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Search for "The Ilegal Brand" here:
https://www.ilegalmezcal.com/brandteam/
Having rights to "The Illegal Brand" trademarked name -- or being able to license them out -- probably wouldn't be a bad idea.
Thanks for asking, but I can only set the publicized facts side by side. Everyone has to draw their own conclusions
The Trademark Board case history site shows the initial filing of trademark opposition:
https://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?pno=88598662
was 09/09/2020. This filing was a request for a 90-day extension to actually make their case. I think this was right under the deadline wire for filing their opposition (but I could be misremembering).
Edgar:
https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?CIK=0001551906&owner=exclude
shows the NT 10-Q (going-to-be-late filing) was filed 2020-11-27.
The Trademark Board case history then shows the case that we've currently be watching:
https://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?pno=91266421&pty=OPP&eno=1
The case number was changed, and the 'real' case began 12/09/2020.
Early in Jan 2021 was the first mention of settlement negotiations (01/13/2021) in a motion filed by the Defense (Illegal Brands IP)..
Starting 3 months later (04/02/2021), all subsequent requests for suspension for settlement negotiations were filed by the Plaintiff (Ilegal Mezcal).
So, the facts line up with the theory that Nixon stopped filing because of the Trademark suit, and stayed dark because of settlement negotiations, so that he would not publicize what was going on.
Wowee wow wow! Great news, and great spotting!! Also note:
I'm no expert, and mostly only report things that are, essentially, public (even if they take some digging with the old Google-search shovel). While I offer my opinions for amusement value, I don't encourage anyone to assume they are prophetic.
Now that the disclaimer is out of the way ... I'm not too worried about the "different ticker" -- which can mean more than one thing; although I can't deny legitimate concerns can be imagined.
The actual "ticker symbol" (WCVC) can stay the same or change, because it's only a label. At least a few companies use a legacy ticker symbol that is no longer an abbreviation for the actual company name. So far, there's not enough public evidence to prove that the ticker symbol will change or stay the same.
The bigger worry is that Nixon will 'go public' with a new company and $#!+-can all of the old shares, somehow transferring the assets that existing WCVC shares represent to another company in a way that turns the current WCVC shares into monopoly money.
I don't know if that can or can't be done, but three things that are evidence against that happening are:
1) Initially, Nixon Restaurant Group (NRG) reverse-merged into WCVC to take NRG public. As far as I can tell from reading the last 10-K (which recounts the history of WCVC and its relationship with NRG), NRG became WCVC, using the ticker symbol and corporation name as a label, perhaps to suggest that it was going to expand into 'ventures' beyond the restaurant business.
There are a number of subsidiaries in WCVC, but most of them originated within, or were merged into NRG before the reverse merger with WCVC. It seems reasonable to me that any new post-reverse-merge subsidiaries of WCVC are really equivalent to NRG, where NRG is the controlling entity.
So, shares of WCVC are really all shares of NRG, even though they are now very diluted.
[I disclaim expert ability to accurately parse the legalese in the 10-K, so I can't be 100% sure that somehow the shares of WCVC aren't fully identical to shares of NRG. But conversely, I see no evidence that as of the last WCVC 10-K, WCVC had any intention of pulling a fast one on shareholders and pulling the rug out from under them, to make WCVC shares worthless while WCVC/NRG assets continued to operate, and even be profitable..]
2) Brenda Hamilton's was the original agent for Nixon Restaurant Group when it was formed in Florida as a private company, and now, in 2023, she has been rehired by Nixon as the agent for Nixon Restaurant Group. It's very clear that Hamilton hates stock fraud and all other types of shady dealing that screw companies and stock holders. So it would be a great surprise to find her wearing a 'black hat' and being complicit in a deal to rob WCVC shareholders of the value of their shares.
There are head-scratching issues, however.
When WCVC got revoked in 2022, Nixon immediately did an on-paper move of West Coast Ventures Group Corp to Florida (2022). West Coast Ventures Group Corp in Colorado became a "branch."
However, as of 2023, Nixon let West Coast Ventures Group Corp in Florida get administratively dissolved (by not filing the relatively cheap annual state report), although he kept up the paperwork for the branch in Colorado.
Nixon also gave up his ownership of the web domain URL www.westcoastventuresgroupcorp.com, which has now become a gambling site that actually forwards off to somewhere else.
So that makes it look like Nixon has mostly stopped caring about the business name West Coast Ventures Group Corp, but he intents to carry on business as Nixon Restaurant Group (which, again, gained its public stock identity by reverse merging into WCVC).
Although with my Google-search shovel I've learned that it is possible for a subsidiary to swap places with the parent corporation, I don't know if the details of the process exactly match the WCVC/NRG situation, and I haven't found any evidence that that swap is going to happen. Plus I don't know if it is necessary, for, again, business names and ticker symbols are just labels.
3) West Coast Ventures Group Corp is now mysteriously showing a bid in some brokerage accounts, and thus appearing to give dollar value to WCVC stock.
That tends to make all worry about 'under the hood details' a moot point.
BUT, without PRs and financials that reveal what is going on, unless there is a leak or some sort of wink-wink-nudge-nudge hint dropped somewhere, we can only guess.
Re 'legalized robbery' -- stock dilution is also legalized robbery, and that happened before WCVC got revoked, plus WCVC stock got manipulated by outside bad-actors who got caught, although I don't think shareholders were compensated.
If Hamilton wasn't involved, I'd be as worried as you. Since she is involved, I'm less worried, but not doubt free.
[It also bugs me that the SEC revoked WCVC while it was on the Expert Market because it didn't file, since being sent to the Expert Market was the punishment for not filing. I can't help but wonder if Nixon allowed WCVC to get revoked as some sort of protective strategy, since WCVC was noticeably trading while it was on the Expert Market. Oh, and don't forget, Nixon went 'dark' when Ilegal Mezcal opposed the Illegal Brands logo trademark, and they have allegedly been in settlement talks almost the whole while.]
New Facebook updates for both restaurants (12/4 1 hr ago):
https://www.facebook.com/illegalburgerco/
https://www.facebook.com/KalakaMexicanKitchen/
Oh yeah, that guy. His posts about Brenda are, by now, so less-than-a-week-ago (Nov 30, Dec 1). What has he done for us lately?
Is that new Twitter/X chat? If so, gotta link?
While Google-searching on WCVC's CUSIP # (952213106) I found this list:
https://www.schwab.com/public/file/P-13369023
that actually associates the CUSIP number with the "WCVC" ticker symbol. I have 2 other revoked tickers (from 'way back') in my stock profile. One also is associated with its old ticker symbol, but the other is not.
Does anyone else have a revoked stock that is or isn't on this list with its ticker symbol?
I'm wondering if this means WCVC hasn't surrendered its ticker symbol -- or otherwise had it taken away by the SEC -- meaning it doesn't have to re-register for it in order to trade again.
What's your realistic take on Hamilton being re-hired by Nixon?
Re WCVC being revoked: an obvious dilemma; but is Brenda Hamilton seeking to add resurrecting revoked stocks to her list of talents? How many other experts out there have this 'gift'?
That's a tough call because 'business is business.' Businesses started with honest intentions do fail, and stock of startups is always risky. Nixon is still really in a startup phase.
For me, the primary thing that tips the 'ethics meter' in his favor is that he re-hired -- and let me emphasize RE-hired -- Brenda Hamilton. Although she may only stay with him long enough to get her particular job done, as a lawyer who is publicly known to be, and promotes herself as being, deeply vested in the ethics of stock trading, she has more to lose than Nixon, since her worth in her field is only as good as her reputation and her list of success stories.
Hiring her as the agent for Nixon Restaurant Group required Nixon to file with Florida state and make that decision public, which is in contrast to the option of having let his prior agent remain as his legal 'front,' but to have hired Hamilton to do her work for him behind closed doors, which would have left us all none the wiser.
There are TONS of things we are left to guess about, but it's probably safe to say that the conclusions we might draw from Hamilton working for him are not mere wild guesses.
To credit a keener eye than mine - Kudos to Brenda Hamilton from her friends on Twitter:
My very good friend, and great securities attorney Brenda Hamilton provides VERY VALUABLE history on the OTC, Rule 211, Rule 144, dilution funding and more - Please take the couple of minutes to review her article - there may be a test ....... $AMC $FNGR $MMAT $GME $TSLA $GTii…
— Mark R. Basile,Esq. (@BasileEsq) December 1, 2023
New Facebook update for Illegal Burger (12/1 11 hrs ago):
https://www.facebook.com/illegalburgerco/
December specials.
This was yesterday my time, but I only saw it now.
Story time: Another brokerage also showed .0001 bid
I had a phone chat about an hour ago with a fellow WCVC shareholder/researcher, who told me that he heard from another person today who said that their non-Schwab/non-ETrade brokerage account also showed the .0001 bid.
Yes, I'm purposely omitting this other brokerage firm name because this is 2nd-hand information, but if it's true, then either the Schwab "glitch" is quite a catchy bug, or some external source 'out there' [a real market-maker??] made this bid available for at least these two firms -- Schwab and unnamed-other -- to pick up, display AND credit shares with real-market value.
As an aside, this phone-buddy also said that his E-Trade account was actually showing a system error rather than normal status of his account (that has WCVC in it). That might explain why E-Trade wasn't showing the .0001 bid.
Alternate theories are welcome.
Update to Kalaka Facebook page (12/1 4 hrs ago):
https://www.facebook.com/KalakaMexicanKitchen/
Pix showing (2) December specials.
T53 - as always, that's a mighty fine pile of resources. Pulling out a quote from one of them:
https://tavaga.com/tavagapedia/market-maker/#:~:text=A%20market%20maker%20is%20a%20market%20participant%2C%20which,the%20market.%20They%20are%20called%20dealers%20as%20well
I had to Google that phrase since I haven't seen the movie (Wall Street) and wasn't familiar with the quote.
Not to be persnickety (who me?), but the spelling is:
"Blue Horseshoe loves Anacott Steel"
This post is purely to drive up this forum's position on the breakout boards.
"West Coast Ventures Group Corp fka WCVC loves being on the breakout boards."
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/breakoutboards.aspx
It's all so obvious in hindsight, that that Illegal Burger Facebook update picture from a couple of days ago wasn't just a couple sitting at an Illegal Burger table reading their phones instead of talking:
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=790540633084578&set=a.647404234064886
but rather, they were checking their stock portfolios!
How could we all have missed such an obvious hint?
Was your account showing a price and a market value earlier in the day? Or was it zero for both for the whole day for you?
Note: My Schwab account has a footnote-4 on price and market value
"4. The value reported may not reflect the current price."
The significant change for at least some of us using Schwab was showing the price ($.0001) at all, which in turn caused a market value calculation.
--
Note: Under TDA, these values appeared for several days after WCVC was revoked, but eventually cleared to zero or "-".
Is there a public repository for FINRA filings like Edgar (or the OTC Markets filings)? I haven't been able to find one (don't know where to look). Or would they show up on Edgar?
Any change in Schwab's story (or ignorance) now that it's end of trading day?
$ set breath/holding=yes (in old DCL-speak)
Thanks for combining your lurking with midnight looking, as you were the first to spot the change.
If it is a glitch or otherwise not real, and I die after this post, at least I can die having imagined that someone went to a lot of trouble to prank Joe Botts. 😃 (I'll then have my ashes thrown into the ocean off Cape May NJ.)
Newbies taking calls at 2:30 in the morning?
Speaking of broker-dealers (a.k.a market-makers) and what they have to know:
https://www.bakerlaw.com/insights/sec-adopts-amendments-to-rule-15c2-11/
Well, well, well .... isn't that curious! My Schwab account shows the same.
It still doesn't show a ticker symbol, and lists the company name as:
WEST COAST VENTURES GXXXREGISTRATION REVOKED BY THE SEC EFF: 03/11/22
Hmm indeed. Thanks for breaking the news.
.
.
.
Who are you and what have you done with Joe Botts?
p.s. Thanks for making your first post ever to Ihub the WCVC board.
One Facebook update today (11/29 3hrs ago) for:
https://www.facebook.com/KalakaMexicanKitchen/
Both Facebook pages have (now) been updated today (Nov 28, 2023):
https://www.facebook.com/illegalburgerco/ (2hrs ago)
https://www.facebook.com/KalakaMexicanKitchen/ (4hrs, 2 x 2hrs ago)
There were actually THREE Kalaka Mexican Kitchen posts today, all featuring products. The latest is a video that says "Reels" (dated Oct 24) which may be from their Instagram page:
https://www.instagram.com/kalakamexicankitchen/reels/
but everything on the Instagram pages seems to be date-free. (Most of the pictures correspond to still-pix on Facebook pages.)
The Illegal Burger post is a throw-away (no products, only 'a table to read your phone at while on a date'), but I'll check later to see if they add more updates.
Both restaurants have Instagram pages with still photos that look pretty good (mostly), and short videos ("Reels") that look like that were taken from a cell phone.
Sadly, I have found no other updates.
I suspect that the Takiza Taco & Tequila Bar will not open in 2023 -- if ever -- based on the backwards update to the website to take off the "2023" date (plus all of the pictures). However, I don't have any eyes-on-the-ground sources. (see www.takiza.com)
The local restaurant news doesn't say anything either:
https://whatnowdenver.com/#
https://www.denverpost.com/author/lily/
other than that lots of other new restaurants are opening, but none of them are owned by NIxon.
Kalaka Mexican Kitchen Facebook update (11/28 1hr ago):
https://www.facebook.com/KalakaMexicanKitchen/
Item for brunch at Denver location.
2 Facebook updates 11/25/23 (3-4 hours ago):
https://www.facebook.com/illegalburgerco/
https://www.facebook.com/KalakaMexicanKitchen/
Both are collage pictures, but the Kalaka collage has a partial picture of the empty long table that was posted by itself and then deleted.
The Kalaka gift-card picture is of a large group (looks like 13 people) sitting at a table that holds 14.
This is arguably a better picture than the one posted the other day that disappeared, that was only of an empty table of about the same size. (Am I the only one who saw it?)
Full tables send a better message than empty ones, even if the picture is obviously staged for advertising purposes.
2 Facebook updates 11/24/23 (less than an hour ago):
https://www.facebook.com/illegalburgerco/
https://www.facebook.com/KalakaMexicanKitchen/
Only come-ons for gift cards, though.
Hm ... That one new Kalaka Mexican Kitchen post for today has been deleted.
It was only a head-on picture of a long table that looked like it would seat maybe 10 on a side, but still ... that's the first time I've seen a post deleted.
Most curious.
One new Facebook post today so far (11/22 1 hr ago):
https://www.facebook.com/KalakaMexicanKitchen/
2 Facebook updates 11/21/23 (1 hr ago):
https://www.facebook.com/illegalburgerco/
https://www.facebook.com/KalakaMexicanKitchen/
Illegal Burger's Mobster Box
Takiza Tako Kit
Although it's great to see new products, the Takiza Tako Kit seems a huge step down from the promised Takiza Taco & Tequila Bar.
The last record I remember seeing was that NIxon doesn't own any common shares, but only owned preferred shares that gave him super-majority voting rights far outstripping the A/S. But since Nixon didn't file for more than a year, and doubled his O/S after he stopped filing, there's no way to know if he know owns common shares.
Re Hamilton owning shares -- a couple of Attorney Letters she submitted to the OTC on behalf of other companies said she did NOT own/was not being paid in shares.
I don't know if that only means that was true for those cases, or whether it has to be true as a rule that those submitting Attorney Letters cannot have the conflict of interest (vouching for the state of a company she holds shares in).
If Hamilton is NOT going to submit paperwork herself that represents a neutral, objective view of the company's financials, then who's to say she doesn't or won't hold shares?
If she is being paid in shares, then GO BRENDA !!. Make your shares worth something!! None of us other shareholders will mind.
Yeah, those are all exactly the kinds of questions that inquiring minds want to know!
Other questions are:
* would there be an immediate value to relisting that did NOT involve maxing out the A/S?
* is there another way for Nixon to obtain funding for expansion that would NOT have an immediately dilutive effect on the existing outstanding shares?
Brenda Hamilton is also an anti-fraud lawyer. Given her heavy criticism of other forms of dilutive trading that, while legal, were VERY harmful in the long run to regular shareholders and the companies themselves, if she is advising him on how to return to trading, is there a 'high road' that she could advise him to take?
October 12, 2023- What the Sale of Ilegal Mezcal to Bacardi Means for You:
https://www.insidehook.com/spirits/ilegal-mezcal-bacardi-sale
[Not directly WCVC related]
Sep 20, 2023 article re Bacardi buying Ilegal Mezcal and the significance of the "Ilegal" brand name:
https://www.mezcalistas.com/bacardi-buys-ilegal-mezcal-and-what-it-does-next-matters/
Yes, yes -- WCVC is still delisted, not trading, worthless etc., ...
But I thought the info about brand identity and behind-the-scenes valuation of worth was interesting.