Re: 1/13/09 - [MONA/GLCC/CHNW/HKBV] Investorshub.com v Miro Zecevic et al Complaint FILED by MG D.C. ELECTRONIC Jan. 13, 2009 STEVEN M.LARIMORE CLERK U.S. DIST. CT. S. D. OF FLA.· MIAMI IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA FT. LAUDERDALE DIVISION INVESTORSHUB.COM, INC., Plaintiff, v. MIRO ZECEVIC a/k/a MIROSLAV ZECEVIC, MINA MAR GROUP, INC., a Texas corporation, MINA MAR GROUP, INC., a Canadian corporation, Defendants. Case No. 09-60060 Civ-Zloch/Snow ----------------/ COMPLAINT COMES NOW, InvestorsHub.com, Inc., Plaintiff ("InvestorsHub") and hereby sues Miro Zecevic a/k/a Miroslav Zecevic, Mina Mar Group, Inc., a Texas corporation ("Mina Mar Texas"), and Mina Mar Group, Inc., a Canadian corporation ("Mina Mar Canada"), and in support thereof on information and belief alleges the following: The Parties and Jurisdictional Allegations 1. Investorshub.com is a Florida corporation. 2. Miro Zecevic is a resident of Canada. 3. Mina Mar Texas is a Texas corporation and maintains an office in and conducts substantial operations from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. 4. Mina Mar Canada is a Canadian provincial corporation and maintains an office in and conducts substantial operations from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. 5. The Defendants operate a network of related companies and individuals which together form a common enterprise which defrauds and attempts to defraud investors in the United States, including investors in Florida. Moreover, the Defendants operate a substantial portion of their activities from Florida, taking advantage of the business-friendly Florida legal environment. 6. This Court has subject matter jurisdiction over this action pursuant to Article 3, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution and 28 U.S.C. §1332 in that the case is founded on a controversy between a citizen of Florida and the Defendants are citizens of other states and Canada. 7. This Court has personal jurisdiction over the Defendants pursuant to §48.193, Florida Statutes, in that their tortious and illegal activities have occurred in Florida, have been targeted at businesses and individuals in Florida, and have been orchestrated with the assistance of businesses and individuals residing in Florida. Common Enterprise. 8. The Defendants operate as a single enterprise under common control and ownership. The Defendants profit from the promotion and sale of unregistered securities issued by several related companies, including Monarc Corporation, a Nevada corporation ("Monarc"). 9. Monarc is the resulting entity from a reverse acquisition by a group of related companies based in Florida, the primary of which was Cash Now.com, Inc., a Florida corporation. Miro Zecevic and Andrea Zecevic were the primary owners and controlling persons of Cash Now.com, Inc. Andrea Zecevic is the wife ofMiro Zecevic and is a resident of Florida. 11. At one time, Monarc was controlled by Miro Zecevic and Andrea Zecevic directly and through their family-affiliated parties, including Dannie IP Holdings, a Bahamas-based company believed to be owned or controlled by Hugo Rubino, Andrea Zecevic's father. 12. Miro Zecevic is a controlling person of Mina Mar Texas and Mina Mar Canada. 13. As a further point of common control, an individual named Garr Winters is an officer and significant owner of Monarc, Mina Mar Texas, Mina Mar Canada, and at least two other companies related to the enterprise: Hat Trick Beverage, Inc., and Good Life China Corporation. Garr Winters was the CEO of Cash Now Corporation, the company which became Defendant Monarc. 14. Miro Zecevic and Andrea Zecevic, and their associates, have systematically created an elaborate network of related companies which includes the corporate Defendants. In the years leading up to 2004, Miro Zecevic and Andrea Zecevic formed, owned or controlled CashNow.com, Inc., CashNow, LLC, and other related companies in the payday lending and check-cashing business. On or about July 17, 2004, the Zecevics acquired substantially all of the ownership of a publicly-traded company called B-Com, Inc. The Zecevics quickly changed the company's name to Cash Now Corporation, placed their other companies in it as subsidiaries, and obtained the symbol "CHNW.PK" for the company's stock on the US OTC Pink Sheets Exchange. Soon thereafter, Zecevics changed the company's name a second time to Esprit Financial Group. The company then became Defendant Monarc in another reverse acquisition. 15. Along the way, the Defendants, directly and through their affiliates, have sold unregistered franchises, sold unregistered securities, and have issued inaccurate and misleading press releases to manipulate the market for their company's stock in violation of state and federal law. Defendants' Market Manipulation. 16. Mina Mar Texas and Mina Mar Canada (together the "Mina Mar Defendants') were formed to provide "investor relations" and other services to other companies. Miro Zecevic owns or controls both companies. The primary clients of both companies are other companies in the common enterprise, including Hat Trick Beverage, Inc., Good Life China Corporation, and Monarc and its subsidiaries. The services provided by the Mina Mar Defendants to their clients include the preparation and promulgation of press releases and investor materials. 17. The Mina Mar Defendants, directly and through Miro Zecevic, are paid for their services in stock of the client companies or related companies, as well as cash. The Mina Mar Defendants manipulate the market for their clients' securities for their profit and for the profit of the other members of their enterprise. 18. The Mina Mar Defendants are insiders of their client companies under common ownership and control, including Monarc. 19. The Mina Mar Defendants illegally manipulate the market for their clients' securities by promulgating misleading positive press releases, by attempting to silence true negative criticism, by failing to properly disclose the fact that they are paid by the securities issuers while promoting their securities, and by using artifice and trickery to deceive the investing public into thinking that they or their agents are third parties unrelated to the issuers. Specifically on the last point, the Mina Mar Defendants and their agents use false identities on internet websites to promote their clients' securities in such a manner and using such language as to imply (and sometimes overtly state) that they are unrelated parties. These activities violate state and federal securities laws. COUNT I: DECLARATORY JUDGMENT: COMMON LAW AND CONTRACTUAL DISPUTE 20. InvestorsHub re-alleges paragraphs I through 19 herein. 21. This is an action for declaratory judgment under 28 U.S.C. §2201, et seq., and Ch. 86, Florida Statutes. 22. InvestorsHub is in the business of providing websites on which publicly-traded companies and their affiliates are discussed by the investing public. One such website is: www.investorshub.com(..iHub..).This website is an instrumentality of interstate commerce. 23. Directly and through their agents, the Defendants have become users of the iHub website. To use the website, users must agree to the terms of the website's User Agreement, as it is amended from time to time. 24. A dispute has developed between InvestorsHub and the Defendants which requires judicial resolution, to wit: (a) InvestorsHub has required all paid stock promoters (such as the Defendants) to pay a higher business user fee and attaches to posts made by such promoters a notice of their status as such. The Defendants, directly or through their agents and associates, have tried to circumvent this requirement by registered new user aliases and failing to register as paid securities promoters and pay the higher fees. (b) The Defendants have carried on a systematic effort to harass and intimidate InvestorsHub personnel by 1) repeatedly violating the terms of the User Agreement by utilizing multiple accounts to anonymously manipulate dialog, and to evade posting restrictions and account suspensions; and 2) issuing numerous press releases and other communications containing false and defamatory statements about InvestorsHub and its personnel. (c) The Defendants have carried on a systematic effort to harass and intimidate InvestorsHub users and their investors by anonymously posting from multiple accounts, attacking those users who criticized the activities and questioned the credibility of the Defendants and their related clients, often threatening them with litigation if they failed to capitulate to their intimidation and wrongful demands, and by manipulating users "friendly" to their objectives into attacking those with negative or contrary views. (d) In their continuing effort to attack criticism, the Defendants have demanded that InvestorsHub remove certain posts. InvestorsHub has refused to remove certain of the offending posts. For months, the Defendants have threatened to file lawsuits in various states and most recently in Canada to force InvestorsHub to remove the offending posts and to force InvestorsHub to identify the authors of such posts. Most recently, the Mina Mar Defendants and Miro Zecevic filed a defamation lawsuit in Toronto, Canada, seeking such relief and damages exceeding $4,000,000.00. The Toronto Court does not have personal jurisdiction over InvestorsHub and so this dispute cannot be settled in such action. Moreover, the great majority of the investors in the companies touted by the Defendants are in the United States, and therefore it is their reputation in the United States which is at issue. InvestorsHub maintains that it cannot be held liable for the posts of third parties under 47 U.S.C. §230, which Congress specifically passed to provide a safe harbor for Internet service providers such as InvestorsHub. 25. The parties require this Court to resolve these disputes, and it is the most effective and efficient forum in which to do so. WHEREFORE, InvestorsHub respectfully requests that this Court declare the following: (a) That InvestorsHub can rightfully require the Defendants and all of their employees and agents to fully disclose their status as paid promoters of securities and pay the higher fee required of such business users; (b) That Defendants must cease their wrongful intimidation and harassment of InvestorsHub, its personnel and users; (c) That Defendants must identify themselves and must fully disclose their relationships with the issuers of the securities Defendants are promoting on the websites of InvestorsHub, and that such disclosure must include the amount of their compensation in compliance with state and federal securities laws; and (d) That InvestorsHub is not liable to the Mina Mar Defendants or Miro Zecevic for the posts of others under defamation or any other tort theory. FURTHER, InvestorsHub respectfully requests that this Court order the Defendants to pay its costs of this action, its attorneys' fees as provided for in the User Agreement, and such further and supplemental relief as this Court deems proper. COUNT II: DECLARATORY JUDGMENT: CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT SECURITIES FRAUD 26. InvestorsHub re-alleges paragraphs 1 through 19,22,23 and 24. 27. This is an action for declaratory judgment under 28 U.S.C. §220l, et seq, and Ch. 86, Florida Statutes. 28. The failure of the Mina Mar Defendants and Miro Zecevic to disclose their status as paid promoters of the securities issued by their clients defrauds investors by failing to disclose the material fact of their status, the failure of which makes their activities misleading. 29. The systematic efforts of the Mina Mar Defendants and Miro Zecevic to artificially manipulate the market for the securities of their clients defrauds the investors by distorting the information available to them. 30. The conduct of the Mina Mar Defendants and Miro Zecevic alleged hereinabove constitutes illegal activity, to wit: (a) The actions of the Mina Mar Defendants and Miro Zecevic evidence and constitute a scheme to defraud investors in violation of SEC Rule 10b-5 and Section 17 of the Securities Act of 1933. (b) The actions of the Mina Mar Defendants and Miro Zecevic evidence and constitute a scheme to defraud investors in violation of §5l7.301, Florida Statutes. (c) The actions of the Mina Mar Defendants and Miro Zecevic of promoting the securities of Monarc and its affiliated companies without disclosing their compensation specifically violates Section 17 of the Securities Act of 1933 and §517.301(b), Florida Statutes. 31. A dispute has developed between InvestorsHub and the Defendants which requires judicial resolution, to wit: InvestorsHub maintains that it is a victim of and has been injured by the Defendants' illegal activities in that their intimidation and harassment of InvestorsHub, its personnel and users are an attempt to conscript its website as a means to further their illegal agenda. This undermines the very business model of InvestorsHub as a neutral public forum for the discussion of publicly-traded securities. As such a forum, InvestorsHub has become an integral part of the securities market in the United States. Moreover, InvestorsHub has been forced by the Defendants' illegal activities to divert employee time and effort away from gainful activities. Finally, Defendant's intimidation and harassment of the law-abiding users and personnel of the InvestorsHub website presents the very real danger of the loss of customers, revenue and valuable personnel. Naturally, Defendants dispute that their activities are illegal or even wrongful in nature. 32. The parties require this Court to resolve these disputes because it is the most effective and efficient forum in which to do so. WHEREFORE, InvestorsHub respectfully requests that this Court declare the following: (a) That Defendants' activities as alleged herein constitute illegal securities market manipulation; and (b) That Defendants have no right to demand that InvestorsHub remove critical posts from its website; and (c) That Defendants must cease and desist from using the InvestorsHub website without properly disclosing their status as securities promoters. FURTHER, InvestorsHub respectfully requests that this Court order the Defendants to pay its costs of this action, its attorneys' fees as provided for in the User Agreement, and such further and supplemental relief as this Court deems proper. COUNT III: DEFAMATION 33. InvestorsHub re-alleges paragraphs 1 through 14, 18,22,23 and 24. 34. On or about August 16, 2007 and subsequently on March 16, 2008, Miro Zecevic, Mina Mar Texas or Mina Mar Canada, directly or through their agents, caused to be posted on the Internet a false and damaging report about InvestorsHub on the website www.ripoffreport.com. A copy of said report is attached hereto as Exhibit 1. 35. The report contained the following specific, untrue statements: (a) "Investorshub sells personal credit card info runs spam email and stock manipulation" [sic]; (b) "Beware my credit card has been charged many times and company refuses to act;" and (c) "Runs a scam 'investorshub board'." 36. These statements are false and are damaging to the reputation of InvestorsHub. 37. The poster made such statements with malicious intent to hurt InvestorsHub. In fact, the poster made the statements to intimidate InvestorsHub and in retaliation for the administrative sanctions imposed by InvestorsHub on the Defendants and their agents for their violations of the User Agreement. The poster specifically intended to harm the reputation of InvestorsHub to lessen its credibility as an impartial forum in the securities markets. 38. The poster made such statements fully aware that they were false. 39. These false statements have harmed InvestorsHub. WHEREFORE, InvestorsHub requests that this Court enter judgment against the offending Defendant for damages, costs of this action and such further relief as this Court deems proper. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED this 12th day of January, 2009. [signature] Thompkins W. White FBN: 0134287 White & Chang, P.A. 1650 Summit Lake Drive, Suite 1013 Tallahassee, FL 32317 Tel: (850) 219-5706 Fax: (850) 219-5709 email: white@whiteandchang.com Attorneys for Plaintiff ===== Exhibit 1 Report: #268145 Report: Investorshub.com Investors Hub Matt Brown Category: Con Artists Investorshub.com Investors Hub Matt Brown Sells Personal Credit Card Info Runs Investment Scam BEWARE investorshub sells personal credit card info runs spam email and stock manipulation Freeman, Montana *Consumer Comment ..In reply to Dave Lawrence's rebuttal: Investorshub.com Investors Hub Matt Brown 100 W Main Street Freeman, MO 64746, New Mexico, U.S.A. ---------- Matt brown Toronto, Ontario Submitted: 8/16/2007 10:24:55 PM Modified: 3/16/2008 2:48:55 AM ---------- Investors hub.Com Investorshub Matt Brown sells personal credit card info and runs spam e mail service. Beware my credit card has been charged many times and company refuses to act. Runs a scam 'investorshub board' Heres the incident. Visit the www.investorshub.com 'jail' there are many similar complaints. Investorshub.com is a SCAM! Attention Matt IHUB admin: Your girl Shelly is continuing her escapades, and misinforming other posters. I had to reply here on IHUB as my personal e mail is swamped with inquiries. She sent many my CC info and my personal data and now I’m getting spam e mail from stock pushers?! May I have your reply to my original question of why IHUB is doing this? Banning me is not a good answer says US post office mail and wire fraud division who tell me that's what this falls under. <a href="http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=22108107" target="_blank">http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=22108107</a> My reply to the above post: Since you have no 'e class' or net etiquette to PM on this, I see you been fed the same BS as a few others here. My reply will probably get me banned but I will work with authorities to return the favor if need be. So with that in mind, I advised Matt admin of IHUB that some IHUB staff are selling and passing out personal credit card info and my lawyer is sending them a cease letter. I'm still waiting for his reply to include that to the authorities. If you were fed this BS as well please email me the contents and I will pass it on as well, to the proper authorities. That's a compliment BTW since you are a lawyer. (now how did I know that?) Because Investors Hub is selling the data base of all users and I was offered to buy it They also run wicked spyware on their site. Don't believe me get any good spyware software like PCnicillin and see what they report. I'm now getting hundreds of porn and stock buy spam 'tips'. If anyone complains Matt Brown cancels your account and keeps your money for good measure plus they intensify the spam campaign! BEWARE OF WWW.INVESTORSHUB.COM Signed An Investorshub victim Matt brown Toronto, Ontario Armenia ===== ===== [Note: The following rebuttals are not exhibits in the law suit but are added for reference] Ihub Admin Dave Freeman, Missouri U.S.A. Submitted: 12/11/2007 5:24:28 PM Modified: 12/11/2007 9:21:25 PM Clearly a fraudulent report Clearly if this individual was being truthful he would have been entitled to a refund for charges to his card. This individual filing this report forfeited his privileges after numerous warnings for violating the site's usage guidelines. He has continued to register multiple accounts in order to manipulate the dialog of investment discussion boards on iHub, yet another violation of the User Agreement. He was not and is not entitled to refund and he is well aware of that and the multiple reasons. His report of 'credit card has been charged many times' was filed in August, 2007. iHub NEVER initiates credit card charges. All charges are intiated by the customer, including recurring subscriptions, which were not even available until December 2007. Further, iHub uses third party processors such as Verisign and thus does not have ANY customer's credit card information. It would be IMPOSSIBLE for iHub to 'charge his credit card many times' since iHub does not have the abiility to do so. iHub does not have any so-called 'spy-ware' as tens of thousands of weekly users can attest. That claim is yet another patently false allegation by this complainant. Lastly, if this person finds himself spammed by 'porn sites' it is undoubtedly the result of his surfing activities and not his past use of InvestorsHub. He has been invited and encouraged to take his business elsewhere since he is either unwilling or unable to engage in civil, mature dialog and abide by the site's rules pertaining to user conduct. Dave Lawrence Site Admin www.investorshub.com ----- Bones1420 Coppell, Texas U.S.A. Submitted: 3/15/2008 10:04:39 AM Modified: 3/16/2008 2:48:55 AM In reply to Dave Lawrence's rebuttal: Dear Mr. Lawrence, Your response only serves to legitimize the author's far-fetched allegations againsdt investorshub.com. So while you're in such a responsive mood, would you kindly respond to some not so far-fetched allegations made against investorshub.com and it's chief administrator, Matt Brown? In the two links provided below, could you please respond to the blog posted allegation that Matt Brown's house was possibly raided sometime in February/2007 in connection with a 'suspicion of money laundering' ongoing investigation? Also, could you please respond to any additional possible associations with ihub poster 'EVO' in that same ongoing investigation? <a href="http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2007/feb/17/troopers-aid-scam-case" target="_blank">http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2007/feb/17/troopers-aid-scam-case</a> <a href="http://ragingbull.quote.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=BANMAN" target="_blank">http://ragingbull.quote.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=BANMAN</a>'S&read=24808 Thank You for assisting in clearing up this weblogged allegation? <a href="http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/268/RipOff0268145.htm" target="_blank">http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/268/RipOff0268145.htm</a>