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279) The iesiUSA company seems to be in trouble.
Will it hurt the reputation of CMNS researchers?



Ludwik Kowalski; 2/2/2006
Department of Mathematical Sciences
Montclair State University, Upper Montclair, NJ, 07043




In unit #274 I wrote that even a single case of fraud associated with CMNS might “deliver a devastating blow to the entire discipline. The consequences of such episode would be difficult to repair.“ When this was written I was not aware how bad the iESiUSA business situation was. What follows was posted by Steven Krivit at the New Energy Times website:

http://newenergytimes.com/SR/IESI.htm

Steven is a journalist who has been investigating many aspects of CMNS field for at least four years.


New Energy Times Editorial Commentary (Feb. 1, 2006)

I've been investigating iESi since June 4, 2005. Most of the references on the "DIY" blog listed below appear to agree with my findings, though I have not yet looked at every reference in detail.

Since the start of my investigation, I have been, at various times, in direct communication with many iESi personnel including; Patrick Cochrane (CEO), Tom Bugg (President), Norman Arrison (Staff Scientist), Mark Boocock (U.K. Managing Director), Hywel Rees (U.K. Sales & Partnerships Director), Terry Dingwall (ex-President), Stephen Monaco (ex-Vice President), Hyunik Yang (ex-Senior Scientist), Nahm Cho (ex-Senior Scientist), Bill Harrington (ex-Staff Scientist), Alaine Liberty (Technician), and Ken Pierce (Technician).

I have seen several court documents pertaining to pending actions from the company against ex-employees, and also actions from the ex-employees, who are shareholders, and who are also acting on behalf of many of the other shareholders.

The "company," in this regard, is the board of directors; namely, Patrick Cochrane, Ronald Foster, Fred Dornan and Tom Bugg. They, and not the shareholders at large, appear to be fully responsible for the state of the company and the alleged misdeeds.

The former senior scientist, Hyunik Yang, told me last fall that he had been hastily appointed to the Board sometime around August. According to Yang, he subsequently resigned from the Board a month or two later, after starting to see the management problems. On Dec. 1, he informed me that he was no longer working with iESi.

The story behind iESi is certainly a fascinating one. It may not please many people. Certainly, the several hundred private investors who cumulatively contributed a few million dollars to the company may not be pleased to finally start learning about the troubles with the company. Some of the good-hearted employees of the company, like Norm Arrison, may be shocked and disappointed to hear about the mess the company is really in and some of the alleged wrongdoings on the part of the remaining directors.

There is no certainty at the moment as to what will become of iESi, or its licensing claim to any intellectual property potentially conveyed by Hyunik Yang. I am told by several sources that there are 20 separate agreements between Yang and Cochrane, and Yang and iESi that govern the licensing of the intellectual property. I am also told that several of these agreements contradict each other. These matters are now in the hands of half a dozen attorneys on behalf of Yang, and probably as many on behalf of the iESi board.

Will the true owners of iESi, the hundreds of shareholders, ever see the development of the intellectual property and see a return on their investment? It's hard to say at the moment.

The iESi story is about wildcatters; bold businessmen willing to take high-risks, and like sharks smelling blood in the water, swarming to what they think is a vein of gold in an apparent cold fusion gold rush.

Is it fool's gold? I'm still undecided. The underlying science reported by Yang and Vysotskii at ICCF12 has multiple inexplicable characteristics. But they've been highly-secretive and have refused to reveal any hard data.

Has the iESi leadership contributed toward the progress and the development of this technology? For a while, at least, they most certainly did. Can they be credited for their willingness to take a risk on a new source of clean energy? Absolutely. Did they bring research funds into the field and promote progress? Yes, they can be given that credit as well.

However, does the current board of directors have what it takes to salvage this company? That is a question every shareholder should be asking right now. Unfortunately, it's too late to get your money back. That offer, made by the iESi board in the Dec. 8, 2005 shareholder's update, expired two hours ago, on Jan. 31, 2006, which coincidentally, was the same time my embargo agreement expired with iESi as well.

Is the leadership at iESi typical of businesspeople who are investing in cold fusion? Fortunately, no, but this is not the first, nor will it be the last of companies who are willing to make possible indiscretions on the way to hopeful cold fusion profits.

I am pleased to say that there are, in fact, several companies in the U.S., and some in Europe that are making careful, conscientious efforts to develop cold fusion. However, they are remaining private, and staying under the radar for now. They are not putting themselves in the predicament of taking money from public investors. This seems wise to me. I have little uncertainty that eventually cold fusion will be commercially viable, but which company, or companies will figure out the answers? That's anybody's guess.

As much as I'm a proponent of cold fusion, I would say that this is not a time to invest your life savings or your IRA in cold fusion. This is a time for angel investors who can afford to take risks and who want to possibly contribute to a great alternative to fossil fuels.

-Steven B. Krivit
Do-It-Yourself Due Diligence Blog (Feb. 1, 2006)  New Energy Times Photos of iESi "Corporate Offices" (Feb. 1, 2006)

On Jan. 22, 2006 a New Energy Times (tm) reader informed us that the www.iesiusa.com Web site went dark.

"The website appears to be password protected. I checked and it appears that the password message that used to appear only for the private investor section now inhibits access to the entire site. Do you know what is going on?"

New Energy Times started investigating Innovative Energy Solutions Inc. (iESi) in June, 2005. At that time we signed both a nondisclosure agreement as well an embargo agreement. The embargo agreement expires in February and we will therefore be able to report our findings in our March 10 newsletter. We concluded the major part of our iESi investigation in November, 2005. New Energy Times does not have an ongoing interest in iESi at this time.

New Energy Times is continuing its interest and investigation of Hyunik Yang and the work he has reported at ICCF12.

As a courtesy to interested parties, we captured several of the key pages from the iESi Web site and we present them here, along with photos we took of their "corporate headquarters."
 
   
 

Appended on 11/21/06
I think that the following piece of information is worth appending. It was posted by New Energy Times journalist Steven Krivit on a restricted Internet discussion list for CMNS researchers in response to a prominent list member who had chided him to "Loosen up!" in response to Steven's vigilance of another "cold fusion" company. It a good reminder that waters surrounding scientists are infested by unscrupulous sharks. Steven has an in-depth investigation at this Web location:

http://newenergytimes.com/SR/IESI.htm
 

Many people were harmed from the actions of a few with regard to iESiusa. Millions of dollars from innocent, though perhaps somewhat eager and somewhat naive private investors were apparently lost. The reputations of some good people were harmed. One of the conscientious employees formerly involved with iESiusa spent what would have amounted to a year's tuition for his children's college fund to extricate himself from a meritless suit by the iESi executives. But for this fellow, he didn't know the facts until it was too late. He had encouraged the iESiusa board to operate within the law and when they refused, he blew the whistle on them to federal investigators. Even though he was protected under the U.S. whistleblower act, this action still cost him thousands of dollars in legal defense and much of his personal time.

The immediate collateral damage is that the CMNS community lost a potentially good ally. There is more collateral damage. It may have discouraged other potential allies from the business community to set foot into the CMNS community. I do not know the current status of iESiusa at the moment, but it appears that it is nothing but a skeleton. Their former Web presence  http://iesiusa.com/ has now disappeared without a forwarding link. I learned that they have a new Web site at http://www.iesica.com/. Cochrane appears to be involved in several outstanding related legal challenges, Yang told me today that he is still fighting his legal battles with iESiusa [Cochrane and other board members]. I know of no scientists who remain with iESiusa.

Terry Dingwall, the former iESiusa President initiated a legal action against the corporation on behalf of the bulk of the shareholders in the fall of 2005 to protect the interests of the shareholders. According to Dingwall, the company that was formerly based in Nevada, USA, now exists as an empty shell, and at least some of the iESiusa board members have now started a new company. An Alberta Registrar of Corporations document shows Patrick Cochrane and Ronald Foster as directors of a company called IESI Energy Solutions (Alberta) ulc.

The web site says Arrison and one other fellow are part of their "team." I spoke with Arrison last week - he tells me me left the company almost a year ago. What about the other fellow still listed on the iESiusa site, Dumitru Fetcu? The one whose name iESiusa couldn't even spell correctly? This morning I obtained the following information from a European colleague, "Fetcu is no longer working with iESiusa. He had sent them a termination letter on June 30 this year because they had not paid him according to the contract."

When companies make claims such as “has amassed the best collection of cold fusion scientists in the world," they should back that up with fact. If they cannot, the public should know. When the owners of companies engage in shady business practices, the public has a right to know. And it is the moral and ethical obligation of the press to be the informant, if necessary, of bad news. Fraudulent and deceptive business practices hurt everybody; investors, scientists and eventually even those who are guilty of such indiscretions.”


It is clear to me that Steven is a very gifted journalist and a dedicated defender of general public. In fact, suspecting something inappropriate, he is now investigating another company. I do not think that this will turn out to be anything comparable with the iESi episode. Another way in which his online journal, New Energy, serves general public is publishing summaries of laboratory results. A good example of this is his report #7 at:

http://newenergytimes.com/news/2006/NET19.htm

My own unit #314, to be posted soon at my website, was prompted on that report. What a coincidence, just now, as I was about ready to append this piece, another message from Steven Krivit was posted on our restricted CMNS list. He was responding to someone who referred to unpleasant aspects of critical investigations and to Òpersonal factors.Ó Part of his reply is shown below. I hope Steven will again give me permission to be quoted. He wrote:

Ò. . . I will continue to investigate and report as I see best, on behalf of the public's interest. What I report will not always be pleasant, but that is the way of the world and it is my choice to keep this community, and the world at large, informed of all matters pertaining to CMNS. The field is not the same as it was two years ago. Money is coming in. A journalist (Bruce Gellerman) recently got an award for covering the field -- the first in over a decade. New branches of government(s) are becoming interested (again.) National security concerns are being triggered. Secret meetings are being held. We are in for changing times, and to borrow a term from electrochemistry, a fair amount of disequilibrium. . . .Ó

Appended on 11/27/06

The paragraph below is from a paper that Robert W. Bass publishd in the Infinite Energy Magazine (Issue 67, May/June 2006).

http://www.infinite-energy.com/iemagazine/issue67/apsmeeting.html

The title of the paper, dated March 16, 2006) was: ÒAn Afternoon to Remember: Cold Fusion Session of APS Meeting.Ó

Investigative reporter Steve Krivit has been diligently exploring every plausible development in the entire CF field, and surprised me by having persuaded Hyunik Yang and his former Russian collaborator Vysotskii to disclose at ICCF12 some of the formerly closely-held information regarding Innovative Energy Solutions Inc., where in June 2005 Fleischmann, McKubre, Hagelstein, Beaudette, Krivit, and myself were privileged to witness what purported to be the first large-scale (20 kilowatts!) CF power demonstration. (Steve has a continuing interest in following developments at www.iesiusa.com, which, sad to say, has lately become distracted by intellectual property ownership issues and from which their former chief scientific manager Yang has now departed.) However, Steve refrained from mentioning iESi in his well-illustrated current-activity-survey slideshow, which I hope he makes available on his website cited above.

I would be very much interested in what other witnesses the Òfirst large-scale (20 kilowatts!) CF power demonstrationÓ think about the iESiusa episode today (especially Peter Hagelstein, from whom I first heard about iESiusa, and Martin Fleischmann). More specifically, it would be interesting to know at what stage they become suspicious that someone might be manipulating them, and other scientists, to impress naive investors. The issue is not simple. Business people are not scientists and many of them think that risky stock market operations are accepted parts of healthy economy. They are willing to lean on claims made by scientists; their only concern is to avoid doing things that are not legal. Scientists, on the other hand, often have good reasons for taking some claims seriously. Working in a field that has been discriminated against, they are willing to accept any promise of financial support for research.

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