On 30th April I ran an article stating “Daniel Stewart – shares suspended at 4.30 PM today?” The shares were in fact suspended the next morning as the company had been unable to find a replacement Nomad for Westhouse which quit on April1. Shares in Daniel Stewart will retrade from tomorrow as it has found a Nomad that will act for it but with very odd conditions. Daniel Stewart responded to this article by sending a pompous and fascistic letter demanding that I pull the article within 48 hours and swear never to repeat its content or else. Suffice to say I will see the bitchez in Court but the tone of the correspondence is both amateurish and fascistic at the same time.
The original article (which I am happy to republish here so screw you Dan Stew) reads:
The countdown to the possible suspension of trading in shares in disgraced AIM casino broker and (ex) disgraced AIM casino Nomad, and China fraud specialist Daniel Stewart is well and truly on. Thanks to disgraced insider dealer and fraudster Rob Terry of Quindell infamy, the shares could be suspended tonight. Jolly good.
Former Nomad Westhouse quit on April 1, the day after Terry announced that he had bought c7% of Daniel Cesspit. On April 17 it went public on that resignation after Terry announced that he wanted to buy more than 10% of Cesspit and had applied to the chocolate teapots at the FCA for clearance.
That means that if no new Nomad is appointed by May 1 shares will be suspended from trading and if no new Nomad is appointed by June 1 the firm will be boosted off the casino for good.
We have spoken to a number of smaller Nomads who have used words such as “bargepole” in explaining why they would not act for Daniel Cesspit but there is always one Nomad with no regard for reputation which will do anything for money? Or is the Terry stink so great that not even ZAI Corporate Finance or Cenkos will touch this one?
If there is a Nomad with no regard for reputation it is leaving this to the wire.
Ends.
On the same day I received a lawyers letter from Paula Kumar of Swan Turnton which reads:
We act for Daniel Stewart Securities PLC.
Our client’s attention has been drawn to an article headed “Daniel Stewart – shares suspended at 4.30PM today?
The allegations contained in the article are defamatory on their face. Publication of these highly damaging allegations is likely to cause our client serious harm. Although indicated to be opinions, in fact, the matters are set out as statements of fact.
Our client now requires the following:
1 your immediate take down of the article;
2 your undertaking not to repeat or republish the article.
If we receive confirmation within 48 hours of the date of this email that you have removed or disabled access to the article and your undertaking not to repeat or republish the article, our client will take no further action against you in respect of this matter. If you do not comply with these requirements, our client reserves the right to issue proceedings against you for defamation. If proceedings become necessary (which may be issued and served without further notice to you), the remedies that may be available to our client include an injunction restraining further publication of the article pending trial, damages, legal costs and interest.
Ends.
You will note that Paula did not specify what in the article was defamatory she just demanded that it all be removed so in effect gagging me from every criticising her shitty client again.
I responded:
Dear Paula
Thank you for your letter. I draw your attention to the China frauds Naibu ( shares suspended, CEO in prison), China Chaintek, Pressfit Holdings (shares slung off AIM), Fraspens (float pulled despite 10 day notice being issued - company has already disappeared just a few months later) all of which were floated by, promoted by and secured funding thanks to Daniel Stewart.
I draw your attention to the glaring falsehoods in the April 2011 prospectus for Quindell PLC prepared by Daniel Stewart.
I draw your attention to the fact that Daniel Stewart which is meant to advise AIM companies had its shares suspended last year for failing reg cap requirements.
I draw your attention to the fact that Daniel Stewart's Nomad Westhouse resigned in protest a month ago in light of the involvement of Mr Terry in Daniel Stewart.
In light of that can you please state explicitly where - with reference to the 2014 Defamation act, I have acted in breach of UK Regulation.
You will understand that I cannot amend an article or withdraw it unless there is stated factual inaccuracy or transgression of the law. I look forward to you pointing out the specific inaccuracy or breach of the 2014 Act.
Best wishes
Tom Winnifrith.
Ends
That was on April 30th. It took until Tuesday May 5th for Paula to state explicitly what was defamatory. She wrote:
With regard to the article, we consider the following statements to be highly defamatory of our client:
1. “disgraced AIM casino broker and (ex) disgraced AIM casino Nomad, and China fraud specialist Daniel Stewart”
2. “disgraced insider dealer and fraudster Rob Terry of Quindell infamy”
3. “Daniel Cesspit”
4. “10% of Cesspit”
5. “We have spoken to a number of smaller Nomads who have used words such as “bargepole” in explaining why they would not act for Daniel Cesspit but there is always one Nomad with no regard for reputation which will do anything for money? Or is the Terry stink so great that not even ZAI Corporate Finance or Cenkos will touch this one?”
6. “If there is a Nomad with no regard for reputation”
With regard to your email dated 30 April 2015 timed at 19.07 in which you attempt to justify your article, none of the examples provided are evidence of fraud. Nor do they show that our client is or has at any stage been “disgraced”. Shares being suspended is plainly not in itself fraudulent; the crimes (if any) of a CEO (per your reference to another company, Naibu) are not those of a company; and shares being removed from or “slung off” AIM is also plainly not in itself fraudulent. A float being pulled does not constitute fraud. As you will of course be aware, fraud is a very serious allegation which requires substantial evidence. You have not provided any such evidence. As such, the article is unsubstantiated and in fact, baseless.
It is not correct that Nomad Westhouse “resigned in protest a month ago in light of the involvement of Mr Terry in Daniel Stewart”. Please provide any evidence supporting this assertion.
We note that the article remains available on the website. Our client is not prepared to tolerate the continued publication of unfounded and damaging allegations. If the article is not taken down and you do not undertake not to repeat or republish the article within 48 hours of the date of this email, our client may issue proceedings against you for defamation and will seek to recover its costs from you in doing so.
Yours sincerely
Paula Kumar
Swan Turton LLP
Well Paula what shall we do now? You do not act for Rob Terry so WTF has my claims about him got to do with your client. And as it happens he did trade shares while possessing inside information (the resignation of Canaccord) so is an insider dealer and he did announce the issue of shares to party A for hitting performance targets on 2/913 when in fact those targets were missed and the shares were issued to party B instead. So he is a fraudster.
Quoting other Nomads saying that they would not want the Daniel Stewart Nomadship or touch it with a bargepole is just plain fact. You may think your client is the next Goldman Sachs but others disagree. That it has served up another dismal trading statement on Friday 8th may after hours and admitted it needs refinancing yet again hardly add to its credibility.
I am often referred to as Tom Winnifilth (or variants). Carter Ruck lawyers is oft called Carter Fuck. We do not sue. Terming your client Daniel Cesspit given that it operates in the AIM Cesspit is not a claim that will get you far.
Westhouse quit the day after Rob Terry bought a stake in your client an announced its resignation publicly after the insider dealer said he wanted to go to 29.99%. You think that is just a coincidence. Pull the other one. I note that your new Nomad has only agreed to act if Mr Terry does not increase his stake. I wonder why?
Yes a company being slung off AIM is not evidence of fraud. However Naibu and Fraspens were frauds. And your client knew that yet still tried to float Fraspens and allowed shares in Naibu to trade indeed published research for investors setting a target price well above the market price. That is exactly why your client is disgraced. And given the high percentage of fee income it generated from floating, raising funds for and advising Naibu, Fraspens and other China enterprises, yes it had a speciality in that area.
Should we ever get into libel proceedings under established pre-trail protocols I shall ask that you publish all emails & transcripts of recorded calls between Paul Shackleton, Belinda Earl and Houyan Lin of Naibu. These will show that while Lin was taking a scrip dividend (saying he did not need cash) he was telling Daniel Stewart he wanted it to place out half his shares as he needed cash. That happened in the summer of 2014 as you well know and was a mammoth red alert that this was a fraud. Yet your client alerted no-one and instead allowed research to go out suggesting that the shares were cheap, that they trade at a massive discount to fair value.
Under the terms of the 2014 defamation act your client will have a few hurdles to cross before we get to the fun of disclosure. I remind you that it states that a corporate cannot sue unless it can establish:
harm to the reputation of a body that trades for profit is not 'serious' harm unless it has caused or is likely to cause the body serious financial loss.
Now in your clients RNS of 8th May it stated:
As previously reported on 15 April 2015, trading conditions remain challenging and so the Company also announces that it feels it would be prudent to strengthen further its balance sheet and put in place additional funding either from existing or new investors or a combination of both in order to provide more certainty in what still remains an overall fragile capital market.
The Board continues to be encouraged by the level of new and existing business opportunities; and new business wins have been sufficient to give the Company the confidence to add to the team with the appointment of three new members of the corporate broking team.
Ends.
I put it to you that either the article of April 30 did not cause serious financial harm or the RNS of 8th May was a slam dunk lie - notably the words that I have helpfully underlined. As it happens I am prepared to be charitable and accept the former explanation. But I look forward to you arguing in front of a judge that you can bring a libel action because your client has told a lie via an RNS. If that is the case might you tell your new Nomad Mr Roland “fatty” Cornish that you plan to seek Judicial approval for a libel case on the basis that the May 8th RNS was a slam dunk lie. Good luck.
Overall the article remains in the public domain above. I regard your attempts to bully me into silence as fascistic and the sort of actions that generate only additional contempt for the firm of Daniel Cesspit.
I am now in Greece for the summer but should you persuade a judge that your client lied in its RNS of 8 May and get grounds to take action I look forward to the disclosure process with delight and will happily provide an address here to accept notice. May I remind your client that all emails and recorded calls should be saved for seven years.
I suspect this won’t be the case. But drooling with anticipation of pre trial disclosure “see you in Court bitchez”