"There are a number of rumors floating around that Hornbaker threatened Amazon with a PR smear campaign if they refused to increase their acquisition offer to w

"There are a number of rumors floating around that Hornbaker threatened Amazon with a PR smear campaign if they refused to increase their acquisition offer to well above $100,000, something Hornbaker flatly denies." Point 1 - reporting about "a number of rumors" has no place in a news article. Point 2 - how could he threaten Amazon with a smear campaign at that point... they hadn't sued him yet...