749 replies to this topic

[spanky123]

Another soft article here but it’s not surprising if you know who owns Capital. It will take a national media organization or an off island publisher to run a real story here and let me tell you all there is much more to this story that the TC has not even begun to connect the dots because it’s not in their interest to dig too far down.

 

Nobody really wants to dig because if you start digging then you will find a lot of things that a lot of people don't like that go far beyond Revenuewire.

 

As I pointed out, the CBC ran a story on this 6 years ago! There is nothing here that a lot of people haven't known about for a long time.

[spanky123]

*coughahem* hmmmm....most professional 'boards' have bylaws, the type of bylaws that would not permit anyone to sit on the board with that kind of 'record' if you will.  Either that is rectified or there very well will be some 'digging' - VIATEC is funded by many layers of government.  BC's track record with past corruption etc., well lets say this best be cleaned up quick (the board issue). 

 

I don't see what Viatec has to do about this. From what I read, Revenuewire has agreed to pay a fine but admitted no liability for anything. The banks and credit card companies still seem to be quite happy doing business with Revenuewire.

Edited by spanky123, 27 April 2020 - 08:03 PM.

[Banksy]

The silence from the media in Victoria is deafening isn’t it.

[Rob Randall]

“Bobbi served on our board for six years and has been an active participant in, and champion of, our tech community for much longer. We appreciate Bobbi once again putting the tech community first and voluntarily offering her resignation in recognition of our code of conduct and the reputational risks to VIATEC,” says Dan Gunn, CEO of VIATEC.

 

https://www.viatec.c...hair-steps-down

 

I don't see what Viatec has to do about this. From what I read, Revenuewire has agreed to pay a fine but admitted no liability for anything. The banks and credit card companies still seem to be quite happy doing business with Revenuewire.

 

As you can see Viatec (and many other organizations) have rules basically saying if you give us a bad name you are out. 

 

The FTC clearly says BooBean was not merely a figurehead CEO, she orchestrated the money laundering scheme.

[rjag]

Good,

however, she should have resigned prior to this being made public. This way it only looks like she did so because CapNews broke the story, Usually Boards have a requirement to disclose of any type of litigation, investigation etc while its ongoing so they have a chance to prepare to distance themselves and review/remove any liability being associated with the investigation.

 

One can only hope there is an investigation by Canadian Authorities into this whole affair and exposes who else was linked to it.

[Mike K.]

It looks like Andrew Duffy of the TC ran the story first, then Cap ran their (pretty much the same) story a day or two later, albeit with a much more jagged headline.
 

VIATEC’s Code of Conduct stipulates that board members avoid any situation which could be perceived as improper or indicate a casual attitude towards compliance. Recognizing this, Bobbi Leach has voluntarily resigned to spare the organization.

 

This has been under investigation for several years. VIATEC would have been aware of the FTC investigation long ago.

[Victoria Watcher]

Good,

however, she should have resigned prior to this being made public. This way it only looks like she did so because CapNews broke the story, 

 

 

 

why was it left to the capital to disclose it?

 

the tc said:

 

Leach, who has been with RevenueWire since 2010, could not be reached for comment Friday, nor could RevenueWire co-founder Elton Pereira.

 

 

https://www.timescol...case-1.24124210

 

but never mentioned viatec.

 

cbc article this week:

 

 

The FTC claims RevenueWire and Leach "received multiple warning signs" about the scammers, including complaints from both business partners and consumers.

 

The complaint cites a company fraud analyst who warned RevenueWire's vice president of finance about one of their partners in an email that was forwarded to Leach.

 

"We're dealing with a bunch of crooks here … and we are intrinsically associated with anything they do," the fraud analyst allegedly wrote.

 

"I don't particularly fancy RW [RevenueWire] being caught up in a money-laundering/RICO investigation because of these clowns, but if things continue on as they are, it's eminently possible that we will be."

 

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...r-ftc-1.5546568

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 01 May 2020 - 07:18 AM.

[Mike K.]

Cap never mentioned Pereira.

 

So between the two sources we got a slightly, but ever so slightly, bigger picture.

[rjag]

 

 

This has been under investigation for several years. VIATEC would have been aware of the FTC investigation long ago.

 

And they still made her Board Chair...  .I sat 2 terms on the Victoria Chamber and am currently on my 3rd term at the BBB and every year we have to answer due diligence questions such as advising of any matter that may unduly tarnish the organization....even something as trivial as an FTC Investigation....

 

and apologies to Duffy at the TC, I dont read the TC anymore so didnt realize he posted it first

Edited by rjag, 01 May 2020 - 07:22 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Cap never mentioned Pereira.

 

So between the two sources we got a slightly, but ever so slightly, bigger picture.

 

although andrew wilkinson (cap news owner) has spoken out:

 

 

 

 

[Mike K.]

Andrew is a good guy.

 

Although I'm not sure if these were just rumours. By the sounds of it, it was a scenario that a lot of people knew was taking place.

[Mike K.]

And they still made her Board Chair...  .I sat 2 terms on the Victoria Chamber and am currently on my 3rd term at the BBB and every year we have to answer due diligence questions such as advising of any matter that may unduly tarnish the organization....even something as trivial as an FTC Investigation....

 

Yes, very peculiar, indeed.

[VIResident]

And they still made her Board Chair...  .I sat 2 terms on the Victoria Chamber and am currently on my 3rd term at the BBB and every year we have to answer due diligence questions such as advising of any matter that may unduly tarnish the organization....even something as trivial as an FTC Investigation....

 

and apologies to Duffy at the TC, I dont read the TC anymore so didnt realize he posted it first

 

How decisions are made, non-profit, political party, whatever, its all on the process that decisions are made, who is who in the zoo etc.  How BC rolls.  

(A very LARGE portion of the local industry simply steered clear of anything to do with any of this and any party associated with it.  As soon as a 'sniff' of it wafted, many people simply quietly stepped back and went about their business, not having a thing to do with any organization, political affiliates or 'personalities'. Sure, no headlines, no stories about the work those who made the choice to not be involved with orgs. politicians etc. and that was OKAY by all)

Edited by VIResident, 01 May 2020 - 09:16 AM.

[spanky123]

This has been under investigation for several years. VIATEC would have been aware of the FTC investigation long ago.

 

Why would Viatec be aware of what the FTC was doing? From what I read, the story ran 6 years ago on the CBC. Revenuewire was forced to clean up their act. The FTC then took 6 years through the court / negotiation process to come to a settlement with Revenuewire. 

 

How do we know the Bobbi didn't resign from Viatec as soon as the settlement broke? All we know is that it was 2 days before her name was dropped from the Viatec website.

 

Viatec, like any other NPO, doesn't select it's board members. The members do. The members, including some of the same tech companies that are criticizing her now, presumably voted for her.

Edited by spanky123, 01 May 2020 - 09:19 AM.

[VIResident]

Why would Viatec be aware of what the FTC was doing? From what I read, the story ran 6 years ago on the CBC. Revenuewire was forced to clean up their act. The FTC then took 6 years through the court / negotiation process to come to a settlement with Revenuewire. 

 

How do we know the Bobbi didn't resign from Viatec as soon as the settlement broke? All we know is that it was 2 days before her name was dropped from the Viatec website.

 

Viatec, like any other NPO, doesn't select it's board members. The members do. The members, including some of the same tech companies that are criticizing her now, presumably voted for her.

 

Not stating this is the case in this instance, there is evidence over and over in BC, some members of some organizations, non-profit, political parties and so on, may be told if they vote a certain way then it was possible to curry favour in some manner or another.  

[spanky123]

Not stating this is the case in this instance, there is evidence over and over in BC, some members of some organizations, non-profit, political parties and so on, may be told if they vote a certain way then it was possible to curry favour in some manner or another.  

 

There is no favour to be curried at Viatec through the board chair. Dan Gunn runs Viatec, the board is for oversight. Since Dan has done a great job for 20+ years very little oversight is needed.

[VIResident]

There is no favour to be curried at Viatec through the board chair. Dan Gunn runs Viatec, the board is for oversight. Since Dan has done a great job for 20+ years very little oversight is needed.

 

Nothing to add, no further comment needed. 

[Mike K.]

Why would Viatec be aware of what the FTC was doing?

 

Not necessarily aware of explicit details, but as Andrew W. stated in his Twitter posts, there were rumours floating around.

 

I'm certainly not passing judgement on VIATEC or criticizing them, but the more people open up about this, the more it becomes clear the business practices were widely known to be an issue.

[spanky123]

Not necessarily aware of explicit details, but as Andrew W. stated in his Twitter posts, there were rumours floating around.

 

I'm certainly not passing judgement on VIATEC or criticizing them, but the more people open up about this, the more it becomes clear the business practices were widely known to be an issue.

 

I have no axe to grind with Andrew or Capnews, but just because someone isn't informed on an issue doesn't mean that it is news.  Google, a company name (or product name or individual name) and a few keywords like scam or FTC will give you the history on what you need to know. 

 

There have been a number of companies over the years that have been involved in what I would call unethical business. Money from those companies has then gone on the fund dozens of other companies some of which are better and some of which are not. Money from those companies has then gone on .... you get the picture.

 

The upshot is that most of the egregious stuff happened years ago and thanks to Google and Amazon and the other tech giants most of that activity has been forced out of business. That doesn't mean that the industry is squeaky clean or that the CEOs are all upstanding citizens, just that the really bad stuff is in the rear view mirror. 

[VIResident]

Not necessarily aware of explicit details, but as Andrew W. stated in his Twitter posts, there were rumours floating around.

 

I'm certainly not passing judgement on VIATEC or criticizing them, but the more people open up about this, the more it becomes clear the business practices were widely known to be an issue.

 

Very often achieving success with grant applications, private funding and attracting innovative start-ups and even seasoned businesses and notable business owners relies on the success of the org. applying for those grants and attempting to attract supporters.  The revenues of the very organizations that belong to the organization and the individual successes attributable to the distinguished board members etc. plays large, for example, eclipsing revenues of a long standing top revenue producer for years in any one given community. 

Edited by VIResident, 01 May 2020 - 10:45 AM.