5BARz International Inc. (fka BARZ)

[As I See It]

The recent posting of a plaintiff's class action complaint filed in July of 2000 against Daniel Bland is not the first time many of us have heard of these allegations. To add some balance to the discussion I would like to make the following points:

(1) "In an order entered Feb. 9, 2001, the Court amended its earlier order dismissing the federal law claims adding the dismissal of the state law claims. The federal law claims were dismissed with prejudice, while the state law claims were dismissed without prejudice meaning they could be refiled by the plaintiffs in state court."

(2) On May 21st 2001 The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit granted a dismissal of the case.

(3) There was no trial. The case was simply dismissed. The facts in the case as outlined in the judge's ruling made a complete farce of the plaintiff's case. The statements alleged by the plaintiffs bore little resemblance to the actual statements made by the defendants.

(4) What I find most disturbing is that during a web search on this topic the notice of dismissal was just above the notice of complaint. Why was the complaint posted but not the dismissal????

(5) On May 18, 2006 the plaintiff's attorney Milberg Weiss was indicted on 20 counts of paying secret illegal kickbacks, racketeering, mail fraud, and bribery. Payments were made to induce the plaintiffs to sue in class action law suits with the hope of quick settlements. Four named partners including Melvyn Weiss were sentenced to prison. Between those four individuals and the firm they were ordered to pay fines totaling nearly 100 million dollars. It is very likely that the class action suit against Mr. Bland and Upgrade Int'l was just another one of Milberg Weiss' shakedowns.

(6) 5Barz International is not just Daniel Bland anymore. They have a very strong team covering management, sales, and engineering. Gil Amelio, Chairman of the Board of 5BARZ is a former CEO of National Semiconductor, Rockwell Communications and Apple Computer in addition to most recently leaving AT&T as a member of their Board of Directors specifically to join 5BARz. Finis Conner (co-founder of Seagate Tech. and Conner Peripherals) , and David Habiger (founder of multiple billion dollar companies) are true giants in the business community. The Chief Technology Officer, Naresh Soni is responsible for inventing products with hundreds of millions in sales. Marcelo Caputo was the CEO and President of Telefonica USA a global Tier 1 Telco prior to joining 5BARz. The list goes on and on with impressive new additions in India. I highly suggest that anyone who hasn't read the full resumes of the key people on the 5BARz website do so immediately. Most of the new hires in India along with their resumes can be found in different press releases.

(7) Both Vodafone and Bharti AirTel (these are two of the four largest telecommunications companies in the world) have extensively tested the 5BARz technology. Following initial successful tests the first commercial orders were placed by both companies. In independent surveys, feed back from their customers was overwhelmingly positive. Bharti AirTel officially made the 5BARz Network Extender part of their Leap Program.

(8) Then the block buster order. A leading ISP in India has agreed to deploy a minimum 5 million of 5BARz new next gen. Wi-Fi routers.

(9) Axis Capital, one of the largest Investment Banks in India had this to say about 5BARZ: "Vasan Paulraj, Managing Director and Business Head – Financial Sponsors Group at Axis Capital, which serves as 5BARZ India’s Investment Banker, commented on today’s news, “This is one of the most significant deals in the Indian telecom industry in the last several years and the way that 5BARz India’s last mile connectivity is monetized is extremely innovative. The creativity of 5BARz management in structuring this deal exemplifies the qualities we look for in the executive teams of those technology companies with which we partner, and was the key to successfully closing this transaction. We are in the process of raising the capital required for this roll out and fully support 5BARz India in this endeavor.”

(10) It is ludicrous on its face to believe that all of these high profile companies and all of these high profile people haven't thoroughly vetted Mr. Bland.


http://securities.stanford.edu/filings-case.html?id=101396