The Slapper Issues Legal Threats & Defends Slap

Hi,

Thanks for reading my piece on Kyron Gosse, the New Zealand wealth and property coach who slapped a contractor on camera. And a huge thanks to Savannah for her openness and bravery in talking.

I'm in touch with her, and she's doing okay.

I'm proud Webworm got the story out before any mainstream press outlets, which followed up over the next few days:

To be clear, these outlets didn't steal Webworm's story – they all worked off the same video that had been posted online, and talked to the victim. Some of them had sharing arrangements, and re-shared each other's stories.

But I do feel proud we went first (I say "we" because Webworm has guest writers, smart colleagues behind the scenes, and a lawyer I consult with) – because Webworm is nimble, and is willing to take risks that bigger newsrooms are sometimes hesitant to take.

Basically, publishing a story like this comes with certain legal risks – so part of the reason mainstream newsrooms were slow to report this story is that they would have been waiting for their in-house legal counsel to go over everything.

Webworm isn't deranged – I have a lawyer I consult – but we move fast on things. We have a greater appetite for risk. And once our story was online, we'd essentially done what other newsrooms were perhaps hesitant to do, which made hitting "publish" for them less scary. I'd broken the seal.

And yes – Kyron Gosse did issue legal threats.

The Legal Threats

Gosse largely ignored Webworm's specific questions, and came back with a blanket statement:

Hi David

“Savannah is subject to a cease and desist letter for the breach of her obligations to our business, and for harassment and other statutory offenses. An injuction [SIC] application will be following given that Savannah is continuing with the prohibited conduct notwithstanding being reminded that this is illegal. You would be wise to seek legal advice before publishing any information obtained from Savannah as it may make your organization complicit in the conduct.”

Kyron

A few things to note. Firstly, in what I assume is supposed to be some kind of power move, he copied in a lawyer – Cockcroft d’Young Moorhouse's Iva Wright. Gosse also wrote the legal threat in quote marks, as if he was quoting – I assume – Iva Wright. But the threat is mostly garbage and spells "injunction" wrong – so I'm guessing it's just Gosse furiously typing.

Webworm received the same exact response from the Wealth Mentor office (office@wealthmentor.co.nz), signed off as "Wealth Mentor".

The questions Webworm had posed were:

-Do you confirm that you slapped Savannah on the face?
-Why did you do this?
-Do you regret doing this?
-Have you reached out to Savannah since this incident took place, offering any kind of apology or next steps
-Have you slapped or physically connected with any other clients? ie is this common behaviour in your teachings?
-Is there anything else you would like Webworm to be aware of?

Without any real answers from Kyron, we have to look elsewhere.

Kyron's Stance On The Slap

While Kyron ignored Webworm's questions and fired off legal threats, behind the scenes he was explaining things to the Wealth Mentor group chat.

Webworm has viewed a message Gosse allegedly sent to group chat for Wealth Mentor members saying, "There is a lot of context missing from what's being shared" and "This is now a legal matter."

He ends with, "We'll keep doing what we do best."

What that is exactly is unclear.

In summary – I want to thank you for allowing me to cover stories like this for Webworm. To those of you who pay for it: Thank you. You let me get legal advice, and defend myself in court when it comes to that (and it does).

Webworm dies without you. This is probably a good reminder for paying subs to login at www.webworm.co and check your card details are all up to date. I've been losing a lot of paying members lately who don't realise they've stopped paying!

To free members – thanks for reading, and sharing my stories when you can. If you are secretly rolling in money, consider becoming a paid supporter.

Paying members get extra tech support (by emailing davidfarrier@protonmail.com) and can take part in the wonderful community in the comments section.

They also get more personal stuff from me. For instance, my next story for paying members will be about the subject of a Webworm story filing a criminal complaint against me with the LAPD in an attempt to shut me up (yes, as in the Los Angeles Police Department as portrayed in The Rookie).

Thanks to you, dear reader, I will not be shutting up. Also – you can't write this shit. Webworm continues to take me, and you, to the weirdest places.

David.