Liberty Silver borrowing money from ‘Bobby G’

With its finances on the brink of collapse, management at Liberty Silver Corp. have elected to take money from the last person they wanted to do business with.

The Toronto-based junior miner announced it is borrowing US$1-million from BG Capital, a firm controlled by penny stock promoter and former reality television star Bobby Genovese (better known as Bobby G).

It is a sharp reversal of strategy for Libertys board and management, which have been trying to distance themselves from Mr. Genovese ever since a stock trading scandal in 2012.

Last October, regulators in both Canada and the United States halted Liberty shares for two weeks after they soared to astronomical highs in a very short time. The move happened right after Liberty was heavily promoted by Mr. Genovese and a group of newsletter writers. It was later revealed that companies tied to Mr. Genovese sold more than eight million Liberty shares between the start of the promotional campaign and the trading halt, netting a large profit.

At last Decembers annual meeting, Libertys board and senior management maintained that they wanted nothing to do with Mr. Genovese as they tried to focus on the Trinity silver project in Nevada.

We are keeping ourselves very separate and apart from Mr. Genovese. So he has no influence on our company and is not a part of our financing plans, chairman Tim Unwin told the Financial Post at the meeting.

They have elected to do this deal with him because they had no other choice if they wanted to keep the lights on.

In an interview on Monday, Mr. Unwin said the company has been in contact with several potential long-term funders, but needed to raise some money right away to stay afloat while those talks continue. Mr. Genovese offered this short-term facility and Liberty saw no option but to take it.

Thats the real world and thats what we have to do, he said, adding that it should keep the company going for the next 18 months. He also said regulators know about the transaction.

Libertys latest set of financial statements confirm that it is in dire financial position. Its cash position was down to $23,925 at the end of June, while accounts payable totaled $867,952. The loan from BG Capital includes an immediate advance of US$50,000 that is badly needed.

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Liberty Silver borrowing money from ‘Bobby G’