The thing that is not clear to me is why nobody has seen fit to call Fred Wilson out on this. For all of the "scruples beyond reproach" of what I think I know about Fred (and what I still hope to be true, despite this evidence), this one flies in the face of reasonable behavior. I doubt that something like this could (or should) be done so close to IPO that the board didn't know about it. I'm certain that Fred can't say anything today, due to the sensitivity of the timing, but that should not prevent people from asking the question - "where was the board in all this?".

Good God Fred, is this what a reasonably responsible company would do?