The word "scam" gets thrown around a lot on ihub but I think it's often overused, or rather misused where people lose a bunch of money and scream that the company is "a scam" when the more accurate term would be "a terrible investment" or "incompetently managed." There are legit scams on the OTC (even ones with product) that are solely designed to enable insiders and affiliates to sell worthless paper then get it out of the country and disappear. I don't think ISBG is one of those, which is why I don't think yesterday's videos were faked. In fact, even after everything we've seen the past few years I don't think that both ISBG and Florida Caribbean Distillers are so incompetent that they would produce 3000 cases of product that can't be sold, so I'm assuming there's something about the COLA situation that's not evident from the statutes and the public filings that might explain it.
So no, I don't think this is a "scam" in the real sense of that word, but I do think it's management is entirely incompetent, which in turn tends to lead to a lot of "scammy" behavior. I think the situation is analogous to someone who is way underwater on their house with no cash flow to pay their two mortgages, so they've been making their payments on credit cards, and then paying those credit cards with other credit cards, and then paying those credit cards with payday loans, and then to pay those they've had to go to friends and say that "if you can just lend me a few grand to help me finish remodeling my house then I can sell it for a profit and pay you back with interest...." But then they use most of that money to pay their other debts with barely any leftover to actually do the remodeling. Unfortunately, in this situation shareholders are kind of like the friends loaning money, and they are last in line to get paid back if the plan ever actually succeeds.
But if you want your friends to keep "loaning" you cash, you can't really let them know how deep you're in debt or how far you still have to go on the renovations, or they might realize how unlikely it is that they will ever get paid back. So you delay while promising it's almost done, you make some overly optimistic pronouncements, you invite them to come over in 30 days to see the new master bedroom and then cancel at the last minute and tell them to wait another 30 days so they can see the bedroom and the poolhouse, and then you make up an excuse for yet another delay and don't tell them that you ordered all the tiles an inch short and discovered an electrical issue and so on.
The point being, I don't think this whole Besado story was crafted just to dupe the public and sell shares, but I think there's been a TON of missteps in executing the business plan and a lot of kicking the can down the road and a complete lack of transparency with investors about the real situation with the business and its finances and a lot of other stuff over the years, all compounded by the toxic convertible debt being taken out and the relentless selling pressure on the stock. As a result it all looks pretty "scammy," but really it's more akin to desperation and incompetence and constant overpromising with a lack of execution. In other words, I think this company is a WAY riskier "investment" than is portrayed in its public statements and filings, or how some portray it on here. That's why it's a good thing, for people who don't understand the OTC, that there are some people who help provide that additional information to better evaluate your chances of making a profit here.
But hey, maybe the audit coming Friday will tell a different tale.
All IMHO.
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