What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Florida
Last week I received a cease and desist letter from an attorney representing my former employer. The letter laid out grievances including libel and defamation against me and threatened to file a civil complaint against me in my county of residence unless I agreed to a series of demands by a date shortly in the future. The letter contained false information about me including how much I was over paid, equipment in my possession which they claim to have provided upon signing my employment agreement, and a demand to remove source code from the Internet. I have already written the law firm a reply, without having consulted a lawyer, which reads something like:
My first concern that the owner of company X (I will call him owner X) said he wants to make me homeless by paying his lawyers whatever it takes to ruin me. He wants me to waste my money paying legal fees from now until who knows when. My second concern is that both owner X lives out of the country, the business is incorporated out of the country, and owner X and has no problem making false statements through his lawyer. I have bank statements which clearly disprove his payment claims and he actually skipped out on paying me 2 months of salary. I have proof of payment for equipment from both my personal bank account and the original retailer which his lawyer now demands I return. And with regards to the source code they demand I take down, it isn't online and hasn't been online for since shortly after owner X officially terminated me, and as such their demand that I must remove it cannot be met. I can't remove now what was already removed months ago.
Additionally, I have a mountain of evidence that owner X was hacking into computers of American business who opposed him, including chat logs and screenshots he sent me while breaking into their servers. Owner X was also involved in building a network for evading enforcement of the law to benefit the unlawful activities of his customers. The source code I leaked online, for oh so briefly, was the part of the software they wrote use to block legal entities from detecting their customer's illegal activity.
I've already contacted federal law enforcement with a whole package of evidence, but the investigation doesn't seem like it will go anywhere unless a person or business who was injured by company X pushes the federal investigator. When I informed the investigator of the recent cease and desist letter he basically said there is no federal investigation and I am on my own.
I have emails, chat logs, screenshots, bank statements, receipts, scripts, and a 10+ million records database of illegal activity on their network all of which prove their claims are false, with exception to the fact that I did post some source code online where it remained for maybe one or two days at the most before owner X had it taken down.
What should I do next? I think I should write a letter to Lawyer X explaining all the evidence I have, but feel like I don't want to mess it up with my presentation or wording. I also resist hiring a lawyer as it could be costly, I don't have that much in funds, and bleeding me dry in legal fees is exactly what owner X is trying to accomplish. What's to stop him from continuing to send me threats of civil complaints and making more false statements?
Florida
Last week I received a cease and desist letter from an attorney representing my former employer. The letter laid out grievances including libel and defamation against me and threatened to file a civil complaint against me in my county of residence unless I agreed to a series of demands by a date shortly in the future. The letter contained false information about me including how much I was over paid, equipment in my possession which they claim to have provided upon signing my employment agreement, and a demand to remove source code from the Internet. I have already written the law firm a reply, without having consulted a lawyer, which reads something like:
Re: Company X and Your Letter of Date X
Dear Mr. Lawyer X:
I am in receipt of your letter referenced above.
I am vigilant about my rights and mindful of my obligation to respect the rights of others. As such I have initiated an investigation and evaluation of the claims asserted in your letter and will respond substantively as soon as I am able to complete that process. In the interim, it would assist me in my evaluation of your claims if you would provide me with X and Y.
Sincerely,
Me
Dear Mr. Lawyer X:
I am in receipt of your letter referenced above.
I am vigilant about my rights and mindful of my obligation to respect the rights of others. As such I have initiated an investigation and evaluation of the claims asserted in your letter and will respond substantively as soon as I am able to complete that process. In the interim, it would assist me in my evaluation of your claims if you would provide me with X and Y.
Sincerely,
Me
My first concern that the owner of company X (I will call him owner X) said he wants to make me homeless by paying his lawyers whatever it takes to ruin me. He wants me to waste my money paying legal fees from now until who knows when. My second concern is that both owner X lives out of the country, the business is incorporated out of the country, and owner X and has no problem making false statements through his lawyer. I have bank statements which clearly disprove his payment claims and he actually skipped out on paying me 2 months of salary. I have proof of payment for equipment from both my personal bank account and the original retailer which his lawyer now demands I return. And with regards to the source code they demand I take down, it isn't online and hasn't been online for since shortly after owner X officially terminated me, and as such their demand that I must remove it cannot be met. I can't remove now what was already removed months ago.
Additionally, I have a mountain of evidence that owner X was hacking into computers of American business who opposed him, including chat logs and screenshots he sent me while breaking into their servers. Owner X was also involved in building a network for evading enforcement of the law to benefit the unlawful activities of his customers. The source code I leaked online, for oh so briefly, was the part of the software they wrote use to block legal entities from detecting their customer's illegal activity.
I've already contacted federal law enforcement with a whole package of evidence, but the investigation doesn't seem like it will go anywhere unless a person or business who was injured by company X pushes the federal investigator. When I informed the investigator of the recent cease and desist letter he basically said there is no federal investigation and I am on my own.
I have emails, chat logs, screenshots, bank statements, receipts, scripts, and a 10+ million records database of illegal activity on their network all of which prove their claims are false, with exception to the fact that I did post some source code online where it remained for maybe one or two days at the most before owner X had it taken down.
What should I do next? I think I should write a letter to Lawyer X explaining all the evidence I have, but feel like I don't want to mess it up with my presentation or wording. I also resist hiring a lawyer as it could be costly, I don't have that much in funds, and bleeding me dry in legal fees is exactly what owner X is trying to accomplish. What's to stop him from continuing to send me threats of civil complaints and making more false statements?
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