Michael Robertson Suffers Final Blow in Attacks on Former Linspire Employees

As documented previously in this blog, Michael Robertson spent several years, and hundreds of thousands of dollars, in attacking former Linspire employees.  Robertson lost at every turn, with only one minor exception, a small judgement against myself and the former CFO for not having informed Robertson in a timely manner when the CFO was laid off.  Now, rightfully so, even that one small judgement has been vacated and set aside by the Judge.  (Read the Judge's ruling is here.)  

With this ruling, and the judgement settled, none of the former employees will ever have to pay Michael Robertson ONE PENNY.  Robertson, however, continues to dodge paying the judgement against him (via his company), still owing hundreds of thousands of dollars to one of the former employees.  

Given this new vacated ruling by Judge Taylor, here is the updated and final scoreboard of how things ended up:

Updated Final Scoreboard after Judge Sets Aside Judgement

As Judge Taylor pointed out in his previous ruling, Robertson's attacks were driven by his ego.  In the end, this was a simple case of Robertson's greed and ego vs me wanting to treat good employees with some respect.  

Kevin

  

Michael Robertson Tries To Spin His Attacks on Former Employees

Robertson blew over a half million dollars unsuccessfully

attacking Linspire Employees, who ended up ahead $217,000.

UPDATE:  For an updated Scoreboard, read here.

As I predicted earlier in this blog, Robertson is taking his massive losses in the courts and trying to spin it as a victory for himself. He lost hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking innocent employees, yet in his most recent Michael's Minute, he tries to justify his greedy behavior by pointing to the few counts that went in his favor, but of course, he leaves out the DOZENS of counts that didn't go his way.

I'm proud of the small amount of damages awarded against me as I fought for the innocent employees. The time, energy and money I spent was DEFENDING good people, and trying to see employees treated with some respect, where as Robertson spent over a half million dollars attacking them. In the end, the court OVERWHELMINGLY sided with the wrongfully accused employees, but you'd never know that reading Robertson's blog.

Some of you have emailed me asking for my response to Robertson's latest Michael Minute, so I'll just refere you to my earlier blog. It gives the FULL story, including what the Judge had to say on the matter. In his final ruling, Judge Taylor summarized the jury's findings, highlighting that all of the funds transferred were authorized, all the employment agreements valid, and that not one penny of money was taken from Linspire inappropriately. Judge Taylor stated that the ONLY portion of Linspire's claim that had "any merit" was that I and the CFO had a fiduciary duty to have informed Robertson when I laid off the CFO (this is what got called by the scary terms fraud and conspiracy). Judge Taylor points out that the jury was fine with my authority in letting the CFO go as well as the severance amount the CFO received and how he received it. Taylor states that the jury simply felt I should have informed Robertson immediately after I laid the CFO off, not a week later. (View full ruling here, summary on page 13.)

Don't just take my word about the REAL Michael Robertson, visit Freespire.com and read the comments from dozens of people who know and have worked with Robertson.

The bottom line is Robertson spent huge amounts of money attacking innocent employees, while I spent my energy defending them, not taking one dime for myself. Oh, and of course, the Linspire shareholders are still waiting to hear from Robertson what happened to their investment.

Kevin

PS: Not surprisingly, given the source =), there were several blatantly false statements in Robertson's blog, which I have pointed out to him.

FINAL SCOREBOARD: Michael Robertson LOSES $644,000 -- Linspire Employees WIN $217,000

UPDATE:  For an updated Scoreboard, read here.

The Robertson-attack-former-employees "game" is finally over. How did the score end up?

As many of you know, back in 2007, Michael Robertson accused several former Linspire employees of embezzlement and other ridiculous charges. This all came from a dispute between myself and Robertson over how to treat employees who were needing to be laid off, given a shift in the company's direction. Greedy Robertson originally wanted to give these long-term, dedicated employees a pathetic two weeks severance (apparently knowing he would be taking all the remaining cash from Linspire soon and wanting as much there as possible), but I wanted to see them treated more fairly. When as CEO, I awarded the severance I felt was fair, Robertons went on his insane attacks, calling us all thieves, conspirators, etc., and making these same false claims to his bank and insurance company.

All along, Robertson told others that he was anxious for his day in court and for the truth to come out. A year ago he stated, "There will be a trial later this year where their [employees] actions will become public. I'm looking forward to it because I'm proud of my actions..." Every time he'd lose another round in court, he could argue that it wasn't over yet, and to just wait and see. Well, it's now over. All the trials and verdicts are in. I've chronicled the blow-by-blow of this over the past years in my blog, but it may have been complicated to have followed all the outcomes along the way. So, now that it's over, I thought I'd summarize how it all played out and share the final "score."

FINAL SCOREBOARD

If everything Robertson accused these employees of had been true, they should all be in jail right now, and they certainly wouldn't have profited from the actions they took. So, how did things turn out?

Looking at it monetarily, here is the final scoreboard*:

Robertson blew over a half million dollars unsuccessfully
attacking Linspire Employees, who ended up ahead $217,000.

The bottom line is if the employees had just walked away and accepted the two-weeks of severance Robertson originally wanted to pay them, they would be $217,000 worse off, even taking into account the legal fees they had to waste in defending themselves against Robertson's mad-man attacks**.

As for Robertson, had he just accepted the severance the CEO had awarded these employees, he would be $644,000 better off financially, roughly how much money he lost unsuccessfully attacking these employees.

So, what did Robertson get for his $644,000?

• He showed the world what a greedy person and unscrupulous bully he is.
• He showed how dishonest he is. Had what he said been true, these employees should be in jail, and certainly not $217,000 better off.
• He inspired and brought attention to the Freespire.com website to make sure the world will forever know what he's really like.
• He wasted countless hours with his lawyers and in the courtroom, suffering costly and embarrassing losses again and again, time that could have been spent running his seemingly anemic businesses.
• He helped make his lawyers rich.
• He was called out for possible fraud by his bank.
• He is being investigated for possible insurance fraud, a criminal offense for which one can serve jail time if found guilty.
• He put a spotlight on the fact that after nearly FOUR YEARS, he still has not made an accounting to the 100 or so Linspire shareholders as to the millions of dollars that went missing.

Don't you wish you had $644,000 to waste like that? But, we all know what they say about a fool and his money.

The Jury did find myself and the CFO liable for fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. (UPDATE:  Judge Taylor even ended up vacating and setting aside this small judgement.  Read details here.) I know that sounds very sinister, and Robertson will want to spin it into sounding that way, but it's not. Keep in mind this was a civil trial, so there was nothing criminal about any of this. That is the normal terminology commonly used for civil cases, and it wasn't the jury who chose to use those terms. So, what did the jury mean by "fraud" and "conspiracy to commit fraud?" In his final ruling (see page 13), Judge Taylor summarized the jury's findings on those points***, highlighting that all of the funds transferred were authorized, all the employment agreements valid, and that not one penny of money was taken from Linspire inappropriately. Judge Taylor stated that the ONLY portion of Linspire's claim that had "any merit" was that I and the CFO had a fiduciary duty to have informed Robertson when I laid off the CFO (this is what got called by the scary terms fraud and conspiracy). Judge Taylor points out that the jury was fine with my authority in letting the CFO go as well as the severance amount the CFO received and how he received it. Taylor states that the jury simply felt I should have informed Robertson immediately after I laid the CFO off, not a week later. Linspire was awarded $81,333 in damages for that one item, but the employees got to keep the $466,000 in severance they had received. Judge Taylor summarized it this way, "…the jury wanted about a third of Olson's severance pay refunded as a consequence of Carmony and Olson's lack of forthrightness with Linspire's Chairman and majority shareholder." That was it! No theft, no embezzlement, no unauthorized wire transfers, no erasing emails, etc. Robertson laid dozens of charges against six employees, but the ONLY thing the jury sided with Robertson on was this one point of the timing of when I informed Robertson of the CFO being laid off. View full ruling here, summary on page 13.  (UPDATE:  Judge Taylor even ended up vacating and setting aside this small judgement.  Read details here.)

Judge Taylor goes on to explain that Robertson's REAL motive in this case was his ego, "The success enjoyed by Linspire is modest at best. It is plain to the court that Linspire [Robertson] was not 'required to act in the protection of its interests' as it did. Rather, Linspire [Robertson] approached this case as a vehicle for a test of wills as between Robertson and Carmony." (Page 15 of final ruling.)

Keep in mind that Robertson originally wanted the CFO to only get two weeks of severance, so the CFO still ended up much better off, even with the $81,333 awarded. Judge Taylor also pointed out that the CFO was actually due TWO years of severance, but in the spirit of cooperation, the CFO had agreed to take less when he was terminated. Evidence came out at trial that the CFO reported directly to me as CEO and that he was under contract from his Employment Agreement to do so. At the time I laid him off, I had given him specific, written instructions to "stay out of the middle of this and allow me to communicate this with Robertson," so any reasonable person could understand why he didn't inform Robertson that he had just been laid off by the CEO.

Robertson said he was "proud" of his actions. That should tell everyone all they need to know about Michael Robertson. Because I took no severance for myself when I resigned from Linspire, I ended up about 80K in the hole defending Robertson's attacks (my share of legal fees and damages), but it was worth it to stick up for the employees who were being attacked. I'm much more "proud" of having spent $80K helping defend these good employees, than Robertson should be with the $644K he spent falsely attacking them.

The next time Michael Robertson tries to spread lies about these former employees, or anyone else for that matter, please refer them to the final scoreboard. No matter how he tries to spin things, the bottom line is the employees won $217K and he lost $644K. So yes, the truth has finally come out and now everyone knows what those of us involved have known all along, that Robertson is a greedy, unethical, ruthless bully...and a loser.

Kevin

====================================

Footnotes:

*Employee Calculation: Severance awarded to employees by CEO of $466K, less the amount Robertson originally wanted to see these employees get in severance of $29K, less $220K in legal fees and damages suffered by the employees = +$217K.

Robertson Calculation: From court documents showing $426K in legal fees spent by Robertson in the Linspire, Comerica and Federal actions, plus an estimated $100K for the Freespire action, plus $238K awarded the Controller in legal fees, less $120K damage/legal fees awarded = -$644K.

**Like the Controller who was awarded his attorney fees, the other employees could have also sued Robertson for their legal costs, and most would have probably been awarded a judgement for those fees, but they didn't bother, knowing how unethical Roberson is and that even with a judgement, they may have never been able to recover anything from him.

***From Judge Timothy B. Taylor's final ruling: “The court concludes that the only portion of Linspire’s claim that has any merit is the contention that Linspire was required to pursue Carmony on a tort claim because of Olson’s failure to disclose to Robertson that Olson had been terminated, and was required to pursue Olson on a tort claim because of Carmony’s failure to disclose the same fact to Robertson. The court concludes (again, having seen and heard the same evidence as the jury) this is the only reasonable explanation of the jury’s verdicts as to these two defendants. This explanation is consistent with Linspire’s arguments at trial, and remains consistent with its theory today (see Opening Brief filed 12/14/10, section IID4b at pp.5-6). Carmony and Olson both had a fiduciary duty to disclose to Robertson the fact that Olson had been terminated by Carmony even as he was exchanging emails with Robertson giving no inkling of this fact. The amount awarded, $81,333, is about one third of the $240,000 in gross severance the testimony established Olson agreed to take (even though under paragraphs 2a and 3c of Trial Exhibit 28 he was entitled to twice that). In other words, the jury wanted about a third of Olson’s severance pay refunded as a consequence of Carmony and Olson’s lack of forthrightness with Linspire’s Chairman and majority shareholder. The court cannot say that the measure of damages awarded by the jury ($81,333, jointly and severally as to Carmony and Olson) was erroneous.” (View full ruling here, summary on page 13.)

UPDATE:  Judge Taylor even ended up vacating and setting aside the small judgement against the CEO and CFO.  Read details here.

Court Orders Michael Robertson to Pay Former Employee $300,000+

Robertson's attacks continue to backfire. Court orders

him to pay over $300,000 to a former Linspire employee.

For those of you following the case of Michael Robertson's insane attacks on former Linspire employees, you will be interested in the latest development from the court today...

One of the former Linspire employees that Robertson attacked was the Controller. This employee (along with several others) was vindicated of all counts in September. Because the Controller had a contract dispute with Robertson, attorney fees are usually awarded, but of course Robertson fought paying. Today, the court awarded the Controller and his lawyer $215,000 in legal fees and $22,958 in prejudgement interest. The Judge also affirmed the jury's damages judgement of $72,500, to be paid by Robertson (Linspire) to the Controller. This means that Robertson will have to pay over $300,000 to just this one employee for his failed attempts in attacking him in the courts. You can read the ruling here. (This is the tentative ruling which was affirmed in court today by Judge Taylor.)

Three of the other employees who were also fully vindicated in the ruling in September, decided not to go after Robertson for their attorney fees, just wanting to move on with their lives. This means Robertson's false allegations and attacks have left them saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in legal bills. All of this makes one wonder why anyone would want to work for Robertson?

I'm glad the Controller decided to go after Robertson for his baseless attacks and that the court system once again worked. As best as I can estimate, between the damages awarded against Robertson and his own legal bills, he will have wasted well over a half million dollars on his vendetta against these employees. (In an upcoming court motion, we may even learn exactly how much money Robertson has wasted on his lawyers.) What a waste of time, money and energy, but then, I've never know Robertson to be sane and rational in his thinking when it comes to his bruised ego. He spends all this money only to shine a spotlight on what kind of person he really is. Brilliant!

Congrats to the Controller and his lawyer, Greg Goonan (who the judge even referred to as "formidable" in his ruling) on seeing that justice continues to be served against the bully Robertson. It's been over three years since the Controller lost his job at Linspire and Robertson denied him his rightful severance. Today, he finally got justice, well, that's assuming Robertson actually PAYS the court-ordered damages. If he doesn't, of course, I'll let you all know.

Kevin

Jury Vindicates Former Linspire Employees of 3-Years of Attacks by Michael Robertson!

Once again, Michael Robertson's bullying has been put to an end
by the greatest legal system in the world. Yesterday, a jury vindicated
four former Linspire employees who were being wrongly abused and
attacked by Michael Robertson. He knew these employees had
done nothing wrong, but used them as innocent pawns in his attacks.

Many of you who follow my blog do so to keep tabs on the litigious antics and bullying of multi-millionaire Michael Robertson. You also know that I started blogging about Robertson only after he started attacking former Linspire employees who I knew to be honest, good people. I've never had any problem with Robertson disagreeing with me or what I did as CEO for Linspire. It was his attacking these blameless employees that bothered me. Those employees deserved being stood up for as Robertson tried to roll over them.

When asked why he was attacking all these good people, Robertson would say, "Just wait until I get my day in court. You'll see the truth." Well, Robertson not only got his "day" in court, but he got three weeks, and we now do have the truth. Yesterday, after being in the court house for three weeks, the jury returned their verdict. Read on....

Quick Summary of the Case

Three years ago, I was the CEO for Linspire. Michael Robertson had stepped down two years earlier, and had virtually no involvement in the running of the company since. However, after the Linspire employees brought in a VERY profitable year, Robertson suddenly decided he wanted to be involved. He first asked me to have Linspire transfer $1,000,000 to himself and $500,000 to his father-in-law, the two preferred shareholders. I explained to Robertson that he couldn't just take money out of the company like that, and that there were around 100 other shareholders to consider. If he wanted a distribution, the company would need to offer it to ALL shareholders, not just Robertson. I then came up with a stock-buy-back plan which would have gotten his father-in-law the $500,000 Robertson wanted him to get, BUT in a legal, fair and equitable way, taking ALL shareholders into account.

Robertson rejected my stock-buy-back proposals. I believe he realized that the only way he could get his hands on the majority of the money (without having to share any with the other shareholders), was to run the company into the ground, liquidate it, and then he and his father-in-law, as preferred shareholders, would be first in line to get paid from any liquidation proceeds. (Which is exactly what he did, and in ten short months, millions of dollars from the company magically disappeared and the company was sold. To this day, shareholders have been given no accounting as to what happened.)

Robertson next wanted me to lay off several long-term, dedicated Linspire employees with only two weeks of severance (even though they had just turned in an VERY profitable year). I refused and told Robertson I wanted no part in such a selfish act. I told Robertson that I wouldn't come into work the coming week so that he would have plenty of time to fire me, take the CEO position back, and then fire the employees as he saw fit. Robertson never did fire me or any of the employees, but rather, called me a week later insisting I come back to the office and do his dirty work, fire the employees, give them two weeks of severance, and transfer $1.5 million to him and his father-in-law. Again, I refused, this time telling him I would return to work and execute the layoffs, but that I would give the employees a fair and reasonable severance, not the two weeks he wanted. That is exactly what I did. I returned to the office and laid off the employees, giving them what I believed was the correct severance. As came out in court, as the CEO, I did intentionally navigate the situation to prevent Michael from stepping in and harming these employees (for which the Jury awarded some small damages against me). I stand by my authority as CEO to have taken the actions I did, and I am glad to have protected these good employees. When I laid the CFO off, he even agreed to take less in severance than he was due based on his employment agreement, which more than offset the additional severance I awarded the other employees, in essence, saving the company money AND treating the employees fairly.

Robertson, upset by my actions, absolutely refused to talk or meet with me (even after repeated attempts by me to meet with him to explain all that had happened), but instead, set about attacking me and the laid off employees at every possible turn. He did many despicable things to these employees, including filing a lawsuit, accusing the former employees of fraud, conspiracy, etc. simply because they were laid off and given severance by me, the CEO. The complaint asked for $318,000 in damages from the employees. The six employees involved were two VPs, one Team Lead, the Controller, the CFO, and myself (the CEO). The only one Robertson should have gone after was ME. I am more than happy to accept any judgment against me IF I did in fact do anything wrong, but I will never forgive Robertson for having gone after employees HE KNEW did nothing wrong. Dragging them into this was disgusting and shows exactly what kind of person he is.

The Jury's Verdict

As hoped, the jury completely vindicated the employees he dragged into this. As you'll see, they did find me responsible in a few areas and awarded a small amount of damages.

Here is what the jury found...

VP #1 - Not liable on all counts and gets to keep all of his severance.

VP #2 - Not liable on all counts and gets to keep all of her severance.

Team Lead - Not liable on all counts and gets to keep all of his severance.

Controller - Not liable on all counts AND Robertson was ordered to pay him $72,500 in damages. (The controller had an employment agreement for six months of severance which Robertson had previously refused to honor.)

The only thing that went Robertson's way was that I (CEO) and the CFO were found responsible in a few areas, and Linspire was awarded a small amount of damages from us (equivalent to about four months worth of the CFO's severance), but the damages were far from what Robertson wanted so the jury definitely didn't agree fully with Robertson's side of things. I still believe everything I did was within my authority as CEO, and the CFO did absolutely nothing wrong, as he was simply following my directions (which his employment agreement told him to do). So...

CFO - As I mentioned, he had an employment agreement for two years of severance, but Robertson wanted him to get only two weeks, later moving that up to 2.5 months (in trial he requested the CFO get NO severance). The CFO, however, agreed to accept only 12 months of severance when laid off, saving the company the other 12 months of his severance. The jury ruled that the CFO could keep all of his severance, but awarded damages to Linspire which equated to about 4 months of the CFO's severance. (Even though the CFO essentially ended up with 8 months of severance, well above the 2.5 months Robertson wanted him to receive, we are considering a post trial motion given that he had an employment agreement for two years of severance and was terminated without cause.)

CEO - Like the CFO, I too had an employment agreement giving me two years of severance. However, after laying off the employees, I freely resigned and walked away from my severance, wanting nothing more to do with Robertson. The jury found me responsible for the same items as the CFO and ordered that I be joined in those same minor damages.

The Bottom Line

Needless to say, I was THRILLED with the jury's verdict. Robertson attacked these good employees, out of spite, greed and ego, and wound up with essentially nothing but a big pile of legal bills. I have never cared what judgments came to me--I have always been prepared to live with any of the consequences of my decisions as CEO--but to see the employees vindicated was great. It's been a long three years of Robertson attacking these good people and blemishing their reputations. It was nice to see their names cleared.

So, the bottom line? As per the complaint, Robertson wanted to 1) take away ALL the severance from ALL the employees and be awarded $318,000 AND 2) not be forced to pay the Controller his severance of $72,500. After the jury's verdict, Robertson will end up netting only $8,833, all while having spent, I'm sure, hundreds of thousands in legal bills (ouch!) and quite likely being liable for more, since all the employees who were found not having done anything wrong are of course asking the judge for statutory indemnification and legal fees. It's certainly not fair that these faultless employees should have to pay their legal bills for just defending themselves against Robertson's baseless attacks.

Far more important than the financial victory, however, is these former employees have their good names back! Justice was served!

There were a lot of interesting things to come out of the trail such as why Robertson has never told the shareholders what happened to their investment in Linspire, how he feels about common shareholders who he called "second class" from the witness stand, the many despicable measures Robertson took in attacking these former employees, and much more. I will do a follow-up blog with some of these details, but for now, I just wanted to share this wonderful news and take some time to enjoy this favorable outcome.

This is the third loss Robertson has suffered in the courts relating to the layoffs. He lost against his bank Comerica and also against the gripe site Freespire.com. At least his lawyers are doing very well. =)

Thank you's

Thanks to my co-defendants. We have all grown closer together having had to go through this. You have all been wonderful, and as I said, I couldn't be happier for you with the outcome. (Pool party? =)

I want to thank the AMAZING lawyers Gil Cabrera and Greg Goonan who did such a wonderful job at representing us. More important than the outcome, as defendants, we were all so very proud of the way these fine men conducted themselves. There were actually points in their closing arguments that brought many of us to tears, as they advocated for us and the truth. If you ever need a great lawyer, these two are the best!

I want to personally thank all the jury members who had to spend THREE WEEKS of their lives in the court house dealing with this. America has the best legal system in the world, and at the center of it is our jury system. Thank you from me and all the defendants in this case!

I don't know if it's appropriate, but I have to do it, a BIG thanks to Judge Timothy Taylor. I was SO impressed with how he conducted every minute of this case. There was one part where Robertson's lawyer was hammering away at me, trying to make me look guilty because I couldn't find something in a document, but the Judge DID find it and pointed it out. I don't thank him for that, I thank him because he would have done the same for the other side. He is truly a wonderful example of what a smart, fair, and just judge should be. He WAS the smartest man in the room, as it should be.

Lastly, I want to give a special thanks to the many friends and former employees who showed up at the court house to support us these past few weeks! Seeing you there in support was greatly appreciated by me and the other defendants. It was so touching to have received so many emails, not only wishing us all the best, but actually saying you were "praying for us" and that the truth would come out. Thank you from all of us for those prayers. They were answered.

Kevin

Michael Robertson's $20,000,000 Mistake (Almost)

As most of you know, Michael Robertson is continuing his legal attack on some very good people who once worked at Linspire. As part of this legal assault, I have had to produce emails, documents, etc. in discovery. In going through the old emails I had kept, I found one that I thought I would share here.

One day Robertson and I were arguing about how to treat employees. I think employees are the most important asset of a company. Robertson yells and swears at them, tries to make them feel small, gives them crappy severance, and even ends up suing them. During one of these "how do you treat employee" arguments, I was trying to explain to him that the employees I was defending had just brought in millions of dollars in revenues and profits. He would always come back with, "Yes, and that's their job. That's what they get paid to do." He then went on to brag about how "he" got $20M from Microsoft years earlier by forcing them into a rough situation where they had to pay us to change our name.

Oh?

See the email I've pasted below which I had sent to Michael Robertson back in 2002. It's an email that I spent a great deal of time and thought on writing before sending it to Robertson. This email, and my subsequent cajoling of Robertson, would end up being worth $20M to Linspire two years after I wrote it.

"Lindows" had just gotten a favorable ruling in one of the very early rounds of the Microsoft v Lindows trademark case (a full two years before we actually settled). I remember that day very well, as we heard of the ruling right in the middle of a developer's conference that we were holding at the Lindows offices. (I'm sure many of the developers who were at that conference will remember it too, as it was a big victory for Lindows against the giant Microsoft.) After the ruling, Robertson told me that his plan was to try and settle with Microsoft and change our name to ChoicePC. He figured he could get between $100,000 to $250,000 from Microsoft on the heels of this loss for them and that they would now agree to settle. As you'll be able to see in my email to him, I thought that was a bad idea. Much of the press Lindows had been getting was coming FROM the lawsuit. Without that, we were just one of a thousand other Linux distors. We needed something to help us build our brand. To me, that was the name Lindows. I also knew we had little downside but HUGE upside to one day settle for a lot more. Knowing that you can't easily change Robertson's mind (you have to stroke his ego and make him think everything is HIS idea so he can later take the credit), I crafted this well-thought-out email. The next day, after MR had read my email, we met and I continued by tactfully cajoling him. Robertson then agreed with me and decided not to change our name. I remember the sense of relief I felt when he changed his mind. Whew! I'm quite confident that without this email and my cajoling, Robertson would have settled with Microsoft at that time. The rest is history. We continued to milk the press from the name and ultimately took $20M from Microsoft to change our name.

Here's the email.

From: Kevin Carmony [mailto:kevin@lindows.com]
Sent: Friday, March 15, 2002 8:13 PM
To: michael@lindows.com
Subject: Lindows.com

Michael,

First off, congratulations! Not sure if I actually congratulated you on the ruling, so I'll do it now. Not everyone here was as close to the legal proceedings as I was, so they probably don't fully understand how significant your direction in this case was. I was fortunate to have been able to sit in on many of the meetings, calls, e-mails, etc., and to me it was very clear. Many will congratulate our company over this victory, but I sincerely congratulate you personally. Sure, Brobeck has a good team and did some great work (especially Daniel), but I honestly give the bulk of the credit to you. Like you said over dinner, winning doesn't teach you much, but losing does. Lindows.com is the beneficiary of the experience you gained at MP3.com.

As I came back to the office and looked around this place (I was the only one here, everyone was over at the dinner still), and had a minute to think, I have come to the strong opinion that we should keep using the "Lindows" name. I suppose the argument can be made to make the change if MS comes back with a quick settlement, but something tells me they won't, and to be honest, I hope they don't and that we decide to stick with the Lindows name. Let me give you a few reasons why I feel this way...

1. Dvorak said it best, "Lindows has a name that in itself is genius." Two names have put this company squarely on the map: "Michael Robertson" and "Lindows." It was a brilliant move then, and I believe still is, for all the same reasons it was "genius" back then and now even more reasons.

2. Yes, ChoicePC is a very good name as well, BUT it doesn't have the history that "Lindows" now has. I believe the name "Lindows" now stands for much more than when we started (Linux + Windows). It now also stands for not being afraid of taking on MS, it now stands for victory, it now stands for the days of MS always getting there way are numbered. Every army needs a banner, an ensign to rally around..."Lindows" I believe has become that ensign...I'd hate to lose it.

3. Today's victory was felt by so many...you, me, Brobeck...but far more important...our employees, our customers, our Insiders, our supporters, investors, the press, fans, etc. I would feel that if we abandon the name now, in a way we're abandoning them and all the trust they've put in you to fight this fight. What will Dvorak think? What will our Insiders think? What will our employees think? So many people have felt a stake in this fight (you heard the cheers during your toast tonight), I don't want to lose their ardent support. "Lindows" has become the icon of our fight, to bring choice to MS's monopoly. I think it would be a mistake to walk away from that now.

4. I agree we need to focus on making a great product and not fighting legal battles. I believe we've proven we can do this. Our engineering team continues to plow forward, regardless of any legal entanglements. I don't see this a dilution of engineering, but rather a HUGE boost to marketing. I believe we have been handed the best pre-branded name we could possibly have, and it will take much to replace that. Sure, we could work to brand ChoicePC so that everyone comes to know the name...but will the name bring up the same emotions? David V Goliath has served us well in these early days, and I believe there is still steam in that model.

5. We can still introduce the concept of a "ChoicePC" without abandoning Lindows.com or LindowsOS. A "ChoicePC" is one running LindowsOS and shopping at the Lindows.com warehouse. We can gradually brand "choice" while keeping our Lindows banner flying proudly.

6. Lindows has been through the battle and come out victorious (yes, I know this could change, but given such a strong opinion on the PI, I'm feeling confident we will remain victorious.) This battle and victory has injected something into the Lindows name that only another lawsuit could put into ChoicePC. I fear any other lawsuits will be longer fought and perhaps not easily won. We should take this first win and wear it as a badge of honor and courage. As you say, we didn't run when the bully picked on us the first day of school...let's not let MS ever forget that!

7. Finally, I'm exceptionally proud to be associated with this company, and I know all the employees here feel the same way. Lindows is now such a huge part of that pride and our legacy...I don't want to walk away from that. I bet if you took a vote of our employees, 100% would agree. Even if it's not the logical thing to do, it IS the emotional one...and emotions are a powerful thing when trying to get employees to love a company.

You instinctively KNEW that "Lindows" was the right name when we started, just like MP3.com was the right name. My instincts are screaming to me it is even a more brilliant name now.

Just wanted to share my insight as you consider this decision.

Congratulations again! I hope you take some time to cherish the moment...not many can say the took on MS and won.

Kevin

Just wanted to make sure Robertson doesn't try re-writing history. Robertson likes taking the good ideas from employees (read this for example), but then treats them poorly, like pawns in his little world. Just ask most of those who have had the misfortune of having worked for him (or been sued by him).

Kevin

Nearly Two Years and Michael Robertson Remains Silent to Linspire Shareholders

Michael Robertson still not talking to shareholders.

It's been nearly two years since Michael Robertson sold Linspire to Xandros without any shareholder input. To this day, Robertson has never held a shareholder meeting or sent any communication to the one hundred or so Linspire shareholders with the details about that transaction.

It took a shareholder lawsuit (which Robertson unsuccessfully tried to thwart) for Robertson to finally come up with any information. After a year and a half, that case was finally settled. Here is what was disclosed from that settlement:

Kevin La Rue 7:36am March 11th, 2010

Dear Fellow Stockholder of Digital Cornerstone (formerly known as Linspire, Inc.),

As you may know, in October 2008, I initiated a lawsuit as a shareholder of Linspire relating to actions taken by Michael Robertson and Larry Kettler in operating Linspire and their mismanagement of the company. I have settled this matter, receiving no money from Linspire personally, but required that a condition of settlement be that I be allowed to disclose to the other shareholders the information I learned during the litigation about what happened to the company’s assets.

Specifically, under the terms of the settlement agreement, I have been authorized to disclose to the shareholders of Linspire how Linspire’s funds were used by category, how much cash Linspire had at the time its assets were sold to Xandros, and a specific accounting of distributions to Linspire’s shareholders or shareholder related entities. It is important to note that the settlement specifically states that this disclosure I am making is not made on behalf of Linspire, Michael Robertson or Larry Kettler.

Based on the information I received during the course of the litigation, below is the disclosure I have been authorized and am able to make to each of you:

As of July 31, 2007, Linspire had $3,802,531.20 of cash on hand. As of June 30, 2008, when Linspire sold substantially all of its non-cash assets to Xandros, Inc., Linspire had $1,077,952.58.

Between June 2007 and June 2008, Linspire expended: $286,329.96 on its data center.

Between July 2007 and July 2008, Linspire expended: $1,629,907.06 in payroll expenses.

Between June 2007 and June 2008, Linspire paid Ajax13, a company related to Michael Robertson, $180,000.00 for a licensing fee for certain software Linspire was allegedly using.

In September 2008, Linspire transferred $600,000.00 to “SKL Trust, Michael Robertson” for “MP3Tunes Pmt.”

Finally, Xandros acquired Linspire for 4,098,360 shares of Xandros (a privately held company). I was unable to verify the valuation of those shares or to obtain who or what entity currently owns these Xandros shares.

I have tried to send this information to all the shareholders of whom I am aware and for which I have a method to contact them (via email addresses or social media services). To the extent you know any other Linspire shareholders, please feel free to forward this to them for their information.

Yours,

Carl Kevin La Rue

It would appear this is the best the Linspire shareholders can hope for. No shareholder meeting. No detailed explanation. In fact, you'll notice one of the terms of the settlement was that the disclosure was NOT made "on behalf of Robertson," who is clearly doing everything possible to avoid any accounting to Shareholders.

I'm sure the Linspire common shareholders would still like to know:

What was the valuation of the Xandros stock? Who holds that stock now? (Presumably Robertson took this as the preferred shareholder.)

What in the world did Linspire need from Ajax13 to warrant a $180K payment to this Robertson-owned company? As the former CEO for Linspire, I can't think of a single thing that Ajax13 had which Linspire needed, but I can certainly see Ajax13 needing Linspire's cash.

It appears that Robertson forced Linspire into liquidation so he could take the $600K (and presumably all the Xandros stock), and yet has kept the company going to attack former employees. The 100 some-odd shareholders still hold stock in Digital Corner Stone, Inc., and that company has lawsuits going on, attacking former employees and trying to shut down Freespire.com. I still own shares of that business. I don't want to see them attacking good people. To this day, Robertson is using Digital Cornerstone to attack Theresa, Cliff, Randy, and others, forcing them to each spend thousands in legal bills defending their good names.

I have no problem with Robertson as a preferred shareholder getting what is rightfully his due. What I DO have a problem with is 1) him doing everything he did without sharing any information to shareholders for years, and 2) him transferring the assets out of the company as some "liquidation," and then keeping the company going so that Robertson can attack good, honest people.

Michael acts as if because he put up millions, he's the only one who deserves to be treated with any fairness or respect in the Linspire failure. He gives no credit to the 100 or so shareholders who wrote checks to buy shares in the company and exercise stock options, or the employees who worked countless, dedicated hours. When I left there, the team of employees left the company profitable with millions in the bank. How are they rewarded? With legal attacks. The $600K Robertson took was only made possible because of the work those employees did. You could take all the salaries from all the employees he is attacking, for the entire time they worked at Linspire, and it would not equal the revenue these employees brought in to Linspire in their last year there alone. Way to "take care of the peeps" Robertson.

Not long ago, I emailed Michael and offered to take down Freespire.com and even purge all my blogs about him if he would back off his legal attacks against these good people. Robertson declined my offer and to this day continues his attacks.

Even if what he did was technically proper, the way he has treated shareholders and employees is unethical and wrong. That's what I have a problem with.

Kevin

Michael Robertson Loses in the Court of Public Opinion

I found an interesting website a few months back called On The Jury (www.onthejury.com). The site basically lets Internet users read about a "case" and vote Guilty or Not Guilty. I thought it would be fun to try it out, so I made a post about how Michael Robertson filed police reports against several Linspire employees calling them all embezzlers. I wanted to see how hundreds of Internet users would "rule" on this matter.

I posted the case in November of last year, and as of today, 204 people had voted in the case. The results were pretty interesting (although, not at all surprising to me). Hardly anyone agreed with Roberton's claims.

Click on the below image to enlarge, read Robertson's case against me, and then see the "verdict."

98% of Internet Users found me "Not Guilty."

Only 2% of the public jury agreed with Michael Robertson, who accused employees of "embezzlement" because they received severance payments from the me, the CEO, when they were laid off.

Of course, Robertson lost in a "real" court over this issue as well. Click here to read how Judge Meyer ruled against Robertson, not even letting his bogus allegations get past summary judgment.

If you ever decide to go to work for Michael Robertson, make sure you have a good lawyer, you could very well need one. The fact that he could try to have some of his very best employees arrested for having received severance tells you just how greedy he is.

Kevin

Court Hands Michael Robertson Yet Another Loss, Ruling Supports Former Linspire Employees

Several months back, Michael Robertson* and then-Linspire CEO, Larry Kettler, sued Linspire's bank, Comerica. The court has now ruled in the matter. The case was so absurd that not only did Robertson lose the case, but it was kicked out in summary judgment. That means the judge felt Robertson was so clearly in the wrong that it wasn't worth the bother of a trial, and the Judge refused to let Robertson's lawsuit proceed. This is yet another victory for truth and justice and stands as further evidence that Robertson's attacks on former employees were unfounded. (Here is a copy of the ruling. This was the tentative ruling which the judge confirmed as the final ruling during the hearing.)

Does Anyone Believe Michael Robertson Anymore?

So, why did Robertson sue his own bank?

To answer that, let me fill in some more of the story surrounding my departure as CEO for Linspire...

When I was CEO, I decided to make some shifts in the company's product line strategy which required letting some employees go. These were wonderful, hard-working, committed, trusted, long-term employees, most having worked for Linspire for around five years. These had been some of the most key individuals for Linspire over the years, including our lead OS engineer, the Director of the OS, and other employees and executives.

It was unfortunate that we needed to let these good people go, and I felt the least we could do was give them fair and reasonable severance to ease the blow. After all, it was these very same employees who had just helped Linspire turn in an extremely profitable year. Their good work had allowed us to pay off all of our debt and still have millions of dollars in the bank (which some shareholders believe Robertson took and/or squandered). At a minimum, I felt it only fair to use a very small portion of that year's profits to pay them a respectful severance. I wanted to treat these employees with respect and fairness. I knew by treating these long-time employees fairly, they would be happy to continue to help us if called upon (as departing employees so often are).

That's how I felt anyway. Michael Robertson, however, being the greedy man that he is, originally wanted to see these good people terminated with only two weeks severance. After a week of arm twisting, he suggested slightly more, but still less than I felt what was appropriate.

Fortunately for these employees however, Robertson had no operational or executive role at Linspire (he played absolutely no role in the huge profits we brought in that year), and it was up to me as the CEO to set the severance amounts for any laid-off employees. So, contrary to Michael's suggestion, I laid the employees off with the reasonable severance amounts I felt were appropriate, totaling only a few percentage points of the huge revenue and profits these employees had brought in that year. Prior to every action I took, I consulted with outside counsel to ensure that everything I did was proper and within the scope of my authority.

In less than 24 hours from when I had laid off the employees, I received this email from Robertson:

KC,

Do not do your proposed reduction in force. Please focus all of you energies on getting the new products to market at this time.

-- mr

Translated, I took that to mean: "Hey, before we stick the knife in these employees' backs and fire them with a few measly weeks of severance, let's abuse them one last time. Don't tell them anything about the pending layoffs just yet, but rather, keep them slaving away for a few more days until we get CNR.com and the new version of Linspire out and THEN you can fire them."

When I read this I became so infuriated at the level of greed Robertson had, that I decided to resigned, and sent Robertson this email:

Michael (Chairman of the Board),

I hereby offer my resignation, effective immediately.

After six years of quality service as President, and two years of having also been CEO, it is apparent that you are no longer willing to let me function in ways I see best for the company. Since closing on [recent lucrative deals], you have tried to challenge me and my authority as CEO and attempted to override my judgment with decisions which I do not believe to be in the best interest of the company and its shareholders.

To facilitate a smooth transition, please contact me as soon as possible so we can discuss and coordinate how to best message my resignation to employees, customers, the press, [partners], etc.

Thanks,

Kevin Carmony
President & CEO, Linspire, Inc.

I further told Michael that I didn't want one dime in severance for myself. I just wanted to be done with Robertson's greed, rants and unethical tactics and move on.

Michael replied and immediately accepted my resignation. However, he never did meet with me. Instead of coordinating with me a successful course of transition for Linspire with customers, employees, and partners, Robertson set about a maniacal plan to do all he could to take away the severance payments given to these good employees. He tried to reverse the severance payments, but of course the employee's banks refused. He then did the unthinkable. He filed a false report with the San Diego police department claiming that the money I, as CEO, had given these good employees as severance had been embezzled by them! Who does something that insane?!? Because he wasn't happy with my decision as CEO about their severance payments, he calls them all embezzlers???

Fortunately, seeing the nonsense in his claims, the police department didn't even open a file up on the case and dismissed it out of hand. However, that didn't stop Robertson from continuing to call these good employees embezzlers, even to this day. For example, Robertson, still calling these employees embezzlers, had false reports filed with the IRS to try and keep the portions of the severance payments which had been withheld for taxes. (The IRS met with all the employees and had them each file a 3949-A fraud report against Linspire, which they each did). Linspire also called these employees embezzlers to try and deny some of their unemployment claims. (They lost on all those attempts as well.)

Michael Robertson ran these employee's names through the mud and did everything he could to get his greedy hands on the employees severance, but alas, to no avail. Two of the employees even offered to give back their well-deserved severance, and Robertson told them it wouldn't be necessary, and yet he continues to this day to call them part of a "criminal conspiracy" to embezzle money from Linspire.

Michael Robertson Sues His Bank

After losing his bogus claims with the San Diego police department, the IRS, and the unemployment office, Robertson decided to sue his bank, Comerica, trying to get the bank to reimburse him for the severance payments, claiming that I was not authorized to wire these to the employees.

So, yet again, Robertson dragged out his ridiculous claims that these severance payments were embezzlement. Even though I was the CEO, and the payments were authorized by me, Robertson claimed that no one but he had real authority to make these severance payments. Not the CEO, CFO, Controller, etc., no one but him. The rest of us were all just embezzlers.

Judge Dismisses Robertson's Case in Summary Judgement

Comerica, also realizing how ridiculous Robertson's claims were, and knowing they were certainly in no way responsible for sending payments instructed by the CEO, filed a motion for summary judgment to have the case dismissed. In other words, they asked the Judge to rule that the case was so groundless, that he kick it out of court and not waste any more of the courts time.

Judge Meyer Rules Robertson's Statements as "Irrelevant."

I attended the hearing which lasted only about a half hour, at which the Judge granted Comerica's motion and disposed of the case in Comerica's favor.

Here are a couple of excerpts from Judge Meyer's ruling:

"Carmony was plaintiff's President and CEO at the time the payment orders were made. Long was plaintiff's Controller. Undoubtedly, both were agents of Plaintiff Linspire, Inc., and were acting within the scope of their agency."

"[The] implied powers of a general agent or manager are very broad, embracing authority to do all acts customarily connected with the business in which he is engaged....An agent has authority: 1. To do everything necessary or proper and usual, in the ordinary course of business, for effecting the purpose of his agency..."

"[Carmony and Long] had actual and apparent authority to cause the payment orders to be issued in plaintiff's name."

At one point during the trial, the Judge seemed frustrated with Robertson's lawyer, and asked him:

"Carmony's the CEO, and Long is the controller! How can there not be authority?"

"Well, I'm not sure I understand. Carmony's the CEO and Long's the controller, and they were at the time of these transactions. How can there be any factual dispute as to whether or not they were authorized agents of Linspire?"

The judge's ruling correctly confirms that I, as CEO, had the authority to wire these employees their severance payments. Sadly, even with a judge saying all this in an open-court ruling, I'm sure Robertson will continue with his false embezzlement allegations against these good employees, showing just what kind of unethical person he is.

Judge Further Rules Robertson's Statements as "Irrelevant"

As part of their "evidence" against Comerica, Linspire included a declaration from Robertson. Filled with nonsense and misstatements, Robertson basically rants that he was the one with the authority, not the CEO. He claims this because I and the laid off employees were all just a bunch of embezzlers. Never one to let the truth get in the way of a good story or lawsuit, he attempted to re-cast layoffs, private executive meetings, and severance payments as some kind of sinister plot carried out by a group of conspiring embezzlers, continually using such words as "secret meetings" and "unauthorized wire transfers" to describe regular business affairs.

Here is what the Judge had to say about Robertson's declaration:

"Because virtually all of the substantive statements made in Mr. Robertson's declaration are irrelevant, the Court declines to issue individual rulings on each discrete objection."

In other words, I was the CEO, wiring the severance payments was authorized, and Robertson just needs to get over it and deal with those facts.

I had told Robertson on numerous occasions and in emails that if he disagreed with how I was running the company, that there were steps shareholders can take to remove a CEO. Those steps were never taken, so I had full authority to give these employees severance, even though Robertson wanted to give them paltry severance for their years of hard work.

Our CFO had an employment agreement guaranteeing him two-years of severance should he ever be terminated. I amended that agreement some time ago, all by myself, without any board approval, and removed the 2-year severance commitment. Interestingly, Robertson claims that I didn't have authority to grant severance payments. If this were true, then I certainly wouldn't have had authority to amended our CFO's employment agreement. Perhaps the CFO should sue Linspire to receive those two years of severance?

Greedy Robertson

Even if Robertson was legally in the right here (which the court has ruled he wasn't), it would still show how greedy he is and how he treats employees. Regardless of court rulings, the fact remains that Robertson wanted to treat these employees poorly, and when I refused to do that, he calls them thieves and embezzlers to get back at me and them. Does it get any lower than that?

Robertson "said" he wanted to only give them the smaller severance so that he could keep as much money in the company as possible for it to succeed. Hmmmm...how did that work out for everyone? In just a few months after I left, Linspire was gone and the shareholders have yet to be told anything. Robertson said he didn't want the employees to get more money, and so who ultimately would have gotten the money if I hadn't paid these employees severance? Robertson! It was very transparent to me then, and remains so today, that Robertson wanted as much money for himself as possible. I believe his greed is pretty evident and should give anyone pause before ever working for him. (If you should ever find yourself considering going to work for Robertson, email me for a list of dozens of former employees you can speak with first about Robertson.)

It was pretty ridiculous for Robertson to think that the bank would pay him money just because he disagreed with the severance amounts I, as CEO of the corporation paid. It gives you an idea as to the alternate reality Robertson lives in.

Rather than running around suing people, perhaps he should just focus on actually building something. I've never sued anyone in my entire life. Have you?

Kevin

*Note: As far as anyone knows (since Robertson isn't talking to shareholders we can't be certain), Michael Robertson is the only employee at Linspire, now called Digital Cornerstone, Inc. So, when Linspire/Digital Cornerstone sues someone, it's Robertson doing the suing.

My Video Interview with Chris Pirillo about Linspire's Last Days

I've known Chris Pirillo for several years, and he's one of only a handful of people I follow on Twitter because he's ALWAYS got his pulse on the latest, coolest stuff. In following my blog, he was surprised to learn about some of the "weird stuff" that was going on with Linspire, so he invited me to his live chat room for an Interview. I tried to be as candid as possible with my perspective as to how Linspire came to an end.

Chris posted the interview in two parts...

PART 1 - Part one ended abruptly when there was a technical glitch that blew our connection up momentarily.

http://chris.pirillo.com/2008/07/03/kevin-carmony-interview-part-1/



PART 2 - Q & A - Part two was a very informal Q & A with some of the people in his chat room. You can tell I was more informal and relaxed during this part, as I end up rocking in my comfy office chair for most of this section. =)

http://chris.pirillo.com/2008/07/03/kevin-carmony-questions-and-answers/



Kevin

Truth is Treason in the Empire of Lies

After failing to get any response from Linspire as to why they are not holding annual shareholder meetings, I asked them publicly to do so in my last blog, in a hopes that pressure from customers, partners and shareholders would encourage them to do the right thing. I hold a fairly large amount of Linspire stock, but I remain in a minority position with about 100 other shareholders. Not only has Linspire not held a shareholders meeting, but to this day, they have not even responded to my inquiries with so much as a "we'll get back to you on that." Their lack of responsiveness only heightens my concern with Linspire's present management and the company's future prospects.

During the discussion that took place in the thread of my last blog, someone quoted Ron Paul's statement "Truth is treason in the Empire of Lies." I don't believe this quote was originated by Ron Paul, but it was recently popularized by him in his book The Revolution: A Manifesto. I found this quote very profound in light of my experiences over the last 8 months since resigning from Linspire. The message conveyed in this quote has pushed me over the edge to start the process of going public with details and facts about Michael Robertson, Larry Kettler, and Linspire since my resignation there.

I resigned from Linspire on July 31, 2007. On that day I believed Linspire still had a promising future, so much so in fact, that I personally tried to put together a multi-million dollar acquisition of the company within days of my resignation. To this day, that offer remains unanswered by Michael Robertson. I find it incompetent for Linspire's management to have not even responded to this Bona Fide offer, and I'm confident, had the offer been accepted, that I, Linspire customers, desktop Linux, and the other Linspire shareholders would be in a much better place today.

When I resigned from Linspire, my intentions were, of course, given my large number of Linspire shares, to do everything I could to help Linspire succeed. Unfortunately, in the eight months following my resignation, I have witnessed some of the worst management decisions I have seen in my 25+ years as a business professional. Actions taken by Linspire's Chairman, Michael Robertson, and their CEO, Larry Kettler, are, in my opinion, destroying the company. Not only do I feel that Linspire's current management is squandering Linspire's assets, but soon after my resignation, Michael Robertson as Chairman, and Larry Kettler as CEO, levied criminal allegations against six past Linspire employees: the CEO, CFO, Controller, two Vice Presidents, and the OS Team Lead. This group constituted two thirds of Linspire's then management team.

I resigned from Linspire, but the other five employees were laid off in good standing, with four to twelve months of severance for their many years of committed, quality work, culminating in a very profitable year. These employees who were laid off had worked for many years at Linspire, most from nearly the very beginning, six years ago. Some had employment agreements. I would hire any one of these employees today, and am honored to count them among my friends. They are some of the best people I know. Honest, smart, hard-working people of high character and morals. Fortunately, all of these employees have moved on to exciting futures and opportunities, and for those companies who now employ some of them, they will be blessed by these employee's talents and integrity.

Michael Robertson and Larry Kettler levied their criminal allegations at these six people in an unsuccessful, greedy attempt to retrieve the severance payments made to the five employees who had been laid off by me, the CEO, duly appointed by Linspire's Board of Directors. I had always, as CEO, made the decisions as to hiring, firing and severance amounts. (I never asked for, or received, any severance from Linspire since I willfully resigned, yet I too was named in their allegations.)

For the six individuals wrongly accused by Linspire, it has been difficult to try and individually find everyone who has been told of these accusations and tell the full story to clear our names. Indeed, "truth is treason" to those who have only heard one side of the story from "the Empire of Lies." It is time to go public with ALL the true facts.

As a shareholder, seeing Linspire's new management making what I believe are destructive decisions, gives me great concern and reason to suggest changes should be made. Likewise, as a friend and associate with these five good people, seeing Linspire's management trying to destroy their good names and reputations, is not something I can stand by and not publicly defend.

As hard as I have tried over the past 8 months to keep the full story private, Linspire management insists on continuing to spread their allegations, and I can no longer remain silent.

I am working on Part II of this blog which will outline the facts as to what Linspire has done since my resignation. The goal with this document will be threefold:

1. Make the argument to Linspire partners, customers and shareholders that Michael Robertson should resign or be forced to step down as Chairman from Linspire, as should Larry Kettler as CEO. I believe the actions of these two individuals over the past 8 months are destroying the company and squandering the assets of the corporation. I believe a change needs to be made immediately, before all the assets of the corporation are depleted. Linspire still has a bright future, IF a new Chairman and CEO are put into place quickly. I have a plan that I believe could turn Linspire around and make it once again profitable very quickly, but that plan would not be possible with Michael Robertson and Larry Kettler still at Linspire. Michael holds controlling shares of Linspire, so it's unlikely he would step down as Chairman without pressure from Linspire customers, partners and shareholders, or a class action law suit by the minority shareholders.

2. Defend the good name of the six former employees accused of criminal activity by Linspire by sharing facts and evidence as to the false nature of these claims. Linspire has spread their allegations to numerous individuals, government agencies, former and current Linspire employees, and others. I will present the facts, and each can judge for themselves if these allegations are, as I believe them to be, false and slanderous. It is my hope that just by publishing the facts, it will be sufficient to clear the name and reputation of the good people involved. As a means of clearing their names, there needs to be a published document, with the facts on record, that those who have been accused can point people to who have heard the allegations.

3. Let facts come to light about Michael Robertson. Many people "know of" Michael Robertson, but only a small percentage of those people actually "know" him personally. I have known Michael for ten years and worked closely with Michael Robertson for six, and I have witnessed first-hand events which bring insight into his ethics, morals, beliefs, and management style. I have seen first hand how he interacts with customers, partners, shareholders, and employees, as well as his family and friends. Michael holds financial power over many of the people who know him, and he has a understandable reputation as being litigious, so it's rare that someone will share facts as to his true nature. Michael holds no such power over me, and I'm not one to be intimidated by a lawsuit if I know I'm in the right and speaking the truth with facts, backed up by tangible evidence and witness collaboration. In the past several years I have often found myself questioning Michael's character, but his actions in the past eight months I personally find to be reprehensible, and it may be helpful for others to know the same truths I know, and judge for themselves if this is someone they want to be involved with.

One time Michael Robertson wrote a "Facts Sheet" about Bill Gates, which he publicly published and even had his employees (most were quite embarrassed to do so) pass out to audience members attending a meeting where Bill Gates was speaking. Since Michael felt it was important for everyone to know some facts about Bill Gates, I'm sure he won't find objection to me sharing some facts about himself and Linspire, allowing others to then decide for themselves how to interpret those facts.

I see Linspire failing, customers being ignored, and good people being wrongly accused. I've tried to obtain information directly from Linspire and have been unsuccessful, so going public with facts to customers, partners and shareholders is the only action I see to try and reverse this unfortunate trend.

What I have shared here is but the tip of the iceberg. The full story includes facts that lead me to believe Linspire has attempted to defraud a federally-insured bank, filed false documents with the IRS, knowingly filed a false report with the San Diego Police Department, and perpetrated deceit upon other federal and state government agencies. Look for my Linspire "facts sheet" and story in Part II of this blog in the near future.

Kevin