Yes, dum dum ADVFN bought the corporation instead of just the intellectual property. I'd have bought the domain and the software and made a clean corporation in case of something like this.
I disagree with your immunity argument. If an OFFICER of the corporation engaged in a conspiracy to defraud and used ihub as a portal, then Investorshub.com Inc. could be liable in a civil suit.
If Matt did what they say and did not aid it using ihub, then no,there's no liability just because his friends used the vehicle.
But if he took action to allow them to, say, moderate the board and delete negative messages, then... sure, the corp. could be liable.
One of the most shocking things I saw was Matt remove neutral Anonymous Nobody from SGLS and put in promoters as the mods who, on no real news, manipulated the price of the stock. (His public explanation was he wanted persons pro-SGLS as mod to have more posts). The new mods then deleted anything negative. That's an example of aiding a stock manipulation that the company could be liable. If he left A.N. as mod, and the promoters just did what they do, then he could invoke the protection statutes. But when you put promoters in without disclosing why, and you let them delete information that isn't TOU but is simply negative, then sure the company could be liable.
Simply put, if Matt used ihub as a vehicle, and the charges are true, ih.com inc could be liable. If Bob Jones from Zillynoble used ihub to do the same thing but he wasn't affiliated, then the federal laws would protect ihub inc.
