) — the AFPD mobile-data-terminal home address — and is therefore NOT the Wasilla, Alaska “Joshua Johnson.” The collision is excluded.
APEX — Daniel McNeff / Legally Mine (10)
The firewall. The apex facts below establish the asset-protection structure and the recorder-archived home rotation. They are kept separate from the franchise victims: apex dollars reach the franchise field only through an unsettled reverse/horizontal veil-pierce. Intent stays an inference.
- CONFIRMEDThe family’s home-holding AP-LLC, Rivendell Estates LLC, is owned by the Daniel J. and Evelyn F. McNeff Living Trust (registry-verified) — the trust-apex leg of the home-rotation structure.
- CONFIRMEDThe family’s own 2016 Certificate of Organization bakes in the exact non-pro-rata GP-control / charging-order-defeating clause the Legally Mine handout sells — the mechanic run on themselves (strong knowledge/design scienter).
- CONFIRMEDUtah County recorder, batch one: on 2021-01-12 four asset-protection LLCs quitclaimed their houses to Evelyn McNeff in four consecutive entries (5830–5833), ~10 days before the sons’ federal suit. Utah County Recorder — 2021-01-12 batch transfers to Evelyn McNeff (entries 5830-5833)
- CONFIRMEDUtah County recorder, batch two: on 2023-02-26 Evelyn deeded three houses out to new Tolkien-named shells (Bagend Burrow, Green Dragon Lair, Phoenix Keep) in consecutive entries (11822–11824) — the same coordinated-batch fingerprint. Utah County Recorder — 2023-02-26 batch transfers from Evelyn McNeff (entries 11822-11824)
- CONFIRMEDThe Provo 2012 Goldenwest $250,800 deed of trust has no recorded reconveyance; the 2026 $300K refi released only the $46K 2017 DT, leaving ~$254K of new secured borrowing over an unreleased lien — an equity-strip strengthened.
- CONFIRMEDThe 2021-02-12 UCC pledges 21% of Legally Mine plus operating assets to sons Ammon and Matthew securing a $1,728,000 note documented in four court pleadings with a dated 1/26/2021 note — insider-preference + retained control + an adverse inference, NOT collusion. Utah UCC - Detail
- CONFIRMEDSix commonly-controlled entities (Legally Mine, Legal Bear, Legally Mine Tax and Accounting, Procure, Shield, Team Dentistry) are pledged under a single blanket lien, Daniel McNeff the lone signatory, all at one Orem address — the chain-9 unity proof. Utah UCC - Detail
- CONFIRMEDLegally Mine renamed to “LM OLDCO” the same minute as its tax arm (5/21/2026), while Centra registered the “Legally Mine” assumed names days later — the same-minute husk-shed and brand handoff. Filing History LM OLDCO LLC, Reg. No. 7228976 Filing History Centra Wealth Solutions LLC, Reg. No. 14421835
- CONFIRMEDThe IRS distress signal: $891,502.75 across 8 federal tax liens (FY2016–2019, all released) — an encumbrance, not a loss, and never published as a damages dollar.
- CORROBORATEDCentra organizer Mark Comer is corroborated at ~95% as the Mark R. Comer of the FTC’s 1999 iMall action — held, not upgraded (FTC FOIA File 972-3224 pending). The scope qualifier travels: the lifetime ban was on Internet/pay-per-call business opportunities; the franchise-sales bar was 10 years and expired ~2009. Order
How the spine reads, with the firewall. The published lead is Utah’s anti-SLAPP law Utah Code 78B-25-101 et seq. (UPEPA), UT ST 78B-25-101, -107✓ Mackey v. Krause, 2025 UT 37, 575 P.3d 1162✓. The civil fraudulent-transfer case is prima-facie at the APEX — a confluence of badges under Utah Code 25-6-202, UT ST 25-6-202, (2)✓, with the Utah Code 25-6-304, UT ST 25-6-304, (5)(b)✓ new-value safe harbor keeping the secured liens and the Article-9 repossession off the avoidance target. Relatedness is supported under H.J. Inc. v. Nw. Bell Tel. Co., 492 U.S. 229 (1989)⌖. The predicate criminal acts are NOT established; fraudulent transfer is not a §1961 predicate ($0 racketeering dollars); intent is an inference held beside the innocent estate-planning reading; the documented damages are modest and itemized, never a summed total. The claim is not that the McNeffs are racketeers — it is that they built and ran the structure the law was written to examine. Every defendant is presumed innocent. Reaching the franchise defendants from the apex needs an unsettled reverse/horizontal veil-pierce.