There is a group of people that think I am mad and "just can't let things go". So, I'll do my best to give you a fine example of why that can happen to you or me.
When I bought the stock, I bought 30,0000 shares. I am going to round up some numbers so do not count the figures as exact and the same goes with dates. I'm not going to try and put everything in chronological order just for this story.. I was an admin in the filmon/chat room. Anyone who came in and could not get their filmon hdi stand alone player working - we helped. He had two other people on there to monitor chat and help out. They were part time and were paid, I was not. I did not or would not charge my friend to help him out in anything he wanted to do as long as I was online and able. I always saw him as a get up and go kinda guy. A move and shaker. A pound the pavement and get things moving guy. ( I at no time knew he was the son of a wealthy family, nor did that ever factor even one time.)
Staying in that chat room made me feel pretty damn good. I was helping out my friend and at the same time helping out FilmOn and my investment. People would come in and their player wasn't working and they wanted to watch the BBC or some other UK channel that they could not get in the country they lived in. They literally gloated with happiness once they shut down other applications they did not need running and allow the player to have full bandwidth and display their shows. THANKS THANKS THANK YOU !
People were literally thrilled. As time went by, that made me ever so confident that I did the right thing by investing in Filmon.
After I invested, about three months later the stock was taken off the market and privately held. One day I logged on to FilmOn chat and it wouldn't even load. I emailed alki as usual and got no response. I emailed Kutovoy and he said it was now shut down and it was alki's decision. What? I had been doing there to help out everyday and he shuts it off without even one word to me? wtf?
About a month later, someone emailed me to go to www.battlecam.com Oh brother, we all know that story. I felt it was a complete slap in the face to an EXACT story I had told him about a site I wanted to start. I have a witness. He replied "You've got something there".
Yet, after 16.5 yrs he shuts off the chat room where I was helping people with no explanation to me?
I was extremely upset and hurt. We all know the rest of that story. Banned, but not for that reason.
I was floored. Hell if it was that good of an idea to him, he would have only have said not only "you have something there " but he could have thrown in "I'd like to run with that". What would I have said? Yes. He was my best friend online and he could have just had the fucking idea. I would have liked my name somewhere, somehow that I contributed. I would have assumed I even got offered admin, but oh no, I did not even know about it until I was emailed.
YES, I was upset, irate. I told him to just give me my money back and that we were no longer friends and that some of his actions would make us not friends even if an investment wasn't involved.
He told me that "I knew you would do something like this from the start. YOU MAKE ME SICK. YOU ARE DRUGGED UP TO YOUR EYEBALLS ON MEDS and I never told you to buy my stock EVER. I NEVER TOLD YOU TO BUY IT.
I sent him an email where he tells me all about it and not only that he was going to have Filmon available for everyone to watch from home but he asked me to sell it for him twice !!!
He replied back "well, by then you had already bought stock and I just hoped for the best".
I wrote back "Oh no, you told me to buy it twice in like feb and march. I did NOT buy stock until July. I wanted to make that point clear. He scuffed it off.
Prior to investing, I had never done anything like that before and after reading and reading about stocks and different companies, I found one company I wanted to invest in and "take the risk". It was a company called NETFLIX. At the time, people were calling up and telling them what cd's they wanted and then they'd get them in the mail. Keep them as long as you like and when you return them you get more of the movies on your list. A lot of people found that to be a great service. I on the other hand would just run down to the local mom and pop shop or convenient store and rent a movie for .99 cents. It didn't really thrill me but I saw all the commercials and people loved it.
THEN, Netflix made an announcement publicly. They were now offering a service to allow users to watch Netflix directly from their tv and remote control. Watch any movie without sending them all back and forth in the mail. WOW ! I just KNEW that was going to make that company skyrocket in popularity. Again, I never invested in any company and when you looked at their stock price it was under $20 a share and I had a great feeling that it would go even higher as more and more people dropped the mail service and signed up to just watch Netflix from their tv anytime of the day or night.
I told alki this. He told me that he was going to have that service too for FilmOn.com. Considering he was a longtime friend of 16.5 years at that time was the deciding factor in my purchasing his stock over Netflix.
(How I regret that decision to this day. For those that followed along, Netflix grew to about $300 a share !)
If I had sold at $600,000, after taxes I would have easily cleared $400,000 and been set !
Everyone has different goals, dreams or standards they hope for to quit or retire. For some, $400k wouldn't even be enough to buy their dream house let alone maintain it.
I was told that I was being given a gift of shares from my 30,000 up to 300,000 shares due to a consolidation of the stock. Wow ! Things like that just don't happen to people like me.
Alki later private messaged me that the stock would be going public again and go for 5x to 10 the last old price. "NO 10x " he said. The last price was about .50-.70 cents a share. At $7.00 a share, my 300,000 shares were now worth possibly 2 million. While no one could guarantee liquidity right away when it started selling on the market, it was going to start trading again. I think it started and remained at $6.65 cents.
Once it was back on the market, Alki had listed it under another stock symbol. I bought 30,000 shares for about $38,900 and the symbol was 2FOA.F. Now Alki had the new symbol at FMX.F.
I was told that my 30,000 shares of original shares were being converted to the new symbol. Instead of owning 30,000 shares, I now owned 300 shares of FMX.F. .... WHAT????
I said that you just devalued my investment by dividing the stock by 100 and my $38.9k investment was now worth about $2,100.00. And filmon is still growing ? wtf?
I emailed him and said that you divided by 100 and now I only own 300 shares? He replied back and said "I did not divide by 100... I divided by 100 ". wut?
He told me that if I ever wanted to see any of that money back I had better be nice to him. what?
I stopped emailing for awhile so he would not without my money from me since we were no longer friends.
Later, I pointed out that when he started Filmon, a company accused him of stealing their proprietary channels and bandwidth and they were coming into the filmon chat room and demanding it stop. They came in day after day. I emailed alki and he replied "FUCK HIM".
Later, when Sky sports channel was added to the lineup of the hd player, a ton of people came in because the Championship Game was going to be on in a few days and they wanted to watch it. They bought their subscription and were THRILLED that they got to see the game. After the game, Sky was off the channel lineup and everyone was coming in screaming . "I signed up for a year and Sky is no longer on the channel list... wtf?? " I emailed alki and got no answer so told them all that legal agreements were being worked out. Later Alki said someone threatened him and I told him to make sure he had someone always around him. He said "no they had the right to threaten me, I was stealing their signals (Sky) form the UK.
Later, CBS et al filed for a temporary injunction and won . They said he was broadcasting their signals illegally..
I told him that he should have disclosed the fact that when I bought stock and anyone else bought stock, he did NOT have those proper licensing agreements in place. We saw Filmon and what was on it but those channels has NO legal agreements to be aired, hence the legal actions.
Then alki said he'd return my money. I posted that "He did not have the agreements and should have disclosed this from day one. I would not have invested. It's like loaning a billionaire $38.9k a ZERO interest loan for 2 years and 3 months. Later, Alki said that he'd buy back any original stock for what they paid plus 10 %. I told him I did not want the 10% back because that was never ever mentioned in any way shape or from as part of investing in Filmon. He said I was being pious and acting too good to take that 10%. It was NOT supposed to work out that way. Basically just a loan?
300 shares? $2,100.00?? No no no. do not do this.. no way.. FilmOn is growing... I told everyone about FilmOn and the stock. My entire family and relatives. Everyone at work. Doctors , dentist office. Everyone I knew. Not only told them about FilmOn and they also have stock but if you signed up on the Filmon bloomberg page and registered you got 10 FREE SHARES OF STOCK. ( that also turned out to be untrue and I did not know :( People were asking me where their 10 free shares where)
300,000 shares? I'd sell for $2.00 a share and still have $450,000 or so in the bank. At that time, when he was telling me that it WAS going to go back on the market for 10X the price, I honestly thought that for every year I had ever done something for my relatives and done without stuff myself so they'd have a better life, it was going to be like being silently rewarded. Around here in Ohio, you can get a lot of bang for your buck, even in 2012.
I bought stock in july 2009. Later, when he told me it was due to a stock consolidation, of course, I was thrilled and elated. I was really almost humbled for the fact that through his hard work and my efforts helping out that I was going to be able to quit my job. I was going to buy my mom a new small one floor plan house so she could finally have something nice to live in until she died. My neice was in college and had a few more years to go. When she graduated college, she would get the money to buy a brand new small car and enough money to pay for her insurance and gasoline for a few years so she'd have no payments. That was going to be my gift to her. She was such a good kid. Her dad told her that he did not want her anymore when she was 6. Although I am just an uncle I have tried my best to give her even more to help compensate for the fact her father was trash. I never once said anything bad about him in front of her. I'm sure a lot of you have relatives you'd just love to push off a cliff.
For my other nephew who was about 22, I was going to get him a new small pick up truck so he'd have it paid for. That's the only thing he asked for. I told him, i'd buy one small repo'ed house and show him how to convert it easily and do ALL THE WORK himself so he'd have about $500 a month income for the rest of his life, minus maintenance as the years went by.
I want to make this point clear. Alki did refund my original monies. He bought the 300 shares of FMX on the open market and then in a separate transaction paid the balance of the $38.9 k.
I was floored. Shocked, ruined. I told him he ruined me. There I was on Filmon chat room during 2008 and 2009 and part of 2010? and then it all got shut off. He TOLD me to "tell everyone" and to "spread the news" because he had a lot riding on this. I could not have done more to help out my friend. When he sent me the email that my stock rose from 30,000 shares to 300,000 and that it was possibly going to start at $7.00 a share, I couldn't believe it. THAT is when I updated friends, family, people at work, etc, that I would be quitting around July of 2010. THAT is when I was able to finally tell my family that it looks like for once in my life my decision to side with Alki was going to pay off. That is when they started to jokingly ask for a car for the niece and nephew. That's when I told my mom that I would have more than enough money to get her a small one floor plan house . Washer and drying on the first floor and a nice kitchen so she could really enjoy the rest of her life. I was going to buy my kid sister a house in MY name so no one could ever take it away from her and she and her husband and their son, my nephew with a small disability would finally have the security that they'd have a roof over their head forever.
When alki and I got into our email fights, I was floored. I told him he ruined me and to not do this. I honestly believe it was the fact that he now despised me that he was only returning the original money. I had the email stating I owned 300,000 shares !!!!! He later said "those were a personal gift he no longer wanted me to have". NO NO NO NO don't do this ! I told everyone like he asked !! I'm ruined !
Suddenly, I could not buy my mom that new home. Suddenly the time rolled around and my niece graduated from 4 years of college and I could not buy her that car. My nephew who was 22 and staying here, moved out thinking that I was just lying to him all this time and that I was just not going to buy him a new vehicle.
:((
damn. After helping out and doing exactly as I was asked I got fucked. I told everyone and then had to go back around and tell them that I could not buy them that stuff. I was not going to be able to leave the employment. Boy did some of those people constantly rub it in :( Alki made a huge fool out of me at work and there were days I didn't even want to go in anymore. The harassment was almost intolerable.
I was embarrassed beyond belief. I did not want to leave the house. I was so humiliated all this came to backfire in my face. I was ruined. I was only getting my original money back yet FilmOn STILL grows?
I did not deserve that. I told him that if he did not lie to me in the beginning I would have bought Netflix and this would not even be an issue. I told him if he had not lied to me I would NOT be in this humiliated situation I am now in.
After I thought I was going to be able to sell for at least $2.00 that would be about $600,000. I would certainly be able to buy all those things I promised.
In 16.5 years, I never asked alki for one thing. Not one dime. Ever. I did ask him to loan me $78k to get a foreclosure house for my kid sister and her son with a disability. He said "No". I did wonder at the time "wtf?" because I owned those 300,000 shares and told him he could set any terms of the loan he wanted.
I borrowed the money thinking that when the stock sold, I would write a check and pay it off. In addition, unknown to me, when I told my mom she could have a new house and that I would be able to give her a nice check to put in her checking account that would last her until she died. I did not know that a few of my relatives started asking her for things NOW. She started letting them use her charge cards. Yes, oh no ! I did not know that was going on. I did wonder once where a few of my relatives were getting all this new stuff.
After I told my mom that I would not be able to buy her a house, she said that was ok. About a half hour later, I went back to talk to her and she was crying. god damn, grrrrrr.
A week or so later, she said "you are going to be really mad at me". I said of course "never". She told met that she thought she'd have that money in the bank and people started asking her for stuff they needed and she let them use her charge cards and now she owed a total of about $15,000 in charge card debt. OMG, those rotten fucking relatives. What scum. What lowlifes.
I've probably left a lot out and needed to move a few paragraphs around but you'll get the jist of why I am so mad all this time. I got my original money back but then went into debt myself which I NEVER would have done had I not believed he would keep his word. I did NOT know she had $15,000 in debt because she believed ME when I believed HIM.
He's ruined me. He actually told me "maybe we'll meet someday and shake hands over all this". He then said that when he put the stock back up on the market again, he'd let me know but I should not invest that much into it and start out small.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? If I bought 30,000 shares of 2FOAF and he switched the symbols and technically it was now worth $2,100 of FMX why would I buy again? I would buy $50,000 of FMX and when he pulled it off the market and reposted it again, he could just as easily change the symbol once again and start it out at a higher price while only refunding me my original $50,000.
Shake hands? It would have been a long term goal to someday meet alki. After knowing him almost 18 yrs on the internet I would plan someday how to meet him. I even wrote him about it.
I said that someday he'll be outside promoting some band or singer and there would be 50,000 in the crowd. I'd make my way up and hand one of his guys a note on the steps of the stage. On the note it said "for alki david". I back away and see him open the note . Inside the note simply told him it was me and that I was in the crowd. He scribbles something back on the note and it blows out of the guys hand and onto the ground. I pick up the note and open it and it says "kill the bastard that gave you this note !!".
I asked him to settle this. No, he owes me nothing. I am drugged to the eyeballs. He never told me to buy that stock and putting a positive spin on it was the worst thing he could do. Again with those same lies I have emails to prove he's lying. If not for his lies, I would have bought and sold Netflix by this time and been set. So when he told all of battlecam that he never told me to buy that stock and I bought it on the open market despite his objections, I asked him to tell everyone that was an absolute lie. He refuses.
So, when some of you wonder why I am still mad and "just can't let it go", I can't. It will bother me probably for the rest of my life. I told alki, "On my dying deathbed, I will say that you cheated me".
One of the last emails he sent me was saying that I was going on battlecam and "making death threats" and he'd report me to the FBI. I have never on any chat channel, email or post ever threatened any ones life in my entire life. I assumed after 16.5 years I thought the friendship was rock solid that he'd credit me for that much. I reminded him that he is the one who is on record two, possibly three times for threatening people.
When that Joe Mullin reporter wrote a story about Alki and Filmon that Alki did not like, he came on cam eating a bowl of soup and said to call up the "fag from San Fran and give him death threats". He gave out his name again and his telephone number and yes, people called up Joe and gave him death threats. I let him know where that was coming from. I had to do it. I did not want some poor guy wondering what was going on and why he was getting death threats. I could not imagine some poor bastard looking over his shoulder and always wonder why he got those calls.
The previous email, when I spoke of suing and settling he was going to tell everyone he knows my real name and my employer and have them call them up and tell them that I am a "lunatic madman".
So, sometimes when I say I am depressed you might realize why now. I am not the least bit ashamed of being depressed over this. There are days I don't even want to get out of bed. Maybe in the eyes of the legal system everything he did was above board and I am just totally wrong. A lawsuit settles a dispute among two parties. It is a fucking shame that even has to be an option in order to settle this , win or lose on my end just so I can let it go.
Lastly, one of the last civil emails he sent me he stated he can be a dishonest person and has an ego. He told me that mabye he does remember me saying something about a website and prizes. Maybe he should have been more open and truthful all along.
I did NOT know things were going bad. I did what he asked to help him, FilmOn and myself and any other person that invested. Those investments are dreams of a lifetime to get in on. It was all legal. AT no time did I ever ask him to disclose anything to me that he did not make public FIRST. It's hard to swallow the fact that I did not know all this was going on. I did not know things were not going to go well when he did. He not only knew, but knew I was offering gifts to a rare few family members that I wanted them to have a few things.
When it eventually goes to court, I'm sure I'll get awarded more money than I would have sold out on $2.00 for. I'll tell the attorney that he can keep 80% of the judgement just for vindicating me.
Ok, done. that out to give even the lamest of you trolls enough ammo to use !
"hey, troll2 wanna by some swampland ?" I can hear them now.
