Industrial Heat Goes Cold on Rossi

March 29, 2016 – By Steven B. Krivit –

A quiet chill has come over the relationship between Industrial Heat, LLC, a North Carolina company, and Andrea Rossi, an Italian businessman and white-collar criminal who has been convicted of fraud and appears to be running a scam.

Rossi has repeatedly claimed since 2011 that he has a working 1 megawatt LENR thermal generator. During that time he has failed to deliver tangible evidence of any such system.

On March 21, New Energy Times sent questions to Thomas Francis Darden II, the manager, president, and director of Industrial Heat, as well as to J.T. Vaughn, the vice president, inquiring about the status of the company’s relationship, if any, with Rossi. We wanted to know whether Industrial Heat was still in partnership with Rossi. We sent the questions again on March 23.

Neither Darden nor Vaughn responded.

More than two years ago, Industrial Heat issued a press release announcing that it had acquired the rights to Rossi’s Energy Catalyzer (E-Cat). Vaughn said the company’s mission was to develop Rossi’s device to “raise the standard of living in developing countries and reduce the environmental impact of producing energy.”

Thus far, the only thing Industrial Heat has raised is $11,555,050 from 14 unnamed investors, according to an Aug. 23, 2013, notice Vaughn filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Nothing tangible has come of its relationship with Rossi.

On Feb. 18, 2016, technology writer Mats Lewan wrote on his blog that Industrial Heat had collaborated with Rossi on a validation test of Rossi’s device. Without citing any scientific data, scientists, or identity of any independent third-party certification institute, Lewan claimed that the test had been a historic success.

On March 8, New Energy Times sent a news inquiry to Darden to confirm Lewan’s assertion that Industrial Heat had participated in a successful validation test of Rossi’s device. Two days later, Industrial Heat sent a statement affirming its commitment to low-energy nuclear reaction (LENR) research. The company said nothing about Lewan’s claim of a test. It did not mention Rossi.

On March 10, in “Industrial Heat’s E-Cat Exit,” New Energy Times wrote, “Industrial Heat has apparently terminated its relationship with businessman Andrea Rossi. Industrial Heat is the only company that had publicly confirmed that it had licensed technology from Rossi.”

Now, it appears that Industrial Heat is preparing its own exit. On March 24, Frank Ackland posted a message on his blog e-CatWorld, reporting the Web site for a new LENR company in North Carolina, Lux Energy Ltd., of which Vaughn is again the vice president. The phone number shown on the Lux Energy Ltd. Web site is the same as that for Industrial Heat and its parent company, Cherokee Investments.

A search for a corporate record for the company in North Carolina and Delaware turned up nothing, possibly indicating a hasty rebranding. A domain name search reveals that Amy Biggers, of Cherokee, registered the domain name luxenergyltd.com on Feb. 20, two days after Lewan’s blog article.

As soon as Ackland posted his story, the luxenergyltd.com site went dark and became accessible only with a password.

“Is it possible,” Ackland wrote, “that Lux Energy and Industrial Heat are one and the same?”

It is also possible that the new company will allow Cherokee to continue in LENR research without further business ties to Rossi. It will also help Cherokee disassociate itself from Rossi, who is an “apparent fraudster,” according to Paul Burns (a.k.a. Paul Story), the creator of the ecatnews.com blog. That was 3½ years ago — before Cherokee collected the $11 million.