TMA Friday: Jiu-Jitsu, Fraud, and Innuendo

From the files of possibly fictional BJJ "Black Belts": Paredes Jiu-Jitsu in Cary, NC.                      
From the school's website:

"Paredes Jiu-Jitsu classes are taught by Sensei James Paredes, a Jiu-Jitsu practitioner of 15 years. Paredes Jiu-Jitsu is a hybrid of Kosen Judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu." 

And of course, below, we have a vague telling of a tale no less unbelievable than when Van Damme breaks into the ninja's house at the beginning of Bloodsport...then a secret ceremony where Paredes is handed a black belt by a number of nameless mentors. It must have taken place in a dark, stone room, lined with old men with beards, no doubt.

- "Driven by passion for the correct way of practice in the martial arts, James Paredes, son of Benito Lim Paredes and grandchild of Alfredo Paredes, diligently studied jujitsu. Year by Year, Season by Season, James Sensei as he is now called took countless private lessons from various mentors to take up specific aspects of the art. after handed a black belt by his mentors, he began to create and form his own style and brand."
       
There's an entire thread over at Jiujitsuforums.com devoted to his alleged background
A video of the the Paredes' techniques shown by students of the man, the myth, the legend, after the Jump.

For those that get butthurt over the questioning of his credentials.....
Martial Arts as a result of convention and lack of a body which verifies credentials remains one of the last bastions of outright fraud.

Anyone can open up a school and claim to be an expert.
The flip side, then becomes that anyone can also be denounced as a fraud.

Judge for yourself.
If the public is to trust you, than the public is to judge your credibility.

It cuts both ways.

If and when you own a business which allows a fraud to operate, or with good reason to believe there are fraudulent claims made by an instructor of yours/within your facility, you have a responsibility to the public and to your paying customers to act.

To recap:

What we do know:
his claims.
he wears a BJJ belt with BJJ patches and says he teaches BJJ.
there is no record of his rank or competition under said rank anywhere.

What we don't know:
who graduated/ranked him
where he trained other than a claim it was "with the Gracies" - as told by those who visited by his school
basically anything else you would expect to know about someone charging money for instruction in self-defense and martial arts.