10.31.2012

How JDA Slapped Some Fake Loser LA Lawyer In The Face With The First Amendment



WCV, I apologize in advance for this post. I know how you feel about filth on your website but you're the one who gave me full posting rights and I swear I'll try to keep it somewhat family friendly. This is about the First Amendment, not about porn, although porn also involves our Constitutional rights as long as we're talking about consenting adults I suppose! Regardless, this is an important win for liberty, which is why I am reposting some of it here. I have been personally attacked and that is an assault on liberty as far as I am concerned.

Anyhoo. Let's go way back. To 2009 when I wrote about AdultVest, a Francis Koenig-managed "adult" hedge fund accused of fraud at the time. Back then I wrote about it on Jr Deputy Accountant because it was dirty and an alleged fraud and I figured I could make a few dick jokes along the way. Win win, right?

Well about a month ago I got an email from an alleged "lawyer" in Beverly Hills, CA purporting to represent Francis Koenig demanding I take the three-year-old post in question down. I had no real emotional attachment to the post but really didn't want to delete it either so I didn't once I read the lame SEC dismissal of enforcement, knowing how inept those SEC guys are. The original FINAlternatives post upon which I based my own post remains active online today.

Well this fake lawyer didn't like that. He threatened me even harder, writing:

It has been nearly a month since our last communication. I have given you ample time to remove the damaging article aimed at my client Francis Koenig. 
I have advised you in writing that this article is outrageous, entirely untrue, and slanderous. I have provided you with evidence showing my client has been cleared. Yet you continue to display this article on your website. 
Your article starts by saying Koenig left Wall Street to "skeeze on the potential in alternative investments" and then references Bernie Madoff as a comparison! These are your baseless and egregious words. 
Your acknowledgement of my prior notice is clear and undeniable evidence of your awareness of the harm your article is causing my client;  Your actions in writing the article;  The ample time I have provided you to remove this article;  And your failure to remove the article after having been advised of the real and punitive damages this article is causing, is further evidence of your intent to continue to harm my client. 
I have advised you of my intention to proceed with both real and punitive damages to the fullest extent. 
I am now writing to inform you that we are preparing to file a lawsuit which will name you personally, your website, and your company, along with others who have also received my warning notice and have failed to take action. 
I am further advising you that your continued failure to remove the article will provide us with continued evidence of your intention to damage my client, and such failure will continue to add to the costs and damages which you have already caused. We intend to pursue these damages to the fullest extent available.
So I did what any good self-respecting blogger without a pre-paid legal team behind her would do; I removed the post. Obviously this guy was a tool but who has time for those headaches? I know I don't. I have way bigger fish to fry. But I made sure to take advantage of my prime Google real estate for his "client's" name by replacing it with an editor note about how this bully punked me into taking a very innocent post down:

Editor note: due to bullying by the lawyer for Francis Koenig, the previous post here has been removed. Should you be interested in reading it, I have saved an archive copy and can email it to any interested parties, just get in touch.

Mr. Koenig's lawyer stated in his initial communication with me that he and his client were "engaged in a full scale to wipe clean the defacing press that has been costly to Mr. Koenig" and "will do whatever means necessary in order to restore the reputation of Mr. Koenig in the shortest time possible," later following up with a threat to name me and this website in a lawsuit seeking costs and damages "to the fullest extent available." Not once was I asked to simply issue a correction.

This is an all-out assault on the First Amendment - as no defamation was intended in the original piece - but because this website is a hobby of mine, not the kind of money-making venture that could withstand harassment by some lawyer who finds it at all appropriate to demand removal of content, I have removed the post. I have also published all communications from the lawyer and will be in touch with the SEC to secure any and all documents related to AdultVest to independently investigate that matter further. 

Earlier discussions of the alleged fraud can still be found elsewhere on the Internet:

Porn Hedge Fund Founder Defends Investment Decisions 

Porn Hedge Fund Accused Of Fraud, Exonerated

Now. I have asked Francis Koenig's lawyer TWICE now for his California bar number and he's successfully dodged the question since. Mmm, maybe not "successfully," he dodged the question and now that I have been in contact with both the California Bar and SEC regarding his threats to me he's suddenly being super nice:

Adrienne, I responded to you a few minutes ago. In answer to your question, the bar number of the lead litigation attorney filing this case would provided on the lawsuit, however Mr. Koenig has requested that you are to be withdrawn from the case.

Sincerely, Chris

All of this to say NEVER BACK DOWN, folks. I removed the post because that was all this tool asked for and figured I could make up for it by humiliating him on the Internet in its place which I've already done but remember, as long as your intent is good, you're fully within your Constitutional right to trash whomever you like, especially if they're a phony punk trying to threaten you into submission. It's not libel if you do it based on good faith information at the time.

God bless the Constitution. COME AT ME, BRO!

10.30.2012

Why even try?

Exchange with a client, via text:

JY: Hey ... Can we meet tomorrow? Say noon or 1pm? 7:28 PM
Me: Most definitely. Swing by my house? 8:28 PM
JY: Sure, address? 8:32 PM
Me: I just go by Zeke but you can call me "sir" if you like. 8:33 PM
JY: ?  8:38 PM

10.25.2012

Is Colin Powell an idiot?

"Republican" Colin Powell endorses Barack Obama.

Powell voted for Obama in 2008. Lots of Republicans and moderates did. Obama offered a message of hope, change, post-racialism, and post-partisanship. Lots of people fell for it.  And John McCain was an execrable, free-speech-hating, bank-bailout-pushing, grumpy old man.

But now? After seeing the reality of Obama, an extreme leftist ideologue whose record on both the economy and foreign policy is an unmitigated disaster? How can a "Republican" vote for Obama over the ultimate mainstream moderate, Mitt Romney?

10.22.2012

MorOn.org lies to its thousands of gullible Facebook followers



Um, no.

The Salt Lake Tribune is not Mormon-owned. It's owned by an out-of-state corporation, MediaNews Group. And it has a history of liberal editorial policy despite its conservative constituency. They endorsed Obama in 2008, too.

In totally unrelated news, new study shows that Republicans are significantly better informed than Democrats.

10.21.2012

Asset allocation in uncharted waters

Megan McArdle is starting a new personal finance Q&A over at the Beast that Ate Newsweek.

Megan's got a pretty good understanding of finance... for a journalist.

My question, which is the only relevant question for this age group in personal finance at this time:
What should asset allocation be for people in their 30's and 40's given a stagnant economy, 8% GDP deficits, negative real interest rates, and Zimbabwe Ben promising to print money indefinitely?
If you've been reading this blog over the years, you know that my answer is and has been to buy real assets, stocks, and gold; have a little bit of cash, and don't touch a long-term Treasury with a 10-foot-pole. I'm still of the view that the only way out of this mess is a dollar devaluation money-printing orgy.

But I could be wrong. Look at Japan. They're 20 years ahead of us into the Depression, and their stock market is still down 75% from the peak, their interest rates are still near zero, and they still haven't seen inflation despite racking up debts that surpass even Obama and multiple bouts of Bernanke-esque money-printing. There are differences, of course. Japan has much worse demographics and much better trade balance than the U.S. But the biggest difference, I think, is that the Bank of Japan hasn't had a batshit insane chairman like Zimbabwe Ben who has openly committed to destroying the yen.

So that's where I am. Let's see what Megan says.

UPDATE: More on what the heck's going on with Japan, and what it means for us, here.

10.18.2012

Romney speech at Al Smith dinner

Wow. Well done.



John McCain had the stench of loser on him from miles away. Romney has anything but.

HT: Shane Atwell.

10.14.2012

Rime of the Ancient Australian

Hear the rime of the ancient mariner
See his eye as he stops one of three
Mesmerises one of the wedding guests
Stay here and listen to the nightmares of the sea.

And the music plays on, as the bride passes by
Caught by his spell and the mariner tells his tale.


The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a Samuel Taylor Coleridge epic poem, later adapted by Iron Maiden for one of their greatest songs. In the story, a wise and grizzled mariner frightens a young wedding guest with a horrifying cautionary tale from his experience at sea.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is what I think of every time I recall the Australian expat I met two years ago. I have told this story to only a few people since.

It began with a simple Craigslist search for garage shelving in the summer of 2010. After a quick e-mail exchange, I arrived at a typical Southern California two-story house on a cul-de-sac in an upper-middle-class neighborhood. The owner had a locksmith truck out front, one, I would learn, from his successful small local locksmith business.

The owner invited me in to the garage to see the shelving for sale. After I agreed to the price, I began dismantling it for transport, and we began to talk. It turned out that he had lived here several years and his daughter had grown up here. But he was pulling her out of the local high school and moving the family back to Australia. "Why?" I asked.

"Oh, mate, you don't wanna know."

But of course I did. I pressed.

"My wife doesn't like me talking about this. But I've lived under a dictatorship before. And that's exactly what you've got coming here," he finally confessed.

He couldn't have known that I was no Obama fan. Most people my age in this area were Obama voters. But once he had decided to tell his tale, he couldn't stop.

He talked of things with which I was quite familiar, but with which most of the public would not have been: Eric Holder and the Black Panthers, the White House asking people to inform on their dissident friends and neighbors, the Obama cult of personality, and the way the media were no longer watchdogs but open supporters of the regime.

I had at that time already seen and participated in the blossoming Tea Party movement, and I was confident that the November 2010 elections would bring a sharp reversal. Won't we put an end to all this nonsense right there?

"Mate, it won't matter. These guys don't allow parliaments or Congresses to stop them."

How prescient he was. A landslide Congressional election, and yet nothing has changed. The Boehner Congress allows Obama's spending to continue unchecked. The Boehner Congress gave Obama the power to indefinitely detain Americans without trial in the NDAA. We have created a vast dependency class, with 15% of the population on food stamps, and millions more on extended unemployment benefits and disability payments. Obama went to war against Libya without Congressional authorization. Domestically, Obama rules by Executive Order without even the pretense of checks and balances. Senator Charles Schumer has proposed, and Speaker Boehner has endorsed, a Reich Flight Tax to confiscate the assets of Americans fleeing the Obama regime.

Maybe we put an end to this on November 6. But maybe not. It certainly wouldn't hurt to heed the warning of the ancient Australian and begin planning your escape strategy. Sovereign Man and International Living are two good places to start.

And the wedding guest's a sad and wiser man.

UPDATE: Thanks Instapundit for the link. And the optimism:
Fascism is forever descending upon the United States, but somehow it always lands on Europe.
Please see another immigrant's view of America at Left Coast Rebel's related post on Thomas Peterffy, and check out our San Diego Tea Party blogger friends the SLOBs.

10.11.2012

The Real Winner of Tonight's VP Debate...

 pic credit: me, Sacramento Tea Party rally 9/12/10

The clear winner of tonight's VP debate was obviously... the libertarians! Why? Because we weren't invited.

Not getting invited to this circus is like getting rejected to participate in The Bachelor. Sure, maybe we could famewhore our way into American homes with slick positions and posturing but why would we want to? It goes against everything we stand for. Because we are about true freedom, not the Nabisco/Monsanto/GM/JP Morgan Chase/Disney/Walmart brand of freedom most Americans cling to as if there is no other option. Little do they know. It is up to you, loyal freedom-loving WCV readers, to show them our political system doesn't have to be like choosing between watching the Real Housewives of Bumfarkery and the Kartrashians on the boobtube. Turning off the teevee is an option too.

Any empty puppet can stand (er, sit) there and spout off the talking points but it takes real guts to sit back, pop the popcorn and let these guys go at each other as if any of it matters.

Would we appreciate the opportunity to present the libertarian view to Americans who mistakenly view libertarians as pot-smoking, gun-shooting, gay-loving indifferent jerks? Sure. Do we need such an opportunity to get our point across? Nope. That's the great thing about believing what we believe, we don't need to prove anything to anyone. Like us if you want. Hey, hate us if you want too! We just don't care, and if nothing else we'll fight for your right to hate us because you, as an American, should be free to hate whomever you like - whether or not you understand where they are coming from - as long as your hate doesn't infringe on anyone else's right to do what they want to do as well.

Keep clinging to that sense of security if it makes you feel better, America, just know we're here ready to present a real alternative when you're ready for it.

And thanks to WC Varones for convincing me tonight to give my one Dictatorship of Columbia vote to Gary Johnson this November. While the "lesser of two evils" approach may work in any other district, seeing as how I'm still technically a resident of DC and the DC slums at that, might as well feel good knowing my throw-away vote went to the right candidate, not the one puppet who is maybe but not definitely less of an ass than the other guy. My DC voting district is the same that has repeatedly re-elected Marion Barry so I'm fairly sure I'll be the only one voting Libertarian this year but hey, no one said being the odd man out would be easy.

Besides, I kind of like being weird.

The political class versus the rest of us

Charlie McDanger riffs on Romney and the hypocrisy of the ruling class:

10.10.2012

San Francisco unites against Obama

Left, right, Code Pink, World Can't Wait, porn stars, medical marijuana advocates, PETA, drone strike objectors... everyone has a reason to oppose Obama.

I wish I were there.  I would have felt comfortable holding about 80% of those signs.

10.06.2012

Further thoughts on Obama's epic debate fail

Yes, Obama was arrogant, lazy, unprepared, and incompetent.

But enough about his Presidency. Let's talk about the debate.

Both contestants used bogus figures and optimistic assumptions. Romney's plan to grow his way out of 8% GDP deficits without serious defense cuts and entitlement reforms is as absurd as the Hope & Change that Obama promised his idiot voters four years ago.

But the biggest takeaway I have is how sad it is that our republic has come down to a game show where the smoothest talking blatant liar wins all.

So this is how democracy dies: not with a bang or a whimper, but a farce.

10.04.2012

Facebook lynches chair

In the wake of a shocking string of chair lynchings that brought out the Secret Service to investigate, Facebook gives us this:

McDanger's election notes

Some thoughts on race, politics, and option C from our friend McDanger: click here.

10.03.2012

Thoughts on #DenverDebate

- So that's what the whole campaign would have looked like without the media running interference for Obama.

- Somebody should tell Obama he's on split screen and we can see him seething every time Romney speaks.

- If Obama can issue an Executive Order to suspend layoff notices to help his re-election, maybe he should issue an Executive Order outlawing debates, too.

10.02.2012

Facebook makes you fat, broke, and obnoxious

... and not just from buying the stock.

WSJ:
According to soon-to-be-published research from professors at Columbia University and the University of Pittsburgh, browsing Facebook lowers our self control. The effect is most pronounced with people whose Facebook networks were made up of close friends, the researchers say.

[...]

People who spent more time online and who had a high percentage of close ties in their network were more likely to engage in binge eating and to have a greater body mass index, as well as to have more credit-card debt and a lower credit score, the research found. Another study found that people who browsed Facebook for five minutes and had strong network ties were more likely to choose a chocolate-chip cookie than a granola bar as a snack.

In a third study, the professors gave participants a set of anagrams that were impossible to solve, as well as timed IQ tests, then measured how long it took them to give up trying to solve the problems. They found people who spent more time on Facebook were more likely to give up on difficult tasks more quickly.  A Facebook spokesman declined to comment.

Why are we often so aggressive online? Consider this recent post to this column's Facebook page, from someone I don't know: "Why should I even bother writing you? You won't respond."

We're less inhibited online because we don't have to see the reaction of the person we're addressing, says Sherry Turkle, psychologist and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor of the social studies of science and technology. Because it's harder to see and focus on what we have in common, we tend to dehumanize each other, she says.

10.01.2012

Gold: should you buy now?

We've made the case for gold as a store of wealth here many times over the last several years.

But we're just some pseudonymous blogger.

If anyone has a reason to be biased against gold, it's a bond manager.  Bond managers seek real returns from positive interest rates on bonds based in a sound currency.  So if the world's biggest bond manager suggests you should consider gold, you would be wise to listen.

And here is that very bond manager, PIMCO:
We believe investors should consider allocating gold and other precious metals to a diversified investment portfolio. The supply of gold is constrained, and we see demand increasing consistent with global economic growth on a per capita basis. Regarding inflation in particular, we feel that the Federal Reserve’s decision to begin a third round of quantitative easing makes gold even more attractive.


We see the Fed’s actions in the wake of the financial crisis as a paradigm shift whereby the Fed is attempting to ease financial conditions and encourage risk-taking by increasing inflation expectations. Its policies will likely result in continuous negative real interest rates because nominal rates will be fixed at close to 0% for the foreseeable future.

Happy Super Tuesday!