FOR ALL TO SEE. THIS KEVIN DANN IS MICHAEL O. PICKENS.
I FEEL SORRY TO ALL THAT HAVE LISTENED TO HIM. READ ON .
IT'S WELL WORTH THE FEW MINUTES.
SOUTH HACKENSACK, N.J., May 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Michael 0. Pickens, son of T. Boone Pickens, is a defendant in a suit instituted by Visual Telephone International, Inc. (OTC Bulletin
Board: VTPI - news) against him for defaulting on a personal promissory note worth close to one-half million dollars for the purchase of 675,000 shares of common stock, which he received.
Carl Ceragno, CEO of Visual commented that ''Pickens walked away with this stock from the Company and then went on a campaign using his family name to bring VTPI to its knees.''
The story started on January 17, 1997 when Michael Pickens, after doing research on VTPI, its new products and background, signed a blanket note for $475,000 at the Company headquarters in
South Hackensack, New Jersey. Pickens requested, and received, a seat on the Board of Directors of VTPI ''to help grow the Company,'' he said. The management and stockholders of VTPI felt that
with Pickens' experience and financial background, the Company could immediately push out its product worldwide. The word got out, and the story broke front page on January 29, 1997, in ''The
Record's'' business section, one of New Jersey's largest and well renowned newspapers. Their lead banner read, ''Oilman's son invests in Bergen high-tech firm.'' Indeed, The Record interviewed
Michael O'Brien Pickens where he was quoted as saying that (Visual's) technology was far and above the field and that ''there is a creative synergy that I think will work for them.'' (Beagelman and
Ceragno) ''are multitalented and each bring something different to the table.'' The Record also photographed a video conference with Michael Pickens' sitting in his home state of Texas to the
Visual office in New Jersey. Pickens was so excited about the prospects of VTPI that he had his company M3 Research produce an extensive institutional research and financial report (March 5,
1997) that he had disseminated to the investment banking community, extolling VTPI and rating an ''aggressive buy.'' Unfortunately, this camaraderie fell apart when Pickens defaulted.
From the time VTPI commenced a lawsuit on June 3, 1997 until recently, Michael Pickens represented himself, ignoring his obligation to produce documents and appear at a deposition.
Because of this, Visual Telephone International applied to the Court and received a Default Judgment. In the eleventh hour, upon hearing this, Michael Pickens hired an attorney who pleaded a
second chance for his client. The Judge, although remarking that he could see no excuse for Pickens ignoring court deadlines, that in the interest of fairness, the Default Judgment shall be vacated to
allow Pickens to defend the lawsuit.
THIS IS , IN TORT AN A P P E A L
Michael 0. Pickens has also been found using the Internet in an attempt to defame Visual Telephone International. Joel Beagelman, President, stated that ''the Company believes that Michael Pickens is
using numerous aliases on various Internet boards, such as AOL, spewing untrue venom and erroneous allegations about management and the Company in a vicious attempt to harm VTPI.''
Visual Telephone plans to proceed in its suit against Michael Pickens and The Pickens Group,seeking millions of dollars to compensate it for its damages, including the damage done to its reputation through false and slanderous accusations. Visual will aggressively litigate this case with the ultimate goal of having this case publicly heard before a court of law. Further, VTPI is making every effort to have various Internet service providers, such as AOL, to cease and desist these slanderous diatribes by Pickens and his various screen names, in an attempt to disparage Visual Telephone International and its shareholders.
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