for u vile postersFarallon sues Stockhouse poster "campokid"
2009-09-04 14:34 ET - Street Wire
by Mike Caswell
FarallonMining Ltd. has filed a libel lawsuit against an Australian man, DavidSt. Eloi, over defamatory posts he allegedly made on Stockhouse forums.According to the suit, Mr. St. Eloi accused the company and itspresident, Dick Whittington, of stealing the Campo Morado property inMexico, and of manipulating the company's stock price.
Farallon'sstatement of claim, filed on Sept. 1, 2009, in the Supreme Court ofBritish Columbia, identifies Mr. St. Eloi as a resident of Sydney,Australia, and as the person who used the alias "campokid" on theStockhouse website. The plaintiffs are Farallon itself and Mr.Whittington.
The "campokid" posts began in June 4, 2009, andended on July 25, 2009, according to the statement of claim. Amongthem, were entries stating that Farallon was "the biggest scam sincebre-x"; that it defrauded David Hermiston (a man who sued the companyin Mexico for title to Campo Morado); that the company "is involved inthe biggest bribery scandal in history"; and that the company misledinvestors, the suit states. Mr. St. Eloi also allegedly compared Mr.Whittington with Bernard Madoff, and referred to him as "tricky dicky."
Attachedto the suit are copies of 32 posts that Farallon says Mr. St. Eloiwrote. One, dated June 4, 2009, stated that Mr. Hermiston had signedover the Campo Morado property to Farallon, and received nothing inreturn. "I have never heard of such a thing. not legally anyways," thepost read. "I'm surprised nobody is in jail," it continued. Another,dated the same day, stated, "if i was a FAN shareholder, I don't thinkI would be able to sleep at night, knowing that i was part of thebiggest scam since bre-x."
The posting continued on June 6, 2009,with the entries referring to the company's trading. "Isn't it a littlebit suspicious, all the volume these day's with fan.shares and no risein price. kinda looks like the insiders are starting to bail, actuallyit's been over a week now. and when the tsx halts trading. it's onlythe fish, that will be left, holding the bag," the post stated.
Anotherpost referred to the lawsuit Mr. Hermiston filed against the company."I forgot, farallon just got 30 mil. that should buy another round ofdare i say it..naaaa. I hope it's gonna take more than 30 mil. to buythese judges," it read. Another post followed on July 1. "they stolecampo mirado.ooooops not you guy's, sorry, that honor go's to trickydicky," it read.
On July 14, 2009, "campokid" started referringto possible legal action against himself over the posts, afterStockhouse removed some of his entries. "come on warren. you're alawyer. what have you got, you know it and i know it. you have nothing... so maybe you have my real name ... well come and get me. and whenthey show up at my door, I can laugh in their faces like I do to youevery day. slam the door, and continue my laughter," the post reads.
Farallon'sstatement of claim says those posts and others were understood to meanthat the company had engaged in theft, bribery, stock fraud and falseclaims regarding Campo Morado. They were further understood to meanthat the company and Mr. Whittington were dishonest and untrustworthy,and that Mr. Whittington is morally bankrupt, among other things.
Thesuit seeks damages for libel, a permanent injunction preventing Mr. St.Eloi from publishing further defamatory material, plus damages andcourt costs. The company is represented by Tom Hakemi of Hakemi &Company.
Hermiston v Farallon
The propertydispute that the "campokid" posts referred to was between Mr. Hermistonand the company. In 2004, Mr. Hermiston sued Farallon and others inMexico over the rights to Campo Morado. He alleged that he had beendefrauded of his interest in Minera Summit de Mexico, S.A. de C.V., theprior owner of the ground. He lost the case in June, 2007, and severalsubsequent appeals. His most recent appeal, to the Fifth CollegiateCourt in Mexico City, was dismissed on Feb. 6, 2009. Farallon says ithas subsequently received a clean certificate of title to the property.