BrokerScience » ePerks

BrokerScience Issues Ben Behrouzi Coup de Grace

Trace Richardson — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:36:56 +0000

Wow! Yesterday was quite the blowout for Ben Behrouzi and DotNext Inc. First, TechCrunch stated the obvious and sad truth about LeapFish, then Ben and his employees were then caught red handed calling themselves “geniuses” in the comments section of the same article by IP address tracking and finally, Ben Behrouzi was reduced to name calling in front of the world on TechCrunch and on two articles on this blog.

Where does one go from such a melodic sequence of events that is music to the ears of anyone that has ever had the unfortunate experience of crossing paths with Ben Behrouzi? The truth is that there is nowhere to go. A little unknown blog with little to no traffic like BrokerScience can never accomplish what TechCrunch accomplished yesterday. More importantly, we’ve done more than our fair share of the heavy lifting in exposing Ben Behrouzi, ePerks, Leapfish and DotNextInc’s business practices. This means we are no longer going to be writing about Ben Behrouzi or any of his “companies”.

There is one main factor driving this decision: time. There are not enough hours in the day to work on my own projects and there are enough hours in the day to cover the Ben Behrouzi and his exploits. We simply have to pick and choose where our energy is going. You may have noticed we weren’t blogging much anyways over the past months except for Benham Behrouzi news when it occurred and that was again, due to time constraints. That is also the reason that there has been a disproportionate amount of Behrouzi coverage.

It pains us to make this decision because we have an extremely in depth analysis of LeapFish almost completed and we were approached by a legal team that has volunteered to do a case analysis of Brabus Ventures vs Vlad Zablotzkyy, but we’re done. Additionally, there are many more stories that could be written even though we have printed virtually none of the first hand accounts and experiences of current and former employees, customers and acquaintances that have crossed paths with Ben that come in the form of voicemails, emails, and first hand experiences.

There are some great takeaways and lessons to be had in reference to the brand destruction (personal and otherwise) that Ben has achieved through his legal tactics and business practices. I believe that ePerks vs Zablotzkyy and any future litigation that Ben may engage in have great potential to become case studies for collegiate level courses or otherwise teaching online reputation management and brand management. There is a lot to be learned from his mistakes, actions and business practices.

While we will no longer be writing about Ben or his companies, we will certainly defend ourselves if attacked online or elsewhere. It also goes without saying that if Ben were to bring ANY legal action whatsoever, we will make publicizing, writing about and exposing the case and renewing our exposure of Ben and his companys’ business practices our number one priority. This will entail creation of a defense website and media campaign in addition to publishing the first hand employee and customer accounts we have refused to publish up to this point. The truth though is that we were prepared to do this six months ago.

Comments are turned off on this one for the obvious reasons.

Other BrokerScience Coverage of Ben Behrouzi / ePerks / LeapFish / DotNext:

Ben Behrouzi Caught on Tape: Threatens to Blackball Employee on Voicemail

Vlad Zablotzkyy Defeats LeapFish / ePerks / DotNext CEO Ben Behrouzi

Ben Behrouzi, LeapFish CEO Caught Spamming TechCrunch

The Beginner’s Action Guide to Learning about Vlad Zablotkyy vs. ePerks / Ben Behrouzi

ePerks / LeapFish CEO Ben Behrouzi Threatens BrokerScience with Legal Action

ePerks IP Address Link to Vlad Zablotzkyy: When the Hunter Becomes the Prey

iHype.com Launch Coverage Here

Ben Behrouzi Updates Company “Values” and “Culture” Web Pages. Only One Problem: They’re Stolen

Beginning of the End: ePerks CEO Ben Behrouzi Sues Blogger, Confirms No Strategy in Place

BrokerScience Acquires BenBehrouzi.com

LeapFish and Ben Behrouzi Spam Techcrunch. What’s new?

Trace Richardson — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 02:40:51 +0000

Ben Behrouzi has hit an all time low for himself and his new startup LeapFish in front of Silicon Valley and the world. After Techcrunch declared LeapFish as “another meta search engine no one will ever use” his employees were caught red handed making shill comments praising LeapFish and calling it “genius”. Classic. This puts him on the fast track to destroy yet another brand in addition to his past casualties, ePerks, Brabus Ventures, and iHype.

Now Techcrunch knows what the rest of us have known for years. Ben Behrouzi, LeapFish and most of Ben’s companies are spammers. I’ve personally received ePerks and LeapFish spam and or phone calls. A former ePerks employee confided in me that Behrouzi employees are given free reign to use whatever techniques are necessary to hit their numbers.

Former Ben Behrouzi ePerks employee that wished to remain unnamed:

I graduated from USC, I never imagined I would be spamming for a living.

TechCrunch points out the obvious that LeapFish provides no real value to searchers. LeapFish claims to be the “first multi-dimensional information aggregator and search portal in the world”. In reality it is simply a search engine aggregator similar to DogPile (launched in 1996), Addict-o-Matic, or the hundreds of others that exist.

Bens’ Fake TechCrunch Comments are a Thing of Beauty

After one shill comment after another, it becomes clear that most of the comments are simply fake and obviously made by Ben Behrouzi and or his employees.

When we pointed out that spamming blog comments is a Ben Behrouzi / DotNext Inc. / LeapFish hallmark, TechCrunch confirmed that in fact, all of the comments were coming the same IP address. This IP address was later banned.

Ben Threatens BrokerScience and Others Yet Again….

Also for the record you and your readers should know that, the trace richardson and lord matt commenting above are rogue bloggers looking for attention, traffic and destruction of others. They are motivated by a disgustingly shameful agenda that clearly manifests itself in their comments above and have a long history of stalking our people and spreading fabricated news in mass quantities. The company will be addressing each of their malicious activities soon. – Ben Behrouzi, CEO Dotnext, Inc. LeapFish

Welcome to Ben’s World of Fail:

Techcrunch Writer, Robin Wauters Finally Bans One of The IP Addresses:

Other BrokerScience Coverage of Ben Behrouzi / ePerks / LeapFish / DotNext:

Ben Behrouzi Caught on Tape: Threatens to Blackball Employee on Voicemail

Vlad Zablotzkyy Defeats LeapFish / ePerks / DotNext CEO Ben Behrouzi

Ben Behrouzi, LeapFish CEO Caught Spamming TechCrunch

The Beginner’s Action Guide to Learning about Vlad Zablotkyy vs. ePerks / Ben Behrouzi

ePerks / LeapFish CEO Ben Behrouzi Threatens BrokerScience with Legal Action

ePerks IP Address Link to Vlad Zablotzkyy: When the Hunter Becomes the Prey

iHype.com Launch Coverage Here

Ben Behrouzi Updates Company “Values” and “Culture” Web Pages. Only One Problem: They’re Stolen

Beginning of the End: ePerks CEO Ben Behrouzi Sues Blogger, Confirms No Strategy in Place

BrokerScience Acquires BenBehrouzi.com

LeapFish / DotNext CEO, Ben Behrouzi Defeated

Trace Richardson — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 07:22:26 +0000

On October 22nd, 2008, Ben Behrouzi / Eperks /LeapFish’s atorney, Ronald J. Cook filed for dismissal of their complaint against Vlad Zablotzkyy. This is yet one more embarrassment for Ben Behrouzi in addition to the public humiliation and ridicule that has already befallen him and his dieing brand ePerks, at the hands of the Real Estate community at large.

The withdrawal was likely the result of a settlement with Vlad (the terms of which have not been disclosed) in which Vlad was required to post a statement which is essentially a lawyer contrived “I’m Sorry”. One highlight is where “Vlad” requests that other bloggers covering the story print retractions. Vlad was outgunned and his willingness to settle clearly reflects that.

Considering that Ben Behhrouzi has threatened BrokerScience with threats similar to those he made against Vlad, we see this defeat as fitting, to say the least.

“Behnam “Ben” Behrouzi filed what’s called an “unverified” complaint against Vlad. That’s in contrast to a “verified” complaint, in which the plaintiff signs the complaint and declares under penalty of perjury that the statements in the complaint are true and correct. The lawsuit ended in settlement without Behrouzi ever making any statement under oath. Specifically, he never denied that he was responsible for the slander of Vlad.” – Brief Submitted to BrokerScience by Source that Wished to Remain Anonymous

View: All Ben Behrouzi / Brabus Ventures vs Zablotzkyy Court Documents

(The file above is 2mb, so be patient) A hat tip goes out to the attorney that delivered these and quote above to our doorstep and wished to remain anonymous.)

While most intelligent CEO’s couldn’t attract the kind of bad publicity and ill will Behrouzi has managed to generate for ePerks on their worst day, this is an area where Ben truly shines. Then again, Ben has proven himself to be a tactless bully time and time again, so this is par for the course.

Ben’s reward for bullying Vlad Zablotzkyy with childish antics is the distinction of having negative results in 7 of the top 10 results for his name when googling “Ben Behrouzi“. Great job Ben! These will remain for YEARS and YEARS. A google search for “ePerks” shows 9 out of the top 10 results have negative content.

Spamming the Ben Behrouzi Way

To counter the extremely negative public reaction to his business practices in google, Ben began a spam / search engine dilution campaign in August by creating accounts with a large amount of service providers such as youtube.com, vator.tv and others in hopes these would replace the existing negative google results that come up when googling “Ben Behrouzi”. You can find the complete list at the bottom of this very unprofessional and amateur looking homepage Ben has created for himself here. Over time, these will end up being virtually useless for his end goal of spamming the results for his name.

He has also started maxstartup.com that was originally yet another ePerks splog until recently. Don’t laugh too hard when reading this gem from “MaxStartUp”:

I’ve had several failures in my life with some lessons that have left their spots, and have even been victim to online lies and an actual blog war instigated by the many that are motivated by the basest of human qualities.

Did Brabus Ventures Implode or is the Brand Simply Toxic?

It is worth noting that Ben Behrouzi’s parent company, Brabus Ventures has recently disassembled its corporate website at BrabusVentures.com including removing the Cultures and Values pages that Ben Behrouzi stole from Mervyns.com and Chevron.com. It seems that the root cause is that Ben Behrouzi is distancing himself from Brabus Ventures with a name change, after all a google search for “Brabus Ventures” shows 7 out of 10 listings have negative content regarding his company. We have no word yet on whether Ben plans on changing his own name to escape the embarrassment associated with it.

Simply Embarrassing:

Brabus Ventures Before Disassembly

Brabus Ventures After Disassembly

The New Face of Brabus Ventures - DotNext Inc.

The Next Generation of Fail: DotNext, Inc.

DotNext, Inc. is the new incarnation of Brabus Ventures. When most companies change their name, they give notice on their home page and redirect visitors to the new domain. Not Ben Behrouzi. His ability to single handedly destroy brands is the reason he is running from the Brabus Ventures name / reputation. When people think of Brabus Ventures, they think of Ben Behrouzi, when they think of Ben Behrouzi, they think of ePerks and when people think of ePerks, they think of ….. well you get the idea. Ben Behrouzi, his brands and his ongoing business practices are very negatively viewed in the Real Estate Community.

Notice that at BrabusVentures.com lists ePerks and Brabus as the only company properties. It is not until you go to dotnexinc.com that you see LeapFish, Ziddler and Ihype as properties with no mention of Brabus or ePerks. They are clearly trying to stop the bleeding and brand destruction caused by being associated with the Brabus Ventures / Ben Behrouzi names by isolating ePerks and Brabus together. Wow and sad.

On a final note, in recent months, current ePerks employees have been briefing us on Ben’s latest “secret” project, LeapFish.com, but to be honest we don’t care. We’ve wasted enough time highlighting the EPIC FAIL that is Ben Behrouzi already. Surprisingly, Ben has failed to garner any top search engine spots for “Epic Fail” yet, but it is one thing Ben is consistent with, so give him time.

Thank you to the community and everyone that did what they could to help Vlad Zablotzkyy defeat Ben Behrouzi / Eperks / Brabus Ventures!!! While there are too many to thank individually, an honorable mention goes out to Andy Beard and “Big Gun” Swann for putting their weight behind Vlad.

Read: The Definitive Guide to Ben Behrouzi / ePerks

TechCrunch LeapFish Coverage

Other BrokerScience Coverage of Ben Behrouzi / ePerks / LeapFish / DotNext:

Ben Behrouzi Caught on Tape: Threatens to Blackball Employee on Voicemail

Vlad Zablotzkyy Defeats LeapFish / ePerks / DotNext CEO Ben Behrouzi

Ben Behrouzi, LeapFish CEO Caught Spamming TechCrunch

The Beginner’s Action Guide to Learning about Vlad Zablotkyy vs. ePerks / Ben Behrouzi

ePerks / LeapFish CEO Ben Behrouzi Threatens BrokerScience with Legal Action

ePerks IP Address Link to Vlad Zablotzkyy: When the Hunter Becomes the Prey

iHype.com Launch Coverage Here

Ben Behrouzi Updates Company “Values” and “Culture” Web Pages. Only One Problem: They’re Stolen

Beginning of the End: ePerks CEO Ben Behrouzi Sues Blogger, Confirms No Strategy in Place

BrokerScience Acquires BenBehrouzi.com

The Beginner’s Action Guide to Learning about ePerks / Ben Behrouzi vs Vlad Zablotkyy

Trace Richardson — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 06:57:14 +0000

1) Learn the ePerks Basics with the Seminal Piece on ePerks:

ePerks.com: A Case Study in Greed and Self-Imposed Brand Destruction

2) Read the Blog Post / Comments That Started It All:

ePerks- A Scam or A Gem?

3) Read the Cease & Desist Letter, Threats and Lawsuit from ePerks CEO Ben Behrouzi:

Cease & Desist Letter: Chilling Effect: How A Behemoth Company Can Silence A Blogger

Threats from ePersk CEO Ben Behrouzi: Am I Being Sued By ePerks?

ePerks Lawsuit Against Vlad Zablotzkyy: ePerks Pulls the Trigger: I am being Sued

Read: BrokerScience Commentary on Suit

4) Read Vlad’s Response to Being Falsely Accused of Child Molestation:

How Far Do You Go To Silence A Blogger And When Does It Become Too Far?

5) Listen to the Shocking Ben Behrouzi Voice Mails:

ePerks CEO Ben Behrouzi Voicemails Exposed: Threatens to Blackball and Sue Employee

6) Learn about the ePerks Link to Vlad Zablotzkyy:

ePerks IP Address Link to Vlad Zablotzkyy: When the Hunter Becomes the Prey

7) Read about Behrouzi’s Threats Against BrokerScience

Ben Behrouzi Insinuates Legal Action Against BrokerScience, Cites “Damages” and his confirmation to take action against BrokerScience on Inman. Read BrokerScience commentary on Inman piece.

Take Action NOW:

Donate to the Vlad Zablotzkyy Legal Defense Fund

ePerks: A Case Study in Brand Destruction:

(These are the “minions” ePerk’s Attorney infamously referred to in this Inman Article.)

ePerks v Vlad: Strategies to Avoid a Viral World War

ePerks – I Am Not A Minion Mr Cook

Im Mad As Hell-You Will Be Too When You Read About Vlad Zablotskyy and ePerks

ePerks & Freedom of Speech?

An Open Letter to Ben Behrouzi

Real Estate Radio USA Interviews Mary McKnight

Zablotskyy the Scrivener

Vlad Zablotskyy V. ePerks The Cliffs Notes Version

Vlad Zablotskyy – A Martyr for Reputation Management

A Dark Day for Bloggers Everywhere

In Support of Vlad Zablotzkyy

Do I look Fat in This Lawsuit?

Nominee for PR Blunder of the Year – ePerks

Why Real Estate Agents Are Bailing on ePerks

5 Ways to Support Vlad Zablotzkyy

Suport Vlad Zablotskyy in his defense against ePerks.com frivolous suit

Some companies are stupid, and eperks may be the stupidest

ePerks: A brand going down in flames

ePerks vs Blogger Vlad Zablotskyy, Freedom of Speech in Cyberspace at Stake

Suport Vlad Zablotskyy in his defense against ePerks.com frivolous suit

ePerks Sues Real Estate Blogger

ePerks Using Questionable Tactics

Ben Behrouzi’s Fair Darts

Blogger Is Sued for Business Disparagement

Write a post supporting your fellow real estate blogger, Vlad Zablotskyy, in his battle with ePerks and I will give you a blog

ePerks Sues Real Estate Blogger, Blogosphere Unites to Destroy the ePerks Brand

RSS Pieces provides a rundown of how ePerks is destroying its own reputation

Want money back at closing?

ePerks Sues Blogger Vlad Zablotzkyy

Spreading the word about eJerks

Spreading the word about Vlad Zablotskyy and his battle with ePerks – Free Speech Issue For The Blogging Community

Is ePerks.com’s Ben Behrouzi, infamous for trying to censor a real estate weblogger, stealing content from Mervyns and Chevron?

Support the Vlad Zablotskyy Legal Defense Fund: A real estate weblogger is being throttled by corporate bully ePerks.com. The free speech rights you will be fighting for are your own…

Memo to ePerks.com: You idiots! Trying to censor a real estate weblogger is a poor way to defend your reputation — such as it is…

ePerks To Sue Blogger – Freedom Of Speech Threatened

Looking for lawyers…

Blogger is Sued for Business Disparagement

Sometimes everybody’s gotta take a side

ePerks: What Were They Thinking?

ePerks to Vlad: I’m Gonna Pound You

Blogging and Freedom of Speech

Blogger Get “Cease and Desist” from ePerks

iHype & ePerks – How To Kill A Startup

Memorial Day and the Plight of a Blogger

Open Letter to ePerks.com

ePerks Shafts Realtors

Are ePerks Spammers?

Real estate rebates and referrals with a twist

ePerks & iHype – Legal Kneejerk – Sues Blogger

Other BrokerScience Coverage of Ben Behrouzi / ePerks / LeapFish / DotNext:

Ben Behrouzi Caught on Tape: Threatens to Blackball Employee on Voicemail

Vlad Zablotzkyy Defeats LeapFish / ePerks / DotNext CEO Ben Behrouzi

Ben Behrouzi, LeapFish CEO Caught Spamming TechCrunch

The Beginner’s Action Guide to Learning about Vlad Zablotkyy vs. ePerks / Ben Behrouzi

ePerks / LeapFish CEO Ben Behrouzi Threatens BrokerScience with Legal Action

ePerks IP Address Link to Vlad Zablotzkyy: When the Hunter Becomes the Prey

iHype.com Launch Coverage Here

Ben Behrouzi Updates Company “Values” and “Culture” Web Pages. Only One Problem: They’re Stolen

Beginning of the End: ePerks CEO Ben Behrouzi Sues Blogger, Confirms No Strategy in Place

BrokerScience Acquires BenBehrouzi.com

Inman Covers ePerks: Story Almost at Tipping Point, Outrage Against ePerks Grows

Trace Richardson — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 01:06:47 +0000

Glenn Roberts Jr. at Inman has written a great article about Vlad’s plight and ePerks in which we were interviewed. It is worth noting that the exposure this article brings to ePerks is yet another clear defeat for ePerks and CEO Ben Behrouzi. Even if they had a possibility of a courtroom win, they and their brand are by and far the clear losers in any scenario involving litigation regardless of the outcome. Their actions are clearly an ego driven reaction and the results of having no strategy reflect that. The only victory they can obtain is by leaving the stage altogether and worrying less about others’ opinions and more about their customers.

From the Interview:

In an Inman News interview, Richardson said, “There is a principle involved of the ability of the blogger to express an opinion. To write a critical piece. That affects us all.”

He said he has been contacted by ePerks officials about his writings at the site, and he offered, “If anything is printed that’s wrong, we’ll print a retraction — make corrections.”

Richardson said that if he, too, is hit with a lawsuit from ePerks, he expects to prevail. “If you have to do it, you have to do it. When we win, we will have that much more leverage in the future when people come to us,” he said.

ePerks CEO Ben Behrouzi on BrokerScience

Behrouzi said that the company does “seek to hold people accountable,” and named Trace Richardson, creator of the BrokerScience blog, as another blogger who is posting items about the company.

Our Response: The only person you need to hold responsible is yourself Ben. Your failure to assume responsibility for your actions is the cause of this ordeal and ultimately, the destruction of the ePerks brand. Make no mistake, not a single page about ePerks would have ever been written on BrokerScience had we not heard about a company named ePerks with a CEO named Ben Behrouzi that was bullying bloggers.

ePerks Attorney Ron Cook on the Lawsuit Against Vlad:

“The issue we’re trying to promote is responsible speech. If you’re going to take us on and criticize us, at least do it with some comments that have some validity to them,” he said.

“The free speech aspect of all of this is an important consideration. We don’t expect to live in a bubble where nobody can throw darts. We want to make sure the darts are fairly thrown.”

This above statement is stark contrast to the request he made in an earlier C & D letter to Vlad where he didn’t simply request that “darts were fairly thrown”, he requested removal of all current and future digital, print, internet or verbal reference of ePerks related content or ePerks related links.

“You are hereby instructed to promptly do the following: (1) shutter and prevent access to all blogs with any ePERKS reference or content; (2)remove any record of their existence; (3) terminate any links pointing to any blogs that reference ePERKS; and (4) cease and desist from any and all current and future digital, print, Internet or verbal reference to ePERKS.com or Barbus Venture Corporation. This includes closing down your January 28, 2008 lbog that continues to direct readers to your previous remarks and postings.” – ePerks Attorney Ron Cook in C & D letter to Vlad

ePerks Attorney Ron Cook on the Overwhelming Support Behind Vlad

“Clearly, his minions out there are rallying behind him.”

On that Note: A Special Treat for BrokerScience Readers!

If you are part of the Real Estate Community: Click Here

If you are Ben Behrouzi & Company: Click Here

Other BrokerScience Coverage of Ben Behrouzi / ePerks / LeapFish / DotNext:

Ben Behrouzi Caught on Tape: Threatens to Blackball Employee on Voicemail

Vlad Zablotzkyy Defeats LeapFish / ePerks / DotNext CEO Ben Behrouzi

Ben Behrouzi, LeapFish CEO Caught Spamming TechCrunch

The Beginner’s Action Guide to Learning about Vlad Zablotkyy vs. ePerks / Ben Behrouzi

ePerks / LeapFish CEO Ben Behrouzi Threatens BrokerScience with Legal Action

ePerks IP Address Link to Vlad Zablotzkyy: When the Hunter Becomes the Prey

iHype.com Launch Coverage Here

Ben Behrouzi Updates Company “Values” and “Culture” Web Pages. Only One Problem: They’re Stolen

Beginning of the End: ePerks CEO Ben Behrouzi Sues Blogger, Confirms No Strategy in Place

BrokerScience Acquires BenBehrouzi.com

LeapFish / ePerks CEO Ben Behrouzi Voicemails Exposed: Threatens to Blackball and Sue Employee

Trace Richardson — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:05:23 +0000

Leapfish / Ben Behrouzi Bombshell

Since BrokerScience first began covering LeapFish and ePerks CEO Ben Behrouzi, we have received a lot of reader submitted information in the form of: stories of first hand experiences with LeapFish / ePerks / Ben Behrouzi (as employees and customers), emails, voice mails, and other miscellaneous information and data relating to Ben and company. We have published virtually none of it and do not plan on publishing it in the future unless it is pertinent to the facts involved in our coverage. The following voice mails are an exception. They help establish a pattern of legal harassment by Ben Behrouzi that goes all the way back to his days at Reply.com.

One common theme among all current and former employees we speak to that have worked under Ben Behrouzi at Reply.com or ePerks.com is that they fear the consequences involved with sharing their story. The legal harassment and worse that ePerks critics such as Vlad Zablotzkyy, Dennis Pease and BrokerScience have endured are a testament to those concerns.

One person that is not afraid of Ben Behrouzi is former Reply.com employee Scott Chestnut. Scott worked under Ben Behrouzi (who was the Chief Technology Officer despite the fact that he was still in school working on a philosophy degree) as a Senior Network Engineer. While building out what was to be a million dollar network, Scott realized that working for Ben was an unworkable situation, so he walked out in frustration. The following voice mail from Ben Behrouzi chronicles Ben’s threats to blackball Scott and insure he is unable to gain employment, insinuating this will affect him for life and have deep reaching effects.

“My new goal in life is going to become to ruin your name across this entire East Bay……..you can take that to the bank, you can put your future kids or your girlfriend or whoever you want to put on it.” – ePerks CEO, Ben Behrouzi to employee that left the company

Ben Behrouzi Threatening to Blackball and “Ruin the Name” of Former Employee

http://brokerscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/benscott.mp3

Later, Ben left another message regarding a vendor, CDW. He again makes false allegations and threatens legal action. Even though he claims he is in the process of preparing legal action, no legal action ever took place, an experience similar to what others have faced.

Ben suggests “using dollars” to make up for the indiscretions he accuses Scott of, similar to the verbiage he used when he threatened BrokerScience and tried to set up a conference call to discuss “damages“.

At some point after Scott walked out, Ben and his team were reportedly let go from Reply.com and Scott was again offered his position back at Reply.com.

Ben Behrouzi Threatening Legal Action Against Former Employee / No Action Was Ever Filed

http://brokerscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/benscott2.mp3

Conclusion. These voice mails are more evidence documenting a pattern of legal harassment and threats by Ben Behrouzi against anybody that gets in his way. While I am not familiar with the legality of of blackballing I am somewhat certain that “ruining someone’s name” for the purposes of insuring they cannot obtain employment is nothing short of defamation. Ben’s actions are consistent with the lack of ethics we have seen ePerks and iHype exhibit. There is now no question that in our opinion, Ben Behrouzi operates without an ethical or moral code.

Feedback: Do you have a negative or positive LeapFish / ePerks / Ben Behrouzi story you would like to share as an current or ex employee, colleague or customer? We can’t guarantee we will publish it, but appreciate your feedback and it may help bloggers like Vlad Zablotzky fight against Ben Behrouzi and company. Contact us here.

Ben Behrouzi / ePerks.com: A Case Study in Self Induced Search Engine Brand Destruction

Trace Richardson — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 05:25:08 +0000

When BrokerScience published our analysis of ePerk’s brand destruction ( ePerks.com: A Case Study in Greed and Self-Imposed Brand Destruction ) on May 30th, we did not know that just nine days later, Vlad Zablotzkyy would be served with a lawsuit from ePerks/ CEO Ben Behrouzi.

Quite frankly, in light of the growing attention and coverage Ben Behrouzi’s cease & desist letter and legal threats to Vlad, we didn’t think Ben and company would be so foolish stupid as to continue in such a self defeating manner. We have a lot to learn. Ben has continued his tour de force of driving ePerks into the ground by threatening BrokerScience with legal action and following up with a lawsuit against Vlad which will ultimately prove to be his coup de grace.

Online Reputation and Brand Destruction. Ben’s actions have exponentially increased the numbers of outraged bloggers and real estate professionals linking to Vlad’s blog. The result is that the very blog post that Ben / ePerks fought to suppress now ranks #2 in a Google search for ePerks, right below ePerks.com. Seven of the top 10 results contain negative commentary on ePerks. Even paid blog posts sponsored by ePerks are overrun by negative comments from unhappy ePerks users. Eight of the top ten results for “Ben Behrouzi” are negative. BrokerScience ranks number four and five for “ePerks.com”, number six and seven for “ben behrouzi” and number two for “iHype.com”. It is my opinion that this case will be referenced in future studies and textbooks dealing with online reputation and brand management. One thing is for sure Behrouzi and company are panicked and they should be.

Recognized SEO Expert Aaron Wall on the Brand Damage ePerks Has Caused to its Domain Name:

Lots of links will flow, but unfortunately their brand is destroyed. Perhaps they can later 301 redirect their site, but the PageRank is probably going to be worth less than the negative karma associated with the conflict.

Game Over. As bad as the ePerks situation has become, the greatest damage is likely still to come. If Behrouzi drops the case against blogger, Vlad Zablotzkyy, there will be a tidal wave of attention on his defeat. If he moves forward against Vlad, he will likely lose, if his case does not get thrown out first. More importantly, if a direct IP address connection is made between the false child molestation allegations, Ben and company will face not only civil action, but more importantly criminal fraud charges and intense media scrutiny and coverage. Of course, all of the negativity will also haunt Behrouzi in future projects such as his failed to launch startup, iHype.com and virtually guarantees his inability to attract investors in the future. His brand, name and reputation are in short, toxic. All of this damage done and the story has not even gone national yet. The real fallout occurs when the New York Times, LA Times, or similar carry the story, which is looking sooner rather then later. A likely trigger for this will be if Ben follows up up on his threats to BrokerScience or when the right person finally notices the story.

Small Sample of Recent ePerks / Ben Behrouzi Coverage

Is ePerks.com’s Ben Behrouzi, infamous for trying to censor a real estate weblogger, stealing content from Mervyns and Chevron?

Support the Vlad Zablotskyy Legal Defense Fund: A real estate weblogger is being throttled by corporate bully ePerks.com. The free speech rights you will be fighting for are your own…

Memo to ePerks.com: You idiots! Trying to censor a real estate weblogger is a poor way to defend your reputation — such as it is…

ePerks To Sue Blogger – Freedom Of Speech Threatened

Blogger is Sued for Business Disparagement

Sometimes everybody’s gotta take a side

ePerks: What Were They Thinking?

ePerks to Vlad: I’m Gonna Pound You

Blogging and Freedom of Speech

Blogger Get “Cease and Desist” from ePerks

iHype & ePerks – How To Kill A Startup

Memorial Day and the Plight of a Blogger

Open Letter to ePerks.com

ePerks Shafts Realtors

Are ePerks Spammers?

ePerks & iHype – Legal Kneejerk – Sues Blogger

BrokerScience Acquires BenBehrouzi.com

Trace Richardson — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 20:56:20 +0000

In yet another blow to embattled ePerks and Brabus Ventures Corporation CEO, Ben Behrouzi, BrokerScience has acquired exclusive ownership of the following internet domain names:

Internet domain name case law provides that these names can be used in a capacity that does not create confusion in the market place. In the future they may be used to host and support a Defense Fund for bloggers that are sued by ePerks / Ben Behrouzi / Brabus Ventures Corporation. Have an idea for what we can use them for? Drop us a line!

We left BehnamBehrouzi.com (Ben’s legal name) for Ben if he so chooses to use it. We’ve also left most of the Behzad (Ben’s Brother, “Director of Product for Brabus Ventures”) domain names untouched. We are disappointed to report that Behzad’s preferred pseudonym (as anonymously reported by current ePerks employees), Kevin Morris is not available as a domain name.

Other BrokerScience Coverage of Ben Behrouzi / ePerks / LeapFish / DotNext:

Ben Behrouzi Caught on Tape: Threatens to Blackball Employee on Voicemail

Vlad Zablotzkyy Defeats LeapFish / ePerks / DotNext CEO Ben Behrouzi

Ben Behrouzi, LeapFish CEO Caught Spamming TechCrunch

The Beginner’s Action Guide to Learning about Vlad Zablotkyy vs. ePerks / Ben Behrouzi

ePerks / LeapFish CEO Ben Behrouzi Threatens BrokerScience with Legal Action

ePerks IP Address Link to Vlad Zablotzkyy: When the Hunter Becomes the Prey

iHype.com Launch Coverage Here

Ben Behrouzi Updates Company “Values” and “Culture” Web Pages. Only One Problem: They’re Stolen

Beginning of the End: ePerks CEO Ben Behrouzi Sues Blogger, Confirms No Strategy in Place

BrokerScience Acquires BenBehrouzi.com

Beginning of the End: ePerks CEO Ben Behrouzi Sues Blogger, Confirms No Strategy in Place

Trace Richardson — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 20:15:31 +0000

When ePerks.com CEO Ben Behrouzi originally hired blogger Vlad Zablotzkyy of Go-Beyond-MLS.com to write a paid review of ePerks.com, he never expected the barrage of user complaints that were posted in the comment section of Vlad’s blog and he never expected the fallout that would occur when he threatened Vlad and sent him a Cease & Desist letter to take down the comments.

While it is not uncommon for CEO’s to be upset with criticism that their companies receive, it is highly unusual, perhaps unheard of, for CEO’s to follow the path that Ben Behrouzi has in single handedly destroying his reputation, brand and likely becoming liable for slander and defamation. The secondary effect that is as the story continues to grow it only serves to increase his exposure to growing murmurs regarding a Class Action lawsuit by dissatisfied ePerks users. To date: 8 of the top 10 results in a Google search for “eperks.com”and likewise “ben behrouzi” point to content that has negative commentary or comments about ePerks and ePerks CEO Ben Behrzouzi.

This morning, Vlad Zablotzkyy was served with a civil action from Brabus Ventures Corporation (ePerks parent company, owned by Behnam Behrouzi) claiming unspecified damages for posting information on his blog about a false child molestation allegation that was made against him. Vlad made no accusations but simply presented anecdotal evidence indicating that ePerks was possibly linked to the false charges. The evidence showed that user names used by the person posting false child molestation allegations matched user names used by persons leaving comments on Vlad blog originating from ePerks.com corporate IP address.

Fluff. The purpose of a Cease & Desist letter is to forewarn of pending legal action in lieu of compliance. When legal action is taken, the actions should be consistent with the items cited in the Cease & Desist letter if they have validity.

Break down of Specific Complaints in ePerks C & D Letter vs. Actual Complaint:

C & D: “Your only goal is to cast ePERKS in a negative light for personal gain…………your blogs deceptively fail to inform the reader that you are motivated by an undisclosed proprietary interest in an ePERKS competitor.” Not Included in Complaint.
C & D: “Having researched the content of your blogs, we have come to conclusive proof that a substantial number of your postings are bogus, in that they frequently describe experiences that never happened and people who do not exist.” Not Included in Complaint.
C & D: “Our research also shows that negative remarks are not only invited, but are posted without a challenge.” Not Included in Complaint.

Central Complaint:

“Defendant Zablotskyy published an accusation on his blog website that plaintiff was responsible for an anonymous internet posting alleging that defendant was a child molester. Said post by defendant is attached hereto as Exhibit “A”. At the time the Exhibit “A” post was published, defendant had no reasonable basis to accuse plaintiff, or its internet name ePERKS.com of being the author of the child molester post.”

Stupidity. ePerks is going after Vlad for accusing them of being behind the child molestation allegation on Yahoo Answers. The fact is that Vlad did not accuse them as such, he simply presented anecdotal evidence. The irony is that the single piece of information that will confirm what IP Address the Yahoo Answers post originated from and will likely invalidate ePerk’s complaint is one subpoena away and is the also the single piece of evidence that will provide Vlad with an airtight Libel and Defamation case against ePerks should it link ePerks to the allegation.

On June 5th, one day after ePerk’s complaint against Vlad was filed, BrokerScience laid out the connection between ePerks and the Yahoo Answers child molestation post. While the link will only be definitive once Yahoo is subpoenaed, the anecdotal evidence points strongly to ePerks. One thing is for sure, it is very likely that Ben Behrouzi and company are panicked in light of the IP Address link to ePerks presented by BrokerScience only one day after their complaint was filed.

If ePerks was so unhappy with Vlad’s assertions, how will they feel about ours? Will BrokerScience be served in the coming days? Our fingers are crossed. An ePerks case against BrokerScience all but guarantees the story goes national, gaining exposure to Vlad’s plight and consumer complaints against ePerks.

Community Reaction: Greg Swann at BloodHound has established the Vlad Zablotzkyy Defense Fund.

Support Vlad Zablotskyy’s Defense Fund
Defend your own right to free speech!

The Complaint:

Barabus vs Zablotskyy – Upload a Document to Scribd

Other BrokerScience Coverage of Ben Behrouzi / ePerks / LeapFish / DotNext:

Ben Behrouzi Caught on Tape: Threatens to Blackball Employee on Voicemail

Vlad Zablotzkyy Defeats LeapFish / ePerks / DotNext CEO Ben Behrouzi

Ben Behrouzi, LeapFish CEO Caught Spamming TechCrunch

The Beginner’s Action Guide to Learning about Vlad Zablotkyy vs. ePerks / Ben Behrouzi

ePerks / LeapFish CEO Ben Behrouzi Threatens BrokerScience with Legal Action

ePerks IP Address Link to Vlad Zablotzkyy: When the Hunter Becomes the Prey

iHype.com Launch Coverage Here

Ben Behrouzi Updates Company “Values” and “Culture” Web Pages. Only One Problem: They’re Stolen

Beginning of the End: ePerks CEO Ben Behrouzi Sues Blogger, Confirms No Strategy in Place

BrokerScience Acquires BenBehrouzi.com

Ben Behrouzi Updates Company “Values” and “Culture” Web Pages. Only One Problem: They’re Stolen.

Trace Richardson — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 10:22:45 +0000

Brabus Ventures (BrabusVentures.com), owned by embattled CEO Ben Behrouzi and parent company of ePerks.com, LeapFish and DotNextInc has updated it’s website and added new “Values” and “Culture” pages to combat the barrage of negative publicity their business practices have earned them. There is only one problem: the pages are STOLEN virtually verbatim from Chevron.com and Mervyns.com. Oh, the irony, in stealing “Values” and “Culture” pages.

This is no surprise, CEO Ben Behrouzi and his companies have a proven track record of engaging in unethical behavior and marketing and his latest debacle of adding “copyright infringement” to his resume are par for the course. This is a time that one would think, as CEO, he should be apologizing to the victims of his harassment and focusing on his failed startup, iHype.com which one of his employees humorously defended as a “soft launch” when it failed to launch as announced on June 2nd.

BrabusVentures.com Steals Culture Page from Mervyns.com

(Click Thumbnail Below For Full Size Image)

Screenshot of Original Mervyns.com Page (URL) / Screenshot of Offending BrabusVentures.com Page (URL)

BrabusVentures.com Steals Values Page from Chevron.com

(Click Thumbnail Below For Full Size Image)

Screenshot of Original Chevron.com Page (URL) / Screenshot of Offending BrabusVentures.com Page (URL)

Dissasemble. I really want to make this story go away, but it’s the gift that keeps on giving. I REALLY want to write some positive stories here.

While it is fairly common for content to be recycled on real estate and mortgage websites (especially privacy pages, legal pages, glossaries and even basic content that define general concepts) it is never ok for a CEO or Founder to steal a Mission Statement, Values Statement, or Definition of Company Culture. Never. Ever.

These are the documents that define the moral, ethical and business code of your company and are the basis for the culture that is created through the actions and leadership of company founders and management. These are to be created with care, sensitivity and purpose. Without positive core beliefs, philosophies and morals, one is truly lost.

UPDATE: BrabusVentures.com has been abandoned due to bad press with no redirect or mention to the new site at Dotnextinc.com.

Other BrokerScience Coverage of Ben Behrouzi / ePerks / LeapFish / DotNext:

Ben Behrouzi Caught on Tape: Threatens to Blackball Employee on Voicemail

Vlad Zablotzkyy Defeats LeapFish / ePerks / DotNext CEO Ben Behrouzi

Ben Behrouzi, LeapFish CEO Caught Spamming TechCrunch

The Beginner’s Action Guide to Learning about Vlad Zablotkyy vs. ePerks / Ben Behrouzi

ePerks / LeapFish CEO Ben Behrouzi Threatens BrokerScience with Legal Action

ePerks IP Address Link to Vlad Zablotzkyy: When the Hunter Becomes the Prey

iHype.com Launch Coverage Here

Ben Behrouzi Updates Company “Values” and “Culture” Web Pages. Only One Problem: They’re Stolen

Beginning of the End: ePerks CEO Ben Behrouzi Sues Blogger, Confirms No Strategy in Place

BrokerScience Acquires BenBehrouzi.com