DANA POINT, Calif.,
Aug. 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/
-- Securities lawyer Jehu Hand announced that after trial held
in Orange County California Superior Court, he has obtained a
judgment in case no. 30-2012-00567141 against VitaminSpice
(VTMS.PK) and its Chief Executive Officer Ed Bukstel. The Complaint alleged that
defendants VitaminSpice and Ed
Bukstel libeled Jehu Hand in the press release issued by
them on April 25, 2012. That
widely-disseminated press release alleged that motions filed in the
Federal Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania included documents that allegedly
demonstrated that Jehu Hand and others perpetrated forgeries. The
Complaint further alleges that these and other statements in
VitaminSpice's press release were untrue and defamatory and,
furthermore, that the statements regarding purported forgeries were
expressly contrary to the findings of the Bankruptcy Court.
No evidence was presented by the defendants at trial to support
any allegation of forgery nor to support their contention that the
defendants made the defamatory statements with good faith belief in
their truthfulness. The Court found that the Complaint was
supported by the evidence and awarded the full amount sought of
$74,000 against each of VitaminSpice
and Ed Bukstel.
This judgment follows the dismissal of VitaminSpice and
Bukstel's Third Party Complaint against Mr. Hand which was pending
in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Advanced Multilevel Concept,
Inc. v VitaminSpice, et al., Case No. 11-CV-3718.
That case was dismissed with prejudice.
Mr. Hand stated, "I am pleased to have finally vindicated myself
against the baseless defamation by Mr. Bukstel and VitaminSpice. I
believe that the defamation and the Third Party Complaint, which
was bereft of any factual support, were merely retaliation for
myself and others providing information to the Securities and
Exchange Commission, detailing a 'pump and dump' in
VitaminSpice's stock engaged in by the company. This information
resulted in enforcement action against VitaminSpice as set forth in
SEC Release 34-68948."
SOURCE Jehu Hand