Hello!

I am actually the president, and have been for over five years, of the company. My legal team and I thought it would be best that I respond publicly, since our name has already been tarnished - in an unfortunate and misrepresented matter - throughout this thread.

Joe, the head of our outsourcing department, was in contact with Umar for a certain project. Joe had seen Umar's work - which, on a side note, is extraordinary in itself - and felt it be best that we have him on board with this project. Joe received the mockups in a timely fashion, but then Umar started contacting me, since Joe was out of town, and couldn't respond for just 24 hours. Though I normally don't deal with our freelancers personally, I had no problem doing so with Umar. In fact, I enjoyed talking to him. He's insightful and inspiring.

The thing that scares me the most (and is downright unacceptable, to say the least) is the personal threats, slander, and deformation that I and my company have received. The phone calls, the letters, the e-mail. Never before had I ever witnessed first hand such "horror." It's sickening, in way. No: in every way. There's no room whatsoever for it, and it's completely uncalled for. It's also punishable by law, mind you.

That's why and when I had my legal team takeover, to which Mr. Salmon wasn't too pleased. Why? With such threats, isn't this the only right thing to do? What would you have done differently?

We are an established company with a wonderful track record - to say otherwise would be nothing but offensive. Further, of our 20MM billings, we underwrite nearly 50% to domestic non-profit organizations. Thus, to say that we're out "scamming" people is downright slander: nothing less. Mr. Salmon "assumed" he would never be paid as he never provided us the necessary information in order for us to do so - how could we? Instead of talking to me, or any one of my billing staff, he chose to come on said forum and talk off about his "misfortunes" and how he was going to "throw us in the mud." I have continually said that should he provide me with the necessary information, we'll get him paid for. It's as simple as that. I absolutely love how some of you are suggesting how I run this business.

Granted, it would have been easier to have provided prepay, to which Joe is partly to blame, though Joe was never requested to do so. Further, a simple contract would have solved this.

In conclusion, we're both at "fault." I would have preferred for this to have been handled differently, though I'll take the cards I was dealt.

Oh, yeah, here's the obituary of my close friend - you'll note that I'm listed in there as well, for those of you who cared to slander that, as well. Even more, MM is a pretty standard abbreviation for million. As you did not know, it comes from Latin "mille" meaning "thousand," so MM is a "thousand thousands" which - without doubt - equals one million. "MM" is widely used in the financial industry, though it all depends on who you ask.