WWizard: Steven did in fact lie his butt off about profitability since 2003 and many other untruths beside--but that does not relieve the investor of the obligation to do due diligence on any investment.
And when news broke of yet another obstacle, delay, or distraction from obtaining profitability, many loyal investors went along with the excuses, rationalizations and improbabilities proposed, and in fact, some cheered these halts, diversions and distractions as proof of the coming tsunami.
One of the first questions any defense atty would ask a Wave investor on the witness stand, would be: "Did you not see the quarterly reports, showing losses increasing and the probability of profitability receding fast?"
Mr. W Wizard, yes, you were lied to by two Wave CEO's and one Wave CFO, but the really crazy thing is the quarterly reports told a different story from the fantasy-filled, riches soon, be patient, kind of lies told to you by cult leaders who always interpreted disastrous signs as positive for investors, when they were the exact opposite. Every time!
It is akin, IMO, to someone who dons a bathing suit and plunges into a pond without reading the many warning and danger signs of broken glass, snapping turtles, poisonous snakes, alligators and toxic waste in the water. Then, when the inevitable injuries ensue, the swimmer wants to sue someone. Difficult.
I believe accurate information was contained in the quarterly reports. Many chose not to believe the actual results and instead embraced the invented narrative, claiming the long years without a profit were the surest sign of riches to come real soon.
So, when prudent investors would be walking away, many Wave investors ignored, at their peril, the clear signs of a business in a long, slow, decline that could only end in a death spiral. With encouragement from their leaders, they doubled down on a dying business, throwing good money after bad, beyond the point of reason.
The executives were bleeding Wave dry, putting all their friends and relatives on the payroll, taking home huge bonuses while the share price tanked, but the Wave leaders asked, "Will any of that matter [Founders Shares, the Safend bobbles, cancelled CC, auditors quitting, three reverse splits, Dell's pull-out, GM's failure to re-up, etc] when Wave hits $100 a share?"
Steven may have been the architect of this half billion dollar fraud, but the people who put up the money, including myself, should have known better, because the real results of Wave's business dealings were available 4 times a year.
After 26 years in business without a penny's profit, with the losses widening with every quarter, some refused to look at the ugly reality of Wave and instead, chose to believe the beautiful story spun by the Wave spinsters who were in cahoots with mgt, promising a quick and magical turnaround.
IMO, you would have an uphill legal fight to prove deception, because the Rio-type-polluted harbor warned all of us that words like 'may' and 'if' were optimistic qualifiers not necessarily true.
You would also have to defend, IMO, how and why you willfully ignored the official CC reports showing the true state of Wave and instead, relied on Loop Group fantasies, in parallel with Steven's perma-optimistic BS.
If you and other investors want to find the culprit who ran off with your money--look in the mirror, is my suggestion. I think the game is over, the fraudsters won and there is precious little recourse, IMO.
But then, my advice was soundly ignored all along since the early oughties, when I started wising up. Of course the Wave cult could tolerate no questions as to why the launch was so late in coming--and I was derided as a crank upset over big losses.
It is enraging and it seems as if no one should be able to get away with what Wave and its accomplices did to their investors.
Best wishes for recovery--Blue
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