From Cliff Hunt, ESQ. Dated March 28, 2016........
We have reviewed several of your posts and believe that you have engaged in defamation toward the Company and Mr. Kennedy, for which they are entitled to substantial damages. The salient facts supporting our conclusions are set forth below. Pursuant to this letter, the Company and Mr. Kennedy demand that you immediately cease and desist from publishing any further false, misleading and/or libelous and defamatory information about them.
The elements to prove a cause of action for defamation in Florida are: (1) the defendant published a false statement; (2) about the plaintiff; (3) to a third party; and (4) that the falsity of the statement caused injury to the plaintiff. Bass v. Rivera, 826 So.2d 534 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002). A false communication is actionable per se, without a showing of special damage, if it imputes to another a criminal offense amounting to a felony. Where a communication is actionable per se, damages are presumed and there is no need for the victim of the defamatory statement to plead or prove actual malice. Id. 526 So. 2d at 535. Your allegations regarding a "pump and dump" scheme accuse the Company and Mr. Kennedy of a federal felony for violation of federal securities laws. Accordingly, your conduct constitutes a cause of action for defamation per se forwhich you are liable for damages.
In several of your posts under the identifier "SmallCapsMarket" you accuse the Company and Mr. Kennedy of engaging in a "pump and dump scheme."
We have not discounted the possibility that your motivation for defaming the Company and Mr. Kennedy includes nefarious intent for financial gain. We are currently investigating whether the price of the Company's common stock has been affected by your defamatory posts on the Investors' Hub website. As you may be aware, SEC Rule lOb-5 provides that: "It shall be unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly, by the use of any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce, or of the mails or of any facility of any national securities exchange,
(a) To employ any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud,
(b) To make any untrue statement of a material fact or to omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading, or (c) To engage in any act, practice, or course ofbusiness which operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon any person, in connection with the purchase or sale of any security." 17 C.R.R. 240.10b-5. Conduct designed to manipulate the market for the stock of any publicly traded company is deemed a scheme or artifice to defraud and constitutes a violation of Exchange Act, Section lO(b) and SEC Rule 10b-5. In the event that you do not immediately terminate your campaign of defamation against the Company and Mr. Kennedy, they intend to file a lawsuit against you and seek damages, including punitive damages. In the context of such litigation, my clients will serve discovery upon you to obtain your securities account trading records to determine whether you are trading the Company's stock in connection with your unlawful tortious conduct. As you are aware, the Company has sued one of your acquaintances for libel and has obtained injunctive relief for the same type of conduct in which you are presently engaged. Several other shareholders of the Company have expressed an interest in suing you for your unlawful conduct. However, they are presently waiting to see whether you will respond favorably to this demand that you terminate your defamatory campaign against the Company and Mr. Kennedy.
In reading this letter you may be thinking that because you are posting on the Internet, perhaps Florida law does not apply to you. Rest assured that Florida courts have considered tortious conduct like yours toward the citizens of this state occurring via the Internet. In Internet Solutions Corporation v. Marshall, 39 So.3d 1201 (Fla. 2010), the Supreme Court of Florida determined that an out-of-state Internet blogger was subject to the jurisdiction of Florida courts pursuant to our long-arm jurisdiction statute, Fla. Stat. § 48.193(1)(b) (2016).
As stated above, the Company and Mr. Kennedy hereby demand that you immediately terminate, cease and desist all libelous and defamatory conduct toward them. If there is one more false, misleading, libelous and/or defamatory post about them on any message board or in any medium whatsoever, they intend to file a lawsuit against you and all persons or entities acting in concert or participation with you and to pursue every remedy available to them under applicable law. To the extent that you are being bankrolled by any third party person or entity for the trolling/unlawful conduct in which you are engaging on the Investors' Hub website or any other site, we will discover such third party's identity and they will become a defendant in a lawsuit for harming a Florida company and citizen. To the extent that you choose to disregard the cease and desist demand in this letter, please advise whether the address above is an address where we can serve the summons and complaint (lawsuit) on you or whether there is an attorney who will accept service for you.
Thank you for your kind attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
LAW OFFICE OF CLIFFORD J. HUNT, P.A.
Clifford J. Hunt, Esquire
cc: Seafarer Exploration Corp.
Mr. Kyle Kennedy
Cliff has my correct address. I wonder what the holdup is.
Is Kyle and/or shareholders afraid about what will happen when the FBAR is deposed or what? You know, the "3 items", propwash deflectors, pending permits, Captain's wife claim, etc.?
Could it be the Jim Sinclair email?
Today is day 40. Maybe the investigation is what is taking so long. I wonder if they will use charts like they tried to "agin" the Unsophisticated Individual, that they still haven't gotten a Judgement on.
We have reviewed several of your posts and believe that you have engaged in defamation toward the Company and Mr. Kennedy, for which they are entitled to substantial damages. The salient facts supporting our conclusions are set forth below. Pursuant to this letter, the Company and Mr. Kennedy demand that you immediately cease and desist from publishing any further false, misleading and/or libelous and defamatory information about them.
The elements to prove a cause of action for defamation in Florida are: (1) the defendant published a false statement; (2) about the plaintiff; (3) to a third party; and (4) that the falsity of the statement caused injury to the plaintiff. Bass v. Rivera, 826 So.2d 534 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002). A false communication is actionable per se, without a showing of special damage, if it imputes to another a criminal offense amounting to a felony. Where a communication is actionable per se, damages are presumed and there is no need for the victim of the defamatory statement to plead or prove actual malice. Id. 526 So. 2d at 535. Your allegations regarding a "pump and dump" scheme accuse the Company and Mr. Kennedy of a federal felony for violation of federal securities laws. Accordingly, your conduct constitutes a cause of action for defamation per se forwhich you are liable for damages.
In several of your posts under the identifier "SmallCapsMarket" you accuse the Company and Mr. Kennedy of engaging in a "pump and dump scheme."
We have not discounted the possibility that your motivation for defaming the Company and Mr. Kennedy includes nefarious intent for financial gain. We are currently investigating whether the price of the Company's common stock has been affected by your defamatory posts on the Investors' Hub website. As you may be aware, SEC Rule lOb-5 provides that: "It shall be unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly, by the use of any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce, or of the mails or of any facility of any national securities exchange,
(a) To employ any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud,
(b) To make any untrue statement of a material fact or to omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading, or (c) To engage in any act, practice, or course ofbusiness which operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon any person, in connection with the purchase or sale of any security." 17 C.R.R. 240.10b-5. Conduct designed to manipulate the market for the stock of any publicly traded company is deemed a scheme or artifice to defraud and constitutes a violation of Exchange Act, Section lO(b) and SEC Rule 10b-5. In the event that you do not immediately terminate your campaign of defamation against the Company and Mr. Kennedy, they intend to file a lawsuit against you and seek damages, including punitive damages. In the context of such litigation, my clients will serve discovery upon you to obtain your securities account trading records to determine whether you are trading the Company's stock in connection with your unlawful tortious conduct. As you are aware, the Company has sued one of your acquaintances for libel and has obtained injunctive relief for the same type of conduct in which you are presently engaged. Several other shareholders of the Company have expressed an interest in suing you for your unlawful conduct. However, they are presently waiting to see whether you will respond favorably to this demand that you terminate your defamatory campaign against the Company and Mr. Kennedy.
In reading this letter you may be thinking that because you are posting on the Internet, perhaps Florida law does not apply to you. Rest assured that Florida courts have considered tortious conduct like yours toward the citizens of this state occurring via the Internet. In Internet Solutions Corporation v. Marshall, 39 So.3d 1201 (Fla. 2010), the Supreme Court of Florida determined that an out-of-state Internet blogger was subject to the jurisdiction of Florida courts pursuant to our long-arm jurisdiction statute, Fla. Stat. § 48.193(1)(b) (2016).
As stated above, the Company and Mr. Kennedy hereby demand that you immediately terminate, cease and desist all libelous and defamatory conduct toward them. If there is one more false, misleading, libelous and/or defamatory post about them on any message board or in any medium whatsoever, they intend to file a lawsuit against you and all persons or entities acting in concert or participation with you and to pursue every remedy available to them under applicable law. To the extent that you are being bankrolled by any third party person or entity for the trolling/unlawful conduct in which you are engaging on the Investors' Hub website or any other site, we will discover such third party's identity and they will become a defendant in a lawsuit for harming a Florida company and citizen. To the extent that you choose to disregard the cease and desist demand in this letter, please advise whether the address above is an address where we can serve the summons and complaint (lawsuit) on you or whether there is an attorney who will accept service for you.
Thank you for your kind attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
LAW OFFICE OF CLIFFORD J. HUNT, P.A.
Clifford J. Hunt, Esquire
cc: Seafarer Exploration Corp.
Mr. Kyle Kennedy
Cliff has my correct address. I wonder what the holdup is.
Is Kyle and/or shareholders afraid about what will happen when the FBAR is deposed or what? You know, the "3 items", propwash deflectors, pending permits, Captain's wife claim, etc.?
Could it be the Jim Sinclair email?
Today is day 40. Maybe the investigation is what is taking so long. I wonder if they will use charts like they tried to "agin" the Unsophisticated Individual, that they still haven't gotten a Judgement on.
Quote:We are currently investigating whether the price of the Company's common stock has been affected by your defamatory posts on the Investors' Hub website.
