Scott, I completely agree that it's a weird, sordid, and twisted tale. I'll attempt a very brief recap, and allow others to fill in the blanks:
1. Between Feb 17 and May 9, John Sladek, Wireless Wonk, Mshater, and Bill Ulrich provide information which exposes the hype surrounding HITT, the Ponzi scams of Dorian Reed, the connection of Reed and HITT, the FTC case against Reed:
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2. Bloomberg subsequently wrote an expose about the corruption, and HITT was not happy about actual facts coming to light:
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3. Many other truthseekers dive into deeper research and uncover more ground, such as the mysterious Trust Fund that doesn't seem to appear on public record, and the incredible asset wealth of the stamp collection.
4. HITT fell from $20 to $5 during this period. Note that HITT had not properly disclosed the material events. Thus, many suits were issued against HITT:
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5. HITT decides that it is Janice's fault, as well as a few others (only 100, mostly un-named). Don't let the fact that factual information was revealed actually become an issue: biz.yahoo.com
6. In a remarkable marketing coup, HITT sponsors a tricycle race in Cherry Festival: biz.yahoo.com
7. HITT's market cap remains at an astounding ~$250 million despite its business structure.
8. HITT's "porn-free" search engine has provided positive searches, documented at various times on this thread, plenty of porn available for everybody's whacking pleasure. A misnomer of its primary marketing goal, I suppose. Not that it's a "bad thing"—but if you're selling stock based on a premise, and the premise turns out to completely untrue, there are some false advertising and misrepresentation issues involved.
9. If HITT thinks that intimidating people with legal action, for telling the truth is appropriate, then they are quite welcome to visit my porn-free monkey, available for porn-free spanking.
Hopefully, others will fill in the blanks.
Did I miss anything, fellow threadsters? |
