Via blogs.marketwatch.com/greenberg:
Overstock (ostk) says it's "celerbrating" the decision by a California appeals court to let its suit against Gradient Analytics and Rocker Partners to go to full trial. Among other things, the suit alleges libel.
Never mind that Gradient says it may appeal to the California Supreme Court in a case that could otherwise have chilling effects on freedom of speech: A scan through the court documents shows that much of the case is tied to the testimony of none other than Dimetrios Anifantis. Yes, that's the same Dimetrios Anifantis whose declaration -- "under the penalty of perjury" -- inolved an outright disregard for the truth when it came to testimony about yours truly.
That's right -- they've tried to drag the press into this for daring to raise red flags over the company's precarious prospects. My early writeups included this , which harkens back to the origination of Overstock's fight with Gradient (then Cambelback Research), and this . And if you haven't read my write-ups on Anifantis' antics previously, you can read them here and here and here . If his recollection of the fact and his feeble efforts and inuendo are as bad about everybody else in his line of fire, you have to wonder how credible Anifantis really is as a witness. Could that be one reason the SEC, with its subpoena power, recentlly dropped its case against Gradient?
And let's not forget: The part of the case Overstock is "celebrating" had nothing to do with the veracity of the facts, only whether the case should proceed to full trial or whether it should've been dropped as a frivolous matter.
In a press release "celebrating" the victory, Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, whose antics have been chasing away directors of his company, said: "Most interestingly, the miscreants have had the full support of compliant financial journalists who for nearly two years have blindly parroted arguments that have now been rejected by a trial judge, an attorney general, and an appellate court. I believe that these journalists' willingness to engage in this behavior will someday be seen as the Gotterdammerung in the battle between Old Media and New Media."
What he conveniently leaves out -- and as I mentioned earlier -- is that his own arguments have been struck down by the SEC, which closed its probe of Gradient and now is investigating Overstock. He also failed to mention that Overstock's fundamentals have done little but deteriorate since he starting waging his his ridiculous and laughable "jihad" against the Sith Lord and his alleged followers. The suit, in the end, appears to have been the ultimate diversionary tactic and an effort to silence critics at the expense of his company's shareholders. Heck, even his father quit the board.
The beat goes on...
$17.45 (06/01/07)
