LifeWater Media : Trojan Horse, The Ultimate Guide
Hello apes!
I wrote a post in the wee hours of the morning spurred by u/DrThrob's post which can be found here. Now, this user is not the first to receive this message. They will not be the last. More users are being contacted every day--one was even contacted today.
Here is a non-exhaustive list. If you have been contacted, please let me know. Link me to the post, let me know WHEN the contact was. Above all, please leave these people alone. If you message them, do so with tact and try to collect info for me pretty please. On to the list:
- u/pinkcatsonacid - x, video recording
- u/DrThrob - x
- u/itspalpatime - x
- u/Kilverado - x
- u/StockMarket_Wtf - x
- u/Seaguard5 - x, the most recent I'm aware of. This was today.
I've had people comment on my original post with connected DD. I will be checking them out and adding if I believe it holds water.
Thank you and please fasten your tin foil!
Post Structure
- LifeWater Media
- Testimonial Companies and Their Link
- The "Influencer Researcher" Reaching Out
- Counterarguments
1. LifeWater Media
Yeah, yeah, I hear you banana gallery, everyone was sus from the get go. Here is where I come in and give my spiel. I am a graphic designer with a passion for marketing (specifically analysis -- business model canvas, SWOT, etc -- and community engagement) with 4-5 years experience in field. As such, I have a very nagging feeling when a brand is off and I won't leave it be until I've checked them out. This started out as a mental SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis and turned out to be my first popular DD (see, ma! I didn't waste my time in school!)
Now, LifeWater is branded as a digital media agency -- meaning they better be about their digital media and their social media better be poppin'. Think about it this way, if you can't make yourself popular, how can you make someone else popular?
So, let's see it. Referencing the recruiting message, you'll see TWO pages referenced: LinkedIn and a website.
Looking at this, I'm immediately taken back to my intro to web development class. I always joked my websites were held together with paper clips and gum, but at least they looked pretty. This is damn near exactly what my colleague's websites looked like when they procrastinated. It's clunky. There are some straight up WACK design choices.. Just not professional imo.
u/GPRatcliffe was kind enough to take a deep look at the code running this hunk of....hunk... and found that this bad boy is a a drag and drop.
Now, there is nothing wrong with starting from a template in my opinion, but you should ALWAYS make an effort to have an original and unique website at the end. Don't worry, there are other things that really bug me about this company such as:
- Lack of social media presence
- LinkedIn's most recent post was 6 months ago and even that looked like a copied graphic
- Cringe design choices. I talk about them more on my OG post, but just trust me. Trust your eyes. Non-artsy folks can tell when something looks bad.
- There is nothing that references LifeWater Media specifically. The about section of the website is generic and, to be frank, full of horse shit buzz words.
- There's no 'Meet the team' page, which is fairly common these days and I'd argue the best part of a website.
- Also, where did y'all get your name? A generator? I need to know the story and why I should trust you. What does LifeWater Media stand for?
- Address? A shopping mall.
- There is nothing that references a specific client LifeWater Media has worked for, but they mentioned providing more information upon request and have a case study page. It's useless because it's dense and no one will take the time to read a wall of text. It's also just them talking about some general trends in digital and not a "hey look at this thing I did for this client."
- Not naming a client isn't necessarily a red flag. Sometimes you have a non-disclosure agreement and cannot legally name your client.
- Also the supposed founder is a piece of work apparently
And that last point really bugs me. I felt there was more, but I was hoping I could just settle this as a shoddy website and move on so I pulled up the wayback machine. The website was relatively the same, but check this out. This was the website as of Jan 25 2021. Looks to me they were going for a single page scroller (which is one of the easiest ways to throw a page together). I found something interesting-- a missing page titled 'Testimonials'.
Now, this doesn't make sense when you start reading the positions of the people handing out these stellar reviews. VPs, Owners, CEOs, Chairmen... why hide this? This does wonders for your credibility! But I'll tell you this. These reviews are roughly the same and more likely than not, faked by whoever make the website (just check the sentence pattern). There's also something oh-so eyebrow raising about having nothing but big dog reviews if you know what I'm saying. This is too perfect. Let's dig.
1. Testimonial Companies and Their Link
Dylan Berg - VP Investor Relations for Eclipse Gold Mining Corporation
I picked this one to explore FIRST because I thought it was most likely to be publicly traded. Eclipse Mining Company is a subsidiary of Hercules Gold USA LLC, with a parent company Northern Vertex Mining (NHVCF). I was able to find them on Fintel. It lead me to a dead end of sorts, but there was some related news pertaining to Realology Holdings Corp, a company that would likely hold NHVCF. Of course, they had a 10K filling naming Apollo Management and that got my wheels turning.
Back to Northern Vertex Mining. If you go to the leadership page, you'll find my good buddy Geoff.
Homeboy is the chairman and co-founder of Maverix Metals Inc (MMX) and it's pretty straightforward from here. Go to NASDAQ. You'll find Citadel listed in the institutional ownership.
A user mentioned that it may not mean much if that position was from years ago, but you'll be happy to find them mentioned in a 13F in February 2021. And get this, you'll laugh, our good friend Credit Suisse is in there too.
Linda Josey - Owner at IDR Marketing Inc.
I have no idea who Linda is, but if you look up IDR Marketing Inc you'll get the following address:
100 Oceangate, Long Beach, California, 90802, United States
Now check out the building
I can read that, but can you?
The former home of a City National Bank, which is a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada (RY). Say it with me kids...
Citadel. Millenium Management. Credit Suisse. Apollon.
Matthew Schultz - Chairman at CleanSpaek, Inc aka CleanSpark, Inc
Is this a valid reason for them to short Tesla besides being total lames ? Not sure, but seems we're dabbling in clean energy but not so clean business practices!
They made this one fairly easy. Just go check out the investors page and you'll find everything you need to link them the gang.
also our old friend sus...quehanna. Looks pretty recent too.
Oh wait....is that Steve A. Cohen too?
Matt Flemming - Senior Partner, Capital Event Management Ltd
This one irks me because the review is really pushing for you to think this is a trustworthy company. Ty is good guy. Me know Ty long time. Ty honest. Yeah, yeah, get this out of my face. Let's follow the damn thread.
CEM Capital falls under Capital Event Management Ltd and this guy, Ryan, is pretty much the whole page. Let's check him out.
Ryan Iverson, VP Investments & Tracking...hey boo
I'm gonna skimp over the juicy details of trading algorithms and smart order routing *cough* and just say Ryan worked for Raymond James Ltd. We obviously know this is linked to Citadel, but we can link to Apollo as well. Please hodl.
Check out RJF on Fintel and you will find Apollon Wealth Management. I mean it's obvious but whatever I'll show you:
Apollon Wealth Management was founded by Michael J. Dolberg and where did our mans get his start?
These are just two examples. I repeat, two. I am not done and have found other links I will add later.
Claire Stevens - Owner of Think Ink Marketing Inc.
Come on kids. Let's go to the website.
Who is Markinson Satch Inc.? Apparently they're on BBB. Check it out, the guy in charge is one Mr. Oscar R Montes. He also runs a company called Magellan Federal.
Magellan Federal is a wholly owned subsidiary of Magellan Health, a Fortune 500 company. With headquarters in Arlington, VA, we have over 3,000+ employees delivering services on more than 250 bases, installations, and agencies around the world.
Magellan Health (MGLN).
Who did you find?
Citadel. Credit Suisse.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
3. The "Influencer Researcher" Reaching Out
Now, y'all have done your part with scaring this person and getting them to change up their social media. So leave them be.
One, you are ruining any leads.
Two, I don't condone bullying or harassing.
"bUt thEY'Re wRoNG"
Yeah and that's between them and whatever higher power they believe in or don't. Not my problem.
"i woUlD nEvER dO tHat"
Good for you. Y'all need to be empathetic though because I'm sure you've all made mistakes some way or another. You don't know this person. Give them the benefit of doubt that they are just trying to survive and just don't understand what's going on. Either way, would you feel good if this person killed themselves because of the shit you said? Thought not.
Now, I also want to mention I know who this person is. I know where they're from. It seems like the folks listed on the LinkedIn page as their colleagues are all people they know. I researched the community and found Citadel holds shares in some of the biggest employers of this city.
4. Counterarguments
Finally, some of you are skeptical Citadel cares enough to go through all of this and a couple shares in a company isn't enough to warrant this. I ask you to think critically for a second--why would Citadel make it obvious they were linked? They would want you to blow it off and say the thread was too small, not strong enough.
I know you illiterate apes are out there so here you go:
TLDR: Request for paid shilling linked to Citadel, Credit Suisse, Apollo Global, and *pending*
Posted Apr 17, 2021, 6:38 PM UTC · edited