Corrections & Take-Down Request Regarding Firefly/Noosphere/Cupid Article on Snopes and The Verge

OPW - Feb 18 - It seems there was some considerable inaccuracies in the articles by Snopes and The Verge regarding Cupid/Noosphere. Here's the take-down defamation letter we received today, along with the corrections. Listed verbatim, for the record.

We curate the news and simply share what we think is important to CEOs and leaders of Internet dating companies. - Mark Brooks
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We're writing regarding an article you've posted on February 13. It was reposted from The Verge, but the article is based on misleading and biased research prepared by Snopes.

The following "facts", which you have reproduced, are blatantly incorrect:

2013 Cupid plc BBC 'investigation'

• You state "Before swooping in and buying up Firefly's assets, Polyakov had a history with dating sites, according to the Snopes investigation. For years, the Ukrainian businessman ran an online dating company called Cupid that was publicly traded in the UK. In 2013, though, the BBC published an investigation that alleged Cupid "seemed to use fake messages or profiles to entice people to subscribe."
• The link contained within your story is https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-23409947
• You have failed to note that an independent audit by KPMG found no truth to the allegations.
• You have failed to note that the BBC link contained in your article clearly states that the article is "subject to a legal complaint".
• You have failed to verify that Mr Max Polyakov was not connected in any way with Cupid plc in 2013, the time of the alleged activity. This verification would have been very simple to obtain, by checking the publicly available records of Cupid plc at Companies House, which shows Mr Polyakov resigned as a director of Cupid plc in March 2012 (https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/SC368538/officers) over 12 months prior to any allegations arising.
• Your article unfairly and misleadingly suggests that Mr Polyakov was connected to Cupid plc at the time of investigations. He was not.

Inference to Noosphere Ventures involvement in dating activity

• Your article is entirely misleading in its attempts to suggest that "shady" dating business activity is conducted by Noosphere Ventures, and funding Noosphere's space project Firefly Aerospace.
• Whether or not Mr Polyakov had personal shareholdings in Cupid plc or any other roles connected to the dating industry is irrelevant to the activities of the Noosphere Ventures.
• Noosphere Ventures does not hold any shareholdings in any dating business, therefore the suggestion that Firefly Aerospace is funded by dating business activity is impossible.

Further inaccuracies

• There is further evidence of false claims being made in the Snopes article to which you consistently refer (and rely upon in your reporting), specifically:
  - Reference is made to a court case involving Mr David Guzman and NSI (Holdings) Ltd. Snopes purport this litigation existed at the time of its reporting (February 2020). However a quick check of court records shows in fact that this case was dismissed by the court on Jan 13, 2020 (https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/28253024/Guzman_v_NSI_Holdings_Limited) (and it's relevance to Noosphere Ventures and Firefly remains unclear).
  - Reference is made to a UK "subsidiary" of Firefly Aerospace. Firefly Aersopace does not have a UK subsidiary, it does not own any shareholding in any UK company which may or may not have a similar previous name. All shareholder information for that specific company is available for verification on Companies House in the UK.
  - Reference is made to "potential FTC violations" by entities that the article attempts to (unsuccessfully) link to Mr Polyakov. During his tenure with dating companies in the past, there has never been any investigation, correspondence or other communication in respect of any of Mr Polyakov's prior businesses and the FTC (or indeed any similar regulator in any territory).

We will kindly ask you to read carefully our official statement with a refutation https://noosphereventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Statement.pdf and remove article as it is not a trustworthy news. Otherwise we will be obliged to consider information on your web page as defamatory statement that might be a basis for a lawsuit.

Comments

[Bob Ross]

omplete lie! the noosphere actually recognizes all the facts in the investigation of the snopes.com.

[Bob Ross]

all his life the Polyakov Max earned on adult sites!!!
In 2005, Polyakov, in partnership with a foreign investor from the United Kingdom, Bill Dobby, founded the IDE Group with its head office in Edinburgh. The business group included such projects as EasyDate (renamed Cupid plc in 2010)
Cupid was created on the basis of the IDE Group, founded in 2005 by Scottish Bill Dobby, but was renamed in 2010 due to claims of intellectual property infringement EasyJet, and was named Cupid plc.
In 2010, Cupid plc IPO’d (Initial Public Offering) on the London Stock Exchange. A year later, the company was recognized as the fastest-growing technology project, according to the auditing company Deloitte. In 2013, the company's rapid success was overshadowed by the scandal that unfolded as a result of the investigation of BBC Radio 5 and Kyiv Post . According to journalists, the company hired people who, using anonymity and a fake identity, created fake accounts on dating sites, forcing users to buy paid services.
In 2013, Forbes Ukraine conducted its own investigation into Polyakov’s connections with adult dating sites. As a result of the scandal, the value of the shares decreased by 3.5 times despite the fact that the company denied the presence of defamatory practices. As a result of the audit, the systemic use of fictitious profiles was not proved, although the final report confirmed the fact that the profiles of Cupid plc employees are not marked with the “administration” symbol or in another obvious way, as implemented in such social network.
In 2013, according to a journalistic investigation by Rusbase , a dating company Together Networks was created on the basis of the purchased assets. The share in the joint business with M. Polyakov was owned by Maxim Krippa, a candidate for deputy of the Kiev City Council from the Samopomosch political party, whose name connects with the IT company Evoplay, also engaged in the development of software for online casinos, as well as Russian businessmen C. Tokarev and R. Gilfanov.
In 2015, between Polyakov M. and Krippa M. on the one hand and C. Tokarev and R. Gilfanov on the other hand, a lawsuit began regarding fraud in a joint holding company Phoenix Holdings, which included Together Networks sites. and non-payment of dividends by Polyakov M.
In a last decision, the court of appeal of the British Virgin Islands decided to freeze the assets of Maxim Polyakov and Phoenix Holdings ltd. and pointed to attempts by Polyakov M. to withdraw frozen assets with the help of Ukrainian friends.
In 2015, one of the companies associated with M. Polyakov became a defendant in criminal proceedings [11] related to the dissemination of pornography, as evidenced by extracts from the Ukrainian court register.
In 2013, the shareholders of the company decided to sell Polyakov a more “adult” part of the business, which included flirt chats and casual dating sites, and decided to sell it. His offshore company Grendall Investment Limited agreed to pay $ 70 million for sites BeNaughty, CheekyLovers, WildBuddies, Click & Flirt, QuickFlirt, Flirt and several others.
In 2017, the Ukrainian edition of Golos published an investigation by journalist Sergei Sidorov that a network of pornographic studios functioned on the basis of Ukrainian companies associated with Networks Polyakov, in which girls provided sexual services to foreigners in online chat rooms. The chats themselves were also serviced by companies related to Polyakov.
Northrop, Alasdair (6 October 2011). "THE BIG PROFILE- Bill Dobbie of Cupid: Boom time for online dating boss". Business Insider. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
https://www.reuters.com/article/easydate-idUSSGE6BC05Q20101213
https://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/ukraine-politics/deceptive-love-agency-hires-women-to-encourage-men-to-pay-321741.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-21366326
http://forbes.net.ua/magazine/forbes/1357190-vzroslye-igry
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-26848204
https://rb.ru/longread/unlucky-labs/
https://www.eccourts.org/bvi-gilfanov-v-polakov/
http://fbi.media/fejkovyj-mask-iz-zaporozhya-na-chem-skolotil-svoi-milliony-odioznyj-maks-polyakov/
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-24220064
https://golos.ua/i/576345