I received a phone call the other day from someone claiming to be from Canadian Diamond Traders. He said that he had sent me an e-mail demanding that I remove some objectionable content about CDT from my website. I had not received that e-mail. I gave the man another e-mail address to send his letter to, and I haven’t received it to that e-mail address either.
It’s possible that my junk mail (spam) filter blocked it, but that’s beside the point. Why would Canadian Diamond Traders want to silence a blogger? All I said in an entry I posted over a year ago was, “Is Canadian Diamond Traders a scam? I suspect so. Consider what the FBI says about pyramid schemes…” and I went on to cite an FBI article warning of common fraud schemes. I am sure that nothing I wrote or cited could be considered libelous. The only thing I can think of that they might object to is that I allowed a man named David Thornton to post a long comment after my blog post, and in it he says some very damning things about CDT. Even in what he said, however, there are links to reputable sources warning consumers of fraud schemes whose claims and procedures resemble those of CDT; in fact, a couple of them name CDT outright. (See Diamond Pyramid Scheme Warning article on the Western Australia government’s Department of Consumer and Employment Protection website and the Mail Scams article on the Parliament of New South Wales (Australia) website. Also see this warning against Pyramid Schemes from the Maryland Attorney General’s website.)
In the interest of presenting opposing views, I also allowed a woman named Mary to respond to David and tell him he was wrong. She didn’t make any persuasive arguments, though. The Google searches I’ve conducted have revealed nothing but a lot of people saying CDT is a great way to make money and a lot of people saying CDT is a scam. Almost all those in favor of CDT are CDT resellers themselves, and almost all those against are irate consumers. That, in itself, says something. But with all due respect, it has been nearly impossible to find any facts from reputable sources. A search of the NPR website brought up only one article, and it had nothing to do with exploring whether or not CDT is a scam.
It is my right as a blogger to present information for the public good. There were other vociferous people who wanted to argue the issue back and forth by posting more comments after my original blog post, but my blog is not a place for that. The arguments are already out there on the Internet. I stand by my statement that I have said nothing libelous. If Canadian Diamond Traders wishes me to remove anything from my blog, let them send me a letter, and we’ll take it from there. Until then, I believe I have every right to question their business practices and encourage people to research more and decide for themselves. I would love to see some reputable news agencies pick up the story, but until then, this humble blogger will have to do.
Related post: Is Canadian Diamond Traders a scam?
Daniel Greene 