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