Quick reply to 'Innocent Bystander'

This humble blog has been name-checked on the iii.co.uk board by a poster called 'innocent bystander'. He hasn't got a high opinion of it, or me, but everyone is entitled to his/her own viewpoint. But I'm afraid to say old fruit you've got this one almost 100% wrong.

In fact, his letter is full of things taken out of context, outright lies and curios omissions of his own personal involvement.

Ohh. Bold claims. However you fail to say what these "lies" are in my fully referenced post. Care to expand? Where are these "lies"?

Incidentally I'm not David Falt, But seeing as you want to drag up the bank Hapoalim case again, I'm delighted to assist - seeing as it highlights the underhand, deceitful and manipulative way Mr Mooers has acted. Incidentally the court documents for the case are available online from the US courts system.

I wrote this is March 2009 to another poster, called John, who -like you- had got the wrong end of the stick. It still stands:

"Lets look at the facts AGAIN but this time in chronological order.

Fact 1: Roger Branton issued the shares to Falt and four other people around March 29, 2005. They were real, valid shares. Not forgeries. Not bogus. Branton signed them. He and Rick authorized them. Hapoalim confirm this. Hapoalim confirm Falt's name on the certificates, along with the other names. Hapoalim confirm Branton's signiture on the certificates. xG LLC was the name on the certificates. There were no restrictions as to the disposal of these shares. None of the parties involved now dispute this. John - the whole point of shares (as I tried to explain yesterday) is that you can sell them, Falt and the others was perfectly entitled to sell them when they saw fit. I trust you are with me up to this point.


Fact 2: A few days later in April 2005 Falt deposits the shares at the Bank of New York. They accept the shares as legal, binding, Kosher.

Fact 3: Sometime later that year Falt leaves xG. It's pointless to argue with you about exactly who left who. I maintain, through multiple excellent sources, that Falt resigned because he was disgusted about the way xG were handling themselves. You are free to believe what they pay you to. That's your job after all. I imagine that harsh words were said on both sides. Around that time he also leaves ACH. Falt was now obviously a threat to both of them as he knew where the skeletons were buried.

Fact 4: October 2005 - Falt sells some of the shares. Not the whole amount, just some of them. The Bank of New York say it's a legal transaction. Hapoalim, who end up on the other side of the trade, agree.

Fact 5: Hapoalim, try to get the certificate split to complete the sale. Inexplicably xG refuse. The initial reason they give is the shares don't exist - which was just silly, two banks had confirmed they do, and then there was the awkward fact of Branton's signature on the paperwork.... When they acknowledged that the shares did exist their next lie was to say they were issued against a promissory note. Then they lie again and say that they are now called xG Inc so the shares aren't valid. Then that simply the shares are 'Null and Void' These guys are squirming, but the elephant in the room' throughout all the shenanigans is the certificates with Falts name and Brantons' signature...And ain't it strange that every other director who've all been GIVEN shares in xG have had their share certificated honored...

Fact 6: 1 January 2006 - BOTH the Bank of New York AND Bank Hapoalim write to XG Technology to pressure them about the certificates. Both these institutions are siding with Falt. Both agree that as far as they can see he is the abused party. Legal threats are made from the banks to xG, whose response is to return legal threats, not at the banks, but at Falt.

Fact 7: Lawyers earn money all through most of 2006.

Fact 8: 9 November 2006 xG Change [Edit: finally - despite them saying months before that they already had...]from LLC to Inc. They do not inform Hapoalim, despite the ongoing legal process. Presumably this is because they already said to Hapoalim that they are already called Inc. Hapoalim find out from their inquiries they've made about these xG people. They've also found out that they are planning to list.


Fact 9: 13 November 2006 The letter is sent that I've posted here. Let's remind ourselves what it says because you obviously haven't read it properly John:

*"We have attempted to obtain clarification but he has not been cooperative...We have made inquiries in the United States. These inquiries have raised serious doubts about xG Technology LLC itself and the individuals that stand behind it. It is very difficult to form a definite opinion but we have serious doubts that xG Technology LLC and the technology it claims to own are what they purported to be." They then say they've spoken to the broker and the Nomad about their position with the certificate. The letter is co-signed by the CEO and Head of Controls.*



The reason they've spoken to the Broker and Nomad is simple. They want these shares recognized in the new company. And by the looks of it both seem to agree that Hapoalim had got a point because the IPO is shelved. Yes, this IPO you harp on about just turned out to be an "Introduction" to the market. (Don't bother to argue - it's on the LSE website, as "Not IPO XG TECHNOLOGY INC - Introduction"). They shelved it for two reasons: 1) lack of mugs willing to buy, and 2) the nomad was unwilling to accept later share dilution once these shares were converted. ZERO pounds was raised during this 'Non-IPO'. They changed their IPO into a 'convertable bond' so that the guys who had bought in at pennies in the pound via ACH and Wahlman could get their shares. But I'm digressing...

Fact 10: 26 January 2007 Bank Hapoalim sues xG Inc for breach of fiduciary duty. The breach was that they i) failed to inform Hapoalim on the name change from XG Technology LLC to XG Technology Inc, and ii) failed to inform them of the introduction of the company on AIM, and iii) they didn't list the David Fält shares in the register. Hapoalim say:

*"The company and specifically Mooers and Branton have betrayed their trust, breached their Fiduciary duty, withheld the information required and behaved disgracefully and deliberately and willingly infringed the Bank and the applicants' rights".*



Fact 11: The Judge had to decide, not if the certificates were valid - they were - but if by outrageously not including them in the register did a member of a Limited Liability Company owe a fiduciary duty to a party (Hapoalim) who wasn't in the LLC. The judgment is paraphrased here (www.abanet.org/buslaw/newsletter/0071/materials/pp2.pdf) "In a Florida
case interpreting Delaware law, the Court considered whether LLC managers owed a duty to parties that were not formally designated as LLC members. Under Del. Code Ann. Tit. 6, § 18-1101(c) a LLC may owe a fiduciary duty to “another person that is a party to or otherwise bound by a LLC agreement.” Plaintiffs needed to prove whether the assignee of a LLC member’s securities assumed member status in the LLC. The Court held that the allegations failed to allege that the LLC managers owed the assignee a fiduciary duty and therefore failed to state a claim of breach of fiduciary duty."

So the judgment was *NOT* that the certificates weren't valid. *Not* that Falt/Hapoalim/BNY had done anything wrong, but simply on the legal point that LLC members didn't owe fiduciary duty to non LLC members. But stench of fraud around Rick and Roger got really bad that day. The issue wasn't resolved. These share certificates are still out there.

Ding. Ding. Round one over.

Fact 12: Now we are back to the present day, the bell has just struck for round two. It's still unresolved. BUT, if Falt is - as the Swiss Police have determined - innocent, then who is Guilty? There must be these still outstanding share certificates somewhere, along with that sale through two banks. These issues haven't gone away. I can't speculate about the future but it's logical to suggest that if the guilty one isn't Falt, or Hapoalim, then the only people left in the frame are Rick and Roger. I'm sure the next few months will be interesting for us all."

Now Innocent Bystander continues:

He somehow links Palmi Sigmarsson and Marc Dannenberg together through Guardian Holdings and make that suspicious. What’s the link? Guardian Holdings is owned by 300 different shareholders, not Palmi alone, and he had left Guardian Holdings long before Marc Dannenberg apparently sold these shares in Guardian Holding. Again, where is the crime (and link)?

Now that's very interesting. 300 shareholders. Just how do you know that? It shows you are more closely involved than you admit to. The crimes (plural please) are simple: 1) The shares were restricted shares - that were sold for HALF the market rate, by an unregulated stock promoter rather than legal channels, 2) whilst these restricted shares were meant to be under the 'lock-up' period, 3) to multiple US citizens in contravention of their Reg 'S' status.

Now, If you have some FACTS which show me to be wrong - please post them. Please include links to references as I have done. You can email me: john.prescott.dpm at gmail.com, you can post here - whatever you like, but please put up or shut up.

A Useful Summary

Craig Malthus has written a piece on xG that they are trailing on their website (right-hand column). I made a comment a few days ago, and Craig asked for more info, which I have now provided. For those who are catching up on the xG story I thought it may make a useful summary:

"Hi Craig,

Thanks for the reply. Sure. I'll back up what I said. The beginning is probably a good place to start:

In the late '90s xG was called iDigi, run by the same directors; Rick Mooers, Roger Branton, and the inventor Joe Bobier. Besides that it had three major similarities to xG:

1) It sold similar high-tech broadband radio-modulation products, which would 'revolutionise' the market, but were 'so secret' nobody could ever know how they worked. This was because in common with the early xG modulation - they DIDN'T work. At least at anywhere near the capabilities they claimed to investors. In fact with iDigi their main investor discovered that they had actually cheated in their demo - pre-recording video on computer hard-drives that was supposedly broadcast by their system. (Link a). Link b)).

Compare this with early xG claims that their modulation was special and worked. This (link c)) analysis shows that their claims of special modulation are entirely bogus. Any number of systems could have easily achieved what they claimed was special. (Also see this entire blog by a Professor of Electrical Engineering - link d)). xG's supposed advantage lay within two inventions: their 'special' filter called the 'wavelet pass filter', and 'flash signal'. The two patents backing these up have been shown to show a laughable lack of basic communications theory. (link e, link f)). When iDigi's main investor (Icelandic pension fund LN) found out, well obviously they sued for FRAUD. Mooers obviously couldn't fight it so settled out of court, for $5m.

xG evidently knew about the problems with their modulation system, as witnessed by these emails (link g, h)), and this BER curve they put up on their web-page and later took down (link i)). Yet they continued to tell their investors who had put in their hard-earned money nothing - in direct contravention of AIM rule 11.

a)http://tinyurl.com/2w2fsko
b)http://tinyurl.com/2vx96wb
c)http://www.ka9q.net/xmax.html
d)http://tinyurl.com/3x2wtpw
e)http://tinyurl.com/29ntyvs (pdf file)
f)http://www.ka9q.net/tristate.html
g)http://tinyurl.com/39p5jm8
h)http://tinyurl.com/356884p
i)http://tinyurl.com/2bpz73p

2) In common with iDigi, xG's funding was...ummm...unusual. As you've been told instead of the usual route of showing their incredible system to any number of major institutions who would've undoubtedly cut each others throats to get a piece of it, they chose...wait for it...a boiler-room to market their stock.

With iDigi the boiler-room was, unusually for a company based in the USA, one based in Spain, the Costa del Crime: N.C.R. Capital. (I will leave it to your imagination to decide whether they chose this one to be out of reach of US legislators.) Of the funds raised destined for iDigi 50% ended up in offshore accounts never to be seen again. Did Rick Mooers know it was a boiler-room? Did he know only pennies in the dollar from investors money was going to iDigi? Well, yes he did:

"Rick Mooers came here to Spain," Dannenberg said. "He knew all about it. He knew he was getting pennies on the dollar for iDigi. Yes, he knew it was called iDigi Ltd. He gave a speech to all of us. He mentioned the fact that it was a boiler room. He didn't want it to be a boiler room. He was saying this was not something that was a boiler room deal, but it was. He was just giving us a story to go on."" (link b), page 6, also see link a)).

When iDigi folded it left the FBI and the court administrator chasing up to $30m that had gone missing. None has been recovered to my knowledge.

The link with NCR continues to this day. Palmi Sigmarsson a current xG director worked with NCR to bring in LN, via his company Spectra Kapital. Spectra promoted mainly penny stocks and have now been closed down by the finance inspectorate. The contact list for NCR was allegedly sold on to Spectra...Incidentally this same director made upto $2.25m shorting xG - his own company, as well as allowing stock he controlled to be sold for half the market rate whilst under the lock-up period. That shows confidence in xG, huh?

With xG the story is similar but the boiler-room changes to ACH securities in Geneva. (Again you will note outside US jurisdiction.) ACH were a Swedish brokerage, but have the unusual distinction of being expelled from Sweden for various shady deals (link j)). Two directors of ACH were at one time or another also directors of xG. ACH have now also been closed down by the authorities, but not before they were able to lap the share-price from $4.50 to $18...

After ACH closed, xG were left to mainly rely on unregulated stock promoters like Fredrik Walhman (mentioned in court document - link k)) page 25 onwards) to sell shares. Which he did with some success bringing in $34m investment from a millionaire called Johan Bohamn (who is also not without a 'colourful' history himself..)

Doubts raised at the beginning of the float weren't chased up.(link kk)



j)http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-122629851.html
k)http://tinyurl.com/2wrsper
kk)http://tinyurl.com/35zbxqs

3)The third major similarity involves accounts, so I thank Mr Rotondo for bringing it up. In both companies Rick Mooers dramatically overstated to companies balance sheets. With iDigi (from link b) page 7):
"Mooers never fully disclosed where the money was coming from . which left all of us very uneasy," Heimann said.

He also claims that Mooers and another partner, Roger Branton, wanted to "adjust" entries in the 1999 year-end financial figures "that would show investments in the $10s (of millions) and $100 millions range by valuing their contributions at exorbitant amounts, without any reference to reality."

"They wanted to show iDigi Communications was valued at a very high level," Heimann said. ". Mooers committed fraud in several ways: by falsifying records and inflating financial statements and misleading investors with respect to the value of the company they were investing in .

"No. 2, by setting up all sorts of covert schemes with offshore entities that ended up siphoning off 50 cents on the dollar on average, of monies investors paid."

Mooers, for his part, denied those allegations and claimed Heimann "embezzled from the company."

With xG Rick was up to his old tricks - valuing the company exorbitantly. This may have been justified if the miracle modulation was real - but as I've shown they knew it wasn't, or was unworkable. The 'sales' and 'deals' they announced were really nothing of the sort. The former were mainly just adjustments to the accounts receivable (with, presumably, the knowledge of Johan Bohman) - if you do as Mr Rotondo suggested and check the last few years' accounts you'll see they've just been shifted to debt owing after one year. Very little, if anything, was actually sold in the true sense. The 'deals' were mainly just letters of intent to look at the system. There were by my count 11 such 'deals' - no business ever resulted - despite the 'miracle' nature of their technology.

All in all it paints a very bad picture of the attitude that Mr Mooers has to his investors. This is why the latest announcements (links l), m), and n)) of MBTH being involved is such a bad sign for investors. Now Mr Moores has a mechanism to cheat all the investors quite legally. No wonder Ceinwen Lloyd (xG director, and wife of Johan Bohman) is upset. She realises that the $35m they've put in is hanging in the balance.

l)http://tinyurl.com/36s7hn7
m)http://tinyurl.com/33cm4js
n)http://tinyurl.com/38fa4jx

Finally I should say that it may well be true that xG now have a cognitive radio that works. I'll leave that to people like yourself. But this must be weighed up against the appalling behaviour of Mr Mooers, and his attitude to investors and stock-market regulations. Praise must go to Rick Rotondo for putting an acceptable face to xG, and him having the honesty to say they have had a change of technology (link o)). But all this is too little, too late - it should've come years ago through the appropriate channels - the stock market regulations.

There's so much I left out - enough to write a book - but I think you'll get the picture. I can be contacted at john.prescott.dpm at gmail.com

Regards John.

o)http://tinyurl.com/39lzx62 (in comments)"

MBTH do an Alien!

Today's announcements absolutely confirm that xG Technology investors are shafted. Johan Bohman must be feeling such a mug. Hopefully he's reaching for the 'Lawyer' speed-dial button (on his non-xG phone) as I type. While he's pumped in millions into xG, Rick has put in a fraction of that. Now he's planted the seed of MBTH in the belly of xG, ready to burst out at any moment he chooses.

George Schmidt has so little confidence in xG's future that he chooses to join MBTH instead. He's admitted where the future lies. xG is as good a dead, and so is all the lovely money people have invested in it.

MBTH is contemplating investment in xG of a total of up to $10 million pursuant to the additional shareholder loan facility announced by the Company on October 8, 2010.

Under which terms MBTH will own all of xG if Rick does not pay Rick. So, they'll put in just enough to keep the ship afloat until the Army trial result comes through. Then, whatever the result, Rick can close xG down.

If MBTH is required to make a mandatory take-over offer to the holders of all of the xG Shares not held by MBTH then the offer price will be less than the latest closing mid-price of $0.16 per xG share since MBTH will have to offer to purchase more shares than under its contemplated investment in xG.

Less could be $0.01, or $0.001, or $0.0000001.

Just a matter of time. It's over.

Ouch! That's gotta hurt!

RNS Number : 8245U
xG Technology Inc.
22 October 2010

Additional shareholder loan facility clarification

Further to its announcement on October 8, 2010...The Company would like to clarify that..., Ceinwen Lloyd did not participate in discussions concerning the transaction in its final form and did not participate in the Directors' approval. The Company has since been informed that she would not have approved the transaction.

Poor old Johan. One minute he's playing mind games with Rick, vying for Alpha status. The next minute Rick's sidestepped him all together and dealt the deal that essentially separates Johan from all that lovely money he's put into xG Rick's pockets.

As we know, Rick and Johan's relationship was always 'challenging' - due to them both being arseholes. Richard Kromka explains in the court documents...

“Dealing with Treco’s and xG’s management presented an even more challenging scenario. Neither would communicate with the other, so Kromka many times had to serve as the go-between, which placed him in untenable situations.... Bohman and Lloyd avoided speaking directly to Mooers and told Kromka that the reason for this was to increase Mooers’ “insecurity” in their relationship and that they will only talk to Mooers when 'he ran out of cash' and they constantly discussed with Kromka the idea of suing Mooers and taking over xG”. Then when critical descisions had to be made they would “be out of communication with Kromka” entirely, leaving him hanging.

I presume this is what happened here: There was a meeting but as per normal for xG the new clarification is fairly ambiguous in it's language. It says that the new loan was only approved by the 'majority' of board members. Hmm.

This could mean that only two of the remaining three directors approved it. I.e. it was a 1/2 split, which is now a 2/2 split. That could be interesting legally. On the other hand of course it could mean a 1/3 split, we may never know.

What is certain however is that Johan, as we assumed, wasn't happy. (If you are reading this - you can't say I didn't warn you....) And that this announcement is an on-record strengthening of their legal position, in preparation for the shit hitting the fan, when Rick activates his 'failure to pay himself' plan.

Beautifully done Mr Mooers

I can't help but to admire Rick Mooers latest efforts. I was wondering just how they were going to carry on - we've had the iDigi scam, the xG scam is almost past tense, what's next?  Switching the assets to another company is their modus operandi, and bingo, here we have it!  Among the terms of the latest desperate 'Loan' (no laughing at the back..) was the following:

Collateral:The additional loan shall be secured against all assets of the Company

In other words, they lend themselves money - which awards themselves all assets - if they don't pay themselves. Genius. They are now in a win-win: only two things can happen:

a) Pork gets airborne and the Army do their old buddy a favour. (Despite the fact that EVERY serious radio company has developed, or is developing, a cognitive radio. In fact Joe Bobier's favourite radio engineer Claude Shannon partly came up with the idea...)

b) The company folds and Rick walks away with everything. (Which as we know is actually nothing...) But he can pretend, as he's always pretended, that the patents are worth 'Billions' and a new scam can start. I almost feel sorry for Joe: As the companies assets are Joe's dubious patents, Joe won't own them any more. Johan Bohman - stuffed. Investors - stuffed.

As to the loan itself, something does not add up: MB have paid themselves $70k (now $80k) or so a month for 8 years = $6.7M. Now they intend to lend themselves $5M. That's a huge chunk of what they've legally scammed from investors. Does not compute. The possibilities I see are:

1) They won't be lending anything near $5M - just a few dollars in dribs and drabs as bills become overdue, until it's obvious which of the above two options will come about.
2) They will be lending the $5M - which implies they've been able to scam much more than the $6.7M that's been legally declared. 

P.S. It seems like payroll costs are biting. Has anyone noticed that Jonas Krepp, Director of Investor Relations has been given the heave-ho and replaced with James Woodyatt?


P.P.S. You have to wonder about a Scam Company whose new P.R. girl is called Bennie Sham

xG in the Wall Street Journal!

xG are going up in the world. Today they had a mention in the preeminent investment organ - the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ describes them pretty accurately as:

a little-known Florida company marketing Internet phone services.

The article centres on the Guy de Chimay case. Sadly for James Woodyatt it looks like he's been Ponzied and won't get his $670,000 back. What a shame. James knows all about Ponzis but he's usually the one separating the victim from their money rather than the other way round. His old company Optimal Asset services, where he was Senior Vice President was a feeder fund for the daddy of all Ponzis - Bernie Maddoff.

Document Archive - Mr Dannenberg

Since Marc thinks he’s so popular it only seems fair to add to his fame with some of his stuff in the archive (top right). In case you are one of the fortunate ones who doesn’t know who Marc Jason Dannenberg is he’s one of the unregulated stock promoters around xG. He’s also an asshole. And fat. And ugly. And a psychopath. And an unstable pot head whose Yahoo name is ‘Loverofweed’.

Originally he was employed by Monroe Parker - a mob controlled Boiler Room in New York. After some FSA warnings and fines he moved to the Costa del Crime in Spain and was employed by N.C.R - another financial institution Boiler Room. In between stuffing his face with whatever fatty products that were to hand he sold stock in the iDigi Fund to hapless investors. Here is where his connection with Rick Mooers starts:

"I raised a lot," Dannenberg said, but noted that the money wasn't headed for a direct investment in iDigi. His job for his entire 13 months at N.C.R. was selling the iDigi Fund, an offshore entity into which N.C.R. plunked 1.3 million shares of iDigi Communications that it bought from Mooers.

After an initial meeting with Zafiroff in Sarasota, Mooers traveled to Marbeya at least twice and made at least one presentation on iDigi to the N.C.R. brokers, Mooers said.

"Rick Mooers came here to Spain," Dannenberg said. "He knew all about it. He knew he was getting pennies on the dollar for iDigi. Yes, he knew it was called iDigi Ltd. He gave a speech to all of us.

He mentioned the fact that it was a boiler room. He didn't want it to be a boiler room. He was saying this was not something that was a boiler room deal, but it was. He was just giving us a story to go on."

In its suit against iDigi, the Icelandic pension fund is more specific about the N.C.R. scheme. The suit claims N.C.R. raised $10 million from numerous investors in Europe. "N.C.R. received approximately 50 percent of these funds as its commission or fee," the suit said.

So the iDigi Fund, was a scam of a scam. 50% of the cash going straight to an offshore account. This is a scheme that Dannenberg returns to again, as we shall see.

After N.C.R. was closed down Dannenberg goes freelance, selling the shares of xG Technology, whilst projectile vomiting about xG all over the internet. Some of his ramping about xG going to $100 a share would make a psychologist gasp. (Check out the back records of iii.co.uk and look for Marcsanpedro.) All the time he was ramping on the bulletin boards and attacking any critic he was selling xG shares to unfortunate investors - even though he was not licensed, or ‘officially’ employed by xG. But these shares weren’t free market shares. Oh no. These shares are ‘Regulation S’ restricted shares owned by one of the xG Directors Palmi Sigmarsson.

Let’s pause for a minute.

Let’s think just how illegal and downright dodgy that is.

These are directors shares, that can’t be sold for at least a year after lock up. Yet Marc is selling them with the full knowledge of a director. A DIRECTOR of the company. This avoids any stock market announcements about Directors dealings. He’s selling them for HALF the then market rate. HALF. How much confidence is the said director showing in his company turning a profit? Umm. None. He knows they have nothing. He’s selling up. After lock-up he then ends up shorting his own company...!

These shares, under the terms of admission of xG to AIM, cannot be sold to American citizens. Yet Marc is merrily punting them to at least two Americans that we know about.

Then Marc, goes one further. In an echo of the iDigi Fund, Marc sets up Flashcomm. A Spanish company that would buy a territory from xG. In his derranged mind, he uses this as an attempt to extort more money from his customers! Buying a territory would not only raise the xG share price, but also raise him hundreds of thousands from his poor customers.

But Marc’s greatest achievement is being a colossal asshole. A delusional, slack-jawed, lard-arse, paranoid-pot-head, asshole. A quick Google of his name will reveal the extent of his stupidity. But he’s also a nasty person. His persecution of Phil Karn who had correctly predicted that xG’s radio method was bogus is a thing of internet legend. He repeatedly called him for months, on one occasion 38 times in a single hour. Thirty Eight times. Each time threatening to kill him, or wish some misfortune on his wife. Never give this guy your ‘phone number.

Good Readin’:

Email for Restricted Stock
Receipt for Restricted Stock. (check the ‘properties of the Doc. Officina is Marc’s office. There’ll be more with this property another day..)
Some of Marc’s Customer list all have bought restricted xG Shares.
Some more, and him punting the Flashcomm idea to them.
Flashcomm introduction
Hilarious Marc Email to xG. Note how xG lied about technical claims, and how Rick has an account with shareholder monies.

Dannenberg Speaks!

"...iDigi Works as Advertised.."

Now that we have a new brokers' note, let's have a look back at the last one and compare.  In 2006 xG obtained an impressive 50 Mbps in their trials. ("These are actual figures, not theoretical" their broker Hitchens noted.) This was well in advance of any modulation available at the time. Now in 2010, following a technical review from PA consulting on behalf of Allenby, they come up with a maximum theoretical figure of 6 Mbps - that's only 12% of their previous "actual" speed...

But wait. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. This has all happened before. In 2000 iDigi were claiming 3 Mbps for their system. Again, this was well above any other figures the industry were quoting. Again, these were real figures, tested (by xG themselves - in a fraudulent demo.) But in 2001 when the system was tested by Katapult it only gave performance as low as 0.04 Mbps - that's only 1% of their claimed speeds, lower than a basic modem!

I see a pattern emerging...

What gives? Could it be that they haven't got a scoobie? Or could it be that they lie to investors to steal their money from them? I'm going with the latter, but if you are an investor the result is the same - you will lose all your cash...

Rich Tehrani: If you think xMax works "as advertised" I've got a lovely perpetual motion machine I'd like to sell you. Sure, it's only 1% efficient but...

xG Document Archive

Hello Chaps,

You'll notice to the right a new widget called "xG Document Archive". This is intended as a repository of interesting original xG documents which will be added as and when time permits. First up are some of the various court documents I had on the hard drive. You'll need a (free) Gmail account to view them.

Lots of fascinating reading - (especially for the new shareholders out there). Unauthorised Icelandic shares...a Dominion Group court-case (Ricks previous company)...Chimay's being sued by the world...xG's original share cert to Falt (and the underhand cancellation of the company to make it invalid)...

But most, most, fascinating of all is to read the original court docs of the iDigi affair. xG really is just a continuation of the last scam. Incompetence. Overstated performance. Proprietary equipment that wasn't. Same old, same new, shit that they try to pull on investors.

If anyone's got some documents they want put on the archive drop me a line.

4G

Apr 1, 2007: “We're exactly on schedule — both strategically and in terms of the timeline — with everything we said we were going to do, which is really pleasing to me,” said xG Technology CEO Rick Mooers.

“We're looking at 4G instead of 3G, so we're going to be about two years ahead of the cellular carriers,” White said

“We should still outperform other broadband systems by two to three times,” Bobier said. “They're subject to the same laws of physics that we are; we're just starting from a better footprint.”

".... 4G network system expected to be available December 2008...."

"All those big companies that have made a buying decision — like Sprint spending $3 billion on WiMAX — will change their minds once they see this.”

Aug 2010: Mooohahahaha 1... Asymptote

I was surprised to read that xMax's data rate may eventually reach 6 Mb/s...this is more than an order of magnitude less than 4G speeds..

Mooohahahah 2, Sprint launches 4G :

Recent Trades

Because I can't answer people over at iii.co.uk (I'm banned) I'll answer here.

The recent trades that have gone through are most likely the result of their broker Allenby sending out a report on the company. Reminds me of when Hitchens (another company around xG that went bust) used to send out reports. I hope these new buyers realise that the company, as well as abandoning their only key selling point - the incredible modulation, could possibly have their newMax "frequency agile" system ruined by FCC regulations too.

Fools and their money are soon parted.

Edit: I've had a chance to read it. My thoughts:

There's some fascinating things in the report, which overall strikes me as conservatively written. But as ever the devil's in the detail. What it doesn't say is infinitely more important than what it does.

It mentions the checkered history, but doesn't mention the early promise of a revolutionary 'incredible' modulation scheme. It was only on the strength of this 'impossible' scheme that the company was valued at $1.5Bn. Allenby never mention that this has been dropped, or that the offering has changed at all. This is deceitful.

Allenby never mention docket 03-201 which could pull the rug out from under xG's plans to use unlicensed spectrum in the way xG want to. They do mention that the most valuable thing about xG's current technology is the ability to use this spectrum - but not that this 'most valuable' thing could be taken away in a ruling coming shortly.

Fascinatingly the do acknowledge that Bohman has only put in $6m of the original $375m that was originally claimed, and that the 'revenues' booked are just orders from Treco, not payment. (As we suspected..)

They acknowledge the lost orders with Telefonica, Gama, National Grid and Townes, but not that the reason Townes was lost was because Mr Townes did his homework and called Rick 'a crook.' And the other companies found nothing to be excited about.

They never mention Far Reach, and how Okey found out they were a scam. How they didn't even have a clue about pricing. How the network that they and Okey built was average modulation with average performance.

They mention that the interference beating qualities may not be all that xG claim. But they don't mention that the wavelet pass filter, the 'key to xMax' according to Bobier, is no longer included in xMax. The don't mention the hilarious "military grade jamming" of their demo a few years back.

They don't mention xMax's original demo on the Florida flats could've been made by any number of modulation methods. It wasn't special - as they claimed.

They don't mention Phil Karn, and Prof Friedlander's demolition of their original claims.

They don't mention that this original tech has been changed to something standard. Something boring.

They don't mention that Rick and Roger are raping the company of $70k a month for 'services'.

They don't mention how many previous nomads xG have lost.

They mention their 'phone. But don't mention the previous handset, that was meant to have been delivered by the 'hundreds' to xG's HQ. Where are these 'phones?

They don't mention the lie of the $57m 'pre-orders', that never existed.

They don't mention the 2006 'strong demand' lie that had forced xG to up their partnership fees with those non-existent orders.

They never mention ACH Securities. Not once. Funny since a director used to work for them. They never mention how this company lapped their share price all the was from $5 to $18. They never mention the unregulated stock promoters Marc Dannenberg and Fredrik Wahlman, paid in shares by xG.

They never mention that Dannenberg was selling directors restricted stock whilst they were under lock-up. For half the market rate.

They never mention the same director Palmi Sigmarsson openly shorting his own company when he knew the first tech wouldn't work.

They never mention the ongoing court cases. How Richard Kromka, former xG Director,  found both Bohman and Mooers to be mad and unstable. How Mooers wanted to 'kill himself every day'.

The Figures presented look OK-ish. I'd love to compare them with xG's own reports and see any discrepancies :-) They show a cash-burn of $6m a year, and the only income is from Bohman.

They mention the management. But certain details are omitted. For example iDigi, for some mysterious reason, never shows on Rick, Rogers, or Joe's CV! Is it because they were sued for fraud at iDigi? Is it because they want to keep this from potential investors?

The whole iDigi thing, the: Boiler room, $33m lost, Mooers lying on the balance sheet, technical incompetence, faked demos, FBI investigation thing is just not there. Why is this? Shouldn't investors be told?

Palmi Sigmarsson (who had his broking company closed by the finance inspectorate, and sold restricted xG stock) never appears. James Woodyatt (who is hunted by the Swiss police, and was a senior man in a Bernie Maddoff feeder fund Optimal) never appears. Mrs Bohman never appears. Why is this?

I'll email Allenby and ask for comment.

Docket 03-201

The FCC are considering 'Spectrum Etiquette' regulations that would severely degrade xG's proposals to use the 902-928 Mhz band. Docket 03-201 is supported by Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) and others. In their webpage they state:

"[spectrum etiquette] may promote more efficient spectrum utilization by reducing interference between different license-free and licensed operators and should be considered for newly-certified devices"

Big Problem for xG. Big BIG problem. They via their lawyer plead (see addendum):

xG is concerned that adoption of the spectrum etiquette proposal, in its present form, will have an adverse effect on the deployment of its xMax technology.

xMax employs what can best be described as frequency agility. In the 902-928 MHz band in
which xMax operates, the band is divided into 18 discrete channels. When potential interference is detected on a channel on which the xMax device is operating, due to the presence of another low power device in close proximity operating in the 902-928 MHz band, the xMax device is capable, in milliseconds, of jumping to one of the other 18 channels, hence the term "frequency agility." The likelihood of encountering other devices operating on all 18 channels in a mobile environment at the same time is probably close to zero statistically. Thus, xMax has been designed to greatly minimize, if not eliminate entirely, the prospect of causing interference to other users of the 902-928 MHz band.

There is accordingly no need for a duty cycle, insofar as xMax is concerned, to allow other users access to the unlicensed 900 MHz band, despite the fact that xMax is designed to operate
continuously.

While adoption of the spectrum etiquette proposal would not be fatal to the deployment of the
xMax technology, it would require extensive redesign and development with the attendant additional costs, further delays in deploying the technology and reduction in system capacity.

If docket 03-201 is adopted, can you see Bohman putting his hand in his pocket to pay for 'extensive redesign and development'? Especially now that he's made Rick cough up some of his own cash, and now that Rick is passing the hat round for $10m? Me neither.

If docket 03-201 is adopted then newMax is dead.

Its father, xMax, died a few years ago. For the technically minded it's instructive to compare the system outlines in the FCC link above with the one xG made to the FCC back in 2003. They are two very different systems. Funny. I missed the stock-market announcement about the change...

NewMax Vs xMax

There's an interesting post over at Brough Turner's Blog HERE. He's an acknowledged radio expert who seems to know his stuff. Back in 2006 he had much the same conclusions as Phil Karn that to work as they then claimed xMax would have to violate physical laws, and/or FCC regulations. Then the claims were of 10,000 times less power than other systems for the same data-rate, cities covered with 4 basestations, and networks run on watch batteries. It was madness. To make matters worse the company was promising an imminent launch of this impossible system: The R&D is over said Mooers in March 2006 "We’re at the commercialization and product stage now." The launch was promised before the end of 2006, with 4G networks coming shortly after. Well, that went well.

This obviously made them a laughing stock and exposed the ridiculous lack of knowledge (like the Shannon Bound) of basic communications theory of the inventor Joe Bobier, and the psychotic optimism of Arsehole Rick Mooers. The fact that xG were touting for investors to buy shares in an invention that couldn't possibly work was fraud pure and simple. And they could never claim they were ignorant of this: Karn told them, I told them, it was all over the Internet.

Then, somehow, Joe seemed to have been introduced to the real world. This culminated in the FCC certification of BSN250. This was a basestation that seemed to use perfectly ordinary modulation methods. Nothing spectacular. Nothing unusual. Boring, but it would at least work.

The problem with that is twofold
1) Investors were promised a Ferrari, xG unveiled a bog standard hatchback. It was the most outrageous misrepresentation.
2) Nobody thought of telling the stockmarket that xG's only product had changed 180 degrees in violation of many stockmarket regulations.

To xG's credit they have used this conventional radio modulation system to make a network. Gone was the Wavelet Pass Filter which Bobier and Schwartz had claimed was the "key to xMax", which meant that interference was 'eliminated' (unless you were conducting a xMax demo obviously), and in was a conventional system that switches frequency many times a second.

In July 2010 Brough actually went to visit Joe to see the system. As we imagined the modulation was standard, and running at 2G speeds, not the 4G promised four years ago. There's nothing special. Most fascinating for me though is an entry in the comments:

Brough

Thanks for the fair overview of where xG is today. It did take a reinvention of the company to move into our new direction of offering carrier class cognitive radios. Hopefully we can get this technology into the standards at some point.

Rick Rotondo
VP Marketing
xG Technology

That, to me is incredible. He's admitted the bait and switch - The 'reinvention'. He's as good as said what they have now is a standard modulation, not the amazing low power/high data rate modulation they were flogging initially. The system around it may be cute, but there are many other cute systems out there.

I'll email Mr Rotondo to comment here. I wonder if he will.

Edit: Surprise! No news from Mr Rotondo. There's another blog over at 4G Wireless Evolution that mentions xG. Carl Ford says:

The chip makers for WiMAX are all finding their way into LTE - mostly through Time Division over Frequency Division, which according to our friends at xG Technology, is a secret sauce that will allow beam forming and cognitive radio to live in noisy spectrum.

TMDA and FDMA (Time and Frequency Division Multiple Access) are fairly common among modern radio systems. The 'Key to xMax' - the wavelet pass filter - is gone. The incredible modulation is gone. And so is the $1.5Bn valuation.

Don't look at the man behind the curtain. Move along, nothing to see here.

Court Case Three: Certified Crazy

Nice that little old xG with its fair share of crazies has caught the attention of the world's most prolific litigant. Jonathon Lee Riches has graciously taken up the case of Bank Hapoalim against xG, claiming that xG stole his intellectual property and hid it in a offshore account vault in Switzerland 20 miles south of the swiss alps. Damningly he also claims that xG are spying on him from the vents in his room at the mental hospital he calls home. They also made Denis Quaid's voice sound in his ear and they have tagged his clothes with GPS. All perfectly reasonable. Considering it's xG.














Edit: Read more of his genius HERE.

Court Case Two: Chimay Shenanigans

It just gets better and better and better and better and better and better. Firstly some great news; James Woodyatt, as well as being sought by the police, has been conned out of $670,000 by Guy de Chimay and his Ponzi fund. Nice one Guy. It's a wonderful moment of karma, as Woodyatt used to work for 'Optimal' a feeder fund for Bernie Maddoff's Ponzi scheme.

This is how Chimay got embroiled in xG; when Guy rang James to steal his money, James suggested that he invest in xG. I suppose in order to convince him he was a serious player Guy went along with it. The investment was meant to be in a 'Bridge fund” (nothing to do with ACH's Bridge investment network - I think, although wouldn't it be sweet if it was.). This fund was to lend money to companies that couldn't raise money on the open market. So I suppose that the share purchase was meant to be in lieu of a loan, so that Chimay could show they were actually making investments. Sadly for Guy his appetite for stealing was greater than the rate of flow of cash into the fund, and there was no money to purchase the shares. The million he put in was borrowed from another investor – it wasn't his money. xG are trying to get the money from Prince Phillipe de Chimay, which will be interesting, and I hope futile.

In another wonderful moment of irony Guy has been caught red handed falsifying bank account records. Guy allow me to introduce you to Rick. He shares several of the same interests, I'm sure you'll have lots to talk about.

Edit: The New York Post says the authorities have only found $131 of cash in his accounts when they arrested Guy. Doesn't look good for James getting his $670,000 back. Such a shame.

Tidying up Townes

Just a quick one on why the Townes deal fell through. In essence Rick happened. He made unrealistic demands, and when Mr Townes did his homework and called Rick a Crook the deal was off. Makes one wonder: Three people have independently said that Rick has an account with shareholder monies in it. Kromka says that he was open to “obscene liability” (possibly falsifying accounts? Consistent with his behaviour at iDigi...), and Mr Townes discovers he's a crook. Rick is a moron, mad, unstable, and a thief.

Court Case One: Kromka and the “Two Crazies”

The Bohman v Kromka /Rodrigue case is a gift that keeps on giving.

Email excerpt:

“From: Richard Kromka
To: Francois Rodrigue:
Sent: Friday, September 18th 2009. 4:42 am

I think the hornets nest has gotten too messy. I think Rick is dangerously out of control and could open up the company and the board to obscene liability – if he hasn't already. As for Treco – I feel the same way although our attendant risk there is not so much explicit as profound distrust. I'm literally loosing sleep about having to deal with either one of them or alternatively having to go forward in good faith and represent them to a third party......

I can't stand thinking, plotting or frankly worrying about how we are about to get hurt (or not paid) any longer....I don't want any more of the same shit – always worrying that we are going to be sued by either one or both of the crazy people (Treco and xG).”

Most interesting for me in the court documents (aside from 100% conformation of the information from my sources) is the mental state of both Rick Mooers and Bohman. They both seem utterly mad. At one stage Rick confesses to Kromka that he had “always been sad and wanted to kill himself every day,” and pours out his personal problems to him time after time. He says the directors want rid of him but do not have the “balls to fire him.” Wanting to merge with Treco, then not.

Bohman is equally irrational. Hiring Kromka, firing him, hiring him again. Paying him at irregular intervals. Agreeing to him having 8% of Treco, then changing his mind. Worse for xG, Bohman assures Kromka that the scheme is fully funded, then leaves it to Kromka to discover the truth...

Kromkas relationship with xG began at the infamous meeting in Twin Palms Hotel in Phuket Thailand on November 28, 2008. Present were Kromka, his partner Vincent Ronquillo, Bohman, Lloyd and of course our Fredrick “Paradigmshift” Wahlman and his girlfriend Karolina Purar. (So confirmation It WAS Frederick Wahlman who was working behind the scenes who brought in both Bohman and Kromka to xG.) Wahlman was to be Kromkas immediate superior at Treco. However as we all know, subsequently he was thrown out, leaving Kromka dealing with Bohman direct.

The things he was promised at the meeting persuaded him to turn down a highly lucrative broking offer in Chicago and join Treco. Within a short time he was also invited to the board of xG. Thereafter he learned the shocking truth that

“xG and Treco were soon facing cash shortages and urgently needed further infusions of outside capital. Despite his earlier insistence that he would not have to raise capital and the assurances from Lloyd and Bohman that Treco would assure xG’s liquidity, Kromka was suddenly drafted for the task of seeking outside investors for xG and Treco. He, along with co-defendant, Francois Rodrigue, then set about trying to generate interest from venture capital firms and other respected funding sources.

Kromka and Rodrigue did pretty well in the circumstances. Using their contacts to obtain two very hot leads for funding. One for a network in Panama, the other for the US (Beechtree). However Kromka obviously has done his research and acknowledges that there were

“two main difficulties in utilizing venture capital firms and other funding sources were Treco’s and xG’s reputations (as well as the reputations of their owners), and uncertainty that Treco would make the necessary payments pursuant to the Infrastructure Agreement on time, or indeed at all. Furthermore, xG’s product roll-out was constantly being postponed and the word in that sector of the business world was that xG had nothing to offer.”

Obviously Beechtree would want conformation that everything was Kosher with regards to the technology, but the Due Dilligence they planned was the last straw for Rick – the reason? They'd find out the tech was nothing special.......

If it wasn't difficult enough trying to assure potential investors it soon became clear that Rick and Johan were as crazy as each other.

“Dealing with Treco’s and xG’s management presented an even more challenging scenario. Neither would communicate with the other, so Kromka many times had to serve as the go-between, which placed him in untenable situations.... Bohman and Lloyd avoided speaking directly to Mooers and told Kromka that the reason for this was to increase Mooers’ “insecurity” in their relationship and that they will only talk to Mooers when 'he ran out of cash' and they constantly discussed with Kromka the idea of suing Mooers and taking over xG

”. Then when critical descisions had to be made they would “be out of communication with Kromka” entirely, leaving him hanging.

Meanwhile

“Mooers did not communicate with Lloyd and Bohman because, among other things, xG continually underperformed” and even though more and more “desperate to obtain financing for xG” would not follow any advice Kromka and others gave him. “In addition to all of these distractions and irrational behavior, xG was nowhere closer to producing a market-ready product, which made raising capital even more difficult.” xG were “inable to put together a coherent plan to monetize the xMax system.”

Reading the updates of the case it seems as if Treco/xG will fail. :-D. Their main argument is that Kromka is in possession of some secret information – but are unable to specify exactly what the information is, or even what format the information is in. I suspect that the info they were trying to protect is that both Mooers and Bohman are mad as hatters, and that neither has the cash they claim they do. The good news is that Kromka has now counter sued for the money he gave up from the other broking offer, and for the shares he was promised in Treco and xG (don't bother Richard they're worthless). My feeling is that if he can prove the offer existed he will win, and it will cost Bohman $3+M.

Getting Interesting.

My apologies for lack of action on the blog, I’ve been involved in quite a few other projects.

Finally, some interesting news, and like waiting for busses you wait for one, then several come along at once. Victor out! Manipulating stock! Wow!

Here’s the inside line to recent developments:

1. Victor Suno, and James Woodyatt (until last week both xG Directors) according to a source close to the Swiss Police, have both got warrants out for their arrests. They have been wanted for questioning by them for quite some time in connection with xG securities fraud following from the case of Bank Hapoalim.

2. Woodyatt, who used to work for one of Maddoff’s feeder funds, left for Miami without informing the Swiss authorities of his whereabouts. Maybe the Rick could help them by dropping them a line on ++41 (0)31 323 11 23? You know it makes sense Rick. They are looking for Victor in Spain...

3. The FSA have been investigating xG for at least 6 months. I know of several Swiss lawyers who have been contacted by the FSA with regards to securities trading via ACH, and for other matters. It seems like this investigation has prompted the recent expulsion of Victor who, as we know, was also an employee of ACH.

4. Some of the former investors of iDigi (xG’s previous incarnation) are in the process of suing the xG directors in a class action suit. An estimated 30 million USD was lost in iDigi…Seems like some people want their money back.

5. Rick and Roger have both have been taken by the FBI to a Grand Jury questioning in Washington DC into investigations regarding the iDigi fraud.

6. Just to confirm the sort of people we are dealing with, Kevin Flessner, the former CEO if iDigi has recently been prosecuted for ‘Flipping’ fraud. A story about is says “he was sued in October 2001 along with his former partners, Richard Mooers and Roger Branton, for allegedly participating in a scheme to "siphon off" and "pirate away" iDigi's assets for their own benefit.”

7. The Bohman v Kromka is old news but further enquiries suggest that the deal for extra investment that Kromka secured was dependent into a specialist team at General Dynamics doing a thorough investigation of the technology. Rick couldn’t let that happen, for fear that as we all know, xG have nothing special, so he shopped Kromka to Bohman.

The interesting thing is – why admit it now? They’ve known for years that there have been ‘issues’ surrounding ACH’s share trading. (Not to mention sales of restricted stock.) They knew that ACH was dodgy, must have (I said it here several times), and yet they still invite an ACH employee to become a board member. Evidently it stinks. The difference is, now to then, that the FSA’s investigation is closing around the necks of Rick and Roger. So they give Victor as a scapegoat, and claim they knew nothing about any share manipulation. Well, back in iDigi days they knew their financing partners were a boiler room, and in the xG days they also knew that ACH were a near-boiler room. The funny thing is, they didn’t complain when the shares got lapped all the way up to $15. You can’t have it both ways boys.

Update: Ian Hammar is following the story over here. With some extra juicy detail. I tried to post this on iii.co.uk, but got immediately banned. How childish. Someone doesn't want this info out there....