Note 1 - Nature of operations

Corporate Structure Overview 

Mentor Capital, Inc. (“Mentor” or “the Company”), was 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. Due to market fluctuations, the Company’s market capitalization has been below $5 million for more than 30 consecutive calendar days and has been notified by OTC Markets Group that it has until April 22, 2020 to cure this deficiency.

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 future investments in the medical marijuana and cannabis sector. In March 2018, the Company sold its equity interest in our 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. L. Larson and Larson Capital, LLC (“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%.

The Company has a membership equity interest in Electrum Partners, LLC (“Electrum”) which is carried at cost of $194,028 and $194,028 at December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. On January 28, 2019, as part of a Second Capital Agreement between Mentor and Electrum (described in Note 11), Mentor was granted an option to convert its 6,198 membership interests in Electrum into a cash payment of $194,028 plus an additional 19.4% of anything of value received by Electrum as a result of the pending litigation in British Columbia (see below).

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 have been impaired by $765,001 at December 31, 2019, due to circumstances further described in 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, as amended. 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 acquisition and investing purposes. Partner III has had no activity subsequent to formation.

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 acquisition and investing purposes. Partner IV has had no activity subsequent to formation.

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 12.

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 $146,195 and $100,000 as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. In exchange, Mentor will receive 14.00% of anything of value received by Electrum as a result of the Litigation (“Recovery”), after first receiving reimbursement of Mentor’s funded portion 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, see Note 11.

On December 21, 2018, Mentor paid $10,000 to purchase 500,000 shares of NeuCourt, Inc. common stock, representing approximately 4.16% of NeuCourt’s issued and outstanding common stock at December 31, 2019.

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 equipment valued at approximately $427,804 leased to G Farma from Partner I, were impounded by the Corona Police 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 $765,001 on the finance lease receivable, as of December 31, 2019, see Note 9, and fully impaired G Farma notes receivable, and the contractual interest in G Farma’s legal recovery, see Note 8. This resulted in an impairment at December 31, 2019, of $1,073,731 on G Farma notes receivable of $1,045,051 plus accrued interest of $28,680, and full impairment of $600,002 on our investment in the G Farma contractual interest in legal recovery. On December 31, 2019, the Company recorded the rescission of 288,890 shares of the Company’s Common Stock issued to G Farma in exchange for the contractual interest in G Farma’s legal recovery and cancelled out by the Company’s stock transfer agent subsequent to year-end, see Note 25. The Company’s equity investment in G Farma Entities, previously valued at $41,600, has also been impaired and reduced to $0, at December 31, 2019, see Notes 8 and 11.

The Company’s sale of its shares of Common Stock to G Farma in exchange for investment in the G Farma contractual interest in legal recovery was rescinded on October 3, 2019 and the Company recorded this as cancellation of equity at December 31, 2019, returning the Company to its original position, as if the shares had not been issued. Subsequent to year-end, on March 6, 2020, the shares were cancelled out and returned to unissued shares by the Company’s stock transfer agent, see Note 25.

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 actions for an injunction to recover leased property, to recover collateral under a security agreement, and to collect from guarantors on the agreements, among other things. Mentor intends to vigorously pursue this matter; however, collection is uncertain at this time. Subsequent to year-end, on January 22, 2020, the Court granted the Company’s motion for writ of possession and preliminary injunction prohibiting defendants from retaining control of or selling leased property. Subsequent to year-end, on January 31, 2020, all remaining equipment leased to G Farma by Mentor Partner I which was not impounded by the Corona Police was repossessed by the Company and moved to storage under the Company’s control and on March 5, 2020, the Company sold a portion of the recovered equipment, see Note 25. Sale of remaining equipment is planned for second quarter of 2020 and will be auctioned or sold to the highest bidder or offeror. The Company will try to recover as much of its cost in the equipment as possible given that it has never been used.