Ammon McNeff swore to the disclosure document that omitted the Salem lawsuit. He did not swear to the one that added it.
On April 17, 2026, a Utah notary recorded that BAM’s president was “first duly sworn” to the truth of the disclosure document he was filing in Minnesota. On September 9 the same notary recorded only that he signed the amended one. The oath is on the edition that leaves out the Salem lawsuit and the Hillcrest Bank lien.
PRIMARY SOURCEMinnesota franchise file 9006: the renewal application certified April 17, 2026, the amendment application certified September 9, 2026, and the state’s deficiency notice and order of September 18, each as filed.
CONFIRMEDApril 17, 2026, at Provo: a jurat. Ammon McNeff, “being first duly sworn, stated upon oath that said application, and all exhibits submitted herewith, are true and correct,” three weeks after the Salem franchisees sued and with Item 3 disclosing no pending suit.
CONFIRMEDSeptember 9, 2026, at Orem: a corporate acknowledgment that he “executed the foregoing instrument” as president, no oath, the same notary. That document adds the Salem suit as filed “On April 16, 2026” and says BAM acquired “a permanent injunction” no court has entered.
UNRESOLVEDWho chose the acknowledgment page. Both applications name the same Dentons lawyer as contact, Minnesota’s examiner corrected only the issuance date, and nothing in the file says more.
The two pages
Both filings end with the same certification, signed by Ammon McNeff “under penalty of law”: that he has read the document, that “all material facts stated in all those documents are accurate,” and that they “do not contain any material omissions.” What the notary wrote beneath it is not the same.
| April 17, 2026, Provo | September 9, 2026, Orem | |
|---|---|---|
| The filing | The renewal application for the document issued April 8, 2026. | The post-effective amendment to the same document. |
| Item 3 | One matter, a 2019 Washington assurance. “Other than these actions, no litigation is required to be disclosed in this Item.” | Adds the Salem suit, filed “On April 16, 2026,” and the Mansell settlement, “a permanent injunction.” |
| The notary’s act | A jurat: “being first duly sworn, stated upon oath that said application, and all exhibits submitted herewith, are true and correct.” | A corporate acknowledgment: “executed the foregoing instrument for purposes therein contained by signing the name of the corporation by himself as such officer.” |
| An oath | Yes. | None recorded. |
| The notary | Robin Fernuik, Utah commission 747482. | The same. |
What an oath adds
Utah’s notary statute keeps the two acts apart. A jurat certifies “that the signer affirms or swears an oath attesting to the truthfulness of a document,” and an oath is a vow made “on penalty of perjury.” An acknowledgment certifies only that the signer “has admitted, in the presence of the notary, to voluntarily signing a document for the document’s stated purpose” (Utah Code 46-1-2). Minnesota’s statute reaches a filing either way: no “untrue statement of a material fact in any application” filed with the commissioner, and no omission of “any material fact which is required to be stated therein” (Minn. Stat. 80C.13, subd. 1); a willful violation is a crime (80C.16, subd. 3). What the jurat adds is the oath. The oath is on the April document, which omits the suit filed three weeks earlier and the lien recorded in February. It is not on the September document, which adds the suit under a date the court’s index contradicts and an injunction no court has entered.
The dates
The fair reading, and its limit. A jurat and an acknowledgment are both notarial acts, the state accepted the September page, and “under penalty of law” stands on both certifications whichever block follows it; Minnesota’s statute does not turn on the oath. Nothing in the file says who chose the page, and a different notarial form can be a clerical choice by the signer, the notary or the firm named on both applications. The limit is the record: the document he swore to is the one with the omissions, and the document that adds the suit, under the wrong date, with an injunction no court has entered, is the one he did not swear to.
Sources. Minnesota Department of Commerce, franchise file 9006, at CARDS: the renewal application and certification of April 17, 2026 (as filed); the amendment application and certification of September 9, 2026 (as filed); the deficiency notice and Order Amending Registration of September 18, 2026 (September 25). Item 3 of the April 8, 2026 document and of the September amendment (the disclosure document read against itself). Utah Code 46-1-2; Minn. Stat. 80C.13 and 80C.16. Earlier: the Salem filing date, the injunction sentence, the lien, the eight sentences. The right of reply is open to everyone named here.