New question marks over Infinium's Phantom

The veracity of Infinium Labs' claims about its forthcoming broadband console product, the Phantom, is under the spotlight again today, as an investigation reveals major holes in the company's story.

American technology website [H]ardOCP tracked down information relating to Infinium Labs and its CEO, Tim Roberts, which suggests that the company may not, in fact, have a product of any description.

This will be worrying news to the people behind the $25 million in venture capital funding which Infinium is rumoured to have been the recipient of - but [H]ardOCP's research suggests that Roberts is no stranger to losing other people's money.

The website uncovered a list of the companies which Roberts has occupied CEO or director positions at in the past eight years, a list which includes a number of family businesses and several high-profile bankruptcies - such as Broadband Investment Group (BIG), which Roberts co-founded, and which burned through $15 million of investment money before going bust.

What's most worrying from the site's research, however, is the discovery that Infinium Labs' registered business address is in fact a post office box on a strip mall in Florida. According to [H]ardOCP, Roberts claims that while the company has no physical office at present (a bit surprising for a company claiming to be gearing up to take pre-registrations for a videogame console next month), it will be moving into a property in Sarasota, Florida - but this property was found to be entirely deserted when the team investigated.

A number of conspiracy theories have surrounded the Phantom from the outset - it was first believed to be a hoax by many, and even after the company released a lengthy video showing off the console last month, a rumour circulated that it was a fake campaign designed to showcase the abilities of a PR or marketing firm. Given that most of what's been generated so far is suspicion and derision, that's not much of a showcase.

However, the balance of evidence now seems to be shifting towards this being neither a hoax nor a marketing stunt, but rather a way to separate investors from their money. Infinium Labs apparently has no offices, operates out of a post office box and has a CEO with a track record which it would be extremely kind to describe as "patchy" - if the claims of $25 million of capital are even remotely true, then those investors must surely be beginning to realise that they've been had.