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Tuesday, May 11, 2010

05/11/10 Reader Submitted Comments about "Thank You To Hearst Newspaper President Steven Swartz....."

Teri Buhl has left a new comment on the Greenwich Roundup post "05/11/10 Thank You To Hearst Newspaper President Steven Swartz...":

Greenwich Roundup. Those are good unique viewer numbers - congrats. For just my online blog stories a big unique viewer day would be a little over 5,000 readers.

Since I was let go from Greenwich Time your coverage on Metter and his radio station partner Jeff Webber has really advance the SpongeTech Fraud story. Nice work on keeping the reader aware when Hearst clearly fell down on this important story.

Teri Buhl

Comment:

Dear Teri,

I am try like heck to catch up to you, but the truth is Greenwich Round for about eight months has fallen in the 1.200 - 2500 unique viewer range, and on weekends the numbers can drop bellow 1,000.

A really good day is usually around 3,000, but thanks to Hearst Newspaper editor David McCumber being hopelessly clueless about the SpongeTech Story I have been in a state of euphoria.

David McCumber's failure has given Greenwich Roundup many new readers.

I really do have to find out when McCumber's birthday is and send him a gift or something.

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05/11/10 BREAKING NEWS: WGCH And Business Talk Radio Vice President Jeff Weber Was Issued 50.000 Shares Of SpongeTech

This Just Keeps Getting Better And Better ......

WGCH's Jeff Weber Keeps On Insisting That He Is Not Heavily Involved In Greenwich Con Man Micheal Metter's SpongeTech Pump And Dump Scam, But On 06/12/07 Sponge Tech Certificate # 1790 Was Issued To Jeff Weber For 50 Thousand Shares.

It Looks Like Blue Star Media And Business Talk Radio Vice President Has A Lot Of Explaining To Do About His 50,000 SpongeTech Shares And His 460,000 Map VI Acquisition Shares.

Just How Many People Have Been Or Were Going To Get Hurt During His Participation In Greenwich Con Man Micheal Metter's Pump And Dump Stock Schemes

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05/11/10 WGCH's Jeff Weber Is Not Just Thinned Skinned With Greenwich Roundup - He Had A Hissy Fit With The Greenwich Time Too

Thanks To The Hearst Newspaper Staffer That
Pointed Out This Greenwich Time Blog Post
To Greenwich Roundup ......

Peter Tesei to WGCH: I don’t do standup


Seems Peter Tesei doesn’t share the same sense of humor as one WGCH executive.

Check out the recent correspondence between the GOP incumbent first selectman, his Democratic opponent Lin Lavery and one boss at the AM-1490 radio station.

“Hi Peter and Lin:


I know you both have a great sense of humor and will agree to the “act”
we’ve come up with for you for Greenwich Has Got Talent, the Chamber of
Commerce variety show you’ve agreed to participate in…


This will be a KILLER on stage! And it will make the two of you look
awesome in front of your constituents and potential voters…given that you
are running against each other, performing “Anything You Can Do, I Can Do
Better” on stage will be a big hit!


No kidding! It will require you learning the lyrics which is very
easy…Can we count on you both to be good sports and perform this number
at the variety show?”

Here was Tesei’s response.

“I am happy to support the “Variety Show” but I am not willing to do this
type of entertainment – can you come up with something more reflective of
the Offices we hold. Time is constrained right now so the simpler and more
dignified my participation - the better.”

To be fair to Tesei, he did participate in a on-liner skit during Friday’s variety show with several other elected officials.

Of Coarse WGCH Vice President Jeff Weber Instantly Went Nuts

And Left This Comment

I find it interesting that Greenwich Time ignores virtually every press release WGCH Radio sends it as well as ignoring candidate debates aired on the radio station and acting as if they never happened, yet writes this bogus story as if WGCH sent this email to Peter Tesei and Lin Lavry.

Did anyone see anything in the email indicating it had anything to do with WGCH?

Did Peter Tesei tell WGCH he wouldn’t “do stand up?”

Is this incompetence on the part of Greenwich Time or are they just faking headlines for the sake of sensationalizing the news?

Additionally, Greenwich Time fails to disclose who sent them the email which infers that the person writing it provided it to them.

That is certainly not the case. I ought to know, I wrote it! It was written in my capacity as Co-Chair of the Greenwich Has Got Talent variety show fundraiser.

There was nothing in that email, including my email signature, indicating anything having to do with WGCH Radio.

The reporter and Greenwich Time have once again failed Journalism 101.

You Don't Spit In The Wind

You Don't Pull On Superman's Cape

You Don't Pull The Mask Off The Long Ranger

And You Don't Report On Jeff Weber, Because He Will Go Nuts

PLEASE SEE:

05/10/10 WGCH And Business Talk Radio's Vice President Jeff Weber Wants To Following Up Some More - And We Are Going To Let Him Say Whatever He Wants

05/08/10 Jeff Weber's Reponce To Greenwich Roundup's Responce, Which Responded To Jeff Weber's Reponce To One Of Greenwich Roundup's Articles

05/08/10 WGCH's Jeff Weber Responds To Greenwich Roundup's Articles About Michael Metter And Map VI Acquisitions

05/07/10 WGCH Boss Jeff "The Hustler" Weber Has A Lot Of Explaining To Do About His Major "Map VI Acquisition" Holdings

05/06/10 Is WGCH's Jeff Weber Is Up To His Eye Balls In Micheal Metter's Pump And Dump Stock Scheme

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05/11/10 Thank You To Hearst Newspaper President Steven Swartz And Hearst Newspaper Editor David McCumber. I Love You Guys - Keep Up The "Good" Work!

Everyone Knows that Greenwich Roundup is a web stat whore, and he just can't wait to get up every morning and read the previous nights Google analytics report.

Monday we had 4,531 unique victors (This is a Greenwich Time all time record)

Sunday we had 1,525 unique visitors

Saturday we had 2,072 unique visitors

Friday we had 4,476 unique visitors (Our second best all time number)

Thursday we had 4,153 unique visitors (Our third best all time number)

These are web stats that the Greenwich time would die for.

Would some one please call the Columbia School of Journalism in New York and nominate Greenwich Roundup for a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of Michael Metter, Jeff Weber and WGCH.

Then, when Greenwich Roundup accepts the his prize he can properly thank Hearst Newspaper Editor David McCumber David McCumber for firing Greenwich Time Investigative reporter Teri Buhl.

Greenwich Roundup sincerely appreciates Hearst Newspaper Editor David McCumber and Hearst Newspaper President Steven Swartz's decision to stand down and let Greenwich Roundup cover the Mini-Madoff Known as Micheal Metter.

I will be sure to acknowledge and thank them them when I write the book about Greenwich con man Micheal Metter.

First David McCumber, drove the Seattle Post-Intelligencer into the ground and was not satisfied until it quit printing. The owners of the Seattle Times are still laughing all the way to the bank, thanks to McCumber.

How long will it be till the money losing Greenwich Time stops publishing, due to the incompetence of David McCumber.


Greenwich Roundup has owned this story,
because David McCumber and Steven Swartz
are terrified Of Greenwich Con Man Micheal Metter
And His Bussiness Talk Radio Network
The Greenwich Time Would Only Print One Brief
Bloomberg Report About Michael Metter
PLEASE SEE:

Hearst Newspaper Editor David McCumber Was A real Idiot For Firing Greenwich Time Investigative Reporter Teri Buhl, Because She Broke The Michael Metter Story In Greenwich.
========================
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05/11/10 Was Greenwich Radio Station WGCH And Business Talk Radio The Third Leg Of Con Man Micheal Metter's Pump And Dump Penny Stock Trifecta

Last week, the SEC and the FBI finally caught up with Greenwich radio station owner and con man Michael Metter, a purveyor of soapy sponges and stinky stocks with a long history of evading angry clients and creditors Like Greenwich resident and Mets owner Fred Wilpon who is owed 2.3 Million bucks.

Federal prosecutors charged that Greenwich con Man Michael Metter was the CEO of Spongetech Delivery Systems Inc., a very tiny Manhattan company that was once a big advertiser at such places as Citi Field, Yankee Stadium and Madison Square Garden, with conspiracy to commit fraud and obstruction of justice. The SEC also says no fewer than 99% of Spongetech's purported sales were fake and that Greenwich con man Micheal Metter pocketed millions in illegal gains by pumping his company's stock price. He then sold billions, that's Billions with a B, of near-worthless shares to gullible investors. If convicted, the 58-year-old WGCH owner faces up to five years in prison.

Greenwich con man Micheal Metter is intimately familiar with courthouses. He has been sued repeatedly over the years, instigated litigation of his own and declared personal bankruptcy in 2001, just before he bought Greenwich Radio Station WGCH and the Bussiness Talk Radio Net Work in 2002.

Last Wednesday, The law finally caught up the con man as he entered the court room as a defendant in a criminal case.

The judge granted the slippery soapy sponge salesman a 2 Million dollar bail and a request that he be allowed to travel to Lancaster, Pa., Saturday and Sunday to attend his son's college graduation.

We are not sure if he has made it back to Greenwich yet.

For people who have been fleeced by Mr. Metter over the years, this day has been a long time coming.

Greenwich con man Micheal Metter is a mini-Madoff,” who started selling toxic stocks penny stocks at a brokerage firm he was president of in the mid-1990s.

The criminal charges are just the latest and most serious of Mr. Metter's legal problems. The Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil charges last week, and the New York Mets, Giants and Madison Square Garden are just a few of the parties that have sued his company for failing to pay its advertising bills.

Last month the con man Micheal Metter attempted to intimidate the New York Post with a law suit, because its reporter, Kaja Whitehouse, wrote a series of articles questioning the Greenwich resident's sponge sales.

Before getting into the sponge business, Greenwich con man Michael Metter worked on Wall Street for at least 14 years.

During that time this con man developed a lengthy track record for defrauding customers.

Along the way, Micael Metter bought a large house on a 2-acre lot on a quiet lane in Greenwich, Conn., which he used last week to secure his $2 million bail, and a yacht called The Phoenix.

Mr. Metter was fired from Prudential-Bache Securities in 1989 for violating procedures concerning client orders.

In the mid-'90s, he was president of a place called J.J. Morgan & Co., which changed its named to First Cambridge Securities after J.P. Morgan sued. The firm cold-called gullible investors with shots at initial public offerings in small technology companies. these investors would send even more money after the stocks initially rose. The stocks would collapse after Micheal Metter would tender millions of his shares at a huge profit,

If an investor wanted out before the collapse, First Cambridge wouldn't let them leave.

Duane Townsend, a 76-year-old oncologist in Utah who lost $457,000 from buying toxic stocks at a brokerage Mr. Townsend, who filed a fraud claim in 1998 and was awarded the $457,000 by an arbitrator.

But Greenwich con man Micheal Metter told the elderly Mr. Towssend that he had no intention of paying the award.

So Mr. Townsend filed another lawsuit in federal court in 2000.

A judge confirmed the arbitration award.

Still, Greenwich con man Micheal Metter wouldn't pay, even though his compensation that year was $242,000,

Mr. Townsend ultimately settled for $30,000, which Mr. Metter paid by refinancing the mortgage held in his spouse's name on his Greenwich home.

Mr. Townsend's case was just one of several to hit Mr. Metter at about the same time.

An arbitrator awarded another cheated First Cambridge client $108,000 and granted $250,000 to another defrauded customer at Greenwich con man Micheal Metter's next firm, Madison Capital Markets.

In April 2001, a month after a fourth angry investor sought $550,000 in damages from the Greenwich con man.

Mr. Metter filed for bankruptcy. In his petition, he listed $30,000 in assets and $5.1 million in liabilities, including a lease for a Bentley.

All the investor complaints drove the Greenwich con away from Wall Street to a new career—as a sponge salesman. With Mr. Moskowitz, he launched Spongetech around 2002.

Soon, however, Mr. Metter was back with a new venture.

After five years of dormancy, he started hyping Spongetech's stock in 2007 by issuing a press release saying a South African company agreed to buy 1.5 million car wash sponges, according to the government's complaint.

Subsequently, Spongetech proclaimed big sales to clients in South America and Dubai and introduced a SpongeBob SquarePants sponge.

The company even hired a stock promoter in Brooklyn who paid vendors with gift cards he'd purchased, the government says, and Mr. Moskowitz allegedly invented a fake lawyer named David Bomart who drafted “opinions” approving their actions.

The hype worked. Spongetech's stock, which traded for pennies, quintupled in value, and Mr. Metter and Mr. Moskowitz sold 2.5 billion shares, the government says, using a portion of their millions in profits to buy ads with the Yankees and other teams to further raise their company's profile.

At Spongetech's peak last summer, Mr. Metter was at his hard-selling best, touting the wonders of its product at an investor conference.

“We are really a technology company—even though when you look at it, you believe it to be a sponge,” the Greenwich con man declared

By last September, Spongetech claimed it had $70 million in orders.

Not true, the government says. Prosecutors allege that Mr. Metter and his partner fabricated 99% of the company's revenue, and when investigators started sniffing around, the men generated fake sales documents and created phony offices for nonexistent clients. When a representative from the company's primary supplier got suspicious, Mr. Metter told him to butt out.

“Mind your own business,” Mr. Metter snapped, according to prosecutors. “If you know what's good for you, you'll keep your mouth shut.”

But There Is More To The Story.....

It Looks Like Sponge Tech Was Just The First Con To Be Releases On The Investment Public

Greenwich Con Man Micheal Metter had another dog of a stock in the wings

Vanity Events Holdings

This pump and dump of Micheal Metter's has not yet been launched as the company is in its infancy, but the trading in the stock originated in April 2009.

And based on their financials and no revenues they have a long way to go.

But in September 2009, just 3 months later, Vanity Events Holdings has found financing that they then redirect towards getFugu another of Micheal Metter's stable of toxic stocks.


ITEM 1.01

ENTRY INTO A MATERIAL DEFINITIVE AGREEMENT

On September 1, 2009, Vanity Events Holding, Inc. (the “Company”) closed a private placement of 4,000,000 shares of common stock (the “Securities”) to 11 accredited investors (the “Investors”) for aggregate gross proceeds of $1,000,000 pursuant to a Securities Purchase Agreement.

The Company claims an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, for the private placement of the above-referenced Securities pursuant to Section 4(2) of the Act and/or Regulation D promulgated thereunder since, among other things, the transaction did not involve a public offering, the investors were accredited investors, the investors had access to information about us and their investment, the investors took the securities for investment and not resale, and we took appropriate measures to restrict the transfer of the securities.

The fact that $1 million was received on September 1, 2009 as financing into Vanity Events (for stock shares priced at $0.25 in a market trading at $2.00+ or an 88% discount) so simply re-direct into GetFugu is a clear red flag towards laundering.

Why wouldn’t the investor in Vanity Events not simply invest directly into GetFugu?

Vanity Events Holding, Inc. Announces $1 Million Strategic Investment in Getfugu, Inc.

Press Release

Source: Vanity Events Holding, Inc.

On Friday September 4, 2009, 9:30 am EDT

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vanity Events Holding, Inc. (“Vanity”) (OTCBB: VAEV - News), is pleased to announced that the Company has agreed to a strategic investment of $1 million into Getfugu, Inc. (“Getfugu”), a technology company that focuses on developing mobile search tools. Getfugu’s already proven, proprietary technology, is capable of recognizing specific company logos embedded in television images in real time. Making use of the 3 billion mobile phones deployed around the world, advertisers can, for the first time, direct interested users to websites designed specifically for a targeted demographic group. This technology is unique to Getfugu because it covers the entire image on a television and performs the search in real time, as images on the television move.

Of significance is Greenwich con man Micheal Metter's fixation with share distributions, Vanity Events Holdings issued a Stock Dividend (to himself) in September 2008 despite no the fact that there was no business.

Effective September 26, 2008, the Board of Directors of the Vanity Events Holding, Inc. (the “Company”) declared a stock dividend of 1.71178 shares of common stock for every 1 share of common stock held by shareholders of record at the close of business on September 26, 2008.


Which Brings Us To The Third Leg Of Con Man Micheal Metter's Toxic Penny Sock Trifecta, Map VI Aqusitions, the Owner Of WGCH AM 1490 In Greenwich.

Map V I Acquisitions is a company that is run by Greenwich con man Micheal Metter and his side kick WGCH Executive Vice President Jeff Weber.

This company has recently changed its name to Blue Star Media in hopes of dumping even more toxic stock on an unsuspecting public.

Radio Broadcaster Goes Public By Reverse Merger

Posted February 05, 2009 4:19PM

Business talkradio.net Inc., a company that produces radio programs broadcast nationwide, reverse merged with the Form-10 shell company Map VI Acquisition Inc.

Map VI issued all of its 72.3 million shares to Bussinesstalkradio.net yesterday.

The Stamford, Conn.-based company has about 1,400 affiliate radio stations that broadcast its 40 original programs on finance, investing, health, and entertainment. It emerged from bankruptcy in 1999.

The company had $2.6 million in revenues in the first nine months of 2008, which was mostly generated from advertising. Revenues were down more than 9% from the year-earlier period. The company had a net loss of $1.2 million during the first nine months of 2008, compared with a loss of $1.3 million in the same period in 2007.

Richard Friedman with the law firm of Sichenzia Ross Friedman Ference advised on the merger.

Director Michael Pisani owns almost 32% of the company's stock. CEO Michael Metter owns about 12%. Director Frank Lazauskas owns 10% personally and 7% through his company FJL Enterprises.

Map VI was created by Mercantile Capital Group in 2007 with the assistance of New York law firm Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo.

In January 2008, Mercantile sold the shell, as well as Map V Acquisition Inc., for $30,000 each to Highland Global Partners, based in Dix Hills, N.Y

The Company has since changed names to Blue Star Media.

BusinessTalkradio.net has filed a won a lawsuit against Greenwich con man Micheal Metter for non-payment of monies offered in financing offered by RM Enterprises .

This is a major red flag.

You remember RM enterprises that's the company behind Spongetech.

With shares being issued to RM Enterprises by each of all these shells, to what guarantee do we have that money actually exchanged hands between the financier and the companies?

The financing of SpongeTech does not show clearly where the $12 Million they received was used. They were always cash poor despite the infusions of monies.

From 8-K filed for Map VI. Greenwich Con Man Micheal Metter is CEO

On June 25, 2009, Map VI, Acquisition, Inc. (the “Company”) and its wholly owned subsidiaries, Lifestyle TalkRadio Network, Inc., Greenwich Broadcasting Corporation, BTR West II, Inc., BTR Communications Boston II, Inc. and WURP East, Inc. (collectively, the “Subsidiaries”) entered into a loan and security agreement (the “Agreement”) with RM Enterprises International Ltd. (“RM”), whereby it sold to RM a secured convertible promissory note in the principal amount of up to $6,000,000 (the “Note”). The Note is convertible at any time at the option of the holder and will become due and payable on June 25, 2011. The Note is convertible based on a formula whereby RM can convert the Note into two-thirds of the number of shares of the Company’s common stock on a fully diluted basis. RM also received warrants to purchase 15,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock, with an exercise price of $0.01. The term of the warrants is for five years from the date of issuance. The Note is guaranteed by the Subsidiaries of the Company pursuant to a subsidiary guaranty. Proceeds from the sale of the Note to RM will be used towards the payment of the Company's obligations under an Agreement and Settlement and General Release (the “Settlement Agreement”) which is described in more detail below.

To Our Shareholders:(Which includes Corporate Officer Jeff Weber)

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the following action will be taken pursuant to the written consent of a majority of the shareholders of the Company dated June 3, 2009 (the “Record Date”), in lieu of a special meeting of the shareholders. Such action will be taken on or about September 2, 2009:

1.

To amend the Company’s Certificate of Incorporation to change the name of the Company to Blue Star Media Group, Inc.

2.

To amend the Company's Certificate of Incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares of Common Stock, par value $.0001 per share (the “Common Stock”), of the Company from 75,000,000 shares to 250,000,000 shares. (the “Increase”).


The Fact is That Greenwich Con Man Micheal Metter Was Putting Lipstick On A Dog Of Money Losing Companies Known As WGCH AM, Bussiness Talk Radio And Lifestyle Talk Radio.

The Companies Were Renamed Blue Star Media In Preparation For Another Of Michael's Toxic Penny Stock Pump And Dump Sachems.

But Fortunately For Unsuspecting Investors The FBI Stepped in and arrested Greenwich con man Micheal Metter.

The Future Of the money losing WGCH is most likely bankruptcy, reorganization and a new owner.

All Of Micheal Metter's Minions Are Getting Burned Big Time.

For Example, WGCH's And Business Talk Radio's Vice President Jeff Weber's 460,000 shares of Map VI Acquisition Stock is now Valued at .ooo1 cent per share.

That comes to a whopping 46 bucks for 460,000 shares of the company that owns WGCH and the Business Talk Radio Network.

Maybe Jeff Weber Can Sell Those 460,000 Share Certificates For Wall Paper On Craig's List And Cash Out Of Map VI Acquisition, Because There Is No Longer Going To Be A Toxic Pump And Dump Scheme Involving WGCH.

PLEASE SEE:

05/09/10 DIRTY DEEDS DONE DIRT CHEAP: Greenwich Con Man's Fans Went After New York Post Reporter


05/08/10 Jeff Weber's Reponce To Greenwich Roundup's Responce, Which Responded To Jeff Weber's Reponce To One Of Greenwich Roundup's Articles


05/08/10 WGCH's Jeff Weber Responds To Greenwich Roundup's Articles About Michael Metter And Map VI Acquisitions


05/07/10 WGCH Boss Jeff "The Hustler" Weber Has A Lot Of Explaining To Do About His Major "Map VI Acquisition" Holdings


05/07/10 Where Is The Greenwich Time? If You Want To Know Whats Going On In Greenwich You Have Got To Read The Out Of Town Newspapers




05/09/10 DIRTY DEEDS DONE DIRT CHEAP: Greenwich Con Man's Fans Went After New York Post Reporter

The rumor around town is that Greenwich Time Editor refuses to assign a local reporter to cover local con man and WGCH Micheal Metter's arrest by the FBI, because Metter threatened to use his his Business Talk Radio Network to go after the secretive and prately held Hearst Foundation, which owns the Hearst Corporation. Which Owns The Greenwich Time.

Con Man Micheal Metter's Minions Tried To Intimidate A new York Post Reporter, but she never stooped reporting.

Hearst Newspaper Editor David McCumber And Hearst Newspaper President Steven Swartz Both Need To Grow A Pair Of Onions, Because They Have No "Journalistic Balls.

Will Someone Please Tell David McCumber That He Can Come Out From Under His Desk, Because Greenwich Con Man David McCumber Has Been Arrested By The FBI

How SpongeTech fans attempted to slime me


By KAJA WHITEHOUSE
New York Post

On Wednesday, the top two executives of SpongeTech Delivery Systems, a company that makes and sells soap-infused sponges, were arrested on criminal charges of conspiracy to commit fraud and obstruction of justice.


Suddenly, the anonymous phone calls to my office, the e-mails calling me a "whore" and a "hack" and the biting Web postings slamming my reputation ceased.


For seven months I have been reporting on SpongeTech's curious revenue numbers, mystery customers and troublesome money woes. And for seven months, an anonymous band of company supporters have worked tirelessly to harass, intimate and discredit me.


n February, for example, I opened my e-mail to a message board posting urging SpongeTech supporters to go to Amazon.com and slam a book I published in 2006 as revenge for a series of critical stories I was writing about the company.


"BASH KAJA'S BOOK LIKE SHE BASHERS (sic) OUR STOCK!!!!!!!!!," a post by a person who goes by the handle, "Mingy," wrote.


Someone responded, "that's really funny..hope that b**** get's 100's or 1000's of 1 stars!!"

The campaign against me got more personal. Last month, my friends and colleagues were slammed by alarming e-mails warning them that I'm involved in a "criminal enterprise" to destroy SpongeTech.


"Shall it prove, as I suspect it will, that there is a criminal enterprise/organization working to destroy a company called Spongetech, I believe a RICO case could be made against Ms. Whitehouse," the e-mail said.


My father and his consulting firm were also implicated in the made-up stock manipulation scheme, and the slanderous e-mails were distributed to his co-workers.


At the bottom of the e-mails was a link to Web site Stockbasher.com, which carries the very menacing statement warning that "stock bashers" will pay in the form of personal attacks against them and their families.


"We may also target your family if their story is more dramatic and has more fat than your miserable life," it cautions.


Photos of my family, including young children, their work histories and addresses were collected and posted online by "Mingy."


Back in September, The Post wrote an investigative story questioning the existence of five of SpongeTech's six biggest customers, which as it happens is the crux of the civil charges the Securities and Exchange Commission filed against the company last week -- in addition to criminal charges lodged by the US Attorney on Brooklyn.


In an effort to discredit the article, SpongeTech issued a press release titled "SpongeTech® Delivery Systems, Inc. Sets The Record Straight" calling the story "inaccurate" and based on "forgeries."


"Kaja, you are a dirtbag," read a posting by an anonymous online commentator on The Post's Web site that day.


SpongeTech pursued all its critics. In another instance, Spongetech sued the CEO of a competing sponge company and as part of the settlement demanded the CEO write a retraction to comments he made in a story that questioned SpongeTech's sales numbers.


Two weeks before SpongeTech's CEO Michael Metter and CFO Steven Moskowitz were arrested and charged, the New York-based company took its most aggressive shot -- it sued me, The New York Post and several other people -- including David Patch, who runs investigatethesec.com -- on defamation and allegations of running a "short and distort" scheme.


And when it was clear the threat of the lawsuit wasn't going to stop me from writing stories, a lawyer representing SpongeTech -- Alan A. Heller, of Heller, Horowitz & Feit -- e-mailed me a letter to urge me to stop writing about SpongeTech, and promised to go after my stock trading records and those of my "friends and contacts."


"We trust that you will stop your relentless pursuit of this company and its management," the letter concluded.


I didn't stop reporting the news.


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