DuSolo seeks to identify Stockhouse users Ticker Symbol: C:DSF
DuSolo seeks to identify Stockhouse users
DuSolo Fertilizers Inc (C:DSF)
Shares Issued 129,144,385
Last Close 2/17/2015 $0.22
Wednesday February 18 2015 - Street Wire
by Mike Caswell
DuSolo Fertilizers Inc. has filed a petition in the Supreme Court of British Columbia complaining about several posts in the Stockhouse forums that falsely link the company's management with fraudulent activity. Among other things, the posts called the company a pump-and-dump and said that one of its shareholders was a "con man." The posts also criticized the company's president, Eran Friedlander, over his divorce from television personality Jody Claman.
The allegations are contained in a petition DuSolo filed at the Vancouver courthouse on Monday, Feb. 16, against Stockhouse Publishing Ltd. The petition complains about messages that appeared in the Stockhouse forums between Dec. 19, 2014, and Feb. 2, 2015. The authors were several users identified only by their on-line names, which included pumpanddump123, BuyerBewareUSA, King335, pippyrightstock and fraudwatch15. The company is seeking court orders that will allow it to identify the users.
The messages, as quoted in the petition, began with a series of posts between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. on Dec. 19 by pumpanddump123. The first read: "Eran Friedlander is in Bed with Ron Bauer and his brother Alon Friedlander-both residing outside of Canada. Fleeing from the SEC and Tax Fraud." Another urged investors to research "before investing your hard earned money" and then contained a link to a story titled "$500 million Belize Penny Stock Manipulation Ring shut down." (The story was about the U.S. prosecution of Bob Bandfield and a group of men, including Canadians Brian De Wit and Cem Can, for facilitating market manipulations through an offshore system. The post did not explain how the charges were connected to DuSolo.)
The posts continued that afternoon, with King335 criticizing Eran Friedlander for his divorce from Ms. Claman, who was in the TV show Real Housewives of Vancouver. In a message that appeared at 2:24 p.m., the user wrote: "What wealthy scoundrel sues his wife ... Eran Friedlander." The post then had a link to a news story about the couple's divorce. Another user, Grizzlybear593, added to the topic, writing: "You want to invest in Eran Friedlander? He's a rogue! Sued a single mother of 3 for half her money!"
Later posts claimed that one of the company's largest shareholders was Ronald Bauer, a Vancouver man who was the subject of a civil case from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2005. (The SEC said that Mr. Bauer made $1.5-million (U.S.) in the pump-and-dump of an OTC Bulletin Board company. Mr. Bauer settled the case out of court in 2006, agreeing to pay $840,000 and to serve a five-year penny stock ban. He did not admit to any wrongdoing.)
A Dec. 20 message by King335 referred specifically to Mr. Bauer, reading: "Checkout pump and dump artist Ron Bauer Friedlanders partner. Listed home for $29 million & sold for $7." A message posted minutes later also mentioned Mr. Bauer, stating: "Here is Ron Bauers Pump and dump home, sold with furniture, art and wine cellar ... 2638 Finch Hill West Vancouver." Another post read: "Ron Bauer con man, as known to the SEC. Is one of the largest share holders of Dusolo." Yet another post had a direct link to the SEC's complaint against Mr. Bauer.
As DuSolo sees it, the posts contained language that is false and defamatory. It says that it has no practical way to identify those responsible, and that Stockhouse is the only known source of identifying information. The petition seeks a court order that would direct Stockhouse to provide any such information, including IP addresses for the users.
Vancouver lawyer Pam Sheppard of Owen Bird Law Corp. filed the petition on behalf of DuSolo. The stock closed at 22 cents Tuesday, down two cents.
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