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Modus Operandi: Poses as an investor to be wined and dined, then disappears

cecileortlieb.com

11–20 of 46 posts

Re: Modus Operandi: Poses as an investor to be wined and dined, then disappears

#11
post #2

I'm rather confused why not contact a lawyer and pursue legal action? world-glance.com screams caution since there is so much missing, team info, personal names & bios, contact, address, etc. and it was only registered in Feb 2015 and has whois privacy protection http://whois.domaintools.com/world-glance.com privacy protection is not normally an issue but when a COMPANY (not personal!) webpage has no personal details…

> I'm rather confused why not contact a lawyer and pursue legal action?

It sounds like all she really got was a few meals, lodging for a few days, and a taxi ride.

It would cost the author much more to sue than he could recover.

Re: Modus Operandi: Poses as an investor to be wined and dined, then disappears

#12
post #2

I'm rather confused why not contact a lawyer and pursue legal action? world-glance.com screams caution since there is so much missing, team info, personal names & bios, contact, address, etc. and it was only registered in Feb 2015 and has whois privacy protection http://whois.domaintools.com/world-glance.com privacy protection is not normally an issue but when a COMPANY (not personal!) webpage has no personal details…

> I'm rather confused why not contact a lawyer and pursue legal action?

What kind of legal action would you pursue?

She likely has no funds whatsoever to go after. I would contact a lawyer in this case, for sure - but I don't think it makes any sense to pursue legal action here - legal action is very expensive, and it is very likely throwing good money after bad money.

The only actions that make sense to me are police/interpol complaints, and (possibly, depending on lawyer advice) public naming and shaming - which this website does.

Note that the "naming and shaming" doesn't actually give anything back to those who were scammed - it's mostly a public service for the rest of the world.

Re: Modus Operandi: Poses as an investor to be wined and dined, then disappears

#13
post #10

This post is worse than Cecile's actions. She's obviously not right in the head, you are basically saying "Watch out for crazy people", and she has to be the scapegoat for your messaging. This is super cruel and merciless.

"This is super cruel and merciless." srsly, dude? have we lost all perspective?

Re: Modus Operandi: Poses as an investor to be wined and dined, then disappears

#14
post #10

This post is worse than Cecile's actions. She's obviously not right in the head, you are basically saying "Watch out for crazy people", and she has to be the scapegoat for your messaging. This is super cruel and merciless.

>super cruel and merciless

That's how it should be to keep the ecosystem as clean as possible.

Re: Modus Operandi: Poses as an investor to be wined and dined, then disappears

#16
post #4
post #2

I'm rather confused why not contact a lawyer and pursue legal action? world-glance.com screams caution since there is so much missing, team info, personal names & bios, contact, address, etc. and it was only registered in Feb 2015 and has whois privacy protection http://whois.domaintools.com/world-glance.com privacy protection is not normally an issue but when a COMPANY (not personal!) webpage has no personal details…

Absolutely, the owner of this website could be sued for slander. If everything in this story is true then just sue Cecile because she obviously committed fraud, the case should be a slam dunk. Then expose her once she has been sentenced to prison. edit: Cecile's website is a joke : http://world-glance.com/ Does it look like a serious VC to anybody? there is absolutely no information whatsoever. Remember the legend ab…

That would presuppose Celine has money to afford lawyers, if she does, that would be the point to recover the funds, and/or countersue for fraud.

Re: Modus Operandi: Poses as an investor to be wined and dined, then disappears

#17
post #2

I'm rather confused why not contact a lawyer and pursue legal action? world-glance.com screams caution since there is so much missing, team info, personal names & bios, contact, address, etc. and it was only registered in Feb 2015 and has whois privacy protection http://whois.domaintools.com/world-glance.com privacy protection is not normally an issue but when a COMPANY (not personal!) webpage has no personal details…

Sue for what? Cecile sounds very broke to me...

Re: Modus Operandi: Poses as an investor to be wined and dined, then disappears

#18
I have extensive experience prosecuting cases like this and would be happy to assist the OP. I ask that he fly me to New York City at his earliest convenience (after wiring me a good-faith deposit) so that we may discuss this in person.

Re: Modus Operandi: Poses as an investor to be wined and dined, then disappears

#19
Having read through this, it seems less like she wanted to be wined and dined (given how the "victim" flew to London), and more that she just wanted to seem important. A lot of people want to be VCs; and it turns out you can get most of the VC experience without having money if you just never invest. (On the flip side, a lot of people want to be entrepreneurs but have no product.)

Having been through bad experiences with wannabe investors in the past, I made a rule that I would only ever deal with investors that were well-known or were heavily vouched for by someone I knew that had been invested in by them.

Re: Modus Operandi: Poses as an investor to be wined and dined, then disappears

#20
>Though the most successful founders are usually good people, they tend to have a piratical gleam in their eye. They're not Goody Two-Shoes type good. Morally, they care about getting the big questions right, but not about observing proprieties. That's why I'd use the word naughty rather than evil. They delight in breaking rules, but not rules that matter.

Sounds like a perfect YC founder to me.

http://www.paulgraham.com/founders.html

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