Letters 9/29/04

“In regards to Norvergence, Steve Nardi of Ramsgate makes the point that our lessees are businesses engaged in commerce and not subject to consumer protection laws. While this may be true in fact there is a difference between what is law and what is justice. In the small ticket arena most of our lessess are basically consumers who happen to own small businesses. The leases they sign are boilerplate documents written in favor of the lessors and not subject to negotiation. I'm not saying that's bad, Lessors need protection from default, fraud, etc., and yet in a situation like Norvergence where clearly the lessee's have been defrauded (and it appears that all or most of the lessor's have also been defrauded), if we say to all of the 11,000 lessee's that it is your fault for signing that lease document then they and all of their supporters will rise up and impose legislation on the leasing industry to make sure these small businesses have increased protection in the future. Is that what we really want?

“While there will only be pain in the Norvergence resolution, perhaps the major lease associations might consider involving themselves in trying to find a negotiated settlement that is fair to both lessees and lessors. The alternative is we let the lawyers and the courts dictate events that could change the landscape for all of us.”

Joe Schmitz, CLP
F.I.T. Leasing

“I have a question - When the truth comes out about what really went on at Norvergence and Robert Fine is found not to have known what the owners of the company were doing - Will you post an apology in your newsletter??????????

“I really don't know where some of your information comes from but you should do some research because Mr. Fine was not a Corporate officer or a Boss in any way. He actually did have a Boss and I find it very funny that his name is never mentioned .”

(name with held )

(Leasing News made no accusations. We quoted attorneys, other newspapers, and listserve ex- employees on several list serves. When we quoted them, we attributed the quote to the party who made them.

(April 26,2004 Robert C. Arnold was named CFO for Norvergence Capital, a wholly owned financial services subsidiary of Norvergence Inc; Chief Operating Officer Alexander L. Wolf. Whether Mr. Fine was the president or not, he was involved directly with the financing as per NorVergence press releases and advertisements, such as: http://www.elaonline.com/news/MembersOnly/IndNewsWkly/012104.htm

(In an October 16,2003 e-mail, Mr. Fine stated in an e-mail to Leasing News, which we printed: "“On a personal note, I can assure you that my twenty-seven years of experience in the equipment leasing industry, primarily working for commercial banks have impressed upon me the need to know the people with whom you are conducting business. Norvergence is an exciting and fast-paced company and I am very happy to be a part of this organization and look forward to its bright future."

(The Norvergence web site is no longer up; however, links show he was "president with full profit and loss responsibility.” http://www.t1matrix.com/rentals.htm

(The Norvergence press release, printed in Leasing News on June 2,2003:

(“NORVERGENCE is pleased to announce that Robert J. Fine has been named as Director of Bank Relations. In his new role Mr. Fine will be responsible for managing all aspects of the company's non- recourse, third-party relationships as well as developing new funding relationships."”

(Perhaps as important, for the last year and a half, I have personally communicated directly with him by telephone and by e-mail and through the NorVergence public relations persons regarding various complaints about service, the equipment, and what was going on. He denied what readers were saying about the value of the equipment or the separate service agreements on many occasions. He had made Leasing News very unpopular with his friends and associates because we were asking questions, printing what readers were telling us. He was the key point man in the NorVergence private label program.

(As the bankruptcy hearing proceeds, perhaps by the first of the year, many of these things will be further documented in court papers available to the public. Attorneys have been trying to serve him, but two have told me they have not located to serve him personally. They believe he is also "personally" responsible as well as a "corporate officer."

(If you have any information that you could pass along, I will gladly look into it. We look forward to any comment Mr. Fine would like to make to Leasing News or any apology readers may want to make to him because he did not know what was going on at NorVergence or NorVergence Capital. editor.)

from October 9,2003 Leasing News