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This morning AIM listed penny dreadful oil producer Sefton Resources (LSE:SER) has via its lawyer Pinsent Masons sent lawyers letters to myself and BrokerMan Daniel. Such is the competence of this company that it sent the hard copy to an address that I have not lived in for three years. Luckily it got the email address right.
Dan’s response was to tweet:
SEFTON RESOURCES send threatening solicitors letter. BMD tells them “SEE YOU IN COURT!” WHERE we’ll EXPOSE you FOR THE FRAUD YOU ARE!
Dan has published a response here
The letter I received also demanded that I withdraw (unspecified) articles about Sefton and that in future if I write about this company that I submit my material to IR gopher Doctor Green for approval. Pinsent Masons says that I damage the good name of Sefton by accusing the company of telling lies and asserts that it has never done so.
I could write an essay in response but I have flagged up a couple of lies for starters the most obvious being:
On 23rd November 2011 Sefton announced via an RNS: Drilling of four new wells began at Tapia Canyon on Wednesday 16 November and is expected take approximately five weeks to complete. Oil production in early 2012 is expected to rise by up to 75% to an estimated 240 barrels of oil per day, once the new wells are on stream.
Two weeks later ( 8th December 2011) Sefton raised £1 million at 2.1p a share.
On 21st December 2011 ( post placing) Sefton issued an RNS saying that having drilled 3 wells: “The last well, Hartje #20, will be drilled once the relevant documentation has been approved by the Los Angeles County Planning office, which is now expected in the New Year.
So when issuing the RNS of 23rd November Sefton did not actually have the necessary permissions to drill this well at all. It thus did not have a hope in hell of drilling all 4 wells in 5 weeks. That was therefore a lie. Sefton lied.
For what it is worth, the biggest monthly output number for this 25 year old field in 2012 was for May ( 134 bopd). Looking back over production data going back to 1977 the greatest ever monthly output was February 2009 ( 222 bopd). So the statement about 240 bopd was also grossly misleading. In order to show that it was made in good faith perhaps Sefton would like to publish the evidence it had to make that statement?
So there you go. A slam dunk lie told by Sefton in an RNS.
I could go on about the production claims made on numerous occasions but most notably in the RNS of September 11 2012 which Jim Ellerton claimed ( Mining Maven meeting 9th October 2012) was signed off by his Nomad ( which quit a month later).
If taken to Court, I will happily put Dan Fox Davies on the stand and ask him if he did indeed sign off on that statement and just why he quit as Nomad.
I stand accused of “malice” by Sefton. Until now I have treated this merely as a humorous diversion. If Sefton wants malice just watch this space. It is now game on.
I’d rather run naked down Clerkenwell Road in the snow than have IR gopher Doc Green edit my future articles and I am withdrawing nothing.
In case you missed my incredibly funny Sefton downfall video it is here. Pinsent Masons gets a mention
As it happens I have been meaning to comment on Sefton since on January 10th it announced that: Good progress has been made on the thermal stimulation report on Tapia and Dr Farouq Ali believes that the history match stage maybe completed by the end of January 2013. Once the history match has been achieved, the bulk of the work will have been completed and he can move towards working on the simulation runs.
This would be the same report promised for imminent delivery in RNS statements every few months for three years.
Indeed it was only on 30th November 2012 that Sefton stated: A geocellular model of the Tapia Canyon oil field (“Tapia”) is complete and presentation of this 3-D model by the developers Petrel Robertson (“Petrel”) is on the Company’s website for review (www.seftonresources.com). This is a key component needed by Dr Ali for his initial simulation analysis which he has scheduled to be completed by year-end.
Whatever….
Tom Winnifrith writes for 10 US and UK websites and his work is collated at www.TomWinnifrith.com
Follow Tom on twitter @tomwinnifrith for links to all his articles and the latest hot stockmarket rumours
Tom is also an innovative chef and owns a quirky Celtic Italian restaurant in London’s Clerkenwell which today launches its latest utterly unique dish Spaghetti all Chocolata
Reminds of your early days as a tipster(?). I received several threatening emails from various BB owners on your behalf demanding apologies etc etc. I laughed too.
Steve
I think that you will find that I have never sent a lawyers letter in my life. Small time tossers like yourself are not worth the effort.
Best wishes
Tom
Telling the odd porky or two….hilarious, the internet is full of stories accusing you of telling a few yourself Tom.
Funny how the world turns.
As for your reply to Tom, are we to assume that because Sefton sent you a letter thet you’re a ‘Big Time Tosser’?
ATB
Interesting to see how this pans out.
The attacks are there for all to see, blatant and directed. Unwanted, unwarranted, unsought. This turned into a ONE-sided personal attack and as such will be viewed in court for what is clearly a very open vendetta meant to tarnish both the company (Sefton) and the individual (Ellerton).
At no point have Sefton or Ellerton made any single public remark about the individuals who have received letters.
In life all men should be prepared to face those who they attack from afar. If you live by attacking then be prepared to meet your opponents in all their glory for they will defend and their hour will come.
Good luck, i think you will need it.
Your thesis seems to be: SER said its 4-well drill programme began mid-Nov 2011 and a month later only 3 were drilled with the 4th still pending approval, therefore the Nov 2011 RNS was “a slam dunk lie”. I have to say that argument is a little weak.
1 well still awaiting clearance makes little difference to the fact that 4 were planned. So there is no lie. Furthermore you have said numerous times you deem these wells worthless so the implied accusation they said 4 (rather than 3 approved, 1 pending) to make it sound better ahead of a £1m placing makes no sense. Your view would be 4 wells is no better than 3, making the timing of the Dec 2011 placing irrelevant.
Your quote is from the Highlights part of the RNS but the main text made it clearer:
“On Nov 16th, drilling began on the 1st of the 4 new wells planned at Tapia. The plan is to drill the 1st well then sidetrack/re-drill the existing Yule #9 well. The 3rd well will be drilled in the east, with a 4th planned well (Hartje #20) in a central area.”
The Dec RNS said while a permit was in place for 4th well, final clearance requested end June was still outstanding some 6 months later when its always been approved within 3 months in the past. Final approval is expected in early 2012 once support documentation has been reviewed” (and approval was indeed given in Jan 2012).
Constructing paper-thin arguments by taking company statements out of context or selecting certain extracts may work on blogs but if this moves to court where the burden of proof is on the defendant, a less woolly line of reasoning will be required.
i heard Sefton are going to be doing another fundraising soon.
fortunately, NO shares will be issued but the proceeds of the fundraising will come directly from those who received lawyers letters.
cheers guys – the next wells are on YOU.
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Tom, They won’t dare take you to court…..because if they do…you’ll end up exposing them further. The problem is not you…but with them and you have merely pointed out the management’s greed and shortcomings.
The other reason they won’t take you to court is because they don’t have any money either, and may do another placing just to take you to court.
Why can’t this article be seen or searched for in the contents of your ADVFN page? This case reminds reminds me of the Ryan Giggs vs ‘That Big Brother burd’ gagging case.
On behalf of all the AIM retail shareholders I know, I wish you well in your campaign for transparency and honesty in a murky world where too often new investors are persuaded to buy shares in companies which misrepresent the real state of their business.
City regulators should be protecting small investors from the disinformation peddled by so many AIM issuers, but they don’t.
So, while I certainly don’t agree with everything you write (not everything is as black and white as you like to portray), I very much appreciate your efforts to expose AIM confidence tricksters and would be happy to drop some folding into the fighting fund hat, should you pass one around.
Interesting response from Duck and Dive.
“City regulators should be protecting small investors from the disinformation peddled by so many AIM issuers, but they don’t.”
Your record of peddling disinformation must surely be right up there. Clear lies told by yourself on BB’s such as JJB (telling investors to hold for better days while you quietly offloaded) PMK and of course your de-ramp target USOP.
Are we to believe you’re looking to protect the rest of us from ‘predators’ like yourself.
You may soon be sharing a little more commonality with Tom. If US OIL and Gas proceed with their action against online trolling then both of you will most likely get a chance to share notes…and defences.
Lets hope Range Resources & USOP doesn’t follow suite and deal with your lies regarding them…Oh, hang on, you have a bit of bad character evidence hanging over your head there dont you? That will go down well in a civil court. When you trash companies for your own profit expect them eventually to come out fighting.
Hope they win.