31 March 2012

Majed Khalil Majzoub

Updated 14.05.12 - Further to my previous post about chavista thugs suddenly realising the importance of online reputation management -in a likely post Chavez era- I have been able to narrow down who may be behind the clumsy intimidation attempt aimed at me: meet Majed Khalil Majzoud, an 'internet savvy' chavista.

Mr Khalil Majzoud, born 23 April, 1970, Venezuelan ID 13526338, has had an interesting life. In the same way as other Boligarchs -obscure individuals that have become extraordinarily wealthy in the shadows of Hugo Chavez's socialist revolution- Majed Khalil Majzoud has gone from nothing -quite literally- to:
  • having an interest in Serfoca, a partner of Venezuela's CVG, appointed to develop an "industrial project (Orinoco Paper Mill Project) for the integral processing of [500,000 hectares of] Caribbean pine wood";
  • getting another $5 million -gone missing apparently- to provide a technology platform to Venezuela's Defence Ministry;
  • having a controlling interest in Pacific Rim Energy, a company that has been granted millions by the Chavez regime -and by Evo Morales- for various energy projects;
  • having a controlling interest in Eveba, while stressing that influence of "mafias have decreased" in Venezuela...
I'm sure there's more. In any case, of all the people mentioned in the articles that are causing concern to unnamed parties, Majed Khalil Majzoud is the only one who has been having his information posted in hundreds of websites lately. Do check it out, there's 475 results published since someone -presumably on his behalf- demanded on 8 February that I deleted information from his dodgy past. Although the effort may also be related to his own problems -and those of his brother Khaled- with chavista justice (see here, here, and here).

In addition to that, a Majed Khalil -or someone in his stead- has registered .com, .net, .biz, .org, and .me domains, and is loading those sites with totally-unrelated-to-Venezuela content -despite some of it being in Spanish- to cover his tracks. 

Lame, lame...

Update: a trusted reader informs us that Majed Khalil is the bagman of General Francisco Rangel Gomez, former president of aluminium and mining giant Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana (CVG), current Governor of Bolivar state. Hence his deals with CVG. Majed Khalil is also a partner -and best man- of Lieutenant Antonio José Morales Rodríguez (aka "el catre"), godson and aide-de-camp of Hugo Chavez and one of his most trusted men. Morales is currently director of the office of the Secretary of Venezuela's Presidency. Morales has recently been fingered by former Supreme Court Judge Eladio Aponte Aponte as one of the men who ordered him to free an army drug trafficker (Pedro Magino) caught with 2 tonnes of cocaine in Venezuela.

26 March 2012

Ricardo Fernandez Barrueco, Diosdado Cabello, the Khalil Majzoub brothers et al. discover online reputation management techniques.

Remember Ricardo Fernandez Barrueco? The bolibourgeois 'entrepreneur' who went from working in a parking lot before Chavez came to power in 1998 to having a net worth of over $1.6 billion in 2005? Well, he fell from grace with the dictator, and is meant to be doing time in Caracas' DISIP's dungeons. The poor chap (not) could teach the business world a thing or two: mind in roughly the same time frame Google made $191 million, he managed to amass in Venezuela a personal fortune of $411 million and 'built' an empire worth $1.6 billion.

Back in the day when vcrisis.com was popular, Kenneth Rijock, a banking lawyer turned-career money launderer, turned-compliance officer and Financial Crime Consultant, sent me a series of articles about politically exposed persons (PEP):

PEPwatch Venezuela: Beware Of Government-Controlled Private Corporations (Part 1), (Part 2), and (Part 3).

Rijock's articles identified some bolibourgeoises, namely Fernandez Barrueco, Sarkis Beloune Arslanian, General (retired) Gustavo Adolfo Sanchez Gonzalez, Khaled Khalil Majzoub and his brother Majed Khalil Majzoub, acting as frontmen of chavista officials such as Diosdado Cabello, Adan Chavez and Jessy Chacon. 

Some, or all, of the parties mentioned, must be planning for the future without Chavez, and have started to worry about information written by Rijock, published in vcrisis.com, and republished by Miguel at the Devil's Excrement. Either one of them, or someone acting on their behalf, has been sending me communications, demanding that I remove the articles identifying them written by Rijock.

Just to leave a record for future reference, I shall post here their communications and my replies.

On 8 Feb 2012, at 15:01, Rubin Ferzinger <Rubin.ferzinger@lawyer.com> wrote:

To Whom So Ever It May Concern

Admin,

I  want  to bring your concern to a very serious matter .The case have been solved earlier . The link 


hosted on your website contains the content that is defacing my Client's reputation and affecting his Business and Social Life . Due to this content The following laws has been violated by your website :

According to Article 17 of the United Nations 
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states

1. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honour and reputation.
2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.

Basis of Liability for Cyber libel
a) Distributor/Publisher Characterizations: One of the most important issues in cyber libel is whether the online service providers, operators of bulletin boards or website owners are common carriers, distributors or publishers.
b) Publishers, such as newspapers, magazines and broadcasters, are responsible and liable for everything that they produce, post and broadcast. Their liability is grounded in the fact that they can edit what they wish to include and exclude from their publication, be it a newspaper, magazine, television broadcast, website or newsgroup. As the admin of this website you have the privilege to remove the page as soon as possible . So i request you to remove the page "http://vcrisis.com/?content=letters/200602031125" as soon as possible,else we will take the required legal action against you .I hope you will understand the seriousness of the matter and take the appropriate step.

Regards

Rubin Ferzinger
Legal Consultants Full Service Law

----- Original Message -----
From: Alek Boyd
Sent: 02/08/12 10:57 AM
To: Rubin Ferzinger
Subject: Re: Legal Notice(urgent action require)

Dear Mr. Ferzinger,
First of all, I do not appreciate legal threats.
Second, as a lawyer, you should know that the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights is an instrument that protects individuals from the actions of States.
Third, who are you, and, more importantly, who is your client?
Fourth, on what jurisdiction are you planning to "take legal action" against me, should I refuse to grant your client's wishes?
Fifth, what "case has been solved earlier"?
Answer those questions, if you could, and let us move this conversation along civilised lines.
Cordially,
Alek Boyd

On 8 Feb 2012, at 21:33, Rubin Ferzinger wrote:

Mr Boyd ,

You are asking about me I am lawyer if you could read the email id and the laws I have putted so that you could remove the article easily.

Now as you have said "I do not appreciate legal threats" let me give you a good answer Mr boyd According to the law, i.e. Article 17 the information you have posted in that article is defamatory.

As you have asked that "on what jurisdiction are you planning to "take legal action" against me"
this is because the article you have posted is not correct at all. All the information in that article is fake and spoiling the client reputation and affecting his business and social life as well.

You better know if you get a warning notice , this mean you should do accordingly, as directed in the email otherwise you might have to shutdown your website, no matter who so ever you are whatever the power you hold, you will be sued and you don't know whom you are messing with. This will really gonna cost you (Mr Boyd).

I have mailed in the sound of request but you took those words as a "Legal threat" inspite of legal notice. I think you sound like a illetrate one who actually hold the position of website admin to earn money no matter how, your idiotic articles can affects anyones social & professional life.

Oh! thats great "this is how you have ability to earn money"?

"http://vcrisis.com/?content=letters/200602031125"   remove this article from your website otherwise I have to take an strict action against you." Mark my above words".

Regards
Rubin Feringer

----- Original Message -----
From: Alek Boyd
Sent: 02/09/12 04:30 AM
To: Rubin Ferzinger
Subject: Re: Legal Notice(urgent action require)

Para la atención de quienquiera que sea la persona que envía estos correos.
Amenazas del tipo, no van a lograr absolutamente nada.
Identifíquese, diga quién es, desde dónde escribe, y quién es su cliente.
Gracias.

Alek Boyd

On 27 Feb 2012, at 14:48, Rubin Ferzinger wrote:

Mr Alek Boyd,

we do not disclose our client information
The content which is posted on that article is defamatory and We suugest to remove this link "http://vcrisis.com/?content=letters/200602031125"
other wise show the proof regarding that article.

Regards
Rubin Ferzinger
Lawyer

On 27 Feb 2012, at 18:24, Rubin Ferzinger wrote:

Mr Alek Boyd,

nosotros no revelamos información de nuestros clientes
El contenido que se publica en este artículo es difamatorio y Sugerimos eliminar este enlace "http://vcrisis.com/?content=letters/200602031125"
espectáculo de otra forma la prueba con respecto a ese artículo.

On 22 Mar 2012, at 16:03, Rubin Ferzinger wrote:

Mr Alek Boyd,
nosotros no revelamos información de nuestros clientes
El contenido que se publica en este artículo es difamatorio y Sugerimos eliminar este enlace "http://vcrisis.com/?content=letters/200602031125"
espectáculo de otra forma la prueba con respecto a ese artículo.

On 22 Mar 2012, at 16:14, Rubin Ferzinger wrote:

Mr Alek Boyd,
nosotros no revelamos información de nuestros clientes
El contenido que se publica en este artículo es difamatorio y Sugerimos eliminar este enlace "http://vcrisis.com/?content=letters/200602031125"
espectáculo de otra forma la prueba con respecto a ese artículo.

si usted siente que mediante el bloqueo de mi correo electrónico de identificación no tendrá problemas para que luego son estúpidos hay maneras mucho para castigar a otros, gente como usted.

Note here how whoever is behind this changes the address and the name of the person allegedly demanding removal of information.

On 23 Mar 2012, at 21:20, ken Rijock wrote:

Admin,

As required under Sections 512(c)(3) and 512(d)(3) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. )512(c)(3) and 512(d)(3)), we are instructed to place you on notice that:

The matter which is posted on your website is copied from our News website i.e "http://devilsexcrement.com/".You didn't even gone through any copyright legal documentation.The link on which our matter is copied is this


We want you to remove that above link .

DMCA Format

Name : Ken Rijock

Company Name : DevilSexcrement Media Group

Full legal name of the copyright holder : Ken Rijock

Contact email address : Ken.Rijock@journalist.com

Authorized Copyright Owner : Ken Rijock 

If you want any Assurance regarding the holder and Owner of the copyright my name is written there in the link .I solemnly request you to Remove the above stated URL 's.

If you have any query regarding this Please don't hesitate to contact me.

Regards

Ken Rijock
Senior Editor/ Journalist
Ken.Rijock@journalist.com.

-- End of messages --

All emails, whether from Ferzinger or Rijock, were sent from the same IP address:

Sender: 74.208.5.67, mailout-us.gmx.com, United States, Wayne, 40.0548 - 75.4083, AS8560 1&1 Internet AG

Since there is a business and commercial lawyer in New York called Rubin Ferziger -note the last name difference- I sent an email asking whether he was in any way related to these demands, but unfortunately it wasn't replied. 

I did the same with Ken Rijock, with whom I have corresponded since 2005-06, and with Miguel Octavio. Despite alleged claims made in the emails, neither of them is aware of any copyright infringement, as alleged, nor have they been contacted directly by whoever is behind this chavista online reputation management campaign.

To be frank, it is amusing to be threatened by these types. They are so hopelessly clueless as to how the internet operates, and what laws could be applied, that I can only conclude that they are chavistas. In Venezuela, these things are settled rather more mundanely: a couple of thugs pay a visit, give a beating, kidnap, shoot or kill whoever the target is, and that's that. The elegant way is to fabricate charges and have the chavista system of justice work its magic. But the hilarious thing is that this lot honestly think that they can have their way in other parts, just like they would in Venezuela, impersonating other people, misusing email addresses and blog names in order to scare some poor sod and get their way. 

Fernandez Barrueco et al may know a thing or two about stealing a country blind and become phenomenally wealthy in the process. But about how the web works, they are in the dark ages.

25 March 2012

Menos mal que el futuro de Venezuela depende de Cuba

Londres 25.03.2012 | Menos mal que el caudillo tiene esa fascinación por Cuba, y por el dictador Fidel Castro. Menos mal. Gracias a la providencia, no joda, que el golpista siente esa admiración por el comunismo, y está absolutamente embelesado con la dictadura cubana. Demos gracias. Hemos de darlas, y hemos de aupar al Chavez a que continue tratando su cancer en Cuba. Que a nadie se le ocurra criticarlo, y menos sugerirle que cambie su lugar de sanación predilecto, ni a sus médicos o de centro hospitalario. Ni de vaina. Que siga yendo a Cuba, fiel a sus principios. Que siga en manos de ineptos, administrando tratamientos retrógrados, con equipos y tecnología deficiente. Que siga imponiendo su voluntad sobre la de los que supuestamente saben cómo tratarlo. Esperemos que el culillo a revelarle al mundo la realidad de su enfermedad lo mantenga en vilo, en guardia, y convencido de la supremacía de la medicina cubana, y de su propia infalibilidad. En suma, esperemos que la enfermedad, y el consiguiente acercamiento del momento de la muerte que la acompaña, no vayan a obrar un milagro en el caudillo, y se vaya a dar cuenta que la medicina comunista, y sus métodos, son de lo peor del mundo.

Imagínense el prospecto, si en lugar de tratarse en lo que es probablemente el peor sistema de medicina y salud del mundo occidental, exceptuando a Haiti, Chavez decide ir a tratarse a los mejores centros oncológicos del imperio, capaz y nos lo tenemos que calar hasta el 2030!

El futuro de Venezuela, y el retorno de la democracia, dependen más que nunca de Cuba, de sus babalaos, dictadores y consejeros, de su medicina chimba, de sus estadísticas apañadas, de la falacia sobre su sistema de salud. Ojalá continúen así las cosas, y ojalá que la pasión que Chavez siente por todo eso no desvanezca con el efecto debilitante de la radioterapia. Luego sólo hay que esperar que el comunismo obre su magia.

3 March 2012

Elecciones en Venezuela? Si, pero condicionadas.

UPDATE 8 de octubre 2012: el nuevo mapa electoral está aqui

Londres 3 de marzo de 2012 | Luego de la ultima elección presidencial, el mapa electoral de Venezuela lucía rojo. Rojito. De los 73.129 electores registrados en el estado Amazonas, el 78% votó por Chavez. De los 785.924 registrados en Bolivar, el 68,8% votó por Chavez. Del 1.960.118 maracuchos registrados, 51,5% votó por Chavez. Y del 1.452.985 caraqueños, el 63% votó por el caudillo moribundo. Ver el mapa es cagante, y por ello, por lo menos yo, me preocupo, arrechamente, de lo que puede pasar en Octubre. Eljuri acaba de anunciar los resultados del nuevo censo: 27.150.095 venezolanos censados. De esos, 18.197.344 están registrados en el REP. Es decir, aproximadamente el 67% de los venezolanos pueden votar.

¿Cuándo fue la última vez que se le hizo una auditoría independiente al REP? ¿Cómo saber que, ciertamente, esos 18 millones y pico, son personas de carne y hueso, que viven donde sus datos en el REP indican?

Mi esposa, que raramente opina sobre asuntos políticos, me dijo en estos días: "eso que escribiste sobre la futilidad de las primarias es una irresponsabilidad. Hay que votar por quien quiera que sea el candidato de oposición. Cualquiera es mejor que Chavez." Ella tiene razón, y aun cuando admito que me fui de palos en decir que no votaría ni en las primarias, ni en Octubre, igual le expliqué el por qué de mi posición.

En la última elección presidencial en el 2006, la oposición no tuvo testigos de mesa en el 40% de los centros. Me lo dijo Leopoldo López, días después de la elección en una reunión que tuvimos en su oficina, con Benigno Alarcón. Eso equivalía, en aquel entonces, a unas 12.000 mesas en las cuales no hubo presencia de representantes de la oposición. 12.000 mesas en las cuales no se sabe a ciencia cierta si lo reportado por el ministerio de elecciones chavista era  fiel reflejo de la realidad. Hay quienes creen las cifras publicadas por el CNE. Hay quienes quieren creer las cifras publicadas por el CNE. Yo no pertenezco a ninguno de esos campos. Preferiría que los resultados, todos, a nivel nacional, fuesen avalados por testigos de ambas partes, y así todos contentos.

Parroquia Francisco Aniseto Lugo: 99,7% de los electores votaron por Chavez en el 2006. Manuel Renaud: 96%. Santa Rita de Manapire: 91,5% votaron por Chavez. Florida (Edo Portuguesa): 92,7% pro Chavez. San Miguel, en Boconó: 93,9%. Tuñame en Trujillo: 90,6%... Ya escucho el argumento de algunos: "pero eso es monte y culebra, allí votan tres gatos..." Si, tres gatos allí, tres más allá, y de repente Chavez saca 7 millones de votos. Lo jodido es que ni siquiera sabemos si esos tres gatos existen, o si verdaderamente votaron por Chavez. Y eso me preocupa. A la Venezuela rural los candidatos de oposición no le paran mucha bola. Ya sabemos que en las ciudades más pobladas Chavez la va a tener bien pelua para robarse unas elecciones (recordemos el 2007 y las parlamentarias). Pero, y allá, ¿en dizque territorio "monte y culebra"?

Ahí está el meollo del asunto. Hasta tanto no vea a la MUD, anunciando quiénes (nombre y apellido por favor) estarán a cargo de velar por la integridad y fiabilidad de los resultados electorales en zonas rurales no estaré tranquilo. Y ni hablar de los votos de los miles de venezolanos que viven en el exterior: nuestros votos ni siquiera son contabilizados.

Por ello, resumo mi posición: ¿elecciones? Como no, pero condicionadas, no como borregos al matadero. Condicionadas. Sabiendo que el estado está en contra nuestra, de forma absolutista. Condicionadas. Asegurandonos de tener presencia de testigos en todas las mesas de votación a nivel nacional. En todas.  La Venezuela rural, la del sur, monte y culebra, que nadie cuida y que ninguno de los políticos caraqueños, maracuchos, o carabobeños le paran bola, contiene, votos más, votos menos, 7 millones de votos. Y me viene a la mente Alejandro Toledo, quien se enfrento en circunstancias similares a las de la oposición a una administración casi tan criminal como la de Chavez. Y ganó. Forzó el juego. Obligó a Fujimori a que básicamente se robara las elecciones, y con ello logró que la OEA lo declarara dictador, ilegitimo.

La misma hay que aplicarle al moribundo, si es que llega a Octubre. Las elecciones se pueden ganar. Pero para ganarlas se necesita mucho más que desearlo. Hay que trabajar, y el trabajo que no se nos puede impedir, es el de cuidar los votos, en todas partes. Solo así podremos saber si Chavez gana, o si se roba las elecciones.