TO: All Araldica Shareholders
FROM: Frank J. Landi Sr., President
DATE: 14 August 1998
SUBJECT: WINE INVESTMENT NEWS
To those of you that ever doubted that the subject publication was intent on- only- ruining this company, and had no intention of providing any balanced reporting- ever- on the subject of Araldica Wineries, Ltd., such doubts should now be laid to rest.
The subject publication has now seen fit to continue its assault on this company by attacking me personally, an easy cheap shot, since I am vulnerable to such smear because of a 20 year old problem that I did in fact have with the SEC.
Not only have I personally never lied about such events of my life, I have always had prepared, and distributed as I felt appropriate, a full disclosure, package of documentation having to do with these events.
Such documentation includes the charges against me at the time; it also includes the multiple "lie detector' tests I took- and passed- during that period of my life, as well as the overwhelming evidence that should have been used, and was not, to refute the charges against me.
This response will have to suffice, for now, to the latest barrage against the company from nice folks at Wine Investment News:
- To those of you that believe that the criminal justice system in the United States is perfect, and that miscarriages never occur, I suggest that you stop reading at this point, because you will never accept what follows.
- To those of you who are currently Araldica shareholders, and want to read for yourselves the full disclosure documentation that is available, you have only to request this material, in writing, from the company's General Counsel, and it will be sent to you:
Mr. Curtis J. LaForge, Esq.
LaForge, Binder & Associates
375 Main Street
Hackensack, NJ 07601
The government would not have, and could not have, arranged for me to be convicted of a crime that I did in fact not commit, had they seen fit to put me on trial alone, and not with two other (and otherwise unrelated to me) convicted con men as co-defendants, who had swindled me and my company out of $80,000 in premiums that were paid to them for a bond, found later to be fraudulent, despite substantial due diligence investigation by myself and counsel to my company.
- My trial documents are available for any to acquire and review:
United States -v- Frank J. Landi, Sr.
United States District Court
Southern District of New York
Case number 83 Cr. 64 (CLB)
To those who are -not sufficiently interested in these matters, I offer the following excerpts of events from my trial:
- The government stipulated at my trial that there was no accusation on of my having looted, or otherwise having financially manipulated, my company; they conceded that I had repaid all debts (i.e., individual investigators' investments), on time and in full.
- On the second day of my trial it is documented that the trial judge remarked- in full hearing of the jury- to my counsel: "What are you objecting for? Your clients dead anyway." This remark- was made during the prosecution's opening remarks, before any defense testimony was even offered.
- The judge's instructions to the jury were: that they could find all 3 defendants innocent, or all 3 defendants guilty, or my 2 co-defendants innocent and me guilty; they were not, allowed to consider- by order of the trial judge- that I was innocent and my 2 co-defendants guilty, which was in fact the truth. If you refuse to believe that such a situation could be allowed, you will have to obtain the complete full disclosure package, and become familiar with how the statutes read (and how they can be manipulated in the drafting of an indictment).
- My co-defendants had been taped, over a six month period, by the FBI. The prosecution refused to make these tapes available to the defense, although they contained exculpatory information relevant to my defense; specifically, they would have shown that I had no knowledge that the bond that was purchased by my company had been a fraud perpetrated on me and my company (a fraud for which my co-defendants pled guilty, not only in New York but in 6 other states as well).
- The reason that I finally wound up on trial with a court-appointed counsel was that I mortgaged, and then remortgaged repeatedly over the 5 years that I and my company were investigated (civilly and criminally), my home, to the point where I was finally bankrupt- having finally lost my home, cars, bank accounts and all other assets, in defending myself and my company.
- As to Araldica and my position with the company:
- I founded the company, and have repeatedly withdrawn in the past as President, for the good of the company, exactly because I feared that as old as these events are, they might at some point be dredged up to the detriment of the company. There have been however, despite my good intentions, times in the last 5 years when I have had to accept reappointment as President, because there have been times- as now- when things occur (like the Danielle default) that make it uncomfortable for others to accept the position, at least until such time as the company's fortunes again improve, and its credibility gets restored. Since everyone else involved in this company is free to walk away- at any time, and I am not, I have been, from time to time, President, despite my wish not to be, precisely for the reasons we now find to exist.
- The reason that I am not free to walk- away from Araldica is that for the entire 5 years of its existence, I have- voluntarily- personally guaranteed all of its investment debt,. all of its corporate leases, and all of its corporate credit of any kind,
The events of 1978 and 1979 have nothing- in my opinion- to do with this company, and .the hardworking people that are presently trying to make it a success.
The disclosures recently made by the Wine Investment News were obviously based upon my confidential full disclosure documents, which I had made available to a certain party that was previously involved with Araldica.
This company has, and had, nothing to hide with respect to my background or the background of any others in Araldica; that said, it is unfortunate, and a disservice to any and all, to have had these matters brought up for no other purpose than to smear a small public company that is struggling to succeed,
The phrase "hatchet job" does not begin to describe the continuing and unwarranted attacks on, and harm being done to, Araldica by Wine Investment News.
All of us can only wonder why, if it is not just a favor to accommodate the short-sellers, this "newsletter" and its principal have developed such an ongoing and passionate hatred for this company.
Rather than allow this to continue, I make a formal challenge to the owner of Wine Investment News:
My lawyer (above) and your lawyer will select qualified, nationally recognized experts in the administration of lie detector tests (polygraph, voice stress analyzer, sodium pentothal, or hypnosis; preferably all 4), and we both submit to interrogation there under.
The results, when published, should allow all to know the truth as to the motives and actions, past and present, of both Mr. Perdue (the publisher of Wine Investment News) and I.
I believe the relevant phrase is "Put up or shut up".
Frank J. Landi, Sr.
President and CEO |
