Photo: What The Hell Was Hearst Newspaper President Steven Swartz Thinking When He Hired David "I Destroy Newspapers" McCumber To Be The Editor Of The Greenwich Time
First Hearst Newspaper Editor David McCumber Ran The Seattle Post-Intelligencer So Far In To The Ground That It Quit Publishing.
Now He is Trying To Destroy What's Left Of The Greenwich Time.....
Teri Buhl, Greenwich Time and Sponge Bob the Crook
Greenwich Time isn’t exactly a champion of freedom of the press these days, but Editor McCucumber at least has moved the gossip column that bares all, tells all, Scusie’s Dish, to the front page. Do you know McCucumber once ran the Seattle Dumb as a Post? Sometimes it’s better to let a career die than violate your principles. Sometimes. _ Chris Fountain
Greenwich Time folds on Metter Suit By Teri Buhl Yesterday I thought I was finally going to get my day in court with alleged penny stock scam artist Michael Metter but instead find out Hearst Newspapers has succumbed to the Greenwich Radio station executive who’s facing serious criminal charges.
You see in April, the Greenwich Time and I were sued in Connecticut small claims court by Michael Metter, co-founder of penny stock SpongeTech for $4,767.34.
Metter claimed by publishing his home address, in a story that ran in all four Hearst owned CT newspaper on February 9th, and photos of his house while he was away on vacation that we acted maliciously.
His claim states, “Among with the financial damages she [Teri Buhl] created, her gross negligence caused me and my family undue emotional stress as we had to endure numerous threats for our safety spewed over the internet.”
Those damages consisted of paying a lawyer $2,500 to write a letter to Hearst to try to get the story taken down and his address out of print. Metter also thought his small $2 million home in mid-country Greenwich was at risk (of what I don’t know) and hired a security guard for $2,139 until he got back from vacation.
What Metter left out of his claim was that after I went to his home and his radio station to get respectfully give him a chance to comment and respond on the story we were going to run the next day, he proactively called me that night to comment. I didn’t have his cell phone number so I glad he reached out to paper so we could get both sides of the story. During that on-the-record phone interview he said he was on vacation but wanted to comment about the success of his company SpongeTech and the fact that he thought he’d get the SEC to dismiss or settle his securities fraud case. [We know instead he was arrested.] When Metter realized I was going to tie in the fact that he could lose his WGCH radio station license, after confirming this with the FCC, if convicted a crime by another government agency, he began to threaten to me. Saying if I ran a story on him “he’d never forgets an injury and will hunt me down.” After the story was published he called again to cuss me out and threaten my safety, which I immediately told the editor, McCumber, on the story about. Wow kind of scary right. I even told this to the Greenwich police a few days later and they said I’d have to file a complaint which Greenwich Time. McCumber encouraged me not to do that.
Metter’s home address was printed in our story because he listed it in publicly filed documents that where related to the incorruption of his radio business. A fact that was approved, edited, and published by none other than Hearst CT Newspapers Editor in Chief David McCumber. The photos of his home were also were not taken by me, but a Hearst staff photographer and published by a Greenwich Time editor. You see as a meager investigative reporter I don’t have the final say in what gets printed online or in the paper and never get so lucky as to choose the photo that accompanies a story. Every story I ever wrote for Hearst was approved by a Hearst editor before publishing.
After I left Hearst, Metter filed his suit, Hearst sent a motion to dismiss in May, it was denied, and there was a trial schedule for 2pm yesterday in Stamford Court. There are two defendants listed in Metter’s suit:
Defendant 1) Teri Buhl
Defendant 2) Greenwich Time
I find these charges ridiculous to the point of harassment of a journalist but still figure I’d better find a lawyer to represent me. I was ready to show up in court yesterday after preparing all weekend to deny all charges and hopefully get a chance to question Mr. Metter in a court of law where it’s illegal for him to lie. I welcomed the chance to speak with the courts about the threats he made before and after publishing stories on him. I also thought it was import to defend the journalistic correctness of what we published and our freedom of speech rights. I emailed Greenwich Time E.I.C. David McCumber yesterday morning to confirm Hearst will have a lawyer there.
Then surprise-surprise at noon, after having to send emails to Hearst legal team because I can’t get a straight answer out of McCumber, I finally get a call from Hearst lawyer Steven Yuhan. Yuhan says that the case has been settled and that he’s received a fax from Metter that the case will be withdrawn. Wow, you’d think someone would have had the professional courtesy to tell me that before I wasted my time preparing a defense. Of course the Stamford Court has no record of this withdrawal as of 2pm today nor will they confirm that Hearst lawyers or Metter have shown the court any proof of a settlement.
I asked Steven Yuhan, who settled the case on my behalf without my knowledge or permission, what the settlement was and would you believe it – the man wouldn’t tell me. He said it’s a confidential settlement. I told him that doesn’t sound right considering I am one of the defendants who are supposedly agreeing to settle and I plan to blog about it. Yuhan then said, “You better not do that.”
I find this absurd and question the legal merits of Hearst acting on my behalf without me agreeing to it. On top of it all they are still under the impression they can direct what I will report and publish. I clearly don’t work for them now nor was I on staff when Metter filed the small claims case in April. I am named as the first and separate defendant and Yuhan refused to answer how Hearst thinks it’s acceptable for them to settle on my behalf.
I am still waiting for proof that this case has been withdrawn by the plaintiff Michael Metter and likely won’t know till it shows up online. It’s odd that Hearst didn’t have the professional courtesy to inform me they’d settle.
Here is about the only fact I do know.
The online version of the story, which ran February 9th on the cover of the Greenwich Time, magically doesn’t have Metter’s address in it any longer. But photos of the front and back of his home on One Tinker Lane, remain on line. So what did Hearst settle for? I have no idea if Metter was paid any of the $4,700 he claimed in damages. I doubt it- but what I find most disturbing about Hearst journalistic standards is that they settled at all.
Metter who as we all know by now was arrested at his Greenwich home in May by the DOJ for obstruction of justice in an SEC investigation over a pump and dump penny stock scam, has now been indicted by a Grand Jury and awaits trial. Kaja Whitehouse of the New York Post,who first broke news of trouble at SpongeTech, wrote a scary tale about how she was harassed by Metter shortly after his arrest. Michael Metter has also filed a defamation suit against the New York Post, me, and the reporter who likely wrote the story that helped the DOJ and SEC charge Metter, Roddy Boyd. All because we tried to inform the investor public of his pump and dump scam. Metter’s lawyers have since requested to withdraw from the case and another hedge fund manager David Patch who was also named as a defendant has countersued for $2mn for frivolous lawsuit. We await an August 11th decision on if the New York judge will dismiss the case.
Was the battle to get the news out on Metter and SpongeTech worth it? YES, and I appreciate hearing from the SpongeTech investors who have written to thank me. The only thing else I wish I’d been able to do was write a piece as good as Roddy Boyd explaining who else helped Metter perpetrate his massive fraud and take millions from investors.
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