Note 1 - Nature of operations

Corporate Structure Overview

Mentor Capital, Inc. (“Mentor” or “the Company”), reincorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware in September 2015.

The entity was originally founded as an investment partnership in Silicon Valley, California, by the current CEO in 1985 and subsequently incorporated under the laws of the State of California on July 29, 1994. On September 12, 1996, the Company’s offering statement was qualified pursuant to Regulation A of the Securities Act, and the Company began to trade its shares publicly. On August 21, 1998, the Company filed for voluntary reorganization, and on January 11, 2000, the Company emerged from Chapter 11 reorganization. The Company relocated to San Diego, California, and contracted to provide financial assistance and investment into small businesses. On May 22, 2015, a corporation named Mentor Capital, Inc. (“Mentor Delaware”) was incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware. A shareholder-approved merger between Mentor and Mentor Delaware was approved by the California and Delaware Secretaries of State, and became effective September 24, 2015, thereby establishing Mentor as a Delaware corporation.

Beginning September 2008, after the name change back to Mentor Capital, Inc., the Company’s common stock traded publicly under the trading symbol OTC Markets: MNTR and after February 9, 2015, as OTCQB: MNTR and after August 6, 2018, under the trading symbol OTCQX: MNTR.

In 2009, the Company began focusing its investing activities in leading-edge cancer companies. In 2012, in response to government limitations on reimbursement for certain highly technical and expensive cancer treatments and a resulting business decline in the cancer immunotherapy sector, the Company decided to exit that space. In the summer of 2013, the Company was asked to consider investing in a cancer-related project with a medical marijuana focus. On August 29, 2013, the Company decided to divest of its cancer assets and focus its next round of investments in the medical marijuana and cannabis sector. In March 2018, the Company sold its equity interest in its final remaining cancer investment. In late 2019, the Company expanded its target industry focus to potentially include energy, mining and minerals, technology, consumer products, management services, and manufacturing sectors with the goal of ensuring investment diversification.

Mentor has a 51% interest in Waste Consolidators, Inc. (“WCI”). WCI was incorporated in Colorado in 1999 and operates in Arizona and Texas. It is a legacy investment that was first invested into in 2003.

On April 18, 2016, the Company formed Mentor IP, LLC (“MCIP”), a South Dakota limited liability company and wholly-owned subsidiary of Mentor. MCIP was formed to invest in intellectual property and specifically to hold the investment in patent interests obtained on April 4, 2016 when Mentor Capital, Inc. entered into an agreement with R. Larson and Larson Capital (“Larson”) to seek and secure the benefits of mutual effort directed toward the capture of license fees from domestic and foreign THC and CBD cannabis vape patents.

On April 13, 2017, Mentor entered into an agreement to provide $40,000 of funding to offset costs of the application of cannabis oil in a glaucoma study conducted by and otherwise paid for by Dr. Robert M. Mandelkorn, MD. Mentor, doing business as GlauCanna, will hold an 80% interest in any commercial opportunities that result from the study. Dr. Mandelkorn will hold the remaining 20%. This investment is carried at $0 and $0 at September 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018, respectively, on the condensed consolidated balance sheets.

The Company has a membership equity interest in Electrum Partners, LLC (“Electrum”) which is carried at cost of $194,028 at September 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018.

On September 19, 2017, the Company formed Mentor Partner I, LLC (“Partner I”), a California limited liability company as a wholly owned subsidiary of Mentor for the purpose of cannabis-focused investing. In 2018, Mentor contributed $996,000 of capital to Partner I to facilitate the purchase of manufacturing equipment to be leased from Partner I by G FarmaLabs Limited (“G Farma”) under a Master Equipment Lease Agreement dated January 16, 2018, as amended. Amendments expanded the Lessee under the agreement to include G FarmaLabs Limited, and G FarmaLabs DHS, LLC, (collectively referred to as “G Farma Lease Entities”). The finance leases resulting from this investment were fully impaired at September 30, 2019, see Note 9.

On February 1, 2018, the Company formed Mentor Partner II, LLC (“Partner II”), a California limited liability company as a wholly owned subsidiary of Mentor for the purpose of cannabis-focused investing. On February 8, 2018, Mentor contributed $400,000 to Partner II to facilitate the purchase of manufacturing equipment to be leased from Partner II by Pueblo West Organics, LLC, a Colorado limited liability company (“Pueblo West”) under a Master Equipment Lease Agreement dated February 11, 2018. On March 12, 2019, Mentor agreed to use Partner II earnings of $61,368 to facilitate the purchase of additional manufacturing equipment to Pueblo West under a Second Amendment to the lease, see Note 9.

On February 20, 2018, the Company formed Mentor Partner III, LLC (“Partner III”), a California limited liability company, as a wholly owned subsidiary of Mentor for the purpose of acquisition and investing. Partner III had no activity since its inception.

On February 28, 2018, the Company formed Mentor Partner IV, LLC (“Partner IV”), a California limited liability company, as a wholly owned subsidiary of Mentor for the purpose of acquisition and investing. Partner IV had no activity since its inception.

On September 6, 2018, the Company entered into an Equity Purchase and Issuance Agreement with G FarmaLabs Limited, G FarmaLabs DHS, LLC, GFBrands, Inc., Finka Distribution, Inc., and G FarmaLabs, WA, LLC under which Mentor was supposed to receive equity interests in the G Farma Equity Entities and their affiliates (together the “G Farma Equity Entities”) equal to 3.75% of the G Farma Equity Entities interests (See Note 8). On March 4, 2019, Addendum VIII increased the G Farma Equity Entities’ equity interest to which Mentor is immediately entitled to 3.843%, and added Goya Ventures, LLC as a G Farma Equity Entity. We are now in litigation with these entities. See Note 8.

On October 30, 2018, the Company entered into a Recovery Purchase Agreement with Electrum. Electrum is the plaintiff in an ongoing legal action pending in the Supreme Court of British Columbia (“Litigation”). As described further in Note 11, Mentor provided capital for payment of Litigation costs in the amount of $110,500 and $100,000 as of September 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018, respectively. In exchange, Mentor will receive 11.00% of anything of value received by Electrum as a result of the Litigation (“Recovery”), after first receiving reimbursement of the Litigation costs. On October 31, 2018, Mentor entered into a secured Capital Agreement with Electrum and invested an additional $100,000 of capital in Electrum. Under the Capital Agreement, on the payment date, Electrum will pay to Mentor the sum of (i) $100,000, (ii) ten percent (10%) of the Recovery, and (iii) 0.083334% of the Recovery for each full month from October 31, 2018 to the payment date for each full month that $833 is not paid to Mentor. The payment date is the earlier of November 1, 2021, or the final resolution of the Litigation. On January 28, 2019, the Company entered into a second secured Capital Agreement with Electrum and invested an additional $100,000 of capital in Electrum with payment terms similar to the October 31, 2018 Capital Agreement. As part of the January 28, 2019 Capital Agreement Mentor was granted an option to convert its 6,198 membership interests in Electrum into a cash payment of $194,027 plus an additional 19.4% of the Recovery.

On December 21, 2018, Mentor paid $10,000 to purchase 500,000 shares of NeuCourt, Inc. common stock, representing approximately 6.6% of NeuCourt’s issued and outstanding common stock

On March 14, 2019, the Company was notified by G Farma that, on February 22, 2019, the City of Corona Building Department closed access to G Farma’s corporate location and posted a notice preventing entry to the facility. The notice cited unpermitted modifications to electrical, mechanical and plumbing, including all undetermined building modifications, as the reason for closure.

On April 24, 2019, the Company was informed that certain G Farma assets at G Farma’s corporate location, including approximately $427,804 of equipment under lease to G Farma from Partner I, were impounded by the City of Corona on or around February 22, 2019. This event significantly impacted G Farma’s financial position and its ability to make payments under the finance leases receivable and notes receivable due the Company. See Notes 8, 9, and 11.

G Farma has not made scheduled payments on the finance lease receivable or the notes receivable since February 19, 2019 and Company management feels it is unlikely we will fully recover amounts due us. Based on our analysis of current conditions, we recorded a bad debt allowance of $752,148 on the finance lease receivable, see Note 9, and fully impaired G Farma notes receivable and the contractual interest in G Farma’s legal recovery, see Note 8, in the quarter ended June 30, 2019. This resulted in an impairment of $1,073,731 on G Farma notes receivable of $1,045,051 plus accrued interest of $28,680, and a full impairment of $600,002 for our investment in the G Farma contractual interest in legal recovery. The Company’s investment in G Farma Entities, previously valued at $41,600, has also been reduced to $0, see Notes 8 and 11.

On May 28, 2019, Mentor Capital, Inc. and Mentor Partner I, LLC filed a complaint against the G Farma Entities and three guarantors to the G Farma agreements, described herein and in Notes 8, 9, and 11, in the Superior Court of California in the County of Marin. The Company is primarily seeking monetary damages for breach of the G Farma agreements including promissory notes, leases, and other agreements, as well as an action for an injunction to recover leased property, recover collateral under a security agreement, and collect from guarantors on the agreements, among other things. Mentor intends to vigorously pursue this matter, however, collection is uncertain at this time. See Note 21.