I do, however, feel the need to point out how offensive it is for Sam to claim that he is acting in the interests of his Blognation victims with this legal action. It is based on an indignation so self-righteous in its expression that Sam must believe his lies himself, at least in part.

That Sam lied to those involved in Blognation is clear – like all others involved I have the emails to prove it, not to mention memories of all the conversations sadly not recorded. That he continues to lie (even if he subsequently admits it) is more devastating, and every time it happens he further vindicates TechCrunch and tarnishes his own reputation.

Everytime I read about the latest twist in this squalid tale, I can’t quite believe the fact that Sam hasn’t taken himself off the internet in the hope that everyone will forget him and he’ll be able to do something in the future.

Please, Sam, leave us (the Blognation victims) and TechCrunch alone, and go offline for a while. I don’t even care if you apologise. Just go.

hhhmmm, i think you’re right bro..

Thanks for publishing this. As Debi Jones said in one of her posts about this issue: “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

This does need to be exposed to the widest audience possible. If for no other reason than to prevent Sethi from victimizing more people in the future.

From my perspective my damages include the nearly four months pay that Sam promised (repeatedly), the over $10,000 in out of pocket expenses I incurred on behalf of Blognation to travel to and cover events at Sam’s request, my legal fees incurred in my efforts to enforce the agreement that Sam provided (up to nearly $10,000 now), as well as the more nebulous cost of turning down a high paying position based upon Sam’s very specific promise that he could and would pay me on time, as promised, and finally the cost of liquidating investments – mainly at a loss- when I was forced to pay my living and travel expenses out of my savings when Sam failed to come through with his promised payments.

I am not alone. Every single one of the other bloggers that had the misfortune to sign on to Blognation were all equally left to suck up the losses on their own travel and for the payments promised for the months that they worked for Sam.

What I find particularly repugnant in all of this was Sam’s claim that he wanted “vindication and payment for the Blognation editors” and even more particularly that he would donate any award or settlement from his claims against Arrington to “a charity or the Marc Orchant Memorial Fund”.

When I read this last I nearly threw up into my own mouth. The audacity of Sethi to say this is breathtaking.

I created the Marc Orchant fund to help Marc’s widow and his children. That fund, thanks to the generosity of the community came to nearly $7000. I personally handled all the payments and was the person that physically put the funds into Sue Orchant’s hands. Every dime of this money came through a PayPal account I had set up for this purpose.

Guess what? Sam Sethi never contributed a single penny. This is ironic for a number of reasons. First, Marc himself was sitting on about $5,000 of travel expenses that he’d fronted on behalf of Blognation to travel to and cover events. He was also owed for at least two months of pay as specified in his Blognation agreement.

Worse, for Marc, he had resigned from his ZDNet Blog in order to take the position at Blognation. Do you really think he would have done that and given up the income he was already earning if he’d been told that he’d be paid if and when Sam secured funding? Seriously.

So now, Sam goes and sues Mike and claims that he intends to use the proceeds to repay the Blognation bloggers and Marc Orchant’s widow? If you want to see a picture of a man with no moral compass do a Google image search for Sam Sethi because only a person totally devoid of any morals, ethics, or empathy could possibly make such a claim given his prior history and behavior.

I was much maligned for my original “Open Letter”. What people don’t know is that before this went up I had written privately to Sam and had asked him for a promissory note for what he owed me and to pay Sue Orchant what he owed Marc.

I gave Sam plenty of time to reply and instead he chose to attack me. Now he is claiming that his attacks on Arrington are to vindicate the Blognation editors? While it is only my opinion – an opinion that I’m willing to bet is becoming more and more common every time his name appears online – Sam doesn’t care who he hurts or how many lives he has to damage in order to satisfy his own crazed ego.

Paul, you gave Sam very good advice when you suggested that he apologize publicly for everything he has done and to everyone whom he has injured.

I would add that he should also pay all those people that he promised he would pay for the work that they did based upon his promises, for the funds they expended at his behest too.

Sam should pay up and he should beg the forgiveness of all those he hurt (and lets be clear, some Blognation editors were reduced to buying food for their kids using Food Stamps while waiting for payments that were supposedly wired but which never arrived).

He should apologize to the community that he has deceived and he should take a very long hard look at himself and ask himself some very hard questions about how he wants people to see him in the future.

Then he should make his exit from the Internet and all public platforms for an extended period and by that I mean years, maybe even decades.

As it stands I know that I won’t ever forget the damages I have sustained because I once believed the lies Sam told and I’m sure that many of my fellow Blognation editors feel the same way

My advice: Sam, I do not know you, but you hurt several people I value, know and work with: David in UK, Dimiter in Bulgaria and Robert in Japan. Please move to Finland and become an Elk Herder. Please get at least 5 year verbal agreement as clearly anything you write does not come out the way you intended to.. so do not sign anything in the process.