Super Secret Silent Sources

Solomon was asked last night by HHI's "administrator" (who we've heard is Solomon himself) to put some meat on the meager bones of his bombshell that 50 government officials in Spain were arrested for supposed illicit dealings with Odyssey Marine.

What drew our attention to this claim (and we're sure others as well), is that any rational person would assume the arrest of so many government officials for criminal dealings with a solitary U.S. company, especially one that's being sued by that nation, might just lead to a headline or three in Spain, the U.K., Gibraltar, or the States. Yet, there's been nary a peep about this, with the notable exception of HHI's website. Does that make any sense?

What's Solomon's "source" for this claim? He says several Spanish organizations, especially those dealing with archaeology, are in regular contact with his group (which is interesting considering HHI is an amateur history and archaeology website, not a professional organization). He says the media is as well, which, to be fair, is borne out by their recent inclusion in Odyssey's New Yorker profile (which, by the way, also identifies HHI as "amateurs"). Solomon says that while preparing for an interview with a Spanish media outlet, he was told a secret investigation was being conducted into alleged shady dealings having to do with an "agreement" brokered between Spain and Odyssey (which agreement we don't know, because he doesn't say).

Solomon, also known as John Bartram, then says that according to his unnamed source "inappropriate" pressures were brought to bear by the U.S. Embassy on Spain's military and that of the UK's (which is a new charge, actually). No further context or meaning is provided, nor are the results of these actions, which were presumably to benefit Odyssey, fleshed out. Bartram adds, conveniently, that one shouldn't be surprised by the the large number of arrests, as he personally witnessed similar actions while living in Spain.

While Solomon claims mass arrests aren't unusual in Spain (which we think is likely bullocks), considering the widespread international media coverage of the Black Swan find, and in light of the high-profile lawsuit going on between Spain and Odyssey at the moment, one might reasonably expect such an event to catch the attention of an editor or three in Spain, if not elsewhere in Europe and the U.S.

We therefore believe that HHI, led by Solomon and Doc (John Bartram and James McManus, respectively), are once again aggressively spreading vile innuendo with the intention of grievously harming Odyssey. In this case, however, we think they've likely bitten off more than they can swallow.

Time will tell. We expect to be writing more about this over the coming days as more information becomes available. In the meantime, read HHI's posts about these "arrests" and see what you can make of it yourself.

And stay tuned....