FT2 and Paul Sinclair, FT2 is not the man in the photos Options

[Proabivouac]

Last night, I spoke by telephone at some length to Paul Sinclair of Sinclair Associates, the man pictured in this thread…
http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=20192&st=0

…and on Hivemind:
http://www.wikipedia-watch.org/hivemind.html#338

FT2 was certainly the "Paul Sinclair" of the failed Wikimedia UK, but this man is not FT2. Accordingly, I suggest tarpitting threads in which this innocent man is exposed and criticized in FT2's stead.

[dogbiscuit]

It would be helpful for Alex to explain about the third Paul Sinclair (not FT2, not TRPS but the Wikimedia fiction) as he knows him and can vouch for him. If Alex can simply confirm in clear language, none of that FT2 dissembling of you will not find FT2 admitting to being Paul Sinclair business, that the 3rd Paul Sinclair is neither FT2 nor TRPS then we can all go home happy.

Note that the Wikimedia fictional Paul did not ever file any legal documents associated with the company. Indeed, for a small company there would be no need for him to do so. With small turnovers, the directors can sign off the accounts - no need for qualified accountants anyhow, so there was no need for any qualified accountant to reveal their identity if they did not want to, they could have just done the accounts, passed them over to the idiots who could not do sums (as that is all that is required for small company accounts, you can even do the return online). More likely they needed a competent accountant to try and cover up the mess of a bunch of amateurs taking money from willing Wikipedians, offering nothing in return, but no doubt taking remuneration and or expenses for their services.

Having said that, this makes me doubt the accounting credentials of the 3rd Paul Sinclair, who just offered to be a treasurer as far as I am aware.

To correct an error above, Wiki Educational Resources Ltd, which seems to be trading as Wikimedia UK, has not folded, and currently is still trading and soliciting money from Wikipedians. However, it is operating unlawfully by not filing accounts and I would presume should be accumulating warning letters and fines for failing to do so. The Inland Revenue should also be taking an interest (but unless you can suggest that they are not paying significant amounts of tax, they aren't going to be that interested, though a failure to give a tax return, for which you need to provide accounts, will also rack up the fines).

We need accounts so we can see what sort of remuneration the directors have been extracting from the company. That might be embarrassing. Or the expenses. That might be embarrassing (though I doubt Jimbo "would have a problem with that"). It is also necessary to have accounts to understand if the company is solvent. It is unlawful to trade when insolvent and will get you banned from being a director in the future if you are party to it.

Generally, a lot of the difficulties associated with setting up the company are that they seemed to have been bothered about being treated as a company rather than a charity and claims that it would be difficult to sort out. It struck me that this was bad advice. Though the overheads of bank charges for companies are irritating, you can normally get some relief for the first year of trading, and having charges for paying in and making withdrawals is hardly a show-stopper for starting an organisation. Probably more of a show stopper would be that the banks would want personal guarantees that pierce the veil of limited liability if they wanted not just a bank account, but to get loans or overdrafts to do stuff with. Given that the board should be competent to manage a business, it fascinates me that they were unable to attract anyone half competent in these matters - including a director who styles herself as the CEO of Wikimedia who claims an MBA.

[Alex]

It would be helpful for Alex to explain about the third Paul Sinclair (not FT2, not TRPS but the Wikimedia fiction) as he knows him and can vouch for him. If Alex can simply confirm in clear language, none of that FT2 dissembling of you will not find FT2 admitting to being Paul Sinclair business, that the 3rd Paul Sinclair is neither FT2 nor TRPS then we can all go home happy.

What?