Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Samuel "Mouli" Cohen


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was   keep.  Sandstein  11:24, 12 May 2012 (UTC)

Samuel "Mouli" Cohen

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Classic WP:BLP1E. Apparently, all that is known about the subject is as the result of his court case and conviction. There are some basic bio issues in the article (such as being "American" in nationality and yet born in Israel, no early life history, and really nothing about him as a person, aside from his fraud activities - see WP:COATRACK). Due to apparent heavy SPA IP editing, I have elected not to prod the article. MSJapan (talk) 04:26, 4 May 2012 (UTC)

I posted the original Samuel "Mouli" Cohen article in January of this year. I've know about Cohen for over 15 years as a notable executive in the "bar-top" video game world, attending conventions, hiring notable people like Nolan Bushnell, the inventor of Pong and founder of both Atari and Chuck E. Cheese. As CEO of several San Francisco and Silicon Valley companies, he was notable for that alone. However, it now turns out that his facade of being a successful, wealthy entrepreneur and philanthropist is a complete fraud.

In my original post I fairly and impartially included highlights of his career and the companies he ran with a neutral point of view, with plenty of third-party references, including those that had nothing to do with his fraud. As press reports of his conviction became more widely known, I included fair and balanced references and information. Those post were, at one point, vandalized by someone with the same last name as Cohen Dcohen491, taking down all references to Mouli's conviction. I reverted those edits. Other editors started including various aspects of the case - without adding material about his executive career - in fact, some editors deleted material unrelated to his conviction.

When the news of his sentencing came out this week, several other editors re-wrote the article to focus almost exclusively on his fraud, conviction, and sentencing - which I'm guessing led to the article being flagged as WP:BLP1E.

If you look at the first paragraph of my January 10th version and compare it to the present version, you will find a stark difference:

My January 10th version:


 * Samuel "Mouli" Cohen is a San Francisco Bay Area entrepreneur, executive, and venture capitalist who has run, founded, and funded start-ups that, according to Cohen, have "generated over $3B in shareholder value"

The current version:


 * Samuel "Mouli" Cohen (born April 8, 1958) is an American entrepreneur, venture capitalist and convicted fraudster. In April 2012 he was found guilty of defrauding investors of amounts totaling over $35 million and was sentenced to 22 years in prison.

You can see that the focus has shifted from a broad review of his notable career as an executive of several video game companies, has now turned to be primarily about his fraud.

And then, there's the notability of the fraud itself. So vast and long-lasting that the judge in the case said, "In more than 40 years of experience with the criminal justice system, I have never encountered a con man like Mr. Cohen. He is serial in his proclivity to commit cons. He is nearly sociopathic in his ability to relate to his victims."

Mouli Cohen defrauded dozens of investors for over $30 million dollars, including the actor Danny Glover and bankrupted the nonprofit charity Vanguard Public Foundation, which Glover and singer Harry Belafonte founded.

To conclude, Mouli Cohen was known for three distinct things:


 * CEO of several Bay Area video game companies over the last 15 years
 * He was a highly visible as a entrepreneur and philanthropist in Bay Area High Society,
 * He was convicted of a very high profile major fraud that involved some of the largest names in the entertainment business, including Danny Glover, Harry Belafonte, Elton John, and Jennifer Lopez. "

The story of Cohen's conviction and sentencing has generated a huge amount of international press. A quick search of Google News shows 340 articles, including articles from the NY and LA Times, Business Week, USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle, and AP News.

I argue for keeping the article, but fixing it to give it more balance and context. The subject is notable - but needs to be protected from vandals and those who might focus too much on the fraud conviction. Thanks, Ellis408 (talk) 06:55, 4 May 2012 (UTC)


 * Whoa there. Filibustering helps you not in the least. Ten Pound Hammer • (What did I screw up now?) 07:14, 4 May 2012 (UTC)


 * Keep Sorry about that - I've know about Mouli Cohen for 15 years and I'm a little passionate about this page, as it's been changed in two directions: stripping it of any reference of the fraud conviction and deleting anything not relating to the fraud. Please read my full statement, which concludes: Mouli Cohen was known for three distinct things:


 * CEO of several Bay Area video game companies over the last 15 years
 * He was a highly visible as a entrepreneur and philanthropist in Bay Area High Society,
 * He was convicted of a very high profile major fraud that involved some of the largest names in the entertainment business, including Danny Glover, Harry Belafonte, Elton John, and Jennifer Lopez.

I argue for keeping the article, but fixing it to give it more balance and context. The subject is notable - but needs to be protected from vandals and those who might focus too much on the fraud conviction. Thanks, Ellis408 (talk) 07:34, 4 May 2012 (UTC)


 * Comment - I've noted this on Ellis' talk, but his collapsed statement above actually said more about Nolan Bushnell than it did Cohen. If Cohen is such a notable individual outside of BLP1E claims, why can the article creator not state specifically which companies Cohen was CEO of (even in the January 10 lede), and not state specific instances of Cohen's philanthropic work?  Basically, the statements about Cohen are vague, and I could not find any specific information on either of the first two points going back almost two years in sources to support either claim. The only verifiable specificity given by the article creator is about those involved in the fraud case, and aside from questions of notability not being inherited, if all we can verify is fraud, the the original argument of BLP1E stands. MSJapan (talk) 16:38, 4 May 2012 (UTC)


 * Keep the article. The high-profile fraud case warrants keeping it. Early life info. is not as important as what he did to gain notability. The IP editing is definitely an issue, so we need to keep an eye on it. عمرو بن كلثوم (talk) 13:44, 4 May 2012 (UTC)


 * Note to closing admin - I usually try to stay away from addressing user conduct in AfDs, but I have a hard time AGFing this particular vote. I must admit I get a little skeptical when I see Arabic language usernames commenting on things having to do with Israel, Palestine, and their people, politics or religions, because there's usually an agenda in there.  Having therefore investigated further, the above user has been blocked for editwarring on Arab topics as recently as March 2012, has been warned repeatedly for the same over the course of his time here, has had his userpage MfDed as anti-Semitic and it just so happens that the first AfD he comes to since October of 2011 (and only the second he has ever participated in since registering in October of 2010) has to do with an Israeli Jew convicted of a crime?  The preponderance of evidence strongly suggests an ulterior motive behind the keep vote. MSJapan (talk) 17:10, 4 May 2012 (UTC)


 * Woah, you noticed my editwarring block but failed to notice it was done by mistake here. Same thing over and over again, you accuse people of being anti-Semitic just because they are saying the truth you don't like (and you are trying to bury in this case), when this is not even relevant to the discussion here. عمرو بن كلثوم (talk) 03:57, 6 May 2012 (UTC)


 * Keep. The article can certainly be improved, but I think notability has been stated. It appears there is more to say about his life prior to his conviction, and sources for this should be found. But currently a lack of cites does not establish he is not notable, and I would suggest he is not low profile enough to qualify for BLP1E. However, I don't think you can really 'balance' his conviction with tales of entrepreneurship or give it undue emphasis. -- Escape Orbit (Talk) 17:22, 4 May 2012 (UTC)


 * Thank you all for input - MSJapan, who originally flagged the article for deletion, wrote a note on my Talk Page, but it now seems relevant to put it here, together with my response.

Let me address your comments on the AfD here, as I don't think that doing so on the AfD is necessarily constructive. First of all, you say you've known about Mouli Cohen for 15 years. That's great, but we don't write articles for people who already know the subject; I have no idea who he is, found the article because of the case, and couldn't find any sources anywhere not relating to his fraud case and conviction, going back over two years. In your comments, you actually gave more information supporting notability for Nolan Bushnell than you did for Cohen, who is the subject of the AfD! You cited very particular things that Bushnell did that were notable, but for Cohen, you had vague assertions of "he's big in the bartop game scene", "CEO of several companies", and "philanthropy in the area"; nothing specific or verifiable. Your lede you posted as "better" did not indicate what companies he was CEO of, nor did it address any specific philanthropic work. Anyone can give themselves the title of CEO, even in a one-man operation. Anyone can claim to be a philanthropist because they put a dime in a March of Dimes can someplace. In short, you showed the exact issues with the article, because you couldn't point to specific verifiable information to back up your assertions of notability. MSJapan (talk) 16:29, 4 May 2012 (UTC)


 * Hi MSJapan - thanks for your input. Let me address your concerns one by one: Just because you don't know about Mouli, doesn't mean he's not notable. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of notable actors, authors, painters, and business people I've never heard of, but are nevertheless notable. Within the video game industry (one of the largest segments of the enormous entertainment industry) Cohen is well known, and has been for 15 years as CEO of Playnet Technologies, Voltage Capital, LAMIA, Aristo International and Ecast. I first became aware of him when he was CEO at Playnet, a public company with over 100 employees and offices in San Francisco, New York, and Virginia. This is all verifiable through US Government SEC filings and newspaper articles. For instance, if you Google "Mouli Cohen" + "Playnet" you see hundreds of articles. Here's an article about a deal between Playnet and Holiday Inn (a very large and leading hotel chain) - http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4000791.html:


 * 10 October 1997


 * PlayNet and Holiday Inn Sign Pilot Program Agreement


 * SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 9 - PlayNet Technologies, Inc. (PLNT) has signed an agreement with Holiday Inn to launch two pilot programs in which PlayNet Web Terminals will be installed in a minimum of six Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza locations nationwide, PlayNet chairman Mouli Cohen announced today. PlayNet Web Terminals offer pay-per-play entertainment and Internet access for patrons of bars, restaurants, and hotels.


 * There are also many SEC filings (see http://google.brand.edgar-online.com/default.aspx?companyid=5446), newspaper and trade magazine articles about the various other companies. Regarding Nolan Bushnell, yes he's certainly notable and has a lengthy Wikipedia article, but he was an employee of Cohen - at two of Cohen's companies, Playnet and Aristo. See http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1996_May_30/ai_18337625/. Yes, my rebuttal points out Bushnell's accomplishments, and the original Cohen article had more about Cohen's accomplishments with references, which got pushed aside, and even removed, because of the news about the 22 year sentence. It's in the court records that he donated $2 million to charity in the SF Bay Area (although the judge pointed out that it turned out to be other peoples' money). Everything I said in the rebuttal is verifiable with credible 3rd party references, and much of it was in my original post in January - but got removed, after the sentencing this week. I can fully understand your flagging the article as it stands, but it's not because Cohen is not notable, but the article has been changes by IP editors and vandals. I hope you will support keeping the article, with corrective editing. Thanks, Ellis408 (talk) 17:43, 4 May 2012 (UTC)


 * I added an overview section of Cohen's career and the companies he ran and the people who worked for him. Hopefully, this addresses the concerns raised regarding AfD. Thanks, Ellis408 (talk) 21:05, 5 May 2012 (UTC)


 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Crime-related deletion discussions.  • Gene93k (talk) 18:31, 5 May 2012 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Businesspeople-related deletion discussions.  • Gene93k (talk) 18:31, 5 May 2012 (UTC)


 * Keep Clearly notable considering the start ups that he's been involved in. The idea that startups are less important than record albums or sports teams is crazy.  JASpencer (talk) 09:01, 7 May 2012 (UTC)
 * Keep - Hard to see why WP:BLP1E would apply. This article reports on activities that occurred through most of his business career, that got exposed through a series of court cases. Publications such as LA Times, Portland Press Herald and Business Week have chosen to write about him. We cannot help the fact that he is best known for his inappropriate activities. It is unclear whether so many primary court documents need to be cited, but a verdict of notability can be reached here without considering any of those cites. EdJohnston (talk) 16:33, 10 May 2012 (UTC)
 * Comment In all fairness to MSJapan, the article as first published (and as it is now) is clearly notable and encyclopedic - but at the time he flagged it as WP:BLP1E, it was edited down to just a short article about the conviction. The article is now more balanced, if overly cited. Thanks Ellis408 (talk) 04:17, 11 May 2012 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.