Rossi deception from the record

Mats Lewan quotes Jed Rothwell with apparent approval on page 282 of An Impossible Invention:

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I think Rossi wants people to think he is a fraud.

Looking this up, I read Lewan's report of the September 6, 2012 test for Hydro Fusion (and others), page 243-249. Lewan was an observer at that test, and gives a detailed account of what happened. This account directly contradicts the story that Rossi told IH in his email of September 10 (Rossi v. Darden, amended Answer, Exhibit 12)

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From: eon333(@,libero.it <[email protected]> Date: Monday, September 10, 2012
Subject: I: Fwd: Fw: Our latest on the E-cat: 'Swedish investment in E-cat halted after test'
To: [email protected], [email protected]
Dear Tom,
Mission accomplished.
With this company Hydrofusion we had agreed upon a draft to sell them IP, know how and manufacturing license for Europe but Germany, France and Italy. By our law, if you send a proposal you are engaged to accept if the proposee accepts all the conditions of the proposal. After receiving your last text at the end of August I decided to go ahead with you, therefore I had to get rid of this engagement. The only way out was to invite them to a test, ask them to bring with them their consultant. I made the test abort, maintaining the temperatures below the starting limit. Then I made up some discussions, I said they made a wrong test, they escaped, I am free.
We did not have damages of image, because, knowing what was on the road, I had made before their test a disclaimer, saying that the Hot temperature E-Cat was just a prototype, still under test and validation and subject to modification, thing that I am repeating everywhere. Now I am publishing that I am surprised of all this ado for nothing, since I already said that for the Hot Cat we needed more tests before saying it is a product ready for the market. At this point we can organize with Cherokee a world strategy, since all the other licensees are just commercial: for example in Africa we will have just to pay a royalty to the local agent upon our sale price , but they all are very good and they can sell either energy or plants. Nobody has rights upon the IP, know how, manufacturing and so on.
Warmest Regards, Andrea

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Lewan has about this test, pp. 243-249:
Present were six investor representatives (major investors!) plus the Hydro Fusion team, four people, all heavyweights, including Magnus Holm, CEO, plus a hired researcher from the Technical Research Institute of Sweden, SP, tasked with verifying the measurements.
As soon as Lewan arrives:

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"The instruments say different," Holm said abruptly.

This was not, as Rossi claims, a test where the device simply did not work. Rossi's measurements showed that it worked! Rossi was making a bonehead error, assuming that chopped AC power could be measured by simple meters. According to Lewan, Rossi's input power measurements were off by a factor of two or three, demolishing the excess heat claim.

Requested to have a fuel-free reactor as a control, to be run in parallel, a common device with controls, (same input power to both, trivial to verify), Rossi had provided a useless "welded box."

As to the power problem, "that Rossi refused to accept the issue with the instruments made things worse."

Mats tried to explain to him. Rossi called the person who had designed the control unit (Fabiani?) "who obviously supported him." Against a phalanx of experts, plus Lewan!

"I asked myself if there was any pattern behind this, if Rossi consciously or unconsciously made sure it ended in discord and distrust."

This test was, I'm sure, devastating to Rossi's opportunities for obtaining Swedish investment. Was this a deliberate failure to make XE? If so, why all the fuss about input power? Rossi tried to show that his power measurements were correct by hooking up a 60-watt light bulb and showing that it looked normal. Lewan is totally unimpressed, he explains quite well that this was meaningless.

But Rossi often creates meaningless explanations for things, that some of his followers eagerly accept, repeat to each other as fact, etc.

No, the story that this was a deliberate failure requires an unnecessarily damaging pretense. Pretend to be incompetent, and call it a "masterpiece."

Simply making the test be accurate, showing no heat, would have sufficed completely with his story of "new device, might not work." Though why one would call together such a meeting, with people travelling long distances, including Mats Lewan, when devices are not reliable, would be a huge question, wouldn't it?

No, this was not a deliberate failure. This was an actual failure that Rossi then lies about to try to keep things going with Industrial Heat.

Occam's Razor.

And then if Rossi would lie in that context, supposedly to get out of a commitment that did not actually conflict with what was to be agreed with Industrial Heat (he believed he had Cherokee partners on the hook at that point, I accept that claim of his), would he lie to create a payment of $89 million?

I notice, as well, Rossi acknowledging " I am publishing that I am surprised of all this ado for nothing, ..."

That is classic Rossi! If he was paying attention to what happened in this test, he would not have been surprised at all. He knows, here, that he is creating a public smokescreen with his excuse that the device wasn't ready, which is in radical conflict with Lewan's account.

Planet Rossi might start to realize that if people think Rossi is a fraud, maybe that is what Rossi wants, just as Lewan says, more than once. One of the easiest ways to create people thinking one is a fraud is to lie to them.

I have yet to see Planet Rossi confront this evidence from Rossi v. Darden. They are focused on possible errors in the IH Answer. There may be some. None of them will make any difference. (Unless they are lying and faking evidence. If so, all bets are off. I don't think so. It's a coherent story they tell that matches witness from many people.)

The Answer makes claims that are not necessarily proven. That's standard, just as Rossi made unproven claims in the Complaint. So complaints from Plenet Rossi that IH has not proven their case (therefore Rossi wins!) are simply ignorant.

Quote from Shane D.

HF has always been a mystery. They reported the failed (Hotcat) test in Sept. 2012:

<a href="http://www.e-catworld.com/2012/09/10/nyteknik-reports-on-halted-swedish-investment-in-hydrofusion-following-tests/" class="externalURL" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">e-catworld.com/2012/09/10/nyte…rofusion-following-tests/</a>

Yet they continued on with the licensee relationship...even refusing the buyout offer to come later, as they…

The "Pilot Customer" episode was particularly interesting. Much was said for a while then it dropped off the radar. My suspicion is that customers could easily have been found, but probably not with all the NDA and "rules" that Rossi would have demanded. More likely in my opinion, was that Rossi would not provide a plant. It was too risky. I wonder if anyone here can contact Holm and ask?

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The Energy Mill, Vol. 1, No. 1: Rossi's Big Dream

Hank Mills first essay in the Energy Mills series covers the latest news and developments about Andrea Rossi's E-Cat, and the implications for the future of energy.

You will get a PDF (147KB) file.

$ 0.99

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Quick! Get yours before they sell out!! On e-catworld.news.

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Yes, Lewan said Rossi was insistent that his (rectified average reading volt and ammeters) gave the correct value for power when it is simple math that they over-read by an amount dependent on the "spikiness" of the triac output waveforms, but typically around 2-3.

Ahha... the old "spikey waveform and wrong meter" caper! It's an oldie but goodie, sort of a standard, in the world of free energy fraud.

Shane:

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By all appearances, the 1MW is still a real product for sale in Sweden, with the full backing of Hydrofusion.

What in the world do you mean by a "real product for sale?" It's not a product, it doesn't work, it has never been sold unless you count IH, and what does "backing of Hydrofusion" mean when no product is available? What are they backing? How? The megawatt plant is as much a product as my pink, invisible, flying unicorns and actually, the unicorns are more useful. Have you learned NOTHING after all this time, Shane? Sheesh!

Quote from Alan Smith

If this is correct it is hard to explain the ongoing good relationship between Rossi and the guys in Upsalla. There's another mystery for you.

The Uppsala team was not at the Hydro Fusion demo, and it is unclear how much they have followed news on this. However, Mats was there. I poked him yesterday, because he wrote something that indicated that he doesn't really know what is going on, he's lost it.

http://www.e-catworld.com/2016…eer48/#comment-2857907392

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Mats Lewan • 18 hours ago
I just wish people being convinced by the crap accusations of the MW plant being a fraud would follow this discussion. In detail. And understand. I suppose that they will understand one day, still being confused, but at a higher level.

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Abd Ul-Rahman Lomax Mats Lewan • 14 hours ago
1. You wrote: "I asked myself again if there was any pattern behind this, if Rossi consciously or unconsciously made sure it ended in discord and distrust." (AII, p. 246).
2. You quoted Rothwell as "apt": "I think Rossi wants people to think he's a fraud." (p. 282).

I suggest you read the evidence presented by Industrial Heat. You might look at Exhibit 12, an email from Rossi, in which he describes the Hydro Fusion demo, and compare that with your own experience, which you describe on pp. 243-249. If what Rossi told Darden was true, he caused all of those people, including you, to travel for nothing but his ruse to get out of an agreement. And if it was false, he was lying to them to assure them that there was no problem with the technology.

Rossi filed a lawsuit claiming fraud, where the evidence he alleged for fraud was no evidence of fraud at all (the judge rejected the motion to dismiss around that based on assuming a false claim by Rossi was true, as a judge must do with a motion to dismiss, assume that all the claims are true.) Charged with fraud, Industrial Heat has layers of defense, the strongest being that the Doral plant was not a Guaranteed Performance Test as defined in the Agreement and the Second Amendment, and unless Darden made some mistake that we don't know about -- it wasn't. Rossi has presented no actual evidence that it was (such as the required written agreement to the setting of the test date, or an equivalent clearly agreeing to a GPT, not merely allowing Penon to make some measurements). The second layer of defense is that Rossi did not deliver the technology. And the third layer of defense is to claim that fraud was involved, and some levels of fraud are reasonably apparent.

So calling the fraud allegations "crap" is taking a side in a matter where it's looking like you are not familiar with the evidence. You stopped maintaining the case files on your blog. They are all hosted in one place at https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/g.... To get those files, you will need a yahoo account and then subscribe that account to newvortex at https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/g.... The files are also hosted elsewhere but in dribs and drabs. You will need to read, especially, the amended answer and then relevant exhibits.

The discussion here, on ideas about LENR technology, has *nothing* to do with this!

all the best.

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Mats Lewan Abd Ul-Rahman Lomax • 9 hours ago
Abd,

1. I have looked at IH's 'evidence'. They have all been pulled to pieces here. Waiting for more. Most of it is BTW circumstantial, just hinting at probable fraud. Really weak.
2. And as has been seen in the discussions here, everything hints at a real plant with true engineering reasons for every detail, which a fraudster would NEVER do.
3. Add to that, that people who have insight in the MW report confirm that the only way to challenge it is by claiming fraud (funny IH won't make it public!).
4. Add to that my own experience through these years, and tests that I have assisted.
5. Add to that testimonials that I cannot yet report on.

6. The Rossi/Hydrofusion story is no problem from my horizon (btw proves NOTHING ELSE), knowing all people involved. But I agree that it tells something about Rossi's character (see comment below). Not even sure that what he wrote was actually true, could also be a story made up to explain/cover the failure. How could Rossi possibly have known that the Swedish group would have brought true RMS instruments? Don't think so. Maybe it was premeditated not to reach effective temperature.

Honestly, I wouldn't like to be in IH's shoes.

Won't discuss this more. Have other things to do than worry about people who cannot follow investigations on real facts and move on.

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I may examine this point by point. However, just as to the first comment, again:

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1. I have looked at IH's 'evidence'. They have all been pulled to pieces here. Waiting for more. Most of it is BTW circumstantial, just hinting at probable fraud. Really weak.

He does not address any of the evidence, other than a little on the Hydro Fusion story. "Here" must mean on e-Catworld. Is he reading critical commentary? "All" is not a cautious statement. Most of the commentary on e-Catworld focuses on largely irrelevant and secondary details. Yes, most is circumstantial. However what was the basis for the Rossi claim of IH fraud? Anything substantial or direct? Rossi v. Darden is likely to be decided on circumstantial evidence, leading to a preponderance of the evidence jury conclusion, if it goes to trial.

I see no sign that Lewan understands that what IH claims, aside from the Exhibits, *is* evidence, such as Rossi's claims in the Complaint were considered evidence. Yes, these claims must be introduced in court with sworn testimony, but if Lewan thinks that for the only known major investor in Rossi technology to claim that Rossi defrauded them is "weak," he lost his thinking cap, he should look for it. That's a fact: they claimed fraud. And, given that this has become, with the Answer, a fact, we would think that anyone considering investing in Rossi technology would be well advised to be extremely careful, to watch their wallet.

As the matter stands, unless Rossi shows better evidence, I predict that, if this goes to trial, a jury will decide that Rossi was not defrauded, and that IH owes nothing. The power output at Doral is actually almost irrelevant. As to the fraud counter-claims, a jury may decide that there was fraud. Consider the "customer" issue. Rossi was clearly deceptive, from reviewing his own statements about the Doral plant. Again, if he does not show better evidence, or at least the equal of it, I expect that a jury will find fraud.

Rossi now has, apparently, a stronger legal team, and I expect that some or all of the case will be settled.

Absolutely fascinating!

Mats Lewan seems to be a well rounded individual. Educated and has been around science related activity for some time. I would not consider him a "newbie".

However, how can one account for such a wide difference in perspective from his (along with many others) and Mr. Lomax's (as well as many others) view!

We all have the pretty much the same information. Rossi's long history, the history or the eCat tests, demos, etc., the filed lawsuit and the IH submitted answer.

Yet there is still a wide chasm between the two! I understand that some people, not taking time to read all the known facts or possibly just coming onto the story
and not knowing the history, could be swayed one way (or the other). Some readers may not be well educated in physics or manufacturing and simply accept that
some anonymous post about production in a small ware house seems completely reasonable.

But how can Mr. Lewan take such a firm stance that is at odds with so much. I can understand one not wanting to attack Rossi, or even to leave the remotest
door open. (I do that as a matter of fact as I do not have ALL the facts yet). However I am truly amazed at his response......with one very interesting note...

"5. Add to that testimonials that I cannot yet report on."

Who could this be and why can he not report on it? Why would anyone refuse disclosure if they saw something that they were SURE was the real deal? If they
were not sure and thus did not want their reputation jeopardized, then that testimonial is not as strong. If it is someone from "Rossi's" camp, then certainly the
bias would be at least in question. Same as an IH employee.

Of all Mat's comments, only #4 and #5 are, in my opinion, potentially explosive. I would think Matt had enough experience to at least see the risk of fraud here.
If he truly has unknown testimony from a strong, reliable source, it would be remarkable. However his thoughts about the production plant/customer question
having been reasonably answered is amazingly puzzling! His claim that IH does not make the ERV report public is puzzling as well.

As I have said before and continue to do so... (perhaps Mats reads this blog?)

Mats, contact Rossi and ask him about the production plant. He does not have to give NDA away. Ask him to release the ERV report. If he states
his lawyer will not let him, why do you think IH's lawyers would do any different? Rossi filed the lawsuit... IH answered. IH is innocent until
proven guilty by court of law, not court of "the hurricane blogoshere"! Rossi needs to provide the proof of his accusations against IH, not the
other way around. Why do Rossi supporters not ask these same questions of Rossi?

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But how can Mr. Lewan take such a firm stance that is at odds with so much. I can understand one not wanting to attack Rossi, or even to leave the remotestdoor open. (I do that as a matter of fact as I do not have ALL the facts yet). However I am truly amazed at his response......with one very interesting note...

Lewan is a woowoo. Don't forget, he's the one who incompetently allowed Rossi to get away with not doing calibrations on his first sets of ecat experiments-- experiments which Lewan monitored and approved and wrote about with glowing conclusions. Lewan's book is a charming travelogue, restaurant review, and a compendium of an incredible number of very stupid Rossifictions. There is not one critical bone in Lewan's body. Even after Rossi crashes in flames, Lewan will be wondering what nefarious forces caused it and why they refuse to accept Rossi's tremendous contributions to science and technology.

IH Fanboy

Courts are flaky so it's hard to predict but I fervently hope Darden persists in a countersuit, doesn't settle any part of the original suit and refers Rossi to the appropriate DA for criminal fraud investigations. At that point, I expect Rossi to grab what funds he can lay hands on and flee. Possibly to Italy. Maybe to a non-extradition country though I doubt extradition would be a problem for him. Most prosecutors wouldn't have the time to see that sort of thing through for simply ripping off a few silly investors.

Quote from IH Fanboy

Quote from Abd Ul-Rahman Lomax: “Rossi now has, apparently, a stronger legal team, and I expect that some or all of the case will be settled.”

While settlement is always a possibility, I doubt Rossi will settle, unless from a position of strength. …

When I consider the long history of Rossi, my belief is that he will not settle, but drop the lawsuit!

Rossi has always made big claims. (THH has remarked that to Rossi, dramatic effect is the driving force) And yet, his big claims have ALWAYS been disappointing. Perhaps not completely untrue to the letter, but disappointing.
And many of his biggest claims "fade away into memory", never to be brought up by the supporting crowd. Such as 13 plants sold. Robotized factories that ARE a "magnificenze" (not will be), secret customers,
hot cats and the list goes on.

He has made his biggest claim with the lawsuit. I believe he filed it thinking that he could always bluff his way and if not, simply walk away like he has several times. I personally believe his new
cadre of lawyers will tell him it is not a winning case. He will then try to move on stating that the lawsuit is taking time away from "making production" and that "mass production will convince the world".
His followers will believe it and stamp their approval. The other side will sound their frustration!

The big question is will IH drop the counter suit! This is something Rossi has not came up against in the past. This is the question I am anxious to find out.

Quote from IH Fanboy

Abd Ul-Rahman Lomax wrote:

While settlement is always a possibility, I doubt Rossi will settle, unless from a position of strength. I get the sense that he has the gumption to take it all the way to a jury, if necessary.

He will face one or more Motions for Summary Judgement, I expect. I do not know if this will be before or after discovery, but the basis for rejection of the central MTD on Count 1 is now shown to be conclusory from Rossi, unless Rossi alleges some actual evidence for acceptance of the Doral plant as the Guaranteed Performance Test.

As well, his friends are being taken down. Johnson, Penon, Fabiani. They may also settle independently. The new attorneys may not be anywhere near as naive as Annesser, who obviously did not carefully examine the limited evidence Rossi provided him. Those missing signatures were almost certainly not noticed by him (they could have been fixed!). He could settle without any resolution on heat/no heat, mitigating damage. IH *might* be willing to give up the License.

If they settle soon, the major costs of the discovery process may be avoided.

Quote from Bob

"5. Add to that testimonials that I cannot yet report on."

Lewan stopped being helpful quite a while ago, becoming a conduit for gossip and largely irrelevant information.

I was hoping that he'd get it. Didn't happen. His defense is a classic one, that a "fraud would not go to so much trouble," a variation on "he'd have to be crazy." Lewan has enough information to know that Rossi is not balanced. I don't know how much experience Lewan has with psychology. There are people who are paranoid who can be gregarious, engaging, convincing, and nutty as a fruit cake.

Here, we have no idea about the nature of these "testimonials." He does not state what his conclusions are from them. He's fuzzy. Do they show that Rossi has "real heat"? But that is irrelevant to Rossi v. Darden, unless this was clear testimonial as to what actually happened in Doral (what happened somewhere else would be completely irrelevant). Do they show that IH is part of a massive conspiracy to suppress LENR? He is essentially saying "you are wrong, because I have secret evidence," but, of course, secret evidence would never show what he is attempting to show. He can assert it -- I've seen Jed Rothwell do this -- and an ironic thing here is that Planet Rossi, when Jed did much less recently, was all over him, but they upvote Mats. It's obvious obvious.

This was a discussion about his comment about "crap claims of the megawatt plant being a fraud." But Rossi could have real heat, sometimes and even in Doral, and still have engaged in fraud. Mats, it is obvious, does not understand the issues, but has been sitting back and making occasional clueless comments on e-catworld. He stopped analyzing the situation on his blog, I think realizing that it had gone beyond what he had time for.

Yet he still has strong opinions and expresses them and even argues for them, apparently from a position of ignorance. He does not address the real issues and imagines that a discussion of a proposed $1000 Rossi replication kit could somehow be relevant to Rossi v. Darden. The science there (LENR theory) basically sucks, and shows no awareness of prior work on the issue.

His statement of the "accusations" is not accurate. The IH claim is essentially that the Doral power sale and "test" was fraudulently arranged and conducted whether or not the plant produced power at all.

This drives Planet Rossi crazy. In their thinking, if the plant produced power, Rossi deserved the $89 million, and IH is trying to screw Rossi over. I don't see anyone who could be considered a resident of Planet Rossi actually considering the substance of the case.

Lewan had, indeed, written this (May 16, 2016):

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I should also add that I have been in contact with people with insight into the MW report, that hopefully will get public this summer as part of the lawsuit, and they told me that based on the contents, the only way for IH to claim a COP about 1 (that no heat was produced—COP, Coefficient of Performance, is Output Energy/Input Energy) would be to accuse Penon of having produced a fake report in collaboration with Rossi. Nothing in the report itself seems to give any opportunity for large mistakes, invalidating the claim of a high COP (as opposed to claims by people having talked about the report with persons connected to IH).

He now refers to that prediction. However, this has some problems and he seems to be unaware of them.

1. Jed Rothwell claimed to have seen data from the ERV report, having been leaked, he claimed, on report he believed, by Rossi. He claimed that this evidence indicated fraud or massive error, sloppy work, or the like. Exhibit 5 is a set of questions asked of Penon by Murray. These questions were apparently asked verbally in February, and then formally, in writing, May 25, four days before the release of the Penon report. Penon did not respond. Jed now says that he knew nothing more than what is in Exhibit 5. However, I don't think he is being accurate: he saw a list of results for many days. That is not in Exhibit 5. The point is that someone who saw part of that report, possibly one of the interim reports, or a piece of it, did question the results, showing "opportunity for large mistakes."

2. IH does not claim "a COP of about 1" from the Doral plant. What they actually claim is that Rossi actions made it impossible for them to confirm the results being shown by Penon, and that Penon stonewalled them.

3. IH is then claiming fraud or collusion, going back to, possibly, the original Validation Test. This, again, would not be a claim of "COP = 1." They present circumstantial evidence that the devices don't work, do not produce measurable excess heat (which would be a COP of 1, or actually less, considering uncaptured heat). They keep open and explicitly state the possibility that Rossi has some unrevealed secret (and thus demonstrations might have actual heat). This fraud claim is not the core of their defense; rather, they are allowed to allege that based on weak circumstantial evidence, because perhaps stronger evidence will show up in discovery. However, the evidence isn't particularly weak, it might be enough to convince a jury as it is.

It appears that the customer was fraudulent. If that sticks, the Doral test was effectively fraudulent even if the measurements were accurate. Fabiani was contractually obligated to provide detailed reports. He didn't. Penon would have been obligated to address concerns. He didn't, apparently. Rossi lied at numerous points, about the situation, and that, then, is one of the points made by the Hydro Fusion explanation email. He lies, attempting to manipulate opinion and decisions.

Quote from Abd Ul-Rahman Lomax

Mats Lewan Abd Ul-Rahman Lomax • 9 hours ago
[...]
2. And as has been seen in the discussions here, everything hints at a real plant with true engineering reasons for every detail, which a fraudster would NEVER do.

A set of post-hoc analyses and rationalizations is "hints," indeed. Talk about weak evidence!

And then the argument is an old one, basically that "a fraudster would not do that." Rossi has been playing a game, a complex one, for probably more than a decade. He was in the U.S. attempting to stir up interest as early as 2009. As pointed out by Lewan, his behavior has long been such as to inspire impressions of being a fraud. Lewan has lost balance. There is no such principle, that a fraud cannot be sophisticated. Most frauds will avoid creating suspicion, but not necessarily all. This is not an argument at all, this is Lewan rationalizing his own previous comment, not understanding that it does not even begin to bear on the issue.

Bob:

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He has made his biggest claim with the lawsuit. I believe he filed it thinking that he could always bluff his way and if not, simply walk away like he has several times.

I agree with the rest of your post. But as to Rossi's motivation in filing such a doomed lawsuit, I am puzzled. There may be an element of lunacy to his whole campaign and his mind might not be in very good shape. A sane individual would have taken the illgotten gains and fled. Crookedness and insanity are not mutually exclusive.

Jed:

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I know little about the law, but I do not think Darden can "refer" Rossi to a DA. Only a law enforcement officer can do that. Darden can report what happened to police or the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (NC DPS -- ncdps.gov) but he has no authority to "refer" a case. That is, to compel an investigation or prosecution.

Gads you're literal! Any citizen can bring a case to the attention of a DA or law enforcement (local police, FBI, fraud squads, whatever). In the case of Sniffex, the FBI was notified (not by me though, I simply posted the results of my testing). If the DA is interested, they can refer the complaint to their own investigators or to the police to check out. They want to catch crooks, not avoid them. In Rossi's case, it is my understanding that this sort of referral has already been made by at least two people (individuals) with documentation. And IIRC, one of them had a friend or contact within the regulatory office they contacted. Unfortunately, regulatory agencies and DA's are busy as are police investigators and they prioritize. Rossi's rip off of investors would not have a very high priority IMO.

As for Lewan, he has amply demonstrated that he is a dreadful scientist and engineer when it comes to testing. He wouldn't know excess heat from fraud if it bit him.

As for whether or not Rossi committed fraud, Jed, it could not be more classic fraud as per this "legal" definition:

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The term 'fraud' is generally defined in the law as an intentional misrepresentation of material existing fact made by one person to another with knowledge of its falsity and for the purpose of inducing the other person to act, and upon which the other person relies with resulting injury or damage.

The law can obviously be very complex, but this issue is not. I think a prosecutor could show that Rossi knew his claims were false and that he resisted any proper test of them. I suppose Rossi could claim he was too crazy or lacking in knowledge to know the falsity of his claims. That would be fun!