So what if the company went bust, the CEO disappeared, and €100 million is missing? Those damned bloggers should be taken to court!

This is truly one for the "you can't make this shit up" file.

Let's see, the story is only three days old, but we have:

• overnight bankruptcy of IT-Factory, a supposed "best case" company
• suspected embezzlement of €70-130 million by the CEO
• disappearance of CEO on a business trip in Dubai (his board chairman thought he was in New York)
• Hell's Angels involvement (providing "security"; I guess like at Altamont)
• an executive reputedly beaten with a hammer
• a secret office where the CEO allegedly falsified invoices and leasing agreements
• a board chairman who "knew nothing" even though he has been receiving whistleblower emails for a year
• faked MBA and Ph.D.
• an abandoned wife and child.

All of thus just days after Ernst & Young declared IT- Factory CEO, Stein Bagger, "best entrepreneur" in Denmark (supposedly, they want the award back, as the CEO was absconding in the Middle East when they were giving it out in Copenhagen).

And a PR guy way past his "best before" date, Erik Ove, saying "Well, all that may be true, but it's too bad the bloggers who started breaking the story can't be hauled into court, anyway."

No, you can't beat this with a stick.

The story didn't break, but it got an early shove on Dorte Toft's Bizzen blog a couple of weeks ago. She noted that IT-Factory's rise from the ashes (it went bust before, in 2001) was remarkable for a company with no products and only IBM-reseller revenues to live on.

The comments probed further -- or insinuated further -- sparking a lawsuit from IT-Factory. Which, of course, now that the company is bust and the CEO missing, will be dropped.

Still, Erik Ove, the PR adviser, still working for the (vanished) client, puts the blame on the bloggers (in Berlingske Tidende, today).

"Yeah, it looks like the case will be dropped. But it is principal, important issue to resolve what can be allowed on a blog. At the same time, it is important to set guidelines for when and how much a blogger can and should do about comments."

Yeah, blame the messengers. Erik Ove is one of the aging -- and, thankfully, shrinking -- group of Danish PR practitioners who believes all messages can, should and must be controlled -- by court order, if necessary. I have no doubt he would have done well in the Bush Administration.

This scandal is only just breaking. We will hear more about who screwed whom, and the trial of Stein Bagger -- if he is found, and if he is indicted -- should turn out to be public "open heart" surgery for the Danish IT sector.

But I am most interested to learn how Stein Bagger's PR man, Erik Ove, will justify why bloggers should be hung up to dry for starting the break of the story.

Posted by Allan Jenkins on December 3, 2008 at 01:48 AM in Bizarre & Unexpected, Bloggers, Business, Corporate Communication, Corporate Governance, Public Relations, Scams | Permalink

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Comments

Well, at least SOMEONE got beaten with a hammer over this. That doesn't happen nearly enough in the corporate world, in my opinion.

Posted by: Cindy Crescenzo | Dec 3, 2008 2:11:31 AM

Heh, I can think of a few I'd have liked to take a hammer to.

(No, clients, this does not include you)

Posted by: Allan Jenkins | Dec 3, 2008 11:59:29 AM

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