06/25/2006 12:17 8055842725 ACCOUNTING PAGE 02
Bruce M. Clay
President, Bruce Clay, Inc.
207 W. Los Articles Avenue #277
Moorpark, CA 93021
June 24, 2006
Letter to the Court
In 1998 I went to Court to testify on behalf of John Hathaway-Bates that it was and still is my belief that his ex-wife Hollydee Gadow had irreparably harmed The Business Forum by deleting a unique and valuable data base and backups of that data used to substantially operate the The Business Forum. I was willing to swear under oath that my belief was based upon the fact that only Hollydee Gadow and I had the necessary passwords and security access to access the data base on the Novell Netware network (isolated and secured from the outside world), and I had not had physical access to the computers involved for several months preceding the data loss. The loss was due to the deletion of the data and backups, and not from user error. It was reported to me by Ms. Gadow's personal assistant Beyes Zelaya that she had witnessed Ms. Gadow accessing the computers and utilizing many discs in a manner common to copying data from a computer (clearly unusual and suspect as backups were performed on the file server) while Mr. Hathaway-Bates was out of town moderating a meeting for one of our sponsors.
Awaiting my opportunity to testify (I felt strongly about the harm done to The Business Forum as I was a shareholder), I sat outside the Court from 8:15am until 5:10pm and was not called. When Mr. Hathaway-Bates and his daughter Christina came out of the Court at lunchtime, they explained to me that every time John tried to have me called, Judge Isabelle M. Cohen changed the subject and prevented John from calling me to the stand. I stayed, hoping for an opportunity to speak in the afternoon.
In fact Christina Hathaway-Bates told me that Judge Cohen just did not see the importance of the deliberate destruction of company property and the resultant harm it caused (including the inability of Mr. Hathaway-Bates to continue to make a living with the company) and that the Judge walked down into the Court, after conferring with Holly Gadow and her attorney for the third time privately in her chambers without Mr. Hathaway-Bates, and had told John to "just buy another data base"! Judge Isabelle M. Cohen obviously did not understand that The Business Forum data base (the very best on the West Coast, if not across the world in regards to influential "who's who" Information Technology decision makers), had taken him decades to build and was unique to the point of being a proprietary asset.
It is my belief that Ms. Gadow did deliberately copy this valuable data, then deleted the data base and backups, with the intention of harming Mr. Hathaway-Bates, and in so doing caused permanent harm forcing The Business Forum out of business. Eight people lost their jobs in less than two months! The Business Forum stopped operating in six out of seven States within days and all but completely collapsed financially within six months. Mr. Hathaway-Bates was made homeless within three months -simply because the Judge did not have the business experience to understand the importance of the deliberately destroyed data. Ms. Gadow's actions destroyed the company that John and his partners had spent over sixteen years building! I can understand that she may have been angry at John, but the timing and surgical precision she used to harm the business was certainly not accidental, and her deliberate actions caused financial hardship for everyone involved.
Also, please understand, that when the data base was deleted, and the back up tapes removed, I personally lost more than ten thousand dollars of my investment with The Business Forum, Inc., as did all of the people who had backed John in his unique and successful business venture concentrating on the economy of the Pacific States of America (seven western states). I and many of John's partners and friends have since chosen to pay his rent on numerous occasions due to the difficulty of rebuilding the data base from scraps of paper and mental notes. It is my belief that Judge Cohen's inability to understand the business reality that "the data was the business" and that Mr. Hathaway-Bates was only the spokesperson has harmed a great many people. John's efforts have been recognized by many of the largest corporations in the world as well as Governments and Universities - in fact the first testimonial on the web site http://www.bizforum.org (which I have built and host out of my own pocket) reads "/ commend The Business Forum for once again providing this important opportunity for the exchange of ideas and information." Senator Barbara Boxer - The United States Senate
From holding twelve Forums a month spread over several States for many years, the data base loss forced the business back to holding only one or two forums a month and only in Southern California. It is ironic that John's ability to earn a living was stripped from him by the same person the insensitive and uneducated Judge ordered him to pay support to, at a rate preventing re-investment of the business.
For several years (1998 to 2001), The Business Forum's computer network was regularly subjected to viruses we believe were linked to emails Ms. Gadow sent to John, while she was the IT Solutions Manager for Global Crossing Corporation. I personally spent dozens of hours recovering our computers from these attacks. Once Holly was let go from Global Crossing these problems immediately ceased. I also witnessed a falsified email header (akin to the phishing and fraudulent spam attacks prominent today) that was altered to appear as though it was sent from The Business Forum when there was no such transmission. This email paper copy was entered into evidence against John (and The Business Forum) although the authenticity was highly suspect. If I wanted to, I could create a fake email making anyone look like a terrible person simply be editing some computer text and printing it. It proves nothing, yet was admitted as evidence.
John has suffered beyond any normal person's comprehension as a result of "losing it all", and in my belief it was because Judge Isabella M. Cohen just did not have the experience to understand the concept of The Business Forum, the importance of the data base, the indisputable fact that it was deliberately deleted, and the requisite knowledge to distinguish between a story and the truth. Had I testified I would have provided a great service to the court.
I have been personally harmed, but not as badly as Mr. Hathaway-Bates.
As for the latest hearing where Mr. Hathaway-Bates was accused of being an abusive alcoholic racist by everything that Karen Nakamatsu said - let me state that nothing could be further from the truth. I have known John and his family for more than twenty years and Karen Nakamatsu is absolutely wrong! I understand that there is a strong "Hawaiian Heritage" tie with Ms. Gadow, but allowing this bias to result in an inaccurate and slanted report to the court is unacceptable, and is certainly grounds for re-examination. It is my belief that a fair assessment would only be possible if the court would personally interview and validate the claims and counterclaims, including interviewing the children involved.