CT Blue

A couple of days ago I passed on the news that Scott Brown has been exposed as the grifting front man for a grifting penny stock company.

Well, that might not be fair. Scott might not be smart enough to even know he's grifting.

To recapitulate:

The Globe on Sunday reported the size of the stock grant that Brown received last year for his service on an advisory board for Global Digital Solutions, a tiny, publicly traded company based in West Palm Beach that says it is in the firearms business.

The stock was initially worth $1.3 million, though it has declined by more than half since then. Company officials did not respond to interview requests Monday.

The company, created 19 years ago to sell cosmetics before switching first to telecommunications and then to firearms, has only a “virtual office,” no current products, no revenue, no patents, no trademarks, no manufacturing facilities, and no experience developing weapons, according to its most recent corporate filings.

Financial professionals have said the stock is risky and the company’s changing business focus raises red flags for investors.

via The Boston Globe

Brown may not be in on the grift, as the value of his stock grant has declined precipitously (including about a 50% reduction from its already reduced value in the day since the Globe's original article) and there's nothing he can do about it, as he's barred from selling the stock for a while. So, in Brown's defense, maybe he was conned too, as have been all the investors who plunked down their money on the strength of his endorsement; investors who could otherwise have bought into whatever Glenn Beck is pushing lately.

In his own inimitable way, Brown is defending the company and his involvement, skillfully (well, not really) avoiding admitting that he did nothing in return for the stock grant:

“It’s a startup company that I’ve been on the board for, what seven, eight months, offering any type of advice when asked,” Brown said in a brief interview after a campaign event at a local gas station highlighting his energy plans.

…

“Yeah, it’s a legitimate company,” Brown said. “It’s filed the appropriate paperwork. It’s doing what every other startup company does.”

…

“If the company does well, then everybody does well,” Brown said Monday. “If it doesn’t, there are many companies that are in the startup process trying to come up with good ideas, trying to create jobs — ultimately — and we’ll see where it takes” us.

I guess that last paragraph makes sense, or could if Humpty Dumpty got to work on it, and maybe it's not a total non sequitur, though that's a harder case to make. I guess what Brown is trying to say is that his new bosses are “job creators”, which they may be, as sooner or later there's probably going to be work for a bankruptcy trustee.

The “legitimate company” that “filed the appropriate paperwork” is, alas, besides being without an avocation, homeless:

Global Digital lists a prestigious address in West Palm Beach with a majestic view of the water and the Island of Palm Beach as its headquarters.

A reporter who went to the address Friday found the company was not listed on any building directory. A receptionist in the suite listed as the company’s address told a reporter: “They’re not here. It’s by appointment only.”

The building directory lists another company at the suite: HQ Global Workplaces, which advertises that it provides clients with an address and access to furnished conference rooms as needed. Global Digital reported in a securities filing that it signed a 12-month lease last year for a “virtual office” in West Palm Beach for $299 per month.

via The Boston Globe

These are the folks, by the way, who were claiming that they were going to buy the Remington Arms Company.

It grieves me that Brown is a lawyer. Our profession may have become over populated, but I still cherish the notion that it takes a certain amount of brains to get to hang “Esq” after your name. Brown is living proof that a low IQ is no bar to entry into our profession.