Ape Man Libel?

We received a request this evening from a reader to re-run a deleted Yahoo post from that not-so-lovable Ape Man, "andysalley," as well as a letter written by this reader to Odyssey alleging libel. Not surprisingly, and as our reader predicted in his letter, the entire thread including Ape Man's offending post, and all subsequent comments (which easily ran in the "hang him now" camp), was eventually deleted by Yahoo.

Of course, we're more than happy to run both in case some of you may have missed the exchange over the weekend. (And if you did: congratulations, you have a life!) And so, without further ado:

Ape Man's offending post:

Re: Going Under $4 (Saturday, June 28, 2008)

Last year I said that the Spanish case wouldn't be resolved before 2009, and received a real "flock mocking" for my lack of knowledge about the court system, the case, and the company. Guess what... now even most of the flock seems to recognize that I was right.

A lot of us bears have also said that the company will need to make another offering (read - further dilution) in order to maintain business operations before the end of 2008, if the company cannot start generating profits before then. Of course, the flock refuses to recognize this fact as well.

From a technical perspective, $4.50 is now resistance. From a fundamental perspective, I have to agree with you... I think the PPS is much more likely to see $3 before it sees $5. Since May of last year, I think it is safe to say that there have been very few investors who have made money besides the company officers.

I think these guys are incredibly smart and have a lot of business savvy. They've managed to pull in some incredible salaries and other income from options while enjoying their hobby with some of the best technology available to anyone interested in treasure hunting. Heck, they've even managed to provide some nice income to at least one family member for decorating their office space (a building purchased at the height of the real-estate bubble that was much larger than they ever needed).

Heck, I wish I was as smart as these guys... They've not only pulled the wool over the flock's eyes, they've managed to convince the flock that everything they bump into, or trip over, is a bar of gold!

Cheers, AA

Our reader's letter to Odyssey reporting Ape Man's post:

I'm a long-time follower of and investor in Odyssey Marine Exploration. I’m writing to comment about a Yahoo post by an "andysalley" this evening on the Yahoo Message board. (The full text of his post is copied below). As an investor, I want to express, in the strongest terms possible, how angered I am by this poster’s reckless, malicious comments against the company and its management team. I believe he has committed serious libel, potentially harming my investment in the process.

After all, is there any more serious allegation directed at a publicly traded company than one suggesting deception and fraud of investors? Even if those comments are later passed off as made in jest or as an “opinion”?

I understand there’s a lot of funny business currently going on regarding multiple aliases attacking Odyssey on Yahoo (as evidenced by “nauticalresearch’s” accidental outing of yet another alias on Friday), but I believe “andysalley’s” long-time, well-known presence on the board gives his comments more weight than those of new, anonymous and unknown posters. And while I fully support his right to be harshly critical of the company and its performance, even in frequently insulting terms, I strenuously disapprove of comments that suggest management is purposely misleading investors to enrich themselves and family members.

Where is the libel? I believe “andysalley” crossed a line this evening by writing that management is responsible for receiving “incredible” compensation (even though that is determined by the board of directors), while merely pursuing a “hobby” (when, in fact, OMEX is a fully operational business), while throwing largess at family members and purchasing unnecessarily large real estate holdings at suspiciously high prices. Added together, he’s clearly implying wrong-doing at the expense of shareholders. What’s more, while he uses the term “flock,” there’s no question he means “investors” as he regularly uses this term in a derogatory manner to refer to the Yahoo board’s known long-time investors.

I’ve also voiced my concerns directly to Yahoo, and while I don’t doubt his post will ultimately be removed, that is besides the point. My concern, frankly, is the damage possibly already caused. Worse, this post tonight demonstrates an increasingly hostile, threatening tone this poster is directing at the company and its investors.

I’ve complained about this to Yahoo as well. In other words, I would like to see this stopped before it further gets out of hand. I’m deeply tired of the constant attacks on OMEX that occur on an almost daily basis on the Yahoo board. These types of posts, if enough of them are published, together as a whole and left unchecked, have the potential to cause grievous harm. I therefore applaud and support your efforts to ensure the worst offenders are kept in check through aggressive defense of your reputation. At the very least, I would like to see this poster forced to apologize and/or to agree to never again post on the Yahoo board -- or at least not in the libelous manner he did this evening.

Do we think Ape Man's grunts were libelous? Well, we're not lawyers, not even unfrozen caveman lawyers, but our highly uneducated guess is that it comes awfully damned close. We did observe that Ape Man was in a highly defensive mode about the libel charge all afternoon before the thread was deleted. We think that's telling.

Bad weekend for the bad guys, yes? We hate it when that happens.