Armand Rousso is an international man of mystery
he invented e-commerce fraud. On an ancient MCI telecom network, he ran something called the International Stamp Exchange -- and, claims engineer David Glassman, who says he wrote the code for the exchange, faked all the bids on it to simulate activity. No matter. The purported ruse won Rousso coverage in Time magazine. Now, an e-commerce company he's backing, Accoona, is trying to go public. "Investors should run away screaming," writes Henry Blodget -- and he knows a thing or two about investors running away screaming.
There's way more to this story -- and it all has to do with Rousso's suspicious business dealings.
Accoona's S-1 filing "reads like a pulp magazine," says VC Ratings. They aren't kidding.
Rousso owns 14 percent of the company directly, and Gestrust SA, a Swiss trust operator, owns 46 percent on behalf of various investment vehicles. I could not find any direct ties between Rousso and Gestrust or the vehicles, but I would not be shocked if there were such. And here's what the company has to say about Rousso: