SAVN’s Trouble With The Truth

There are many things that go on behind the scenes here at the AVN in regards to the attacks against our organisation and me personally which I don’t share or discuss with anyone outside of our committee. I am an inherently positive person and I don’t like to dwell on negativity or anger and Stop the AVN (SAVN), by its very nature, is both negative and angry all the time. In addition, there are many more important things I need to spend my time on so I choose to just go with the flow and ignore the ‘opposition’ as much as I can.

Something has come up in the last few days however which I felt I would like to share with you all. It has been a bit confusing and more than a little bit silly, but it is also indicative of how some individuals in this group can behave in a very immature manner when dealing with information and individuals they disagree with. The question being asked of me is – “Was I ever a stockbroker?” The question I ask in return is, “Why should SAVN care?”

One of the ‘movers and shakers’ of SAVN is a man by the name of Ken McLeod. He  has a long history of filing vexatious complaints against the AVN with government organisations, media outlets and anyone else he can possibly think of.

Over the last 2 years, McLeod has penned a 3-part series called Meryl Dorey’s Trouble with the Truth in which he lists all of the alleged lies I have told and why he considers them to be lies. For the most part, the ‘lies’ are simply statements I have made about vaccination or health that he disagrees with. This is because, to McLeod, those who say things he disagrees with must be lying. In his world, there are no shades of grey – everything he believes is white – everything he disagrees with are dirty black lies.

Ken McLeod has a daily tweet, sometimes more than 1 – sometimes 5 or 10 – called ‘Today’s lie from Meryl Dorey:’ In 140 characters or less, he takes something I’ve said and calls it a lie. That’s it. No proof – not even any sense. For instance, here are some of my alleged lies from the last week:

Today’s lie from Meryl Dorey: she’s “trying to amend legislation to support informed vaccination” (I’m assuming he ran out of room to put the word ‘choice’ at the end).

Today[‘]s Meryl Dorey lie: “majority getting whooping cough are fully vaccinated” This information came directly from the Department of Health and you can read it by clicking here.

Today[‘]s lie from Meryl Dorey: health authorities around the world trying to destroy an ethical doctor. This was in response to a blog post I had written supporting Dr Andrew Wakefield. Again, McLeod disagrees with this therefore, he calls it a lie.

The Great Share market Caper

One of the most striking examples of McLeod’s attempts to paint me a liar involves my previous history on Wall Street. There is one thing that I have heard him say over and over again during this period that would make me laugh at its ridiculousness. If it weren’t so defamatory and just plain wrong, it could almost be funny.

You see, Ken McLeod, a man who does not know me at all, a person I have never met or spoken with, has told everyone who will listen to his rantings, that I lied when I said I was a stockbroker on Wall Street.

His evidence for this alleged lie?

Well, he went to the FINRA Brokercheck website and searched for what he thought was my maiden name – Sokolovsky – and couldn’t find me there so he concluded I was lying.

Oh, he did try to write to me first to ask if I had been a stockbroker, but I did not respond so there was proof positive that I was lying, as far as he was concerned! (Please see email below)

From: “Ken McLeod” <email address removed as a courtesy>

Subject: WALL ST STOCKBROKER

Date: 27 March 2011 7:58:57 PM AEDT

To: “Meryl Dorey” <meryl@avn.org.au>

Dear Mrs. Dorey

In the Lismore Northern Star Weekend edition, September 18 2010, page 39, you describe your “career as a Wall Street broker that ended with the loss of her job in the 1987 stock market crash.”  I checked with  the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the independent regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States.  They have no record of you having held a stockbroker’s licence, in your maiden name Sokolovsky.

FINRA have also informed me that a stockbroker is required to pass the FINRA  General Securities Representative Exam, (commonly referred to as the Series 7 Exam), to become a Registered Representative of a broker-dealer in the United States.  Would you mind informing me if you sat for that exam and the result please.

I would appreciate you providing me with any documentary evidence supporting your claim to have been a stockbroker, more properly called a “Securities Representative” in the USA.

yours sincerely

Ken McLeod

There are several problems with both his methods and conclusions:

1-        I do not respond to any emails from McLeod. In fact, I have told him this in the past and asked him to stop emailing me. He has refused to do so and I consider this to be harassment.

2-        The name Sokolovsky, though it was my father’s last name, was not mine. McLeod probably got the name from my father’s obituary because it lists me as one of my father’s daughters (Meryl Dorey of Australia), but I was born Meryl Sokole. My mother had shortened the name before I was born but they had never legally changed it so my dad was Sokolovsky and my sisters and I were Sokole.

3-        The FINRA Brokercheck website which McLeod used to deduce that I was lying about being a licensed stockbroker, specifically states that it will only provide information on brokers who were registered within the previous 10 years. I have been in Australia for 23 years. I lost my job in the 1987 crash and my registration expired 2 years after I left Wall Street – in 1989. So FINRA would not have provided any information on my registration status after 1999 – 13 years ago.

What has made me bring this up now?

Well, about two weeks ago, one of my friends jokingly put a note up on Twitter saying that the reason they couldn’t find any record of me on Wall Street was because they had the wrong last name. She said that if the research SAVN did on vaccination were as poor as the research they did on me, it’s no wonder they got everything wrong all the time!

The consternation was palpable. At first, they thought she was lying but when she persisted, the search was on! Finally, after about 3 days of relentless Googling, one of them came up with the right name. Instead of admitting they had been wrong and apologising or even being sheepish, they immediately said all of this was my fault because I hadn’t responded to Ken McLeod when he’d first asked me. As if I owe him an answer! Their sense of entitlement seems to be bottomless.

I thought that was all and the issue was settled, but 2 days ago, I started to get a slow but steady stream of emails. Please read below:

From: “Ken McLeod” <email address removed as a courtesy>

Subject: WALL ST STOCKBROKER

Date: 7 February 2012 7:27:17 AM AEDT

To: “Meryl Dorey” <meryl@avn.org.au>

Good morning Meryl

have you ever told anyone that you were a Wall St stockbroker?

regards

Ken

From: “Phil Kent” <email address removed as a courtesy>

Subject: fact check

Date: 7 February 2012 8:06:08 AM AEDT

To: <meryl@avn.org.au>

Good morning Meryl,

I would like to check something with you. I have heard that you were once a Wall St stockbroker. Is this true? Did you work on Wall St in any capacity; or as a stock broker elsewhere?

Thankyou for your time.

Regards,

Phil Kent.

From: Linda Hilton <email address removed as a courtesy>

Subject: A Question

Date: 7 February 2012 11:49:50 AM AEDT

To: Meryl Dorey <meryl@avn.org.au>

Good Morning Meryl

I would just like to trouble you with a quick question if I may.  Have you ever told anybody that you were once a Wall Street Stockbroker?

I appreciate your time.

Regards

Linda Hilton

From: Lola Thompson <email address removed as a courtesy>

Date: 9 February 2012 9:40:12 AM AEDT

To: “meryl@avn.org.au” <meryl@avn.org.au>

Reply-To: Lola Thompson <email address removed as a courtesy>

Meryl, I’m curious.

Did you ever tell anyone you were a Wall Street stockbroker?

From: Heidi White <email address removed as a courtesy>

Subject: Concerning rumors

Date: 9 February 2012 9:55:39 AM AEDT

To: meryl@avn.org.au

Dear Ms Dorey,

I am emailing you with concerns I have about some rumors doing the rounds. The claim is that you were once a wall street stockbroker. Have you ever told anyone you used to be a stockbroker? I know you’ve mentioned living in New York, so is this claim could indeed be fact. What would be concerning is if this has been fabricated. I know we disagree on a number of health issues, but this doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be concerned with gossip which is potentially mis-representing you. Do you know where these whispers could have come from?

With regards

Heidi White

I don’t know any of these people personally and have never corresponded with any of them. In fact, I have never even heard of Lola Thompson! Yet, as you can see, all of these letters are very similar.

For those who care, I obtained my Series 7 Stockbroking license in late 1978 – early 1979 (I don’t remember exactly, but it was Winter). A year later, I sat for and passed the Series 63 ‘Blue Sky’ license as well. I started on Wall Street as a receptionist at a brokerage firm where I worked whilst attending College at night. From there, I moved to listed sales (shares that traded on the New York and American Stock Exchanges) and eventually, to the Over the Counter (OTC) trading desk at 2 firms where I worked until the market crashed in 1987 when I and tens of thousands of other brokers and traders were thrown out of work.

I came to Australia in 1988 with my new husband and my licenses expired in 1989.

As a courtesy to those who wrote to me (please see emails above), I am removing the email addresses from this blog post. Perhaps SAVN would consider giving AVN supporters the same courtesy.