[calvindog]

Scott, I agree completely. When the Mastro fraud-related issues first popped up on Net 54 in 2007, the amount of jackass comments either protecting Mastro and Allen, refusing to admit they were defrauded or attempting to rationalize their behavior was nothing short of stunning to me. In addition, anyone who dared to criticize them -- imcluding reporters who simply reported what the Feds were doing in their investigation -- were castigated beyond belief. Mastro backers would twist themselves into pretzels to explain away the fraud, usually because those backers either conspired on crooked auctions with Doug and Bill or just desperately thought they needed Doug and Bill for some future financial purpose. Naturally, what else could Doug or Bill think about their purported "fraud" victims but that they didn't mind being abused. Even after Bill plead guilty and agreed to cooperate he STILL claimed victim status. The reaction of their useful idiot victims surely assisted in creating the delusional state Doug and Bill enjoyed.

All of these arguments from Doug now fall flat -- he actively obstructed justice in a way that rivals fixing a jury. This is no mere lying under oath to save your skin, this is much worse. I have no doubt that the judge in this case will agree with this position. This sort of obstruction doesn't happen every day and it really is shocking. Had Doug not been such an arrogant, entitled thief 90% of his problems wouldn't exist today. But Doug is Doug, just like Bill is Bill and John Rogers is John Rogers. They simply cannot tell the truth and any effort to challenge them is met with an avalanche of attacks -- some even from their hobby friends on Net 54.