This series on the way Metals Investor Forum is scamming everybody left, right and centre is best presented in several posts, the tangled web of greed, lies and deceit is best approached subject by subject. Today we go with Scott Gibson, the man who learned everything he knows from Rick Rule and the person behind Kitco Gibson Capital Corp and Beneath The Surface Capital Corp. If you find the right link and click it, you get the background:
Kitco Gibson Capital Corp. and Beneath The Surface Capital Corp. are
private investment firms focused on investing in micro- and small-cap
exploration and mine development companies that develop precious metal,
base metal, uranium and rare earth metal properties. We study markets,
identify companies with strong growth potential and invest in them at
strategic junctures with the objective of earning significant returns on
investments.
Incorporated under the laws of British Columbia, Kitco Gibson
Capital is privately held by SG Capital Corporation, a company founded
by Scott Gibson, and Kitco Metals Inc., one of the world’s leading retailers of bullion and a trusted source of metals market information.
Beneath The Surface is solely owned by Scott Gibson and incorporated under the laws of British Columbia.
Scott Gibson is the bankroll of this whole scam, his ill-gotten gains shared among the newsletter writers who pretend there is no conflict at all in what goes on at Gibson Capital, even though they know his M.O. backwards: First Gibson approaches the junior mining company and offers financing. Well in fact that’s way too simplistic, these days his shop is well known and he’s not going to cold call anyone, it’s more like a loose and occasionally lubricated network of influence where go-betweens may suddenly suggest to Junior Exploreco Inc that they could go talk with Gibson if they are looking for funding and market exposure. And offer cash he does; that’s the exploreco lifeline, not small thing and it’s one reason why his business model works. However, that’s not all that comes in the package Gibson offers, because if your company is willing to run that placement on insto-friendly terms for those wanting in (e.g. half warrant is strict minimum) Gibson will indeed pick up a fair percentage of the placement with his own chequebook, but you are also obliged to hire Gibson Capital and/or Beneath The Surface Capital for investor relations activities, for marketing and promotional coverage.
Now, if that sounds remarkably similar to BridgeMark scandal and its service agreements, which were merely fronts for cheque swaps and the slush money scamming uncovered last year by the BCSC, you are not alone in that thought. I wonder where and to whom all that marketing money goes?
Part three tomorrow.