The dope on snopes

'Fact-checking' website Snopes is asking its users for help in a GoFundMe saying an 'outside vendor' is 'holding it hostage'. But the site which claims to be 'transparent' and to tell people the facts they need to know hasn't told those donating everything that is going on.

In fact it is at the center of a bitter legal battle with its CEO being accused of fraud, lies, conspiracy and putting prostitutes and his honeymoon on expenses.

David Mikkelson set up the company which owns Snopes.com in 2003 with then-wife Barbara, but she sold her 50 per cent stake during their bitter divorce.

The owners of the company which provided it with tech and advertising services bought her stake but have now fallen out with Mikkelson and call him a fraudster.

A judge may order the site closed.



:rofl2:




http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4730092/Snopes-brink-founder-accused-fraud-lying.html
 
Mikkelson's personal spending and mismanagement is to blame for Snopes's money woes.

Legal papers filed in San Diego Superior Court say: 'But while Snopes is built entirely around the concepts of transparency and truth, its founder, Defendant David Mikkelson ('Mikkelson') has engaged in a lengthy scheme of concealment and subterfuge to gain control of the company and to drain its profits.'

Mikkelson unilaterally broke the advertising contract earlier this year and has bristled at shareholder efforts to rein in his spending.

Even as Mikkelson claimed to be under financial duress in court filings in June, he signed the documents while on a trip to Orleans, France.

'If Mikkelson is permitted to continue unabated as a director of Bardav, he will irreversibly drain the company of important financial resources through personal and unnecessary expenditures,' said the lawsuit.

Mikkelson carried out 'pervasive fraud' at Snopes and used the accounts to pay for lavish trips and personal items while refusing requests from shareholders to examine his expenditures.

Mikkelson spent 'tens of thousands of dollars' from the company on legal fees for his acrimonious divorce from Barbara last year, a drawn-out battle that included disputes over Mikkelson's salary and alleged spending on prostitutes.

Court documents from their divorce and its aftermath revealed that he wanted to be paid $720,000 a year.

He is also accused of spending 'tens of thousands of dollars' on personal trips, including a honeymoon with his new wife to Tokyo Disneyland.

NSFW pic of Mikkelson's new "courtesan" wife

42AF3F4200000578-4730092-image-m-4_1501093980207.jpg


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4730092/Snopes-brink-founder-accused-fraud-lying.html

:rofl2:
 
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