Re: 9/1/00 - [TVCP] Les French responds to false, fraudulent attack by Talk Visual Corporation's chairman
LesLFrench
Forum Host
Posts: 129
From:Portland, Oregon USA
Registered: Mar 2000
posted 09-01-2000 15:04
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August 30, 2000: Portland, Ore. Last week, I was publicly attacked as the target of a vicious, malicious, and fraudulent character assassination and smear campaign, calculated to destroy my public reputation.
The identity of at least two of the perpetrators of this attack are known to me, one is the board chairman and defacto CEO of a tiny public company, Talk Visual Corporation, while the other individual is a lawyer which has acted as an attorney for both the company and the board chairman. The stated purpose of this attack was to destroy both myself, and the Foundation.
This assault began with a series of vulgar "warning" messages published on the internet by Talk Visual's chairman, Michael Joel Zwebner, and directed at myself. The timing of this planned campaign was such that I was to testify on September 21, 2000 in the case of Zwebner v. Villasenor. In lock step with the online messages, I received two emails from one of Zwebner's attorneys, Mark O. Van Wagoner, insisting that Van Wagoner had "come into possession" of information that was "personal" to me that we should discuss. He requested that I fly down to southern California, or he would come to Portland, to meet personally.
On Tuesday, August 22, Van Wagoner did telephone me in Portland. What ensued was a 22-minute conversation which was generally cordial, albeit vague. In the conversation, Van Wagoner proposed that he had a "thick file" on me, and made the following statements:
"I have come into a large volume of information, which if I were in your position, I would not think I would want it to come out in the litigation"
..."it is public information, and it is likely to become generally more public..."
"I have a picture of you with a booking number underneath it, I have the whole file"
"That's the reason for my call: only to talk you about if that changes how you wish to proceed in this litigation."
"If I take your deposition, and when I take it, these things will become exhibits in the deposition, they are already public record."
"Are you willing to sacrifice yourself for them? [Zwebner and Talk Visual Corp.]"
"If what has come into my possession is of no consequence to you in how you wish to proceed in dealing with Mr. Zwebner, just tell me now; if it is, then we need to decide what and how and what difference it makes; otherwise, I go forward in what I've been doing for twenty-five years."
At the end of the conversation, I was given a couple hours to "think about it", or else Van Wagoner was going to go ahead with whatever his intentions were. Unfortunately, the lawyer's comments were so vague and non-descriptive, that I was totally unaware of what Van Wagoner was talking about, and what his intentions were. Furthermore, I was even more unaware and unprepared for the false, fraudulent, and malicious attack that Zwebner was about to make on the internet and in his company's press releases, and for the fraudulent statements and fraudulent documents that his proxies were about to publish online.
Michael Zwebner is a person who masterfully bends and twists the truth to mislead investors and the public. But sometimes, and this is one of those times, he engages in out-right manufactured lies, in a desperate attempt to destroy his target: for I am told that he has engaged in character assassination attempts against others.
Consider the case of Roberto Villasenor, the online publisher who is presently the defendant in Zwebner's latest of many lawsuits against online critics. Shortly after Villasenor was sued by Talk Visual Corporation for criticizing the company's financials, a southern California psychiatrist, using the online account alias of "DocKatz" began posting numerous false, malicious, and defamatory claims against Villasenor of the most vulgar magnitude, including calling Villasenor "a convicted child molester". One wonders where Katz receives his information, and why a practicing physician would engage in such abusive behavior? It turns out that Katz was a recipient on Zwebner's "inner circle" email list, and a frequent correspondent with Zwebner. Katz even claims that he introduced Talk Visual Corporation to several potential business partners.
THESE ARE DESPERATE PEOPLE who do not want to make disclosure to the investing public. Their only "defense" is to attack the critics who have raised legitimate questions regarding their financial activities. These disclosures ARE REQUIRED for officers and principals of publicly traded companies. Zwebner has never told the truth regarding his bankruptcy history, and has never answered charges from critics regarding his dealings with Anthony Heller and other insiders and insider transactions.
I, on the other hand, am a private citizen, and have NO obligation to disclose anything to anyone. I do not ask you for your money. I am not selling investments or promoting stocks. I am an unpaid volunteer and director for the Foundation. Nonetheless, following is a full a complete disclosure of private matters which will refute every allegation made by Zwebner.
On August 22, 2000, I received a phone call from a member of Zwebner's legal team, Mark Van Wagoner, who is pro hoc vice assisting the Bingham Dana lead attorneys in Zwebner's frivolous lawsuit against Villasenor. During the call, Van Wagoner threatened me that depending upon how I proceeded in the Villasenor lawsuit, a file of materials he had in his possession would make its way to the internet. I had until 3 o'clock to respond as to how I wanted to proceed.
The next day, August 23, Zwebner published a series of hateful, defamatory, false, and fraudulent posts, aimed entirely at destroying my public reputation. In his attack, Zwebner stated "these are real facts obtained from US Government court records." He then posted two links to another web page, the author and publisher of which are presently unknown at this time. Zwebner then made the following false, fraudulent, and defamatory statements: "What is he? Let me tell you clearly, he is a:
Convicted child molester Convicted of forcing his wife to have forced sex against her will
Convicted of restraining her in bed against her will
Convicted of restraining her from going to the bathroom
Convicted wife beater, French hit his wife on stomach while she was
pregnant"
Each and every one of these statements by Zwebner is false and has no basis in fact. The Plain Truth is that in May of 1996, I plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of assault, relating to a disciplinary action with one of my children. While I disagreed with the charge, my decision was, that it was cheaper to pay a $500 fine and have a probation period with 40 hours of community service, than arguing with the authorities and spending thousands of dollars going to trial. There was no restraining order as falsely alleged by Zwebner.
I cannot think of anything worse than being falsely called "a convicted child molester". Let me be perfectly clear: I have never been accused of such a thing, let alone convicted! In fact, I have never been convicted of any crime, except for the misdemeanor described above. No court has EVER ordered that I am "restrained from being near", or not have contact with children, that I am "restrained from coming close to wife" (or any other person), that I am or have ever been on parole (which is impossible, since I have never been jailed or imprisoned), or that any court or any "parole officer" (or anyone else) ever recommended, or ever ordered, any "mental health treatment".
The author of the web pages which were cited and linked to by Zwebner, has deceitfully combined and mixed up the single valid court document referencing the misdemeanor I described above, with a series of false and fraudulent documents, causing the reader to infer these were in fact the same document.
The remaining documents are false and fraudulent. Someone purporting to be my former wife petitioned the court for a "restraining order" based on false allegations. Some of the allegations are fraudulent on their face: for example, the document makes the allegation that I hit my wife in the stomach when she was pregnant, within six months of the signing of the petition. This is preposterous, since the same document discloses that our youngest child (and Mrs. French's last pregnancy) was 12 years old at that time. The other allegations are equally ridiculous. This document was so questionable on its face, that the ex parte judge who was on duty at the time denied the petitioner's request for even a temporary restraining order, requiring instead that the parties should be served and given an opportunity for a hearing. I doubt that Mrs. French was ever aware of the existence of these documents.
Until Zwebner published these false and fraudulent documents, I had never seen them before. Let me make myself perfectly clear: I did not, have not, and would never strike an innocent person for any reason, and especially my own wife and children. Zwebner knows the difference between an dubious accusation and a conviction, but has no problem asserting a lie to the public if it advances his purpose. His reckless disregard for the truth has caused pain and injury to members of my family, and to associates.
The other matter is a grand jury indictment notice, a copy of which Zwebner has also obtained and published. Why didn't Zwebner publish the REST of the information? For starters, the information contained in the indictment was completely inaccurate. The dispute with the Monarch hotel was, in my opinion, a contract dispute with ABC, and involved a credit card payment, not a check. I have no idea as to what basis the county authorities used for accusing me and ABC of theft and bad check (because the sponsor, who paid the bill on his credit card, and months later reversed the charges, was not even affiliated with ABC) and I guess I will never find out, because the district attorney's office dismissed the indictments before I took discovery or deposed witnesses. Unfortunately, the president of ABC was deceased after the event but prior to the indictment. I was then contacted twice by the county regarding this matter, but they never questioned me regarding the dispute, and I never discussed it with them. It was always a mystery to me as to why the county was involved in the first place.
Regarding the two counts relating to theft and bad check to Bob Miller, those indictments were also dismissed by the DA's office. Mr. Miller has been paid his $1500, as had his agent, who has evidently disappeared off the face of the earth, previously been paid $1500. That is all I want to discuss on that matter at this time, because litigation is pending in this matter relating to a third party. Again, a dismissed indictment is a far cry from a conviction; further, the charges were far more frivolous than what appears on face.
Now I have made full disclosure. Will Mr. Zwebner do the same? What is the truth regarding his bankruptcy history? When was his bankruptcy discharged? What is his, and TVCP's, relationship with Anthony Heller? How did Zwebner, in addition to Heller, beneficially become a preferred shareholder in TVCP? Who has been dumping millions and millions of shares of TVCP stock on the market during the past several months, while internet touters urge investors to "hold long"?
Since August 23 when Zwebner attempted his character assassination on me, I have received several letters from Zwebner and his attorney Van Wagoner, which you can now read online. But let me warn you: if you are offended by obscenities, and bantering at the level of a six-year old, then don't go there. These messages betray the true character and nature of the chairman of Talk Visual Corporation!
Les L. French
Original version:
newsop.net
Copies also posted at:
ragingbull.altavista.com
ragingbull.altavista.com |
