[zenman]

So I had an extra hour so I thought I would post about the Broadvoice Shell Game. This is a typical corporate shell where guys use the corporate shields to cut their liability.

At the heart of this shell is three people let's call them the "3 Directors"
FRANK T GANGI
RICHARD GANGI
MICHAEL COUTURE

And the whipping boy
DAVID EPSTEIN

Everythings revolved around MA companies registered Corporations in DE.

The shell goes like this: The main company is GLOBAL NAPS, INC.
It was formed as a Delaware corporation on 09/06/1996. They do Internet backbone stuff.
https://sos-res.state.de.us/tin/GINameSearch.jsp

Their website is http://www.gnaps.com or http://www.globalnaps.com WHOIS was registered in 1996 and the contact info is in MA. There is nothing of interest on that website, just a placeholder.

The "3 Directors" incorporated that company in MA in 1998 and placed themselves as the directors.
http://corp.sec.state.ma.us/corp/cor...earchinput.asp

GlobalNAP (Frank Gangi) acknowledges a lot of voice traffic through their servers
http://www.telecoms-mag.com/default....t5&journalid=3



Now, how are they related to BroadVoice?
BroadVoice says that they are a subsidiary of Convergent Networks.
http://www.broadvoice.com/company.html
They both share the same corporate address in Lowell, MA.
http://www.convergentnet.com/fastfacts.html
http://www.broadvoice.com/company.html


Convergent Networks is said to be a subsidiary of Global NAPs manufacturing affiliate Eastern Photonics.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/102/102448.html
http://www.convergentnet.com/investors.html

Convergent Networks appears to integrate networking gear and have been
since creation in 1998.
Convergent has 3 directors, the "3 Directors".

Eastern Photronics is the shell layer. No website, no physical address, not registered in the state of MA unlike the others, only a mention in press releases related to Convergent Networks. Only registered in the state of DE with a "Registered Agent".
Eastern Photronics is the layer that will go away if Convergent Networks gets into trouble. Eastern Photronics is invisible.



BroadVoice has 3 directors, the "3 Directors" and a new feature a president, David Epstein. BroadVoice was formed a year ago today, May 10. They even misspelled his name in the Corporate application with MA. " Esptein", maybe to protect him or maybe because they are idiots.

So, if Broadvoice goes Belly up, Gobal NAPS is protected. It has three layers of companies in between. David Epstein is hung out to dry, it was probably his idea anyway, and the "3 Directors" will look for another partner to use the voice/data centers which oddly enough are in DCA, LAX, MIA, etc. Those BroadVoice proxies sound familiar.

One more thing, Was it really a Global Crossing issue this week, sounds like Global Crossing is really in bed with BroadVoice (ahem - GlobalNAP).
http://www.globalcrossing.com/xml/ne...tober/19_3.xml


Another thing, "Broadvoice" is a registered trademark with Broadcom for a voice related IP prodict. So Broadvoice can't even trademark their company name and are in fact violation of Broadcom's registered trademark.

IDIOTS, the trademark was applied for in 2002, two years before the company started. (Reg # 2913502)

http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?...ate=r4682h.1.1

Good luck suing Broadvoice to get any damages, Chapter 9 or 11 could be in their future.

If Global Naps was serious about this VOIP they would market it as themselves not three layers away. GlobalNAPS and Broadvoice are the same company/people/management/building.


Broadvoice thanks for the memories.

[JoeMama]

WOW! Best...Conspiracy...Theory...Ever! :mrgreen:

[marcw]

Originally Posted by JoeMama

WOW! Best...Conspiracy...Theory...Ever! :mrgreen:

Actually, it's better than any explanation BV has put forth in the past 8 days...

I am impressed with the homework Zenman has done on the subject of this company. Not ready to jump to the same conclusions but the level of research appears to be quite deep.

[JoeMama]

I wasn't saying anything against what he was saying... just amazed at the depth of the research.

[RickH]

Originally Posted by JoeMama

I wasn't saying anything against what he was saying... just amazed at the depth of the research.

If you weren't talking BS before, you should probably make sure to leave no BS trails behind when you try to change your tune:

Originally Posted by JoeMama

WOW! Best...Conspiracy...Theory...Ever!

Says nothing of his research skills.

Good grief.

R.
==

[JoeMama]

HAHAHA! Sorry pal, but that aint exactly talking "BS", that would be alot worse. I was impressed with what he wrote and im so sorry if my response didnt please you... I will make sure I try harder next time! :roll:

[kaiotes]

here's a reply i got from one of them
*************
Dear Mr. xxx
I personally am very sorry for these problems, and have passed your comments along to the president of BroadVoice, who is also quite disappointed with the situation. We are hoping to make a public statement shortly.

Best regards,
Jonathan Hochman
*********************

words aren't enough actions speaker louder than words

[zenman]

I got the same email.

Ctrl-V

[datarax]

Zenman, You ROCK! The golden nugget post of the day! Thanks.

[trixter]

It is interesting that the diuspute between BV and GBLX appears to be over access charges (thus Epsteins comments about the global nature of the internet) and GNAPs is a CLEC in many states. I find it also interesting that GNAPs has coverage in many states where they use other carriers for local service. Both verisign and GBLX offer CIC termination so you dont have to have gear everywhere, a phone company could use this to complete their coverage and not have to use all these different carriers.

Because of the now year long dispute over what appears to be access charges, their use of multiple carriers to route traffic, and who knows what else, I almost think that at least on some level their corporate structure has to do with funneling money into GNAPs via access charges but not make GNAPs pay them by routing outbound over other carriers.

I could be wrong, and have no real proof of this, but its interesting.

As for the trademark issue with the word broadvoice, if you look you can see that 'broadvoice' as a 'tm' after it on their main page. Maybe they licensed it, they are certainly indicating that it is trademarked, although they dont say by whom. Interesting to say the least.

I will be waiting to see the briefs filed by GBLX since they did say there is litigation pending.