To: Ken Todd who wrote (7682 ) 5/18/1998 11:20:00 PM From: Harvey Kirby Respond to of 8012
Ken,,,tough questions for a layman such as myself. Not a professional person. I read James Millican's reply and what he says makes sense. As a layman I would think along these lines that if you make statements true or false on the internet via emails or Bulletin boards, yet when on the stand in a court room you make statements contrary to what you said on the internet I certainly would think an attorney would point out these differances and make your testimony pro or con questionable. Now, If I made the statement that I would like the persons envolved brought to justice because they cost me a small fortune in an investment fraud I would have an "ax" to grind with those people. But, in my case it still has to be proven that the people that have been mentioned can be proven guilty beyond a resonable doubt that they had their fingures in the pudding and were part of a plan to defraud the investor. Names have been mentioned, but so far the evidence and the ability to prove that any person purposely committed fraud thus far is in the hands (from what I understand) of the SEC, perhaps the FBI, and a handful of investors that were more on top of this scenario from the very begining. Perhaps the fact that you worked at Genisis you must know things and can prove them that the rest of us out here in cyberspace would have no way of knowing about. Some of the people involved in this could be cicumstantial, but that works the other way also. They could purposely have been committing fraud for months on end. What the attorney meant as far as warning the witness "anything your write from now on(on the Internet) will/could/would be used to discredit you...what you know is very important". To be honest, I'm not sure other that the fact what is said in court versus the internet can certainly be twisted around by an attorney with ease to discredit the witnesses credibility. Wheather the attorney is trying to protect or intimidate the witness I would be unsure off. What counts in my opinion, is the evidence that is supposedly tucked away with the SEC, the FBI, and the other investors that were very close to this scam from the very begining up until now. Also,,,what attorney said this and to whom would make a differance as far """intimidating or protecting him""" If this witness has concrete evidence, best he keep it off the internet until court time. At least be very careful what they post on the SI for instance. It could blow the case. Or,,,if the attorney was directing this statement to a witness knowing that witness was prone to run their month on the internet with frivolous type accusations could hinder prosecution. Your question about what did the attorney meant I think I've pretty much answered to the best of my ability. I hope it was helpful, tried to express myself the best I could. Catch you on the rebound. Got to go to bed and get up tomorrow and go to the salt mines again. Harvey Kirby