One of the biggest scandals to rip through the Lead Generation vertical just got much much bigger.

News out of Los Angeles today states that Edward Shin was arrested on the suspicion of murdering Chris Smith.

The scandal first came to light with the original Suit filed by lead generation company LG Technologies against Edward Shin, Chris Smith, LeadPoint, and others. The suit claimed that Shin and others intentionally diverted leads through their own company and resold the leads to their specific clients. The claim also accused Shin of diverting payments totaling $1 million + that were supposed to be paid to LG Technologies, into his own bank account. A complete list of articles on the case can be found here and here.

Chris Smith who was accused along side Shin has been missing since June of 2010 according to Orange County Assistant Sheriff Mark Billings.

The CBS article says, “Billings claimed Shin killed Smith to avoid making the payment. He allegedly covered up the evidence of the crime, including painting over blood stains and used Smith’s email account to convince his family into thinking he was on an “extended vacation.”

This is extremely interesting because I received emails from “Chris Smith” or someone via is email account in August of 2010 asking me to update my reports on the case.

08/09/10 Email #1:

Message body:

Chris Smith

800xchange

www.800xchange.com

chris.smith@800xchange.com

949-444-4221

You should check the public records on the LG Technologies v. Shin, Smith, etc. case. Case was dismissed by the judge. All parties have settled. Why haven’t you posted that on your site yet?

08/12/10 Email #3:

from Chris Smith chris.smith@800xchange.com
to LeadCritic <info@leadcritic.com>
date Thu, Aug 12, 2010 at 10:47 AM
subject Re: LeadCritic Contact
mailed-by 800xchange.com

Mike,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.
I can only, on record, say these things:
1. Shin has a plea deal. I don’t know the final details because they aren’t going to be made public until December. My understanding is that he got a deal that does not involve any jail time and reduced charges. It is predicated on repayment on the balance that LG “claimed” was owed to them, but it wasn’t an audited number. Ultimately LG used the criminal charges to back Shin into a corner and back down on his countersuit. LG was after the money, but they were more hell bent on destroying our company and our business. Ultimately, with every attempt to destroy our operations (even with the negative PR campaigns they launched through you and others), they were not able to take our company down.
2. I cannot discuss any details of the settlement agreement. There is a confidentiality clause in there, so if you get any information leaked to you and you publish it won’t be coming from me or Ed.
3. I don’t know if LG is still going after Leadpoint. All I know is no dismissal has been filed and the case is still active. Whether they are in talks is beyond me.
4. I have no minutes, but you have the case number, so if you log into the public portal you can probably find them.
Mike, I did read the article and would appreciate maybe if you could think about reporting the matter with a more recent and appropriate headline, but it’s your blog so it’s up to you. I just feel we’ve been attacked and we’ve kept our mouth shut and fought our battle in court b/c we didn’t want to be part of the mud slinging. There’s a lot more to all of this than meets the eye, there was a reason why LG/Revshare couldn’t beat us in court and a reason why they ultimately settled even though Gray promised all of his friends and colleagues that he would burn 800 Exchange to the ground. Perhaps the truth will come out someday and you’ll have a scandal much more bigger than this on your hands b/c the players and money around it are far greater than this case.
End Email
These and other emails were sent 2 months after Smith had been reported missing.
On Sunday the 28th of of August 2011 Shin was arrested at the LAX Airport prior to boarding a plane to Canada. Shin is under investigation for allegedly murdering Chris Smith to get out of paying a supposed $1 million dollar payment. Shin and Smith are said to have agreed to this sum if Smith would leave the 800Exchange company.

 

Investigators asked anyone with information to call (714) 647-7048 or (714) 628-7170.

 

 We want to wish our condolences to the Smith family for their significant loss.

 

UPDATE:
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