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Intertainment seeks damages over "pure scam" post
2012-03-15 14:00 ET - Street Wire
by Mike Caswell
Intertainment Media Inc. has filed a defamation case in the Supreme Court of British Columbia against three Stockhouse posters for series of messages that called the company a "pure scam" and referred to its management as criminals. The company complains that the posts were untrue and seriously injured its reputation. Intertainment seeks damages for libel and injunctions barring future posts.
The suit, filed at the Vancouver courthouse on Tuesday, March 13, identifies the three posters as "MaydayMalone," "f3drivr" and "CESpumper." The users of the three aliases are considered "bashers" on the Stockhouse forums for writing negative comments, Intertainment says.
The first of the posts the company complains of appeared on Oct. 10, 2011, and was written by MaydayMalone. It read, "this stock is a scam run by criminals for criminals at the expense of shareholders accept [sic] it." The ordinary reader would have understood the post to mean that the company is managed by criminals who are fraudulently causing losses to shareholders, the suit states.
Intertainment also complains about a post written on Oct. 20, 2011, by f3drivr, which accused the company's chief financial officer, David Lucatch, of manipulating the stock. That post read: "What I am trying to say is that in my humble opinion it appears that David is working with the shorts. Doesn't anybody find it suspicious that in April there was a huge pump with Gene Simmons appearing in newspapers and all over the internet ... and the SP was manipulated up to $3.35 and shorted by somebody who clearly knew that they were free to do so with no fear of getting burned because they knew that there would not be a material change for several months." The purported manipulation came just ahead of a $20-million financing at $1.20 that the company "desperately needed," the post added. "I wonder if that 20 million was profits from shorting at $3.35 being reinvested in the company," it read.
The final post that Intertainment complains of also came on Oct. 20, 2011. Written by CESpumper, it stated: "no one uses [Intertainment products] KNCTR, ITIBIT or ortsbo, it's a pure scam. fabricated website traffic to justify a method to suck money from dumb investors to buy some software and thus is the exit of insiders without selling any INT shares." Ordinary readers would have understood the post to mean that the company's products were not used by anybody and that management falsely inflated website traffic to defraud investors, the suit states.
According to Intertainment many people have viewed the posts, which have seriously injured the company's character, credit and reputation. Moreover, the posts were all written as part of a calculated effort to disparage Intertainment in the eyes of the financial community.
The suit seeks damages for libel, injunctions barring future publication, punitive damages, court costs and interest. The notice of claim was filed on the company's behalf by J. Brent MacLean of Davis LLP.
The defendants have not yet responded. It is not clear from the suit how the company will identify the defendants, who are listed as John Doe 1 through John Doe 3.
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