The SCO Group, a software technology and mobile services firm that focuses on Unix-based solutions — but is perhaps best for its high-profile lawsuits against Novell and IBM — has announced a US$100 million cash infusion from Stephen Norris Capital Partners (SNCP) that promises to yank the small Utah-based company out of bankruptcy.
In addition to SNCP, the financing would include SNCP partners from the Middle East, and it comes with a reorganization plan in which SNCP will take a controlling interest in the company — and turn it into a private organization. SCO’s board of directors has unanimously determined that this financing and plan of reorganization is in the best long-term interest of SCO and its subsidiaries, as well as its customers, shareholders, creditors and employees, SCO reported.
‘An Exciting Future’
“Not only will this deal position us to emerge from Chapter 11, but it also marks an exciting future for our business,” noted Jeff Hunsaker, president and chief operating officer of SCO operations. “This significant financial backing is positive news for SCO’s customers, partners and resellers, who continue to request upgrades and rely upon SCO’s Unix services to drive their business forward.”
SNCP has developed a business plan for SCO that includes unveiling new product lines aimed at global customers. This reorganization plan will also let the company see SCO’s legal claims through to their full conclusion, the company said.
“We saw a tremendous investment opportunity in SCO and its vast range of products and services, including many new innovations ready or soon to be ready to be released into the marketplace,” noted Stephen Norris, managing partner for SNCP. “We expect to quickly develop these opportunities, and to stand behind SCO’s existing base of customers and partners.”
Widespread Skepticism
SCO has long asserted through legal claims and lawsuits that Linux infringes on its copyrights, and it’s encountered widespread skepticism from the technology industry as well as the courts. The last major blow to the company came in August of last year when a judge, ruling in the SCO v. Novell case, found that Novell owned the disputed Unix copyrights. The court awarded Novell some summary judgments over various claims and denies SCO’s claims.
A month after that judgment, SCO filed for bankruptcy, and in late 2007 SCO was delisted from the Nasdaq. Finally, earlier this week, the company announced it would lay off about 30 of its 115 employees. After all this, the obvious question is, what assets might SCO have that could be worth more than $100 million?
“They probably believe that they can reverse the judge’s ruling on whether the ownership of the copyrights was required for SCO’s business and thus trigger the copyright transfer to SCO,” Mark Radcliffe, an attorney with DLA Piper and author of the Law & Life: Silicon Valley blog, told LinuxInsider.
“This will be hard, because generally appellate courts respect factual findings of lower courts,” he added.
Rising From the Dead
“There are always margins to be had from the ruins of a wrecked company. Clearly, Norris Capital sees some value in SCO’s future business model, but that value will only be realized outside and apart from any litigation,” noted Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation.
“The SCO litigation has been like a bad horror flick and about as believable. This case has been going through the courts too long, and the facts remain the same. We hope that SCO’s new investment is focused on the future and not rooted in the shock value of an old scary movie,” he added.
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Alright students, class is in session. I’m going to make this easy
for everyone. You have all seen the book Where’s Waldo. We’re going
to play Where’s Norris (Steven Norris).
I remain shocked and even appalled that the Trustee has not taken
the time to do this work for us. All this took was a few hours
searching on the Internet, making a few phone
calls (I still have several to make), and asking a few people to
run some errands. Here is the theory: Steve Norris is a broke fake
and a fee whore (I carefully selected words
here). See if you can follow the facts and the line of reasoning.
Of course I encourage anyone out there to offer contrary evidence.
Steve Norris doesn’t do deals, he lures
people and companies in and seduces them with the promise of
capital raising (especially through his contacts in the Gulf). Then
he quietly slips out and ends up suing or being
sued.
The record however will support only one reality; Steve Norris
sucks huge fees from individuals and companies and doesn’t deliver;
ever. He was kicked out of Carlyle Group.
His partners now enjoy a standing on the billionaire list while Mr.
Norris continues his fee grubbing. He has no partners or friends;
just fee pimps and fee junkies (his cronies
that follow him around and prop up the facade–you scratch my back
I’ll scratch yours). Here follows five or six examples. I’m sure
there are plenty more. These are the ones
I have found with very little effort. Norris formed a partnership
with two or three guys including Dennis Dammerman (past CFO of
General Electric). They were raising "a fund"
another Norris specialty that never happens). The partnership
blew up. A law suit was filed against Norris claiming that he stole
fees (another partner paid Norris’ travel,
expenses, and consulting fees; even a Golf Tournament sponsorship).
Norris never spent a penny of his own money. The deal blew up.
Norris vanished. Not a dollar was raised.
The case goes to trial in NYC this month. Norris just lost another
case at trial in Washington DC last month in which he was suing for
fees he should have received. Norris
formed a "partnership" named "Peninsula Partners" with the very
character who is suing him now; Mark Robbins. The partnership also
included Robbins’ father-in-law Mr. Ed Davies.
Norris claimed to be able to raise the money to purchase a ski
resort. He never did. There are several law suits still active.
Norris got fees, expenses, but never delivered $1.
The partnership blew up, a suit followed, another suit followed.
Law suits surrounding this fiasco are still active.
Now Norris has at least two other "partnerships;" Gulf Capital
Partners and Talos Partners. Norris is the "Chairman and Managing
Partner" of the Gulf Capital company. He is
listed as just a board member of the second company. A friend of
mine walked over looking for the Gulf Capital Partners offices.
There are no offices. I will make a bet; there
is no office, no "partners," no balance sheet, no board minutes,
and no deals. There will be no employees, no payroll, no
accountants licenses, or business registrations.
The same person I spoke with told me that there was a deal with a
hotel chain that fell through. Norris claimed to have big money
lined up in "the Gulf" with some royal family.
Of course there was no deal. By the way, the deal recently closed
with another group; not Norris. Rest assured; the only things you
will find when Gulf Capital blows up is that
Norris received his fees, expenses, ran around the globe on someone
else’s credit card, blown up relationships, and law suits. Norris
also appears as a board member of Talos
Partners. I have a guess; Norris receives fees, told the other
partners he would bring deals, money, and relationships (especially
in the Gulf), and has never delivered a thing.
It appears that Norris lasts 12-18 months in every deal before they
discover his con game. Then, they throw the guy out, someone sues
him or he sues someone (he is a lawyer
after all). Norris has no friends and no partners. He has broken
deals, broken relationships, fees, and lawsuits. Searching the
public records I found at least four recent
and/or active lawsuits with former "partners." How long do you
expect his current partnerships will last before they go to the
next phase of busted relationships, finger
pointing, and law suits? By the way, I called directory assistance
in New York for Gulf Capital Partners. No listing. Mr. Trustee, I
assume you have sent someone to the Gulf
Capital Partners offices in New York City. Do I dare make another
bet that there is no office in NYC Mr. Norris? How about a phone
number? This guy is a fake. I can’t believe the authorities let him
get away with this.
So here we are waiting for Steven Norris and Gulf Capital Partners
to fund SCO? Mark Robbins (the guy with a warrant out for his
arrest) is tied to Norris at every turn
including SCO. I sincerely hope that the trustee has done more work
than I have. I assume the trustee has asked to see Norris’ balance
sheet, or the balance sheet of Gulf
Partners. I assume that the trustee has asked Mr. Norris for a
record of the last deals he has transacted or funded in the last ten
years. I predict that the game is finally up
for Norris. The world (thanks to technology) is on to him. His fee
pimps will quietly disappear (because people will start coming
after them). Norris won’t be able to get a
gig in the US. By the way, word has it that his name is mud in the
Gulf too. The relationship with the royals that he boasts is
actually a very bitter relationship and may
have been one of the things that got him ousted at Carlyle. If SCO
has a prayer it needs someone credible. Norris is not that person.
I will part with another big bet; that Norris has received fees
from SCO and/or individuals at SCO. I’ll place a safe bet that if
you follow the fact trail you will find that
someone has paid Norris big fees and all his expenses while he flew
around supposedly working for SCO. Certainly the trustee has asked
all of these questions. I’m going to
keep beating the bushes. Where’s Norris? He and his cronies seduce
people and companies with promises of fund raising, advisory work,
opening doors to important people, then they
begin collecting fees and expenses, then they deliver nothing or
worse things blow up, then they quietly disappear into the shadows
or they are pushed out), then Norris sues
someone or the partnership sues him or both. One thing is for sure;
try to find a surviving Norris "partnership" or friends. Now find
Norris in the picture.
Here is something I just found. More to come.
• Washington Investment Partners, L.L.C., et al. v. Ayman A.
Boodai, et al.; Ayman A. Boodai, Fahed Boodai, TBC Funding Corp.
and Global Securities
House, third-party plaintiffs v. Stephen L. Norris, third-party
defendant. Case number 2007-CA-000693, filed in District of
Columbia Superior Court on January 29, 2007.
The defendants in this action, who also acted as third-party
plaintiffs in their complaint against Norris, alleged that Norris
ceased being a principal in Washington
Investment Partners (“WIP”) in February 2005, and thus his meetings
with Ayman Boodai’s investment group after that date, where Norris
was said to be acting on behalf of
WIP regarding the $91 million purchase of the Transpoint Building
in Southwest Washington, D.C., were not in good faith. (The
Transpoint Building was leased by the General
Services Administration.) Boodai pointed to trial transcripts
quoting WIP executive Idris Al-Senussi as saying that “Steve was
going and doing, he just does not agree with
our policy of doing real estate. He wants to do some other things,
so he and Mr. Camalier [WIP chairman F. Davis “Davi” Camalier]
agreed that we split up, from my understanding split up.” Senussi
later said Norris “moved his stuff” out of EIP’s offices, but did
not recall the date in the trial transcripts; “maybe 2005, I don’t
remember,” Senussi said. Boodai said Norris lacked the “decision-
making” authority to enter into the agreement, and cited Norris’
own testimony of May 11, 2009, discussing all that he was not
responsible for (a full transcript was not part of the public case
file.) Based in part on Norris entering into contracts on WIP’s
behalf without sufficient authority, Boodai sought to have WIP’s
claim of punitive damages of $50 million dismissed. Although the
court granted the Boodai group’s order to dismiss the punitive
damages – leaving Boodai liable only to pay $636,000 in attorney’s
fees – the decision noted that Boodai “initially contended that Mr.
Norris had no authority to enter this [Asset Management Agreement]
on behalf of WIP but have since abandoned this claim.”
Dear ‘Anonymous’:
Without knowing who you are, or the motivations for your hateful post, it is clear that you are taking the opportunity to string together unrelated "facts", negative spin, hateful allegations and half truths out of context; and at the same time, hiding behind anonymity.
It is clear that you did not actually speak with any of the parties actually involved in the cases you site, or actually visit the Beverly Hills or Dubai office of Gulf Cap. The Sco Trustee’s financial advisers have indeed visited our LA office. Where did you send you "friend" looking for an office?
If you did actually consult with any of the parties, you would find that I have never asserted to anyone the ability to "bring" capital from the Gulf. Indeed, I am always careful to point out that while I might have access to capital, in today’s world, each deal must stand on its own merits.
In that regard, you might consult Dennis Dammerman, whose name you choose to site. It was the onset of the greatest financial crisis since 1929 that required Dammerman, the other partners and I to drop the idea of raising a co -investment fund in 2008, even though we had already secured some commitments for capital. Most of the "speculation" about "Gulf" state capital sources came from other anonymous bloggers at the outset of the Sco transaction. Perhaps, you might have been blogging then as well?
It is a fact that Gulf parties with whom I have worked over the years have made several billion dollars of profits and, in the case of the real estate deal you site, involving an investor from Kuwait, about $100 million in profits. These are indeed real, undisputed facts.
Perhaps, you think the case of Novell/IBM will somehow be helped by trying to discredit me. It seems that the US court of appeals and the US Trustee have made independent findings and, at least to this point, Darl McBride has been vindicated in his efforts.
With respect to Mark Robbins, he is a petty criminal on the run, who deceived even his own family, and brought a suit against innocent parties in the hope of getting "fast cash". We chose to defend our names, as did the Bryan Cave law firm, from baseless allegations.
Finally, if you are simply seeking to discredit me personally, for whatever reason you may have, if you would like to meet with me in person and make these assertions, I would be happy to meet with you.
However, I doubt seriously you have the courage to come out into the open.
Stephen Norris
"Darl McBride has been vindicated in his efforts."
Oh, please. Darl is the laughingstock of the Unix world. Anyone who can make the statement that you made really doesn’t have all the cards in his deck. Check your happy meal – you’re short a few fries!
I can’t really judge much of the rest of these posts, but Darl has never been vindicated, nor will he ever be. Give it up, dude.
Chris Norris also operates his money-raising scams out of his shell company called The Norris Enterprises.