Goldman Sachs is not happy.
There’s a new blogger on the block whose mission is to expose the worms under the rocks at the big G-S. The Telegraph reports:
The bank has instructed Wall Street law firm Chadbourne & Parke to pursue blogger Mike Morgan, warning him in a recent cease-and-desist letter that he may face legal action if he does not close down his website.
Florida-based Mr Morgan began a blog entitled “Facts about Goldman Sachs” – the web address for which is goldmansachs666.com – just a few weeks ago. [link to “Facts” is further down in this post]
In that time Mr Morgan, a registered investment adviser, has added a number of posts to the site, including one entitled “Does Goldman Sachs run the world?”. However, many of the posts relate to other Wall Street firms and issues.
Morgan is not a newcomer to blog fights. The Telegraph reports that a few years ago he set up a blog to expose the shoddy work of US homebuilder Lennar.
He’s not the only one who’s gone after Lennar. This is from January 2009:
Financially troubled Lennar Corp. is suing a whistle-blower raising questions about the Miami-based home builder’s off-balance-sheet debt and a large personal loan taken out by a Laguna Beach resident who is a top executive with the company that is the city of Irvine’s partner in development of the Great Park at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.
The Wall Street Journal reports today [29 January] that Lennar is suing high-profile investigator Barry Minkow for libel and extortion in spreading “false and scurrilous” claims.
Lennar says Mr. Minkow’s charges against the company, which were widely disseminated last week on the Internet, were “designed to severely and fraudulently manipulate and did manipulate the public market for Lennar’s securities by disseminating false and defamatory statements about Lennar.”
Shares of Lennar Corp. plunged 20 percent Friday after Minkow’s Fraud Discovery Institute allegations went public in a YouTube video…
Watch the video. Riveting information about white collar crime by someone who says he knows because he was a white collar criminal himself. Lennar Builders and others like them operate by a “sue me” attitude. They know they can out-litigate those smaller companies to whom they owe money so that finally the victims are forced to settle for pennies on the dollar.
Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs’ lawyers are hot on the trail of Mr. Morgan of Facts About Goldman Sachs:
– – – – – – – – –
According to Chadbourne & Parke’s letter, dated April 8, the bank is rattled because the site “violates several of Goldman Sachs’ intellectual property rights” and also “implies a relationship” with the bank itself.
Unsurprisingly for a man who has conjoined the bank’s name with the Number of the Beast – although he jokingly points out that 666 was also the S&P500’s bear-market bottom – Mr Morgan is unlikely to go down without a fight.
He claims he has followed all legal requirements to own and operate the website – and that the header of the site clearly states that the content has not been approved by the bank.
On a special section of his blog entitled “Goldman Sachs vs Mike Morgan” he predicts that the fight will probably end up in court.
“It’s just another example of how a bully like Goldman Sachs tries to throw their weight around,” he writes.
Mr Morgan adds that if Goldman manages to shut down his site, he has a number of other domain names registered.
As time goes on, look for more and more exposés about Wall Street crimes. When your own financial assets have been ruined by the machinations of the biggies like Godless Sachs, well…“freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose…”
There are a lot of Mr. Morgans out there, and they will be showing up with more and more frequency as our economy continues it steep decline. Here’s one example, written by a convicted white collar felon. He has a most interesting blog profile:
I am the former CFO of Crazy Eddie, a former CPA, and I am now a convicted felon. I helped mastermind one of the largest securities frauds uncovered in the 1980’s. There is a saying, “It takes one to know one.” I teach law enforcement and other professionals how to catch white collar crooks. In my blog, I expose white collar crooks just for the fun of it. In addition, I share my views about white collar crime, securities fraud, the accounting profession, internal controls, Sarbanes-Oxley, government corruption, and other related topics. This blog is written, edited, and published by me and I take full responsibility for my views expressed in this blog. I am exercising my right to free speech afforded me under the Constitution of our great country.
Read his full profile here. Pay attention to his occupation. A prediction: that is a growth field. There will be lots more people listing a similar occupation before this is over.
Hmmm…so this is the New World Order I’ve been hearing so much about. Funny, I never imagined this strange geography of our new world. It will take some getting used to.
Hat tip: Gaia
Hey, Kris Kristofferson in the header there, very nice. I saw Kris playing not too long ago, he was feeling a bit poorly and he’s getting on a wee bit now as well, but he still produced the goods.
The Frozen North
Is not this guy the one heavily advertized here in post-communist Europe and South America with his “shock therapy”.
Then never heard of him again. I think he was never celebrated afterwards anywhere for his “healing powers”. Lot of weird stuff in countries just “opening” to the world. The first wave coming are always thugs and beggars themselves.
If I remember properly, he had just a degree in his pocket. A heavily promoted chick.
@Czechmade
Is not this guy the one heavily advertized here in post-communist Europe and South America with his “shock therapy”.
There are several “guys” in this post. Which one are you referring to?
While I have not read the GS666 site, I am a firm believer in criticism such as this, in light of the financial crisis and the less-than-spectacular role the banks are playing in it, not least recieving billions of taxpayer dollars for no particular purpose or obvious benefit.
Big guys with expensive lawyers trying to silence critics is a sign that the critics are on to something. Notice the tools:
– Implied relationship to GS? Anyone past grammar school should be able to figure out that GS666 is not related to GS itself. Mr. Morgan immediately posted further clarification of that.
– Violation of “Intellectual property rigths”? I’ve argued before that intellectual property laws, Copyright in particular, is draconian and should be cut back drastically. This is a case in point.
Fortunately, libel laws are useless to go after Mr. Morgan. First GS would have to prove that Mr. Morgan is wrong, which will probably be hard. On top of that they would have to prove malign intent, which could be easier.
No wonder they use “Intellectual property” as an excuse to bully their critics into silence. These laws sets just about everyone at risk.
Oh, you’re just at the bottom of one side of the pyramid!
AIG – CV Starr – OSS – CIA – KMT – CP USSR – CPC – AIC – Hitler – Warburg – Bush – Rockefeller … etc etc etc etc:
http://brianakira.wordpress.com/2009/04/07/plutocracy-and-the-international-idea/