A guy called David Corell from the rivkin group found offence in what I said yesterday re AVJ. He threatned to sue me. Here is his threat: "We attach extracts of postings made on the Hot Copper website which we understand have been made by yourself.
We find it interesting that you have on more than one occasion attempted to gain details of our recommendations from other subscribers via the Hot Copper website and subsequently written what we consider to be defamatory comments concerning our investment strategies.
You are of course entitled to your opinion, however, if you continue to post comments such as those posted yesterday in a public forum like Hot Copper we will have no hesitation in taking legal action against you. Could you please advise the name of your solicitors for service.
We will also be writing to Hot Copper advising them that by allowing such comments to be presented on their website, they too expose themselves to action.
Yours faithfully
David Croll The Rivkin Report ue me.
My Reply was:
I am ashamed to note that you people stoop down to threats in order to scare people.
When I was a subscriber to your newsletter I would still be critical about your recommendations on hotcopper despite my knowledge that you guy were looking for actual postings verbatim off your report. This I have not done. All I have done is be critical with my own reasons.
People are allowed to be critical just about anything. And most off all if they provide proper reasons (as I have done with AVJ) there is no law against it. There have been many times where people have actually cast disparaging remarks against Rene and I have defended him. However, I have not cast remarks that are false or disparaging on this occasion against anyone in particular. However, talking about a stock you guys have recommended and providing my technical views on it is certainly not defamation and I may continue to do so. My aim is to freely educate some of the so called lemmings on the forum who buy blindly. There is nothing wrong with that.
The AVJ posting had no defamatory comments. There was only fact. You may have got offended when I said that the money management techniques are dismal. That is fact. If someone loses more than 10% of their money and does nothing then that is not a good strategy. Read any book written out there by highly qualified and experienced professional traders who have turned authors on the subject of trading and you will discover that they say the same thing. Based on these authors comments if one continues to lose money on trades above 10% on a trade and one does not act then they say it's a sign of an armature trader.
Asking for what was recommended in the rivkin report is not illegal. If someone mentions the stock code is still not illegal as it breaches no copyright laws. However, posting chucks of it as I said about may breach copyright laws. And the reason I do it is to give my views on the stock to the forum. Is there anything wrong with that?
I am at liberty to be critical and so is anyone for that matter of fact. I will post this little threat you have made against me on the forum. Let me know if that is ok and your legal reasons as to why I shouldn't.
And it is an offence to threaten people with no proper cause I may add. If you want to take legal action against me then you have to tell me on what basis and if its defamation (which I can only presume) then you have to give me the exact words that defame you.
For the sake of completeness let me say that the definition of defamation in Osborn's Law Dictionary states that - "the tort consisting in the publication of false and derogatory statement respecting another person without lawful justification." Now I have justified my reasons as to why AVJ was a bad trade according to technical analysis. Now its upto you to tell me first on what basis you are going to take legal action and why.
Finally, from a postive perspective and to prove that I am a worth critic - There have been many occassions where I have commended some of your reccommendations as well. Not only have I done this I have also openly said on the forum that if one needs to get a good feel for takeover rules then Rene Rivkin is the expert in this area. And I still stand by this. Unfortunately, Rene is no longer associated with the report.
Look forward to your reply.
And his reply was:
Below is the particular segment of your comments I find defamatory especially referring to the team writing the report as amateurs. Furthermore, the Rivkin Report has long gone against the trend of other investment managers and authors with a good deal of success.
I would suggest you limit your use of dictionaries to learning how to spell.
David Croll
"I have written to the rivkin group often about these concepts and have told them to their face that their money management technicques are dismal. But the penny does not drop. The people running it now are amatures"
My reply to him was as follows, and he never replied back.
I think your comments are just heading into the realms of absurdity and insanity.
Spelling these days is confined to a spell checker when one types. The speed of typing causes these mechanical errors. If I misspelt something I wrote to you I apologise. I write according to my audience. For example, if I was filing a writ to sue you for being a nuisance, harassment and for false threats then I would make sure the spelling is perfect as the registrars in Court get a bit rubbed off. However, if writing to you or on hotcopper I don't even bother to check for any typos.
The last time I wrote to the Rivkin report in relation to this statement was this week. Speak to Anthony and get your facts straight. I will reproduce the email for your reference.
I suggest that it would pay for you to brush up on your law before you go detecting spelling errors. It would not look all that flash to sue me with no grounds in front of a judge and jury not to mention the media who is so savage these days. The sentiment these people have against your organisation at the moment is not in your favour rightly or wrongly. So keep the powder dry and don't put the rivkin name again into the spotlight. And I invite you to debate with me on hotcopper anytime.
Finally, let me say that I have nothing against your organisation or any individuals. I still like Rene and I am very grateful to him for the knowledge he has passed. In my view I still maintain that the people who run the show are armatures compared to Rene and many other stock gurus such as Daryl Guppy etc. This is my view and you do not necessarily have to agree with it. You however, do not come close to any of these people. I am ready to take you on anytime because you have upset me for no reason and without getting your facts right.
Signed Barrister & Solicitor Vic Supreme Court
AVJ Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held