Hi, I'm Shane.
Of course. I don't have $8,000,000!!
Background
I've spent the past 11+ years working in the crowdfunding
industry, assisting individuals, founders, CEO's, and a whole host of
others, with raising money via crowdfunding. You can read more about
who I am and how I fell into the crowdfunding industry here:
https://smartcrowdfunding.us/about-us/
What turned from an initial inquiry via my company website....
and a Calendly call booking...
to
an " I'll pass"...
....and then onto a crazy chain of events, including the discovery of securities fraud involving millions of dollars, a report to the SEC,...
….followed by the filing of a lawsuit by Michael Jansen in retaliation against me in the UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION (22-cv-05101)
You can read more about this whole situation here via my LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/shane-liddell_entrepreneurship-equitycrowdfunding-capitalmarkets-activity-7003044686969856000-CpEU
Things have progressively deteriorated for me since my encounter with
Jansen. The fact that he filed a lawsuit in retaliation, ran
slanderous facebook advertisements, and also put out two damaging
press releases across the wire, naming me, my company Smart
Crowdfunding LLC and my new startup in the UK, XseedR, means that any
potential clients or investors doing Due Diligence on us or me
personally, see it all on Google search.
Google my name and you'll see it too.
We have had one potential client bring it up where I could
explain and point them to my LinkedIn posts, but as you probably
realize, most just disappear without a word. Our invoiced revenue for
Dec 2021 came in at around $150k whereas last Q4 (2022) it was less
than $10k. This has continued into this year so far, and as intended
by Jansen, has had a major impact on me personally, and of course my
lovely wife.
As a business, Smart Crowdfunding always generates a lot of leads
directly from our website (which we still do). What I am finding is
that many go through the process of contacting us via webform, are
emailed a response (which normally leads to 30m call with me in 9 out
of 10 cases), with few now booking any calls, and when they do, they
don’t come back afterwards.
But, of course, this was Jansen's intention all along...
What is the next step in the case?
I have engaged the services of a law firm in Chicago, Illinois called Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP.
Jansen has recently filled a response to the court on 20th March, and
has clearly forged an email he claims was sent to him from my office.
Spot the difference...
The original email sent from my office after receiving an
enquiry from Jansen:
Jansen's doctored email submitted to the court on 20th March 2023:
Did you notice the width of the line of text he inserted goes beyond the width of a normal email?
This is not the first time he has doctored emails to suit purpose.
UPDATE: Irrefutable evidence provided HERE
Yes, this is the type of character we are dealing with.
"Perjury is a Class 3 felony. Those convicted of Perjury in Illinois can receive a prison sentence of 2-5 years."
How much I am raising and why?
Although it is extremely difficult to cost out, with assistance from my legal team, costs are estimated at $50,000 - $100,000. Besides defending myself in the existing lawsuit in Illinois, I plan to counter-sue Jansen for defamation and damages.
I cannot do this alone, so plead with you all to help me bring this
scoundrel to justice.
He needs to be stopped.
Can you spare the price of a cup of Starbucks Coffee to help me put
an end to his madness? I hope so!
All contributions can be done completely anonymously.
Latest news just in on August 29th 2023:
Thank you in advance for your support.
Shane
