Martin Grunin - Facebook Ads Fraud - Bank Fraud - mgrunin

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We have finally come to an end to this chapter fellows. I'm currently boarding the plane for my flight back to NY but once I get back, I'll come here and try to answer some questions you guys may have.

ROIDshare, we simply cannot wait... don't leave us hanging!
 


didnt go thru the fine details of the 'whys', but it looks like the final judgement was $340,000 in damages and $75,000 in attorney’s fees. (about a third or less of what FB wanted total? around $1.5 mill.).

Yep, judge said they didn't provide receipts or enough justifications for the charges so threw them out. Looks like they botched it, it wasn't that the charges weren't justified it was that they weren't "well-pled" enough.


No timesheets, no invoices, and no details specifically identifying the amount of time incurred oneach specific task were filed. Instead, counsel vaguely stated that they spent...


This order finds entitlement to $75,000 in fees, which is the sum of $5,000 for the complaint and case management, $10,000 for Facebook’s motion to strike and Grunin’s motion to set aside the default, and $60,000 for Facebook’s motion for default judgment, damages, fees, and costs. These reductions account for inefficiency, overstaffing, and inadequate documentation.
 
Probably just a few of many articles to come...

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Facebook Recovers $340,000 From Accused Ad Thief | The Recorder

Facebook Recovers $340,000 From Accused Ad Thief

Marisa Kendall, The Recorder

February 19, 2015

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook Inc. lawyers extracted less retribution than they hoped for Thursday from an accused scammer they say cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A Perkins Coie team argued Martin Grunin, dubbed the Baby Faced Wolf of Wall Street by a New York tabloid, should pay more than $1.3 million for impersonating legitimate advertising companies to open Facebook ad accounts.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup slashed that request in an order Thursday, awarding $340,000, plus $75,000 in attorney fees.The award corresponds to the losses Facebook says it suffered as a result of Grunin's alleged scam, but rejects the company's bid for an extra $500,000 in punitive damages, which Alsup called "grossly excessive."

Facebook's lawyers don't know how much money Grunin made from the alleged scam, or how much it will take to keep him from doing it again, Alsup wrote, making punitive damages inappropriate.

Facebook's lawyers claim Grunin sold his fraudulent Facebook accounts to people who had been banned from the social media site, didn't have adequate credit, or didn't intend to pay Facebook for the ads. Facebook disabled at least 70 of Grunin's accounts since 2011, according to the complaint filed in May in the Northern District of California.

Alsup granted Facebook default judgment in January after Grunin failed to properly respond to the company's pleadings.

The judge did not seem sympathetic to Grunin in Thursday's order, writing the defendant failed to comply with court rules and instead "chose to lard the record with bogus filings." Grunin, who terminated his lawyers in December, had submitted a series of perplexing filings, including a declaration claiming he had the rights to the phrase "MARTIN GRUNIN," a notice charging Facebook $300,000 for filing a motion, and another saying Facebook had to pay him $100,000 to enter into a "contractual relationship."

But Alsup also said Facebook's lawyers had submitted an "inadequately supported" request for roughly $325,000 in attorney fees and costs. He faulted counsel for providing no time sheets or invoices, and wrote it was a close call whether to "outright deny" the fee request.
 
I have decided to take the initiative and try to answer questions that may interest you guys, and that I am comfortable with answering on a public forum.

First of all, I am happy that this case has home to an end. Even if Facebook was awarded a million dollar judgement today, I would still have some sort of relieve in knowing that this is an end to the uncertainty. These ten months have been stressful, especially in not knowing what is always around the corner.

Lets get right into the questions:

1) Facebook was awarded $340,000 + $75,000 in lawyer fees today, your reaction?

I honestly count that as a win. That judgement is less than 30% of what Facebook was actually seeking in the "Brief of Damages". When the judge read out the order, I saw that Perkin's Coie's lawyer; Mrs Jennison was taken back by the fact that there was no punitive damages awarded at all. The judge did respond at that point saying that I am an individual, and that $340k is already punitive enough. I know that someone here in the prior page said some stuff about how the judge said I am also broke, and this and that, that's not true. He didn't saw those words. He simply said I am an individual and $340k is already enough in "punitive" damages. I thank him for his leniency.

When I was exiting the court room, I exchanged a few words with Mrs Jennison. Her first statement to me was "Looks like you can count this as a success."; interpreting that comment only leads me to believe that Perkins is really disappointed with the outcome. Most of all, I'm sure their client Facebook won't be too pleased when they are going to collect $415,000 from me, but $320k goes straight into Perkins Coie's pocket.

2) How do think you case went overall, from start to finish?

Very sloppy. The whole Brian Castillo fiasco was embarrassing and a poor move from my side. When I was first served the complaint for the case, everything seemed so surreal to me that point, that I really didn't even want to acknowledge the seriousness of the event. To add to that, believe it or not, but someone from WickedFire referred me to BC, and well I took the bait. The man told me he would make it go away, and I was foolish enough to believe him. Big mistake.

Now as much as the BC saga was a horrible move, I can't say that it did that much harm. I came out of this lawsuit with some of my dignity still in tact. I did not throw anyone under the bus, and I didn't declare BK once I heard the $1.4mm figure. Going into default early in the case ceased the process for discovery, and I am not going to say anymore from this point since things should be self-explanatory.

3) Do you plan on paying Facebook the $415,000?

Yes I do. I can't pay it in a lump sum, but I will work out a payment plan for them. $415,000 is the judgement, that is what I am responsible for, and that is what I will pay them.
4) Where is all your money and/or your assets?

Any questions regarding my fiances won't be answered on here. I can't touch that subject publicly. Sorry.

5) Anything regarding criminal action?

Nothing at all, and I don't expect criminal action. I know you guys still hold much hate for me, but the majority of the stuff that Facebook accuses me for, I have hard evidence to show otherwise. But this isn't evidence that I can just submit to the court for it to be publicly recorded. But I know that if law enforcement every snoops in and seizes my computers, they will gain access to this evidence.

6) What now?

Nothing different really. I do have an injunction against me from utilizing Facebook for any reason, and I will respect the injunctions. I might dabble back in affiliate marketing, it has been a good while since I've touched it. Other than that, I will continue to trade.
7) Why are you such a narcissist?

I will admit, I do have narcissistic tendencies. But I have been working on it, and I do see a change in myself over the last few months. I am still quite young, and I suppose mixing youth and money together can lead to bad personality traits. But even during my periods of narcissism, I was still posting on WF as a regular functioning human being. Yes, if you do score through all my posts, and sometimes take things out of context, I look really bad, but I am working on that as we speak.

8) Did your girlfriend of nearly nine years leave you?

She did, back in August. We had some issues earlier in the year Jan 2014; there were concerns over trust. I never cheated on the woman over those nine years. There just came a point when her self confidence was a bit low, and then with the lawsuit coming in, I guess that was the straw that broke the camel's back. I am not that upset about her leaving me, because that is the nature of life, but moreso because the very next person she began to date 1.5 months after me was her boss. I felt that was a big insult to injury. Ultimately it's her life, and those are the cards she has played.

I met someone fantastic two months ago that I am currently dating. Great person, an upgrade - so at least things on the romantic side are normalized for me again.
9) Why was your second council withdrawn?

I wasn't happy with the results, and it was just burning money. I was promised that several things would happen, but they never did. There was really not much progress whatsoever during the time that they were my council. All that happened was a lot of money being burned. I represented myself at the end, and I believe I did just fine considering the outcome. I know that if my lawyer received this final judgement, I would say that he was successful in representing me.

10) Afraid of the IRS?

Absolutely not! That is one agency that I do not fuck around with, and I have never had any back taxes. I have been anal when it came to reporting all my income, and have never had an issue in remitting my tax payment over. So the IRS isn't on the mind whatsoever.

11) What do you plan to do with the bad publicity on your name?

I'll just do enough good over the next half decade to switch the tables around. I feel that's the best attitude to have, and best way to take responsibility.

---

That is what I currently have on my mind. As some member mentioned above, "I am allowing this Q&A to appease me ego, that isn't the case." I am doing it to help fill in the gaps in this lawsuit. This was a learning experience for everyone, especially myself. It knocked some sense into me, and it has already had positive affects on my personality and way of thinking. I do not regret what I have done, and I do not regret being sued - I wouldn't have learned the valuable lessons that I have learned otherwise.

I'm guessing that there will be a few members here that will try to force a reaction or confrontation with me, you are free to do so. I'm just not going to reply. I'm burnt out from all of this, I am in a happy place again, and I won't let myself engage in any confrontations.
 
5) Anything regarding criminal action?


Nothing at all, and I don't expect criminal action. I know you guys still hold much hate for me, but the majority of the stuff that Facebook accuses me for, I have hard evidence to show otherwise. But this isn't evidence that I can just submit to the court for it to be publicly recorded. But I know that if law enforcement every snoops in and seizes my computers, they will gain access to this evidence.

Did you consult with a criminal defense attorney regarding this? Clearly you were involved in some way. You weren't framed. You're not worried that you won't be indicted for conspiracy even if you're not the person who forged all the documents?

Also your statement that your lawyer for the civil proceedings "guaranteed" certain results makes no sense because lawyers NEVER make guarantees.

Also if you don't owe the IRS money, what's up with those chat screenshots where you were talking about owing the IRS back taxes?
 
Did you consult with a criminal defense attorney regarding this? Clearly you were involved in some way. You weren't framed. You're not worried that you won't be indicted for conspiracy even if you're not the person who forged all the documents?

Also your statement that your lawyer for the civil proceedings "guaranteed" certain results makes no sense because lawyers NEVER make guarantees.

Yes I have. I have spoken to a criminal defense attorney. I have been told of the probability of a criminal investigation, and also what to expect from a plea deal. Sorry, can't answer those other questions.

You're right, no lawyer offers guarantees. A guarantee is not what I meant, but when they tell you "We will get this removed for sure or Don't worry it, they'll definitely lift the motion"; I see that as being some sort of promise that they kept falling short on.
 
Also if you don't owe the IRS money, what's up with those chat screenshots where you were talking about owing the IRS back taxes?

An exaggeration on my part. My tax bills for the past few years have been large, and there have been times when paying it off were difficult since I don't file quarterly, but annually - but everything was still payed off in time. This is one accusation that I can easily put to rest if needed. Any moderator can PM me, and I can show my taxes owned for the past three years, and the payments I have sent in to the IRS and local governments. I am up to date. I am already preparing my taxes for 2014, so all those documents and screenshots are easily accessible for me.
 
"We will get this removed for sure or Don't worry it, they'll definitely lift the motion".

Again I never had a competent lawyer ever tell me something like that. They would give me different scenarios at best.

Also I don't understand why you can not submit evidence in your defense to a federal court. That makes no sense. The only reason I could think of is that the evidence proves that maybe you weren't directly involved with manipulating facebook employees and forging documents, but also ultimately proves that you were guilty of conspiracy.

Even that is hard to swallow though, since all the fraudulent websites and email addresses used the stackingjets.com DNS servers which is also the same DNS servers that is used by your trading website. Can you explain why that is the case?

In October you claimed that lawsuit would end in your favor. It clearly did not end in your favor since you have a judgment against you. Although the judgment is modest, it's not really a huge surprise. It was predicted by poopie.

However statements like your October statement really puts your credibility into question.

Finally the size of the judgment doesn't matter either. What's important is to deter future white collar criminals from defrauding facebook in a much more significant and sophisticated way, and the only deterrence I can see is a criminal indictment against you and your co conspirators.
 
I'm actually really happy for you, Grunin.

I hope you take this for what it is: a dumb luck 2nd chance after doing some really stupid shit.

Unfortunately, I think this will only bolster your borderline sociopathic egomaniac tendencies and leave you feeling largely untouchable until you do some shit that's even more stupid.

I hope for your sake I'm wrong and that you've learned from this and cherish that huge golden lucky horseshoe shoved up your ass, but I kinda doubt I am.
 
I'm actually really happy for you, Grunin.

I hope you take this for what it is: a dumb luck 2nd chance after doing some really stupid shit.

Unfortunately, I think this will only bolster your borderline sociopathic egomaniac tendencies and leave you feeling largely untouchable until you do some shit that's even more stupid.

I hope for your sake I'm wrong and that you've learned from this and cherish that huge golden lucky horseshoe shoved up your ass, but I kinda doubt I am.

It's too early to say if Grunin actually got away with anything. For starters he still owes money that can't be discharged from a bankruptcy. If he's truly innocent, then I am not sure why he is willing to pay Facebook back.

Secondly, Judge William Alsup clearly stated that he is referring this case to the Department of Justice. Without a doubt a DOJ assistant US attorney is going to open a criminal investigation into this. I find it difficult to believe that an AUS attorney (AKA federal prosecutor) would pass up on such an easy conviction opportunity.

Even if Martin isn't the real mastermind behind this, he can still be easily convicted of something or compelled to accept a plea agreement.
 
lol the clown owes more than he has stolen. They have the DNS and wire transfers to hand-over to the prosecutor. No fucking way that Jennison said two words to this numbnut. This isn't "Law and Order." What a pathological POS.
 
I have decided to take the initiative and try to answer questions that may interest you guys, and that I am comfortable with answering on a public forum.

First of all, I am happy that this case has home to an end. Even if Facebook was awarded a million dollar judgement today, I would still have some sort of relieve in knowing that this is an end to the uncertainty. These ten months have been stressful, especially in not knowing what is always around the corner.

Lets get right into the questions:

1) Facebook was awarded $340,000 + $75,000 in lawyer fees today, your reaction?



When I was exiting the court room, I exchanged a few words with Mrs Jennison. Her first statement to me was "Looks like you can count this as a success."; interpreting that comment only leads me to believe that Perkins is really disappointed with the outcome. Most of all, I'm sure their client Facebook won't be too pleased when they are going to collect $415,000 from me, but $320k goes straight into Perkins Coie's pocket.

2) How do think you case went overall, from start to finish?



Now as much as the BC saga was a horrible move, I can't say that it did that much harm. I came out of this lawsuit with some of my dignity still in tact. I did not throw anyone under the bus, and I didn't declare BK once I heard the $1.4mm figure. Going into default early in the case ceased the process for discovery, and I am not going to say anymore from this point since things should be self-explanatory.

3) Do you plan on paying Facebook the $415,000?


4) Where is all your money and/or your assets?



5) Anything regarding criminal action?



6) What now?


7) Why are you such a narcissist?



8) Did your girlfriend of nearly nine years leave you?


9) Why was your second council withdrawn?



10) Afraid of the IRS?



11) What do you plan to do with the bad publicity on your name?



---

That is what I currently have on my mind. As some member mentioned above, "I am allowing this Q&A to appease me ego, that isn't the case." I am doing it to help fill in the gaps in this lawsuit. This was a learning experience for everyone, especially myself. It knocked some sense into me, and it has already had positive affects on my personality and way of thinking. I do not regret what I have done, and I do not regret being sued - I wouldn't have learned the valuable lessons that I have learned otherwise.

I'm guessing that there will be a few members here that will try to force a reaction or confrontation with me, you are free to do so. I'm just not going to reply. I'm burnt out from all of this, I am in a happy place again, and I won't let myself engage in any confrontations.

Congrats on getting that shit put behind you. You're still a young guy, and have your whole life ahead of you. What are you going to do next? Let it bury you? Or consider this most expensive education you will ever have?

If you choose not to let it bury you, I will let you in on a little secret. This setback (financial) is very similar to many divorces. I learned the other day that it takes a man 7 years to recover financially from a divorce (most women never recover). So what I am getting at is, shit is going to suck for the next 7 years, but then you will be way beyond what you can imagine.

That or you can stick a needle in your arm and piss away your youth. Either way the choice is yours, and I hope you learn and grow from it.
 
I have decided to take the initiative and try to answer questions that may interest you guys, and that I am comfortable with answering on a public forum.

First of all, I am happy that this case has home to an end. Even if Facebook was awarded a million dollar judgement today, I would still have some sort of relieve in knowing that this is an end to the uncertainty. These ten months have been stressful, especially in not knowing what is always around the corner.

Lets get right into the questions:

1) Facebook was awarded $340,000 + $75,000 in lawyer fees today, your reaction?



When I was exiting the court room, I exchanged a few words with Mrs Jennison. Her first statement to me was "Looks like you can count this as a success."; interpreting that comment only leads me to believe that Perkins is really disappointed with the outcome. Most of all, I'm sure their client Facebook won't be too pleased when they are going to collect $415,000 from me, but $320k goes straight into Perkins Coie's pocket.

2) How do think you case went overall, from start to finish?



Now as much as the BC saga was a horrible move, I can't say that it did that much harm. I came out of this lawsuit with some of my dignity still in tact. I did not throw anyone under the bus, and I didn't declare BK once I heard the $1.4mm figure. Going into default early in the case ceased the process for discovery, and I am not going to say anymore from this point since things should be self-explanatory.

3) Do you plan on paying Facebook the $415,000?


4) Where is all your money and/or your assets?



5) Anything regarding criminal action?



6) What now?


7) Why are you such a narcissist?



8) Did your girlfriend of nearly nine years leave you?


9) Why was your second council withdrawn?



10) Afraid of the IRS?



11) What do you plan to do with the bad publicity on your name?



---

That is what I currently have on my mind. As some member mentioned above, "I am allowing this Q&A to appease me ego, that isn't the case." I am doing it to help fill in the gaps in this lawsuit. This was a learning experience for everyone, especially myself. It knocked some sense into me, and it has already had positive affects on my personality and way of thinking. I do not regret what I have done, and I do not regret being sued - I wouldn't have learned the valuable lessons that I have learned otherwise.

I'm guessing that there will be a few members here that will try to force a reaction or confrontation with me, you are free to do so. I'm just not going to reply. I'm burnt out from all of this, I am in a happy place again, and I won't let myself engage in any confrontations.

Mawtin I think you are a lil', narcissistic, mextrosexual, poser, toolshed pussy clown without a clue.

Now with that being said...

Deep down. Somewhere inside my sarcastic self. I have a tad of respect for you by the doggedness how you put yourself forward.

Personally, I could care less wtf the outcome you get/got personally or criminally in this whole thing...

BUT!

I think yer lil' tennis playin' suspender-wearin', egomaniac mole ass should be kudized for the entertainment, vibe, commotion, vehemence that you, yourself, and your sovereign pal, ©Brian- robert of the family: Costello, Creditor, Trustee, Secure Party, Author of the Copyright Name Trademark Claim autograph (BRIAN- ROBERT COSTELLO™), have brought to WF in the past 6-9 months that you should receive some sort of largesse remuneration from us.

I suggest you put up one of these: https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/fundraising

I'll be the first to bestow!

PS - Do you think you can convince your crazy diplomat boon companion to hop on WF for a lil' QnA????

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"It's only just begun..."

The CTDA will show where he funneled the cash, what remains (bitcoin, etc), and enough for a quick verdict or plea.
 
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