Winning by losing

Somtimes I think of a catchy or snarky title, then write the blog post. Here, I’m just writing and will figure out a title later.

I was again mentioned on LENR Forum.

SSC wrote:

Dewey Weaver wrote:

Of course now SSC thinks there was a trial.

There was a judge, a jury, a courtroom, lawyers ……… but maybe you are right, I’m probably the one who understood bad ….. they were all there to play a joke on Abd, right?

Little does he know! The entire universe is here to play a joke on Abd. The best part of the game is getting it.

Setting that aside, Dewey was being snarky. But based on what? SSC is core Planet Rossi, interprets everything so as to maintain the Great Possibility that Rossi is Real and About to Turn the World Upside Down With his Amazing Technology. That influences how he thinks about everthing, and how he doesn’t think. Dewey was making a simple point, and it’s obvious that SSC doesn’t get it. I was there, in that courtroom, with the lawyers, and observing that jury as it was seated. I know exactly what Dewey is talking about, and so does anyone who followed the case.

SSC had written:

… Darden argued during the trial of never having considered Doral’s test as the GPT.

I will return to the full SSC statement, to deconstruct it. But what was Dewey talking about? Well, did “Darden argue during the trial” about anything? What does “during the trial” mean? When is that? What happens during it? I always look in dictionaries to confirm my impressions of what language means. (Occasionally I find that my ideas are non-standard, but it’s not common.) I find:

the examination before a judicial tribunal of the facts put in issue in a cause, often including issues of law as well as those of fact.

Rossi v. Darden was based on a complaint filed April 5, 2016. The “trial” was scheduled for the “two-week trial calendar beginning on June 26, 2017.” Everything before that was pre-trial motions, discovery, etc. In fact, the first hearing, “Day 1,” was June 28. By this time, the court was talking about a five-week trial.

On Day 1, a jury was chosen, and the plaintiff and defendant opening statements were heard.

On Day 2, enough jurors had evaporated that a mistrial was declared. On Day 3, another, larger jury was chosen and the opening statements for all parties were heard. The judge was careful to explain to the jury that lawyer statements were not evidence. Only testimony (including attested exhibits) is evidence.

So Day 4 opened with Rossi’s attorneys busy setting up for bringing their first witness, they apparently wanted to have this wonky chart set up to show their complicated theory. I was thinking that Jones Day would object, because coloring the testimony with that chart could be prejudicial, but it never got there, because even before the jury was brought in, settlement negotiations began; eventually the jury was brought in and then immediate sent out for 15 minutes to complete that negotiation. And it was completed, and the jury was dismissed, never having heard any evidence at all, only opening statements.

The trial had not begun, as to the core meaning of trial, the formal examination and review of evidence, and in a jury trial, before a jury.

SSC was presenting an argument, not a fact, and I don’t actually recall seeing that argument from Darden or from his attorneys, not just like that. There was no evidence that IH had accepted Doral as the GPT, only a set of circumstantial elements that, in fact, Rossi had set up. Remember, Doral was sold to IH, by Rossi, as a sale of power to an independent customer, who would be paying for the power, and as a site where investors could see the Plant in operation, and IH could sell these plants or the power from them! There was no mention in that period of any “test.”

Then, it appears, that Rossi asked for Penon to be retained to measure power, and IH consented to that.

So, the ERV! And that Penon plan was for a “350-day test.” So, the GPT period! However, certain key elements were missing, including the fact that the contractual requirement for the GPT had failed, and the amendment to allow later peformance was rejected by Ampenergo, so Rossi knew that didn’t exist. The failed Amendment also required for an explicit document signed by all parties (including Ampenergo) setting the start date. IH and Rossi knew that such a document did not exist.

(IH and Rossi could have separately agreed to a GPT, and such an agreement would have been mutually binding, but Rossi does not appear to have ever attempted to negotiate it. Instead, he attempted to create a faux GPT by creating similar elements.)

But SSC is attempting to make a point. His full statement:

Bob, Darden argued during the trial of never having considered Doral’s test as the GPT. Despite this, he let the test run for the entire duration (which was scheduled for the GPT). Do you think that this attitude could be a proof that he was inclined to pay? Why Darden did not stop the test at the beginning knowing that he would have to pay at the end of it and considering that he did not agree with his performance? It is clear that the intention to pay has never existed.

SSC is following the Rossi party line here. Indeed, this was the foundation of the initial fraud claim, that IH “never intended to pay.” That then got embroidered to include a claim that IH never had the ability to pay, all of which was inconsistent with ample evidence that came out in discovery. IH had obtained a commitment for $200 million before the end of 2014, and only $50 million was actually invested in May, 2015. They were ready to pay Rossi $89 million, probably. But not for “GPT performance.” Rather, for showing them how to make devices that worked, and as part of this, perhaps completing a genuine demonstration in Doral. It would have to be transparent and fully acceptable to IH. Rossi wanted to force it. That is terrible business practice.

So why didn’t Darden “stop the test”? Because it was never that kind of test, Rossi invented this entirely, after the fact (though he probably planned it). IH did act, attempting to send their new Director of Engineering, Murray, to review and inspect plant operation. Rossi refused to allow that, and from then on, it was lawyers talking, and there was explicit rejection by IH of Doral as a GPT and Penon as ERV for it, before or certainly by early December, 2015.

Rossi’s claim that “they never complained until it was time to pay,” oft repeated on his blog, was total bullshit. They complained about as soon as Rossi made the claim that this was a “test under way,” so important that he didn’t have time to allow any more visitors, i.e., he violated the Term sheet that had allowed the move to Doral. That was four months before the alleged “time to pay.” Rossi has lied, routinely.

This is crystal clear from the evidence, it is basically not deniable, and the jury was going to see all this, and Pace’s opening statement was simple and clear and … devastating. Lukacs, his new attorney (with high experience), I am quite sure, realized that.

What is reasonably clear is that Darden did intend to pay, to fulfill the intention of the Agreement, even if there had been a technical failure. Darden insisted that money was not the problem, but that they needed to be able to make devices that would pass fully-independent testing, they needed to know that the technology transfer was adequate and complete.

They never made the exclusive claim that the technology did not work. They claimed that they were unable to confirm it, with tests that held up when closely examined. And behind all this, there was a possibility that they explicitly mentioned: that Rossi had not fully disclosed his secrets. Necessary secrets. (And they also claimed, as an alternative, that there was no functional technology, it was fake.)

And Rossi’s response in his Answer to the IH counterclaim (¶80) was that he rejected the Murray visit because he suspected Murray was a spy. A little more on that below.

Rossi, after the Settlement Agreement, claimed that ever since IH had obtained $50 million from Woodford and had invested in his “competitors,” he wanted out of the agreement. Why? The Agreement was not stopping him from developing his technology, the stopping was all about needing to pursue the intensely involving and expensive lawsuit.

Planet Rossi doesn’t look at what is in front of its nose. Rossi is insane, driven by emotional forces, not rational ones.  Rossi’s world is full of enemies. Other researchers or inventors are “competitors.” If so, he is making the classic inventor error of attempting to perfect his invention before marketing it. I’ve seen it again and again with inventors that I’ve known. That drive leads to delay hitting the market, and then leads to competition seizing the market. And the perfectionist inventor runs out of money.

However, there is no confirmed evidence, we find through what was revealed in the lawsuit, that Rossi has any substantial technology. There is a series of appearances that fade when examined closely. Always with some excuse or reason. Some have thought that this is deliberate, that it’s a device for Rossi to mislead possible competitors. It has been six years since Rossi announced his megawatt plant as ready to be sold.

Many CMNS researchers were comforted by the involvement of IH, it was considered evidence that Rossi must have something real, if people of that caliber were involved. And then he sued them. Rossi will never again find a source of funding so liberal, so willing to tolerate idiosyncracies and keep plugging away. They didn’t give up and sue him, he sued them!

Planet Rossi then thinks this is proof that his technology as real. In fact, it is evidence that he’s insane. They even say it, “He’d have to be crazy….”

No, SSC confuses willingness to pay Rossi a large sum, which might even have been $89 million, under conditions that would have made this actually possible, with the idea that they had to pay because of the Agreement.

Until they could create testing that, in fully-expert hands, demonstrated major excess energy, reliably, in a possibly commercializable device (it certainly didn’t have to be a “megawatt power plant,” IH could not raise that kind of money, without themselves risking fraud claims from investors. The $20 million that they spent was largely their own money (it was not what Sifferkoll and others have claimed “other people’s money” that they “made disappear.”) It was not Cherokee money.

Back to the Rossi Answer on the matter of the denial of the Murray visit. The full paragraph 80: (my emphasis)

80. Plaintiffs admit that certain visitors were permitted access to the E-Cat Plant in Doral, Florida at the request of Defendants, including several investors, who, on information and belief, made multi-million dollar investments into Industrial Heat based on representations made
by Darden and Vaughn as to the efficacy of the E-Cat technology. Plaintiffs further admit that Mr. Joseph Murray was denied access to the plant on one occasion in 2015 because it appeared that Mr. Murray had improper motives, including but not limited obtaining information to be passed on to a competitor for Leonardo, for wanting to visit the Plant. Plaintiffs deny the remaining allegations contained in Paragraph 80 of the Counterclaim and demand strict proof thereof.

What kind of “information”? Murray would be there to observe Plant operation and did not request or demand access to the “customer area.” IH had the right to sublicense the technology, within the license region. So anything necessary to operate the Plant would already be theirs, by right, and they could disclose it to anyone, including “competitors.” They were not under a nondisclosure agreement, something Rossi may have overlooked.

Rossi always, over many examples in the past, acted to prevent expert examination, this was a fully-established habit. His excuse was always to avoid secrets leaking out. Yet here was a real customer, who had paid $10 million for full disclosure, and who also owned the Plant. He simply continued his habit. Of course, we can also suspect that the whole thing was fraudulent from the beginning, and so of course he would not want an expert to see what was going on, to actually question the measurement methods of Penon, all following Rossi’s set-up.

If there were secrets to be seen at Doral, they would have had to be in the customer area, and surely Rossi could, with the notice he had, take steps to protect them. If, however, they were necessary for Plant operation, then the exclusion was blatantly hostile and utterly defeated the possibility that Doral might have been considered successful by IH.

Discover and the pleadings in Rossi v. Darden revealed far more about Rossi and Industrial Heat than we ever saw before. If someone believes that Rossi is the hope of the planet (and some still do) I would think that we’d find some such becoming expert on the trial. I’d have thought that supporters of Rossi would have shown up in Miami. None did. Aside from some court interns, there were three members of the public at various days in the trial (i.e., in the pretrial procedures, formally creating the trial structure including the jury). I was there every day. Tom Darden (junior) was there at least on Day 4 and maybe before, I’m not sure (because I might have confused him with the interns), but I was not uncommonly alone in the gallery, and then there was the reporter from Law360 one day.

I conclude that, for the most part, Planet Rossi is not serious. I spent about $1,000 to be there. Was this important? Was that wasted?

(No. Actually, there is a resemblance to IH. They spent about $20 million on Rossi, directly, and I’m going to guess $5 million in legal expenses (which could probably not have been anticipated. After all, he’d have to be crazy….). As a direct result of their bold willingness to take a risk with even a small possibility of success, they obtained another $50 million for LENR research, and effectively nailed a huge question mark that was damaging research into plain old, boring old hat LENR -.

As a result of my spending $1000, and because the ended before it really began, I ended up collecting about $3000 total for Infusion Institute, which will fund more travel and investigative reporting.

IH won and I won. And, I claim, the future of humanity, rooted in reality, won.

One more point: Rossi claimed in the answer quoted above:

… several investors, who, on information and belief, made multi-million dollar investments into Industrial Heat based on representations made
by Darden and Vaughn as to the efficacy of the E-Cat technology.

Rossi obtained a huge number of documents from IH, and the filed pleadings do not show what he claims here “on information and belief.” He basically made this up, it was his fantasy. Only one investment was made after a visit: that was a visit by representatives of Woodford Fund, That investment had been planned before the end of 2014, before the Doral test began. From the Ampenergo memos, we have indications that Woodford’s representatives were not impressed by Rossi. No evidence appeared that Darden, by this time, was ever touting the technology as “effective.” He announced, publically, as I recall, that they were engaged in testing.

Rossi seems to have believed (he certainly claimed on his blog) that IH raised $200 million from the Chinese. No evidence for that surfaced, and IH denied it. There was only one investment, the $50 million from Woodford, and it was clearly arranged to keep it far away from Rossi. There was recently another $2 million or so, probably to help IH pay legal expenses.

There were Chinese visitors, if I judge by names. One may have already been an investor (in the original IH stock offering.) Rossi has completely abandoned the idea of selling power from an E-Cat

Author: Abd ulRahman Lomax

See http://coldfusioncommunity.net/biography-abd-ul-rahman-lomax/

2 thoughts on “Winning by losing”

  1. Abd – one not-inconsiderable result from the trial was that you found that a group would pay to get your reports, whereas you’re banned from some other fora for writing too much. Go figure….

    On the other hand, when I come across comments from SSC or Ele (and a few others) I skip over without reading. It saves getting annoyed at the lies, and the temptation of replying. Both reactions would be a waste of time. I haven’t dug deep into the Rossi court-case, but then there’s so much it would take a year to do a proper job. I’ve however seen that there’s enough information on Rossi’s working methods to scare off any financier who even does a semblance of Due Diligence. The evidence of bad faith by Rossi is massive, but the same for IH doesn’t appear.

    There’s still a load of discussion about Rossi and his claims (and the court-case too) but it’s lost the sparkle of “it may be actually true”.

    1. Actually, while I’ve been banned for “writing too much,” here and there, it has mostly been an excuse, not the actual cause.

      SSC and ele are generally preposterous. The LENR Forum problem is that topics cannot remained focused, so content isn’t built, there is no organizing structure that works. Trolls generate more traffic, which means more noise.

      Yes. Rossi v. Darden thoroughly exposed Rossi’s blatant deceptions. It did not prove that his devices don’t work, but it set up conditions where that is the most obvious possibility, and where we can see how he treated investors who decided to find out by paying him what he asked and cooperating with him, tolerating his idiosyncracies. If anyone invests in him in the future, they would have to be idiots. Rossi can put on a convincing show, sometimes. Any magician can, if the magician has control of the context. What continues to amaze me is that Rossi spouts the most obvious nonsense, given the history, and yet he has loyal followers, who lap it all up as the effluvia of genius. I just saw more of this on JONP. What happens is that Rossi generates “reasons” for things, that if one doesn’t think independently, can sound quite plausible. There are people who are good at doing that. At some point, it’s necessary to simply leave these people to their devices, as they have had ample opportunity to realize what is real about Rossi.

      Many people are bollixed by an idea that they should be able to “make sense” of things. It just “doesn’t make sense” that Rossi would sue IH unless he had a real technology. As if it is a requirement of nature that human behavior “make sense.” So that argument, “he’d have to be crazy,” has legs. However, he has now restricted his future funding to a narrowing band of fanatics. It’s not clear that he actually cares.

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