VoIP Vendor GlobeTel Answers New York Post Critcism

Would-be Russian WiMax czars GlobeTel officials are steamed about a piece in the New York Post by financial writer Chris Byron, calling on the American Stock Exchange to “halt trading in the shares of GlobeTel Communications Corp.”

Byron says GlobeTel officials have “pirouetted from one see-through ploy to the next to create the illusion of value in a worthless penny stock.” He recounts in convincing fashion what he characterizes as “two complete pump-and-dump cycles that have sent an astounding 1.1 billion shares of its stock churning through the market,” resulting in “bogus $350 million market value for the company, two-thirds of which has now evaporated, with $74 million of it detouring into the outstretched hands of the company's insiders.”

The two “ploys,” of course, were the blimps-over-Colombia for cell phone transmission and the $600 million WiMax in Russia schemes, neither of which resulted in anything but a lot of nice-sounding press releases and a slew of class action suits filed against the company on behalf of investors.

In a prepared statement of response, GlobeTel CEO Tim Huff pointed that “we do not build 'aluminum blimps that bounce signals from Latin America to the US.' We create and construct rigid-infrastructure, GPS-guided airships designed to transmit wireless signals to, and from, our clients in each airship's significant coverage area… Our entire team of former NASA engineers – along with GlobeTel's managers – remain very excited about and committed to this technology, along with many of our military and government supporters.”

Byron says GlobeTel’s new “fan dance” consists of “plans to sell prepaid phone and debit cards to Brazilians looking for ways to move cash in and out of the U.S. unobtrusively.”

Huff also suggested Byron “read our press releases if he thinks the rollout of VozBrasil, our VoIP network for Brazil and Brazilian-Americans, is in any way designed to launder or transfer money.”

According to Byron, law enforcement might be finally taking an interest in GlobeTel’s machinations: “Much of the fishiest selling in GlobeTel stock seems to have originated from the Boca Raton office of the brokerage Raymond James, where several of the company's top insiders maintained accounts.

“In March, the broker handling those accounts was abruptly dismissed, after which the firm's compliance officials began ordering his clients to withdraw their money, close down their accounts and take their business elsewhere,” Byron writes.

Huff said he hoped that “before the end of the summer, we will be able to expose Mr. Byron's half-witted comments for what they are: damaging libel.”

David Sims is contributing editor for TMCnet. For more articles please visit David Sims’ columnist page.

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