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Compression conman faces sentencing

by on09 August 2010
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It will make me richer than Bill Gates
The kiwi who claimed that his compression technology would make him richer than Bill Gates will face sentencing tomorrow.

Philip James Whitley told investors that he had invented a revolutionary form of data compression and managed to rustle up $5.3 million in investment. At one point he had his own bodyguards, owned two black 300C Chryslers, and bought a $2 million mansion in Redwood Valley.

He has now been charged with two counts of making a false statement as a promoter in 2007. Needless to say his claims were a little incorrect. Whitley's company NearZero did really well on claims that he had  invented and patented a revolutionary "lossless" method of compressing data.

When he was convicted in May, the court heard how the technology could not have been patented because it didn't exist, and that Whitley's presentation to investors, and the documentation he supplied to investors, were false.

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