Yesterday, a story was posted here (since removed but archived here) claiming that Julian Assange allegedly used the dating site ToddAndClare.com to “groom an eight year old girl online,” i.e. to engage in acts of pedophilia. Specifically the claim was made that:
On September 28 this year a Canadian family holidaying in the Bahamas reported to the police that their 8-year-old daughter was “sexually molested online” by Assange on Toddandclare.com, including propositioning her “to perform oral and anal sex acts.” She was presumably accessing the site through her 22-year-old sister’s account. Whether these chats were recorded or not isn’t clear but the family claims they identified Assange.
The story also charges the Bahamian police with covering up Assange’s crime, and the UN for retaliating against ToddAndClare, which is owned by T&C Solutions (hereafter “T&C)” with the UN to “reconsider their support” for Assange, by wrongfully de-listing them from the UN Global Compact after T&C filed a court complaint in the United Kingdom regarding these matters.
The sole basis for these claims of criminal child sexual abuse by Assange employing T&C are a PR release which refers to the court filing in the UK, the report filed with the UN, a blog post and a Facebook post containing a letter allegedly sent to the Prime Minister of Canada about this “outage” against white Canadian citizens by the authorities in the Bahamas, all of which were produced solely by T&C or its agents. Neither Mr. Assange, nor any representative of Wikileaks was contacted by the author of the story posted here for comment prior to publication as far as I can tell.
Today, after this story was published at Daily Kos, Wikileaks released the following statement:
Here is the description of the plot from Mr Assange’s legal team, the investigative report into the front company and associated correspondence. An unknown entity posing as an internet dating agency prepared an elaborate plot to falsely claim that Julian Assange received US$1M from the Russian government and a second plot to frame him sexually molesting an eight year old girl.
The second plot includes the filing of a fabricated criminal complaint in the Bahamas, a court complaint in the UK and laundering part of the attack through the United Nations. The plot happened durring WikiLeaks’ Hillary Clinton related publications, but the plot may have its first genesis in Mr. Assange’s 16 months litigation against the UK in the UN system, which concluded February 5 (Assange won. UK and Sweden lost & US State Dept tried to pressure the WGAD according to its former Chair, Prof. Mads Andenas).
Timeline 2016
- May, when self-claimed dating agency "ToddAndClare" (T&C) approach saying they were contacted by the Russian government
- Sep 3, T&C email Assange’s Swedish lawyer Per Samualson offering one million dollars for Assange to appear in a video advertisement for the "dating agency" ToddAndClare.com (See attachment). This is the first contact.
- Sep 15, email sent from a member of Mr. Assange’s defence team to hannah@toddandclare requesting further details (See attachment)
- Sep 19, hannah@toddandclare.com emailed with elaborate bonafides, proposed agreement and the claim that the source of the million dollars is the Russian government The email states that T&C was approached by Russian representatives in May 2016 and that "The source of the $1,000,000 is the Russian government". The email then goes on to "verify" bonafides by giving a detailed description of the interior of the house and desk of his lawyer, Helena Kennedy, who is a member of the UK parliament, including a reference to a photo of Tony Blair (Kennedy states that the Blair reference is accurate although out-of-date).
- Sep 20, a representative of Mr. Assange’s defence writes to hannah@toddandclare.com stating that the proposal appears to be an "elaborate scam designed to entrap Mr. Assange’s reputation into unwanted and unwarranted publicity"
- Sep 21, hannah@toddandclare.com writes stating that "The offer expires at midnight, October 31st 2016."
- Late Sep, WikiLeaks announce a press conference for Oct 4 for its ten year anniversary.
- Late Sep, Press widely misreport that WikiLeaks is going to launch its "October Suprise" against Hillary Clinton on Oct 4, misinterpreting its press conference call
- Oct 4, T&C files its "Assange paedophile" libel through the UN’s Global Compact system alleging that there is an active criminal investigation in the Bahamas against Julian Assange for the abuse of an eight year old girl and claiming to have chat logs and photos. The allegation appears on the UN website with UN Gobal Compact letter head and is contextualised with a complex back story. The request targets the UN WGAD (part of the UN Human Rights system) which found that Assange is being illegally detained by the United Kingdom and Sweden.
- Oct 4, T&C files claim through the UK courts, apparently using it as a method to place the paedophile accusation into the public record. (See attachment).
- Oct 4, WikiLeaks holds press conference, where it becomes clear that its publishing of Clinton related documents will occur later
- Oct 5, T&C UK court claim arrives at Ecuadorian embassy in London
- Oct 12, UN Global Compact delists T&C, citing "integrity" issues
- Oct 12, T&C issues press release opposing UN delisting with an elaborate story, claiming that Julian Assange is threatening US citizens (T&C)
- Oct 17, Investigative report into Toddandclare.com prepared for Mr. Assange’s lawyers is concluded, finding "T&C Network Solutions exhibits the characteristics of a highly suspicious and likely fabricated business entity." (See attachment "FINAL REPORT T&C 17 Oct 2016").
- Oct 18, The paedophile part of the plot is launched through US democrat-aligned web site DailyKos and pushed by pro-Clinton twitter accounts
And here are selected excerpts from the investigative report prepared by Assange’s defence team:
A preliminary investigation of T&C Network Solutions was conducted to identify whether the business entity is a legitimate organization. Throughout the investigation, no official records for T&C Network Solutions were identified in any of the jurisdictions the company has claimed as their corporate headquarters. Additionally, all attempted contact with the company and its few identified associates currently remains unsuccessful -- all telephone numbers identified as being associated with this organization were either not valid or inoperative; none of the emails sent to the company’s customer support, domain administrator, press addresses or identified affiliated individuals were responded to.
T&C Network Solutions is listed as the owner of ToddAndClare.com, which purports tobe an online dating and cellphone messaging platform. Despite the online dating company’s pretension of being founded in 2011, ToddAndClare.com’s online presence has only been identified as early as 1 September 2015. The social media presence for ToddAndClare.com on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram indicates the utilization of “commercial zombie accounts” which can be purchased from a 3rd party to artificially inflate the perceived user activity. Noindependent website has been identified for T&C Network Solutions.
[...]
It is our conclusion that T&C Network Solutions exhibits the characteristics of a highly suspicious and likely fabricated business entity.
T&C Network Solutions
T&C Network Solutions was investigated to identify business filings and the entity’s directors, with negative results.T&C Network Solutions is listed as the owner ofwww.ToddAndClare.com.[2] A search of the ICANN WHOIS database results in a Registrant, Admin and Tech contact, which are all identical. The name of the contact is Julia Phillips. The organization is T&C Network Solutions.The mailing address is listed as 10685-B Hazelhurst Dr., Houston Texas 77043. The phone number is listed as 1.713.091.6111. The email address is listed asadmin@toddandclare.com.The domain was registered on 20 September 2015.[3]
Google Street view of the address shows a large anonymous warehouse or storage depot, with noreferences to the company.[4] [MY Note: see image posted at the beginning of this story]
A search for social media, press, local civil court records or other identifying information for Julia Phillips with relation to toddandclare.com or T&C Network Solutions produced no results. A search of the mailing address listed indicates that it is located at the same address [5] of a commercial mail forwarding service called USA2ME.com.[6] The telephone number provided by T&C Network Solutions, 1.713.091.6111, is not a valid number in the United States. An email sent to theadmin@toddandclare.comemail address requesting a reply was not responded to.
A search of business organizations in Texas was conducted with the Texas Secretary ofState.[7] Searches for T&C Network Solutions, T & C Network Solutions, ToddandClare, Todd and Clare, Todd & Clare, and toddandclare.com resulted in no identified matches. A search of Texas taxable business entities was conducted with the Texas Comptroller ofPublic Accounts,[8] with no matching results.
A search was conducted with the Better Business Bureau in the Houston and South Texas areas,[9] with no matching results.Searches were conducted with Texas’ Harris County Clerk for civil, probate, real property, Uniform Commercial Code, and assumed business name records,[10][11] with no matching results.
ToddAndClare.com
ToddAndClare.com’s homepage currently states that they are “The Leading SMS Dating Network” and that “This online dating site is a United Nations Global Compact member, with100,000+ female singles in the US, Canada, UK, Europe, Australia, and RSA, seeking men.”[12] The homepage has a few pictures of women and a brief description of ToddAndClare.com,including “We’re a real couple who started this in Indianapolis”. At the bottom of the homepage is a link to customer service with the email address support@toddandclare.com. At the bottom of the homepage, there is the disclaimer “TM & © Todd and Clare. All Rights Reserved.”
A random selection of photos of the women on Toddandclare.com website were investigated to see if they correspond to legitimate users of the site. The investigation revealed that the photos have been obtained from other sites on the Internet, have been slightly cropped, and have been mirrored left to right, a known technique to prevent reverse image search services, such as Google's Reverse Image Search, from locating the true origin of an image.
[...]
An email was sent to support@toddandclare.com requesting basic company information. No response has been received.
An Indiana business organizations search was conducted with the Indiana Secretary of State,[13] with no matching results.
A trademark search was conducted with the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s
Trademark Electronic Search System for any Word and/or Design Mark,[14] with no matching results.
A trademark search was also conducted on the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Global Brand Database,[15] with no matching results. A trademark
search was conducted with the Indiana Secretary of State’s Trademark Search,[16] with
no matching results.
A review on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine indicates the first capture of
ToddAndClare.com was on 27 October 2015.[17] That page indicates Todd & Clare’s address as 645 7th St., San Francisco, CA 94103. A search for ToddAndClare.com together with the above San Francisco address resulted in a match from SearchInCalifornia.com.[18] On that page, the name Todd Hammond was listed, as well
as the email address sydneyemma90201@gmail.com and telephone number 510.655.9219. An email sent to the provided email address was returned as “Undeliverable.” A telephone call to the number provided revealed that it is “not in
service.”
A California business organizations search was conducted with the California Secretaryof State,[19]with no matching results.
A search for fictitious businesses registered in San Francisco County was conducted,[20]with no matching results.
A search for civil case information was conducted with the San Francisco Superior Court,[21]with no matching results.
A California business organizations search was conducted with the California Secretary of State,[19] with no matching results.
A search for fictitious businesses registered in San Francisco County was conducted,[20] with no matching results.
A search for civil case information was conducted with the San Francisco Superior Court,[21] with no matching results.
A search for civil case information was conducted with the San Francisco Superior
Court,[21]with no matching results.
A search for fictitious businesses registered in Alameda County was conducted with the Alameda Clerk,[22] with no matching results.
I recommend that everyone review the entire report prepared by Assange’s legal team, (Contacts: Lawyer Melinda Taylor (english-The Hague) +31 611566009 email: melindataylor@gmail.comand and Per E Samuelson (swedish/english-Sweden ). I encourage those of you who have any doubts of the authenticity of the their report to perform the same review of the public records listed in the report.
I would be surprised, however, if anyone will find information establishing the legal existence or validity of T&C, ToddAndClare.com or any other iteration of said business. In my opinion, this looks like a classic scam performed for the purpose of destroying the reputation of Mr. Assange to discredit the Wikileaks disclosures and pressure the Ecuadorian Embassy to stop providing him asylum, and to also pressure the United Nations from taking the position they did regarding the other allegations against Mr. Assange.
Regardless of your personal views on Assange or Wikileaks, claims alleging criminal conduct of this order of magnitude ought to be vetted before they are posted, especially If the only source of the information for that claim is a company that no one can identify as a viable, existing business. Under such circumstances as these, the story charging Assange with sexual assault of a minor should not have been published unless and until other independent sources supporting the allegations that the author of the story published here at this site were provided.