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Via notecard, email addresses altered as a courtesy; comments below:

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:

Arthur Burma
Eris Island
arthur_AT_ossecondlife.com

INTENT TO FILE CLASS ACTION AGAINST BNT FINANCIAL

San Francisco, California, February 25, 2008 - Arthur Burma is a significant depositor in Meta Bank, then My Second Bank, later acquired by BNT Holdings with significant deposits in Linden Dollars. Subsequent failures of the bank to honour withdrawal requests and return accurate records of deposit continued until Linden Lab prohibited the operation of ad-hoc banking in Second Life.

BNT has steadfastly denied access to depositors funds and failed to remit account balances to depositors after ceasing bank operations. BNT continues to operate and claim profits by posting un-audited financial statements, offering financial instruments for sale, soliciting investors in various entities, and brushing off bank depositors attempting to gain access to accounts.

It is our intention to form a class action against the owner and sole proprietor of BNT Financial on behalf of all persons who deposited Linden Dollars in any BNT Financial instrument during the class period. We intend to file in California Superior court, City and County of San Francisco.

We allege that BNT misrepresented the condition of the institution and perpetrated a ponzi scheme by taking deposits while restricting access to accounts and ignoring requests for records and adjustments. We will ask the court to order BNT to liquidate in world assets; repay depositors, pay the cost of litigation, and other punitive damages.

If you have ever banked at Meta Bank, My Second Bank, or BNT Financial; rented property, or obtained loans or funds from BNT you may be a member of the class and entitled to pro-rata disbursements obtained through litigation or settlement.

We have created an in-world registration office where you can apply to be a member of the class. At the moment we only require your Second Life account name, assets at risk, and consent to participate. We would welcome any additional information and documentation on your experiences doing business with the various avatars associated with BNT Financial, M2B LLC, or any of the properties generally considered to be under the control of BNT staff.

To register your interest go to the following SLURL

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Tsolyani/232/49/128/

You can email this information arthur_at_ossecondlife.com or drop in-world note cards on Arthur Burma or Rorok Longstaff.

# # #

For additional information or to schedule an in-world interview with Arthur Burma, Contact: Rorok Longstaff, Eris Island, rorok_AT_ossecondlife.com

Nobody Note

I did head over to Tsolyani (232,49,128) and had a look around - thus the picture. The name of the sim, derived from a constructed language from the game 'Tékumel: Empire of the Petal Throne' struck me as amusing but had no bearing otherwise.

The language on the notecard does seem to indicate that perhaps the author is in the UK ('honour'); whether that is true or not is something of interest because the class action suit being proposed is being proposed in California - which would seem to indicate that either someone is willing to take the case in California.

This certainly is not the first class action suit threatened by people whose avatars are in Second Life. The demand for veracity is also not new to Second Life. The effort that I saw, with a small meeting area and a few images around, is also not too difficult to do within Second Life (30 Linden dollars in textures and some tier). Where these things typically fail is at the community level - perhaps this time things will be different.

And as far as BNT Financial? Good news on BNT Financial is somewhat hard to find. Perhaps Intlibber Brautigan will have a response between Metanomics panels.