Straight Path
Sinclair Upton Update On Straight Path Communications Inc (STRP) via Activist Shorts Research
The house of lies is crumbling, yet management still covers up the truth
Questions for management from the 8-K
Straight Path’s 8-K released on 12/1/15 contained some interesting disclosures related to the substantial service filings for their 39 GHz license renewals. The most telling is that after self-investigation, the company has discovered “that a significant amount of the equipment that had been installed in connection with the substantial service showings is no longer present at the original locations”. In response, we ask management the following questions:
- What happened to the equipment that you originally “installed”? Did Straight Path itself remove the equipment after getting the renewals? Did weather, wildlife, or thieves remove the antennas and radios across all 175 BEAs? Why does the company have no knowledge or control over its own equipment?
- Why does it take months to investigate whether your company actually installed equipment at the sites claimed in 2011-2012? How do you not know this simple fact about your most touted asset, the 39 GHz licenses? If you had paid for the equipment, installation, and space arrangements at the buildings and towers at the purported sites, why don’t you have the invoices or financial records showing this?
- Do you really plan to install replacement equipment at all of the 175 sites as originally specified on the substantial service filings, including American Samoa and Puerto Rico? How much will this cost? How will the replacement equipment broadcast a signal over a 30+ mile radius without constructing an antenna at least 600 feet above ground?
- Was the equipment that was “removed” been out of operation for more than 30 days or more than 1 year since 2011-2012? If so, will you deny that the ceasing of service was a permanent discontinuation and therefore subject to automatic termination of the licenses by the FCC?
- Now that management has changed its story to “the equipment was there in 2011-2012 at the time of the filings, but the equipment is not there today”, will the story change again after the FCC, media, and public finds out that the equipment was never there in the first place?
More evidence that IDT equipment was never at the locations as claimed in 2011-2012 filings
Straight Path now says that even though the equipment is not there today, the equipment was there at all locations as originally filed in 2011-2012, thus satisfying the substantial service requirements for renewal. However, this is easily disproven, simply by contacting the property/landowner at the sites and asking if there was any wireless equipment installed by IDT at that time.
For example, we have confirmed that the 3 sites below NEVER had any wireless equipment belonging to IDT on their property in 2011-2012.
Filing #0004810095, Deluxe Inn, 1135 Market Street, Redding, CA (40.588213, -122.391921)
http://www.hotels.com/ho347077/deluxe-inn-redding-united-states-of-america/
Filing #0005323915, Quality Inn, 511 West Central Avenue, Titusville, PA (41.626773, -79.681792)
https://www.choicehotels.com/pennsylvania/titusville/quality-inn-hotels/pa357
Filing #0004838998, White House Inn, 500 6th Avenue SW, Aberdeen, SD (45.459831, -98.495543)
http://www.aberdeenwhitehouseinn.com/
These are fine hotels with excellent hospitality. We encourage everyone interested to book a room, take a short vacation, and see for themselves whether Straight Path’s equipment was actually installed on the sites in 2011-2012.
These 3 sites are not isolated instances where Straight Path “forgot” to install equipment. They are evidence of a repeated pattern of intentionally falsified substantial service filings (if needed, we have more evidence). Will Straight Path continue to claim that all equipment was installed originally, even though that is verifiably false?
Conclusions
- We stand by our original report’s assertion that almost all of Straight Path’s substantial service sites were never actually built. The latest 8-K is further evidence, coming from the company itself, that supports our assertion that no sites were ever built.
- Because Straight Path has now made material misrepresentations to investors in its effort to cover up the truth in the most recent 8-K filing, namely “equipment that had been installed”, the SEC has cause to investigate the company, in addition to the Department of Justice and the FCC. It is never a good idea to lie on public filings, whether they are for the FCC or the SEC. Why add to the fraud and increase the risk of more serious consequences?
- Even if hypothetically the purported equipment was installed and operating at the time of the substantial service filings (which it was not), by management’s own admission the equipment was removed at some point after 2011-2012. If the equipment was removed and not operating for 30 days or more, then the license will be automatically forfeited. If the station was not operating for more than 1 year, that constitutes a permanent discontinuation of service, and the licensee must cancel the license. Therefore, the FCC is likely to terminate Straight Path’s 39 GHz and LMDS licenses. The value of STRP’s remaining assets, not counting the negative impact of future fines and lawsuits, is approximately $1.00-$2.00 per share. See links below: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/47/1.955
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/47/101.65 - We end with a question for the FCC – If Straight Path is allowed to keep their licenses and goes unpunished, do you really want to set a precedent of rewarding egregious fraudulent behavior (and continued willing and repeated dishonesty) with a giveaway of wireless spectrum licenses?
Due to the danger of retaliation from the company and individuals involved, this report was written under a pseudonym, Sinclair Upton Research. People who commit fraud for millions of dollars are willing to do anything to keep their illegitimate gains. The author of this report can only be contacted via e-mail (and not on any other media platform) at s.upton@hushmail.com.
