"14. On or about March 18, 2001, Ms. Simon posted a message on the chat room message board on Silicon Investor and another on-line stock information chat room, InvestorHub.Com,[1] regarding Mr. Stefanich. In that message, Ms. Simon stated that Mr. Stefanich was a “pump and dumper” and a bankrupt on-line investor. A “pump and dumper” is a person who enters these chat rooms, and gives opinions, or “calls,” as to whether to buy or sell a stock when, in actuality, that person is taking the absolute reverse action of his “calls.” In other words, a “pump and dumper” is a person who gives an opinion to buy a certain stock in the chat rooms when they are selling the stock, or vice versa. This representation regarding Mr. Stefanich is obviously derogatory, given the fact that Mr. Stefanich has a significant on-line following, and given the fact that such a following, when acting on any given opinion could potentially change the value of any given stock.
15. Ms. Simon also stated that Mr. Stefanich was a bankrupt on-line investor. Again, this representation is clearly derogatory and made with the intent to injure Mr. Stefanich’s reputation in the on-line investing community. These statements were not the only statements made by Ms. Simon regarding Mr. Stefanich. Other statements include calling Mr. Stefanich a “scumbag,” “scum,” a “fungus,” and other derogatory phrases and words, all used in the clear attempt to injure Mr. Stefanich’s reputation in the on-line trading community and with the intent of causing emotional distress to Mr. Stefanich.
16. In fact, none of the representations regarding Mr. Stefanich were true. Mr. Stefanich is not bankrupt and does not attempt to influence the market with his following to his own personal ends.
17. At all times relevant hereto, defendants, Silicon Investor and Pristine.Com were aware of the representations being made by Ms. Simon. At the time, Ms. Simon was a partner of Pristine.Com and was a regular participant on Silicon Investor. Neither defendant Silicon Investor nor Pristine.Com has ever retracted the statements made by Ms. Simon, nor have they even offered apologies to Mr. Stefanich. Moreover, neither of the defendants have instructed Ms. Simon to cease and decist in her campaign of character assasination of Mr. Stefanich."
And I've been thinking all along that the law suit was about the stock trading practice of Jenna/Pristine. I was wondering what all those noises were about when people were asked if anyone had any experiences about losing money by following Jenna's recommendations, or about the relationship between Pristine and Executioner???
If name calling was the problem, I would just tell her mom to give her some spankings. That would work just fine, at least in my kid's elementary school. |
