No way to resolve this.

I've reopened this can of worms approximately twice now, so I'll shut up.

As for FNB's comment about full disclosure, I'm baffled.  Here's my disclosure: people I know and trust have been scammed.

At the end of the day, I think DB's days of rustling up a book of business over the internets has come to an end. 

So I probably should just let him do his thing -- especially since one of the most credible voices in this little nook of the internet, namely Grayson, has just given the business to DB as succinctly and elegantly as I could imagine.