Tom Winnifrith: Is Bidstack PLC involved with latest smear campaign against me? I report myself to FCA

By Tom Winnifrith

25 April 2020 08:33

More:

I have today reported myself to the FCA, on the basis of a smear campaign initiated by someone who appears to be close to Bidstack PLC (BIDS). I have asked the FCA to investigate in full the, demonstrably untrue accusations made against me, and also the extent, if any, of the involvement of Bidstack and its officers in this poorly constructed hit job.

I have saved screenpages from this website in case Wordpress decides to remove it. I have not asked for this to happen but the rather unpleasant anti-Semitism of it, makes me think it may well be pulled. You can see the top and bottom sections of the site below together with Darren’s guess at the author.

The site essentially claims that I am corrupt. It notes my “baseless” attacks on a range of companies in recent months including Tern (I have written nothing), Versarien (where my “baseless” attacks have THRICE forced Versarien to issue clarifying RNSs since Christmas), Nostra Terra, Novacyt (my only and very legitimate point is to question valuation) and Bidstack. It makes no suggestions as to why I attack any of these companies, bar Bidstack. Not does it mention the way the FRC and other regulators, the BBC, etc approve of and praise my work.

On Bidstack the blogpost, authored by someone unprepared to give his or her real name, states: “Evidence shows that Tom has systematically made efforts to de-value the Bidstack business with accusations of the CEO, James Draper being a “liar” and a “crook” amongst various other derogatory terms”

Au contraire, I have not accused Draper of lying, I have clearly demonstrated beyond any doubt that he lied to investors on August 8 2019 when, fully aware of how pitiful half calendar year revenues had been ( sub £27,000) he told listeners to Justin the Clown’s podcast that the company would meet broker forecasts (£1.75 million). That was clearly a lie so Mr Draper is a liar. FACT.

Any business run by a man prepared to lie in this way, sit on a FY profits warning while dumping shares, miss all targets set out at IPO, be forced to clarify misleading RNS statements and which is almost out of cash undermines itself. I merely point out the problems.

But why do I do it? I thought I pointed out corporate lying and duff businesses all the time having exposed dozens and dozens of such enterprises over the years. But the cowardly anonymous poster seems to think there are three other possible reasons.

Bidstack as Israeli rivals, I support Israel and thus I do down Bidstack as part of some evil Israel driven conspiracy. Sod Covid, or those rockets raining in from Gaza, those darn Jews really do regard pulling down Bidstack as a top priority. You can almost imagine a man with a hooked nose from a cartoon in Der Sturmer, pulling strings with me at the end of it. I suggest that in even floating this vile and ludicrous theory, the author betrays himself and all those gleefully sharing the post should be ashamed.
Apparently Gfinity (GFIN), where my friend and former business associate Nigel Wray has a big stake, ( more fool him) is a rival to Bidstack and I am attacking Bidstack to assist Gfinity. Having never written about Gfinity in my life I was unaware of this. But I should point out that THREE writers on the site I edit, ShareProphets, have stuck the boot into Gfinity. Cynical Bear was quite gentle, back in 2017 Gary Newman was brutal and last month Steve Moore, with whom I have worked and talked to on a daily basis for all bar a few weeks of his working life, served up a damning SELL note here. So much for me assisting Nigel who, IMO, should have listened to the ShareProphets team as Gfinity seems to be a right old dog with fleas.
It seems that AIM listed Pires (PIRI) owns a stake in a company that is a rival to Bidstack so again I am talking down Bidstack as a) some folks involved with Pires are involved in other companies that have sponsored six editions of my free podcast ( earning ShareProphets the princely sum of £750 + VAT) and used to be involved with UK Investor show). Moreover as part of this sordid deal I made Pires my tip of the year on HotStockRockets. Yes I did. I said buy at a 2.3p offer on 27 December 2019 with a target to sell of 3.5p. Yesterday I advised readers to bank a gain of more than 50% made in less than 4 months on Pires.

I tipped the shares when cheap and told folks to make a great profit when they were not. I plead guilty to helping my readers make money from shares. But as you can see HERE, my words about Pires were not completely flattering.

My coverage of Pires and of Bidstack has been objective. The former was cheap but is not. The latter has been a great sell call all the way down. I have saved folks money and exposed much wrongdoing along the way. I am a great share tipster. I plead guilty to that charge.

The author of this blog has also suggested that when my comments appear on ShareProphets immediately loads of folks on Bulletin Boards, notably ADVFN, breach copywrite and post them and that somehow I am involved in an activity which clearly undermines my own business model in running a subscription based website. Whatever. I wonder if all those folks posting the comments which undermine my business model are part of the great Jewish conspiracy too? World fail me when I consider how stupid some folks are.

The poster is not only a coward and a nasty piece of work, whose posting has already attracted the attention of one Jewish activist who is now on the warpath, but also a moron.

None the less, I have today written to the FCA enclosing this article, screenshots of the blog and asking it to start an enquiry into all of these allegations made against me. I have also asked it, again, to act against Mr Draper for lying to investors on August 8 2019 and to establish the links, if any, between Bidstack PLC, its officers and the author of this post. As a general level and making no specific allegations, PLCs who are found to be smearing journalists do suffer consequences.

And if the author of this work thinks that this will deter me from exposing the antics of Bidstack PLC or indeed raft of other enterprises where investigative journalism is needed in the worlds of mini bonds, fund management, on AIM, The Standard List, in the UK , in Greece, wherever, he or she is very much mistaken.

This detailed rebuttal of the original blog & our breathtaking expose of who the author really is, of his attempts to cover his tracks on social media and his links to Bidstack boss James Draper are outside of our paywall so that everyone can see who the good guys on AIM are and who are the villains. They can now see who exposes lying, deceit, fraud and malfeasance and who engages in it and defends their crimes by harassing the ShareProphets website and its writers in this way. Regulators like the FRC openly praise our work. You either support financial crime or you oppose it. There is no middle ground.

If you want to support the fight against AIM fraud join ShareProphets today for just £5.99 a month HERE