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From: Dave Rogers To: Life Members Dear Life Members, Breach of Contract Case against Linda Ruck This is an update to the email I sent to you in December. As you know we have had an ongoing issue over the last 14 months with an ex-XL team member, Linda Ruck, leading to a legal suit and counter suit. I'm pleased to let you know that the legal side of this has now been brought to a close.Last month Linda Ruck signed a full written retraction of the many accusations she has made against us. Our intent from the beginning was to clear our name from these baseless and false accusations, so having received her retraction we dropped the court case against her. Linda Ruck has also undertaken not to contact our network in the future. That's the good news. Anonymous Yahoo Emails Some Life Members are, however (as recently as last week), still continuing to receive yahoo emails from anonymous or fictitious sources setting out various unfounded and baseless allegations against our network or our team members, which are similar to those retracted by Linda Ruck. These emails continue to get increasingly defamatory.We have a pretty good idea who continues to send all these emails, but it is premature at this stage to tell you our suspicions. So we're going to do the next best thing. We will tell you exactly what we've received, what we've found out, and what we're doing about it. This is a long email, so I understand if you are tired of this entire thing and decide not to read it, but for those of you who want more clarity, you'll find it below! What we've received We (meaning our XL Life Members, our XL staff and business partners) have received a total of 41 different yahoo emails from a total of 19 different specially-created yahoo addresses in the last 14 months. Here are the conclusions we have come to:1. They are bogus: They are all account names which bare no relation to any Life Members or individuals we know. So a long time ago we concluded they were all bogus. In the only case where they were set up using a real individual's name (Frankie Cheung), he confirmed in writing he did not set up that email address (his email is one of many on the list attached). 2. They are designed to damage: As you can read, many of these emails are defamatory, and all are designed to create disturbance without being genuine grievances seeking solutions. Whenever we receive legitimate queries or complaints from the public, press or members we ensure we address them promptly and properly. 3. They include spurious allegations: In the cases where they claim legal actions are being taken, complaints are being made, that laws have been broken, that there has been misconduct, etc, after 14 months there has yet to be a single petition, inquiry or court case as many of the emails allege. 4. They originate from Singapore: In the many cases that recipients have forwarded us the IP addresses from where the emails were sent from (even where the author claims to be in another country) the IP addresses show they were all sent from Singapore. 5. They are blind copied in batches: The emails tend to be mass emailed by blind copy to LMs or Ecademy Blackstars, and are done so in batches, by country, usually on a weekend or late at night. Each batch tends to be sent out by different email addresses, so the same content appears under different names in different countries. While you may only receive one once in a while, we've had forwarded copies coming to us from various countries on practically a weekly basis. What we know Here are the facts of what we know:1. The mailing list used dates back to Feb 2005: The mass emails sent to Life Members and Ecademy Blackstars are all from confidential databases only accessible to XL senior staff. The database that continues to be used is for Life Members up to February 2005. All Life Members who joined after that date do not receive these emails, so whoever is sending these emails does not have access to any XL databases later than March 2005 - 14 months ago. As a result, this email that I am sending (as with all previous emails on this subject sent by me and Irene) is only being sent to the Life Members who joined up to February 2005. 2. The emails contain many of the same spurious allegations made by Linda Ruck. Matters specifically regarding the ethics and conduct of XL, Roger Hamilton and myself, are the same allegations that Linda Ruck has made in private emails and statements that were included in our court case with her - all of which she retracted prior to us going to court. 3. In three instances, there are direct links between some of the emails and Linda Ruck:
The above are the facts as they stand to date. What we are doing We have no reason to think these emails will stop. What we are doing now is:1. Providing you with this summary, and attaching a log of the emails, along with the contents of the emails themselves. Should you be in receipt of email or correspondence which contain similar allegations as those outlined above, and as repeated in the attached emails, we will be happy to provide you with a copy of Linda Ruck's signed retraction, which states unequivocably that these allegations are false and/or untrue. 2. Continuing to compile a log as the emails continue. 3. Keeping our legal options open, but continuing to choose to invest more effort on growing XL for the benefit of everyone. What you can do If you have read this far, then this ongoing issue is obviously important to you. Here is what you can do:1. Continue to forward anything suspect that you receive. 2. Or make it clear to the sender that you have no interest in receiving any more of these emails. Historically, we know that certain people have done this and it has led to them being taken off the 'mailing list'. 3. Allay any concerns that you might have about the alarmist claims contained in these emails. Some members have spoken to us at momentums, etc, asking if we could clarify different allegations being made in the emails. We always do, on the spot. But we are not and will not directly respond to the bogus emails themselves. In our experience, every time we address one allegation, another more outrageous one appears - as you can see in the chain of emails attached. If you have any worries or concerns, let us know - by email, phone or in person - and we can address them for you. All our XL country managers have been familiar with the situation for some time, so you can also speak to them if you would prefer. We continue to operate with the highest integrity, and are here to support all Life Members in whatever way we can. Ironically, other than the accusations of legal actions and corporate governance - all or which are easily addressed as our entire financial, legal and corporate details are a matter of public record - the main accusations are around our charity activities. For all of you who have been supporting our events this year, you will know about the launch of our XL Social Enterprise Accreditation Program (which now has over 120 companies registered with over $27 million in pledges), and to put our own actions in context of the SEA Program, a section on our website now details the various charities that we have donated to within our XL group of companies. On a final note, now that the court case with Linda Ruck is over, I would like to wish her the very best for her future and pray we can all put our past behind us with forgiveness and gratitude. We all have extraordinary lives waiting to be lived. Courage, Love and Passion, Dave |