Our review of Vito Glazers is based on the fact that he tried to hide bad reviews and information from the internet by making up a court order, pretending to be a judge, changing his signature, and sending Google the fake court order.
Recently, Gripeo received a couple of suspicious-looking ‘court orders’ in our Google Webmaster Tool account, claiming that the Second Circuit Courts – Leon County, FL, had declared our review of Vito Glazers published at Gripeo.com to be defamatory and illegal. Since our reviews are based on publicly available information, there is little to no chance of any lawsuit against us. Gripeo.com has never been successfully sued anywhere across the globe for this very same reason.
We know a lot about defamation and how it works in a courtroom, which is good. We knew right away that the court order Vito Glazers sent to Google was a fake, especially since Gripeo wasn’t sent any subpoenas, notices, or requests for representation to find out who wrote it or put him/her on notice. Our review of Vito Glazers is very personal because he is a businessman of suspicious character, stupid enough to commit perjury, impersonation, and fraud to manage his (sic) reputation.
Vito Glazers sends a series of DMCA notices.
On May 27, 2021, Gripeo published a critical analysis of Vito Glazer’s business model. The review, submitted by one of our valued expert reviewers, is based on publicly available data and information, including compiled reviews from other platforms. Although we never took the effort to check, we can safely assume that the review was ranking high (enough) on Google for Vito Glazers to feel uncomfortable and generated substantial traffic to Gripeo.com.
Someone from Vito Glazer’s team must have noticed the review around August when we first started getting ‘threats’ and ‘bribe offers’ to remove the content from our platform. As always, we politely turned down the offer and told them to work out any problems directly with the author, if necessary, by posting a response on the website.
By the end of August, we started getting silly DMCA notices meant to go after this review page. The DMCA notices said that Gripeo had broken Vito Glazes’ copyright by putting his photo and the photo of his girlfriend on the review in question. Here are the 4 DMCA notices filed by Vito Glazers –
| Type | Details |
|---|---|
| Sender | Vito Glazers |
| Date | September 01, 2021 |
| Allegedly Infringing Link | https://www.gripeo.com/vito-glazers/ |
| Lumen Database Record | https://lumendatabase.org/notices/25020145 |
| Type | Details |
|---|---|
| Sender | Vito Glazers |
| Date | August 26, 2021 |
| Allegedly Infringing Link | https://www.gripeo.com/vito-glazers/ |
| Lumen Database Record | https://lumendatabase.org/notices/24968699 |
| Type | Details |
|---|---|
| Sender | Vito Glazers |
| Date | September 21, 2021 |
| Allegedly Infringing Link | https://www.gripeo.com/vito-glazers/ |
| Lumen Database Record | https://lumendatabase.org/notices/25210057 |
| Type | Details |
|---|---|
| Sender | Vito Glazers |
| Date | August 31, 2021 |
| Allegedly Infringing Link | https://www.gripeo.com/vito-glazers/ |
| Lumen Database Record | https://lumendatabase.org/notices/25012969 |
We responded with a counter notice at our end and replaced the allegedly ‘infringing’ images with our creations. We tried to solve this problem in a friendly way by following the law and acting in good faith. The matter ended, or so we thought.
Before we proceed any further, please note the following points, which may come in handy as you scroll down and read the rest of the investigation –
- The article was published on Gripeo.com on 27th May 2021.
- The DMCAs were filed by Vito Glazers himself, as evident in the Lumen Database records (listed above) and seen on the Google Transparency Reports.
- Since we filed a counter notice and had the Review page restored on Google Search, Vito Glazers could have sought legal counsel if he believed the review was indeed ‘defamatory’ or if Gripeo.com was liable for damages for any copyright infringements. Vito Glazers took no action.
What happened next was utterly surprising.
Fake Court Orders
We got a notice from Google on October 9, 2021, that the Vito Glazers’ review had been taken down from the Google Search Index because a court order said it was illegal. As mentioned earlier, Gripeo reviews are based on publicly available data and information, and there is little to no chance of our users’ opinions being labelled as defamatory.
We immediately talked to a lawyer about responding to this ex parte court order and getting the content back on Google Search.
Our attorney informed us that he is unable to find any record of this court order at the Second Circuit Courts – Leon County, where the order was issued.
| Type | Details |
|---|---|
| Sender | Vito Glazers |
| Date | August 26, 2021 |
| Allegedly Infringing Link | https://www.gripeo.com/vito-glazers/ |
| Lumen Database Record | https://lumendatabase.org/notices/25104327 |
Furthermore, he told us that the Judge who signed the ‘alleged’ court order – Judge Terry Lewis, had actually retired many years ago. His signature was a forgery, no doubt.
Now, hold on. Vito Glazers is a serious player. He’s rich, famous, and powerful and has built a great reputation as an intelligent businessman. A seemingly responsible and law-abiding citizen in a country where forging a court document is a severe offence.
Is this going to be his Jussie Smollet moment? We kept wondering as we dug deeper into this incident.
Soon after we confirmed that the court order was forged and Google was scammed into believing it to go ahead and enforce the judge’s order, we decided to change the webpage URL, hoping that it would get indexed on Google search a second time. The new URL was – https://www.gripeo.com/vito-glazers-review/ .
We sent direct emails to Vito Glazers and his law firm, which was mentioned in the court order. We thought they would say they had nothing to do with this crime and, hopefully, explain what happened. Perhaps they had hired a rogue, offshore, fly-by-night online reputation management agency behind this act and did not know about this.
What happened next cleared all our doubts.
We did not receive any reply, acknowledgement, or rebuttal from Vito Glazers or his attorney, – AndrewsLaw, regarding the fake court order. Incidentally, AndrewsLaw.com (Vito Glazer’s Lawyer) website was taken down soon after we sent this email.
Within a few days of changing the URL for Vito Glazers Review, it started ranking on Google again. While we were waiting for Vito Glazers or someone from his team or lawyers, to respond to our email, Google informed us on November 24, 2021, that they had received yet another court order and had removed the new URL for the review.
Dammit, here we go again.
| Type | Details |
|---|---|
| Sender | Vito Glazers |
| Date | September 08, 2021 |
| Allegedly Infringing Link | https://www.gripeo.com/vito-glazers-review/ |
| Lumen Database Record | https://lumendatabase.org/notices/25143194 |
Click here to visit the Google Search page for ‘Vito Glazers’. It’s likely if you scroll down to the bottom of this Google search results, you’ll stumble upon this Legal Takedown notice (pictured below)
The second fake court order Vito sent to Google is different because those who commit these crimes are brazen and willing to risk going to prison for a long time to hurt their competitors. How much success impostors like Vito Glazers find with their forged court order scams will determine how much of a scourge this could soon become on the internet.
Exposing these fake court orders
Once again, there is a complete disregard for the law and the consequences of committing such a crime. We were shocked. Because of a forged court document, Google removed our review of Vito Glazers for the second time. “This can’t be happening to us,” we thought.
This time, though, we will ensure that there are consequences. So we dug deeper into this fake court order, and here are some of our findings –
- The Court Case number in the FAKE court order is – Case No. 2021 CA 000917
- The Court Case states that the plaintiff filed the motion in April 2021. However, the article at Gripeo.com was published on 27th May 2021. Vito Glazers was, and is, a visionary 🙂
- The court order is an exact copy of a previous court order from 2014 –Â https://unicourt.com/case/urc-F5FB4IRJDJHU6JMFHNFUFDTKNRMRQ0961. Vito Glazers edited this document, changed the dates and URLs, and committed several felonies.
WHO IS JUDGE TERRY LEWIS?
Honourable Terry P Lewis, whose signature was forged twice by Vito Glazers on the doctored court orders, was a Second Circuit Court of Florida judge. He had served in this position since 1998. His term expired in January 2019, two years before Vito Glazers obtained and used these allegedly fake court orders.
Judge Terry Lewis joined The law firm of Messer Caparello, PA, in March 2021. We are in touch with him and his law firm, who are assisting in investigating this matter.
IS VITO GLAZERS BEHIND THESE FORGED DOCUMENTS?
Since the fake court orders were designed to remove harmful content for Vito Glazers from Google, we assume that either Vito Glazers directly or someone associated with Vito Glazers is behind this scam. It is often a fly-by-night Online Reputation agency working for Vito Glazers. Ironically, Vito Glazers also operates his Reputation Management Agency – Glazers Media, where he boasts of using these tactics to remove harmful content online.
For a forensic investigator, it needs to examine the meta-tags, document history, and variables in the alleged court order to determine its authenticity. Here are a few points to consider –
According to this court order, the complaint in court was filed on April 4, 2021. Around 50 days before the Review was even published on Gripeo.com.
The smudging and aberration on the court order document (above the URL) clearly show that the URL from the original court order was replaced tactically.
The Date (JUNE) and the Signature of Judge Terry Lewis are doctored. The court order also claims that a copy was submitted to Steven R. Andrews, a lawyer for Vito Glazers
The addendum to this court order was changed to show Gripeo.com’s review page for Vito Glazers. You can see the publishing date as May 27, 2021, which is strange since the complaint was filed in April 2021.
The addendum to this court order was changed to show user comments on the Review for Vito Glazers. You can see the date of these comments as July 27, 2021, which is strange since the complaint was filed in April 2021.
The court has been notified of this forgery, and we expect significant developments in the coming weeks in this matter.
Potential Consequences
Under Florida Statute 831.01, the crime of Forgery is committed when a person falsifies, alters, counterfeits, or forges a document that carries “legal efficacy” with the intent to injure or defraud another person or entity.
Forging a document is considered a white-collar crime. It involves altering, changing, or modifying a document to deceive another person. It can also involve the passing along of copies of documents that are known to be false. In many states, including Florida, it is a felony to make a document look different than it is.
Additionally, under Florida law, “fraud on the court” is where “a party has sentiently set in motion some unconscionable scheme calculated to interfere with the judicial system’s ability to impartially adjudicate a matter by improperly influencing the trier of fact or unfairly hampering the presentation of the opposing party’s claim or defence.” Cox v. Burke, 706 So. 2d 43, 46 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998) (quoting Aoude v. Mobil Oil Corp., 892 F.2d 1115, 1118 (1st Cir. 1989)).
Forgery is a Third Degree Felony in Florida and is punishable by up to five (5) years in prison, five (5) years of probation, and a $5,000 fine.
Forging a court order and a Judge’s signature is assigned a Level 1 offense severity ranking under Florida’s Criminal Punishment Code. A judge may sentence a person convicted of forgery to probation but may also impose a sentence up to the statutory maximum of five years in prison.
Someone needs to be held responsible.
For a reason, businesses (men) like Vito Glazers invest a lot of money in managing their online reputations. And it works like a charm for them. However, it hurts their egos when they fail to mitigate a critical review, an unpopular opinion, or a piece of damaging public information. And for someone as ‘rich’ and ‘powerful’ as Vito Glazers, it’s all about their ego.
Gripeo.com will, in our capacity, do all we can to hold someone responsible for this incident. Here is what we are preparing for –
- Inform the court officials that fraud has been committed against them by Vito Glazers
- Share our findings and evidence with journalists, media houses and other bloggers.
- Informing Judge Terry Lewis about his forged signatures.
- Informing Lumen Database.
- Informing Google Support to retract their decision to remove our review URL on Google Search.
- Seeking help from legal experts such as Eugene Volokh to deter any such attempts in the future.
- Seeking legal counsel if we decide to pursue a lawsuit against Vito Glazers.
- Reporting this crime to the law enforcement authorities in Florida, including the local DA, who might be interested in investigating similar fraud cases.
Since Vito Glazers made such efforts to hide something online, it seems fit to ensure that this article and our original review on Vito Glazers, including but not limited to user contributions, remain a permanent record for anyone interested in Vito Glazers.
A case perfect for the Streisand effect…
