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
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
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- LeapFish / ePerks CEO Ben Behrouzi Voicemails Exposed: Threatens to Blackball and Sue Employee
- BrokerScience Issues Ben Behrouzi Coup de Grace
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November 4th, 2008 at 11:40 am
I enjoyed your truthful article. I was severely misled by eperks and have been filing complaints with the FTC, Real Estate Commission of CA, AG of CA, BBB Pleasanton CA, and local AG office. I was promised a full refund if my exclusive zip codes did not result in a closed sale and they will not honor it. I have filed a dispute with my credit card company and now eperks is sending me to collections. I was told I would be a full refund and that is what I expect. I encourage all of you out there to take the time to file complaints against eperks. I was surprised that when I did a search on the BBB, there was no rating for eperks. Please take the time and let the world know that this company cannot be allowed to continue to condcut their biusiness this way.
November 5th, 2008 at 8:23 am
Thanks for the update. I heard they settled but didn’t read much more information than that. We need to keep up-to-date with any new ventures this unprofessional, disrespectful boy creates so we can stay away before we’re in the same boat as Kathy and many others.
November 5th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Dear Trace Richardson,
I applaud you in your efforts at attempting to look like you are a true journalist that cares about facts and people. You certainly work hard. Perhaps lesser minds will fall victim to the propaganda on this site and forget for a second that 90% of this website and its links you have devoted to me and 100% of the content is either completely inaccurate, incomplete and/or modified in an effort to paint a Trace Richardson version of the picture and generate the traffic you want so badly. You’ve simply built a weapon for a website and you are looking for traffic and looking to build a name at other people’s expense, while you shatter and redefine the definition of SPAM.
Regarding the lawsuit we filed against Mr. Vlad Zablotskky for his acts of defamation, there was no winner. Both parties are losers in the mess that you helped create in order to generate traffic. The fact is that neither I, nor ePERKS, and to our knowledge no ePERK’S employee had anything to do with Mr. Zablotskyy’s personal matters whatsoever. The alleged “evidence” was reviewed by both lawyers, Mr. Zablotskyy’s response was heard and there is a glaring reason why a letter of retraction was posted by Mr. Zablotskky himself. You can find his letter of retraction here : http://www.go-beyond-mls.com/eperks-and-vlad-zablotskyy-settle-the-lawsuit/
I am and have always been a firm believer of working with people and giving people second chances. I can’t share the details of the settlement with you, but we dismissed the case a few days after Mr. Zablotskyy publicized his written retraction and met obligations within the settlement.
Frankly, I don’t really understand why you have this enormous emotional attachment to me. However I do suggest that you make sure you have your facts straight and your judgments checked before you post something silly as you have many times on this broker website.
Now I do have to get back to work and I hope you have something useful to do as well. Best of luck with your agenda.
Regards,
Ben Behrouzi
President & CEO
DotNext Inc.
November 5th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Ben,
I hope you did read the retraction letter before signing the settlement. Just to refresh your memory here is something from the very first paragraph:
“my statements were not based on forensically verified evidence”
I am opened to having the evidence verified by forensic experts. Are you???
November 6th, 2008 at 1:11 am
That’s new Ben, you’ve used your own name. Congratulations and welcome to acting like an adult. So you say that this blog, that I visit from time to time, and indeed the entire site has content all of which is “either completely inaccurate, incomplete and/or modified” so if I find even one part of which that is not true that would make you (a) deliberately lying and subject to the same legal discourse as you tried to follow (b) stupid and subject to etc.. or (c) Wrong in some other way and subject etc..
So let’s see now.
Your statement does not appear to apply to the forum rules:
http://brokerscience.com/sf-forum/rules/forums-rules-and-posting-guidelines/page-1/post-7/#p7
This is a randomly selected post from the main page and again you statment does not hold water:
http://brokerscience.com/re-web/brokerscience/brokerscience-west-coast-tour/
I’d watch your back if I were you after all we do not want to prevent darts from being thrown but we do want to make sure that they are thrown fairly. Don’t we.
I’m sure you can agree with this so if I were your legal adviser I would suggest a retraction but it’s your life to ruin.
Prior to this post I would have charged you GB£1.8 UK billion (we have more 0s than you lot) but now I would have to make that GB£1.9 UK billion.
Out of interest does is sting particularly that there are so many reputation management types watching and thinking I could still fix that but doing nothing to help you? I ask only for information because it’s not a situation I’d ever allow a client to get into even if I was not doing paid RM/PR for him/her. You don’t have to answer if it upsets you as I understand that you have dug yourself a huge PR hole but I’m curious as to how you must feel sitting at the bottom of it.
Not that I plan to join you – it’s too expensive where you are.
Anyway gotta go – a tip of the ol’ hat to Trace.
November 6th, 2008 at 1:14 am
Sorry to double post. I should verify for those that don’t know me that I sometimes take clients for SEO, Blog management and RM/PR and marketing issues. I didn’t make that clear and I don’t want Ben to get the idea that I’m offering any professional legal advice. Just my opinion which I charge a lot of money for unless I value the client in their own right.
November 6th, 2008 at 10:35 am
Mr. Lord Matt,
You can rest assured that if I post something, which is quite infrequent, I will attach my name and title to it.
If you read my statement carefully, I stated that “90% of this website and its links you have devoted to me and 100% of the content is either completely inaccurate, incomplete and/or modified” That means 90% of the content of this website is about me, not you. Second, 100% of the 90% is either completely inaccurate, incomplete and/or modified. Just look at the links all over this website and the statements made.
Matt I understand you want to be an authority. I understand you want to appear like a decent blogger. I understand you want to be perceived as a voice of integrity. Unfortunately, I believe you are a product of hatred, insecurity, racism, greed and the very mess you have helped create. Your comments and posts all reflect this. You and your kind are driven by the basest of human qualities, working to appear as if you are not, while holding the banner of “we’re protecting agents and bloggers”, but really advancing your own self interest. People are smarter than that and I suggest you clean up your rogue blogging tactics.
In the end you and Vlad can make of this case what you please. But the suit is now in the past. I do hope you are able to muster some level of adult maturity and move on.
And as for watching my back, no need, I know you will be watching it for me.
regards,
Ben Behrouzi
November 6th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Ben’s spamming isn’t limited to ePerks. Even though LeapFish is new, they are already engaging in harrassing and hard sales tactics: http://www.yelp.com/biz/leapfish-com-pleasanton
From the article:
Apparently Leap Fish is a new search engine in the market.
They have alleged sales people calling from their cell phones harassing folks to advertise.
This guy by the name of Scott calls and leaves what he thinks is a fun, hip, casual message…..Was browsing online…thought I’d give you a call…please…He’s probably sitting in his apartment in Modesto in boxer shorts making this call from his cell phone. (It really did come from a cell phone, by the way!)
I have had a dozen calls from these folks in the last week or so, I have asked to be removed from their victim list, obviously to no avail, so I hang up.
He calls back, tells me I am rude…his company was going to buy THREE houses from me (hahahahahaha!!!!!!!!) and that he is going to report me. At least I think that’s what he said….he had a Cheeto lodged in his throat.
I find this incredibly amusing….so….wondering who he is going to report me to, I call back to offer suggestions. He is not amused…plus he has to run out for HoHos and Pabst Blue Ribbon before his next round of calls, so he hangs up on me.
MY only recourse at this point is to report him to YOU!!!!!
Give him a call to say hi, His name is Scott, the number is 415-685-9327, and he offered me a free $100 gift card…be sure to ask for yours!
November 7th, 2008 at 1:12 am
@Ben: That might be what you thought you wrote Ben but clearly you need to go back to school. I could spend all day pointing out your flaws but frankly I doubt you can afford my time and I don’t especially want to spend my valuable hours on a looser.
Really Ben – get a clue.
@Eric: I think some people are just put on this planet to give us normal folk something to write about during the slow days.
November 7th, 2008 at 1:44 am
Trace, sorry to take up so much comment space but people making big claims but being unable to count tick me off as much as bullies do.
I count 13 posts containing the word eperks. I also counted 13 containing the word Google.
Now 13 out of 26 is 50%. Therefore as I previously stated Ben is factually incorrect. (not to mention rude and only fractionally as good as me at being condescending – we Brits are rather good at it you know).
I suggest that Ben apologise to Trace and the readers here and promise to speak the truth from now on.
November 7th, 2008 at 2:04 am
Matt,
Unfortunately, in order to speak the truth, one must first understand the concept of of it.
You and I are “driven by the basest of human qualities”. lol
Unless of course we have fabricated the following voice mails:
http://brokerscience.com/re-web/eperks-com/ben-behrouzi-voicemails-threatens-employee/
I will not be surprised if he insisted that we indeed fabricated those voice mails.
November 7th, 2008 at 2:21 am
Here is something interesting. Better Business Bureau just update ratings for ePerks. Can any one guess what the new rating is? – UNSATISFACTORY
http://goldengate.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx?site=99&bbb=1116&firm=189963
Here what BBB says:
November 7th, 2008 at 2:31 am
It’s almost like he has a need to be disliked. Why would anyone be like this? I’m tempted to go after every keyword in the SURPs Ben could ever want to rank for. I can not yet be totally bothered but I’m now thinking about it. The thing is what would I do with those rankings? I couldn’t exactly sell very much.
November 7th, 2008 at 2:39 am
I am thinking the same. But first I will just reopen the comments on one little post, the one that ranks #2. I am tired of reading the e-mails for agents across the country, let there be a place for them to vent again.
By the way Ben, you are welcome to engage the critics there. However please behave or I will ban you from my website, a promise you should not doubt!
November 7th, 2008 at 4:04 am
Ok Ben. Here is a free lesson. No thank you is necessary, nor expected even if you were capable of such a thing.
Choosing dotnextinc.com was absolutely unwise and actually stupid because Arizona’s DotNext LLC is already occupying place #1 on Google for “DotNext”. Trace with this post is #1 on Google for “DotNext Inc”- my guess is some of the bloggers will get pissed when they see this thread and will help Trace to be #1 for the term for next few months. But even if you beat him eventually, he will be #2 for as along as this website is live. You should have learned that from my “ePerks- A Scam or A Gem?” post. Early results on Google are crucial and you did nothing for Google to rank your DotNext domain. Hopefully you will learn one day, otherwise you should stay away from the internet altogether.
Which brings me to LeapFish…. Is that one of your $25 million dollars enterprises you talk about on your MaxStartup. If so, it is tainted as well. You can still re-brand it but not if you continue to be so full of it.
By the way your LeapFish is sending me some traffic my way for the term “ePerks”. Ironic is it not?
Bloggers could have been your best friends- you have turned them into your enemies. Bad move, especially if you still continue to promote iHype. If I ever decide to share the lessons I have learned from the lawsuit you can be sure I will bring up iHype.
Again good luck with your efforts.
November 7th, 2008 at 10:02 am
We should probably stop verbally kicking Ben now. Even at school there was only so much of this I could take even when the bullies really had it coming. I think it’s safe to say he’s “down” and we can go away and do some SEO voodoo instead.
November 9th, 2008 at 7:08 am
@Matt
No way, he deserves all of it, now that he is putting his own name to it there is no escape. I actually did not want to comment on this thread at all, and I would not have if it was not for Ben’s ignorant belligerence.
Just think about it, I can be potential clients for his iHype. But me is one thing. He was so ignorant about blogs that he could out Andy Beard and Greg Swann for having some sort of hidden agenda??? Does he even know that these guys a leading bloggers in their respective niches??? And he wants to compete with IZEA, SponsoredReviews, ReviewMe??? You have to be kidding me!!!
Let him be on the receiving end. I just think he is absolutely enraged by the fact that his newest “cover up” DotNex Inc has been blown out.
November 10th, 2008 at 7:27 am
LeapFish spam on SEOMoz:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/tactical-seo-how-many-termsphrases-should-i-target-on-a-single-page#jtc70706
Does that remind any one of any other startup???
November 11th, 2008 at 3:39 am
Well, I have to say it the man has done himself no favours. I might have under priced the cost of repairing his reputation add another 25% to that price I quoted.
November 15th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Ben Wrote:
>Perhaps lesser minds will fall victim to the propaganda on this site
So He feels it necessary to insult not only the writer of this blog but also it’s readers? That’s a great way to build your reputation. This guy just keeps digging a deeper whole.
February 25th, 2009 at 3:45 am
Ben clearly shows an IQ of a 10 year old, a joke, and a the little man on campus.He has limited business knowledge, based on his performance and the organization that he runs, well noted by his juvenile comments posted online. Hopefully, he will change his ways and realize the opportunities that are available for him. He seems smarter than these remarks! However, he is young and acts as a child when dealing with customers. Best of luck!