Article Dominion of Melchizedek
Type: Fictitious Country.
Summary: The Dominion of Melchizedek was a non-existent island country established by father and son con artists, Evan and Mark Pedley.
Posted by: Elliot Feldman
Melchizedek is a country that has no physical presence on the planet, yet its home to hundreds of financial institutions. … Wait a minute. It does exist on an island in the South Pacific … but the island is underwater.
Yet the “country” has “citizens” with “passports” and “banks” with “charters.” It is, in fact, these passports and charters that make the bulk of the so-called Dominion of Melchizedek’s revenue. On the country’s web site, citizenships are available for “donations.”
Melchizedek came under U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission scrutiny when a number of its chartered and licensed banks had been purportedly involved in various investment scams. For example, in 1997 Jeffrey H. Reynolds, acting as DoM’s “Secretary of Commerce”, sold $47 million of phony insurance policies, pocketing a half-million dollars in “premiums.”
The leaders of the Dominion of Melchizedek, however, have claimed no responsibility to the frauds perpetuated by the entities that the “country” had licensed.
Evan and Mark Pedley
The Dominion of Melchizedek was founded in 1987 by California father and son Evan and Mark Pedley (AKA David Korem). Earlier in the eighties, they were both convicted con artists for various land swindles.
In 1988, they established their “country” as an “ecclesiastical sovereignty” like the Vatican. Among other things, they claimed Melchizedek’s physical location as several Pacific islands that were already possessions of recognized countries including Fiji, the Marshall Islands, Colombia, and France. Of course, there are no representatives of the Dominion of Melchizedek on these islands.
Recognition
According to the Dominion’s “official” web site, the Central African Republic has officially recognized the government of DoM. They also claim that countries giving DoM “de facto recognition” include the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Bulgaria, Malaysia, and the Netherlands.
In 1987, Evan Pedley died. As for son Mark (AKA David Korem), he has distanced himself from all scams related to those shady businessmen affiliated with D0M.
References
- CBS News story on Melchizedek
- Wall Street Journal article on micronations
- “Official” Melchizedek Web Site
- Dallas Observer article on Melchizedek
