I tell stories from the front and back lines of the newsroom. This story is about the Bag Man and his apps.
I visited a Wikimedian friend in the hospital yesterday. He asked me, “Who is the Bag Man?” I named the Bag Man before. I am so sick of typing his name to research this post. His name is Adam Kotkin. The man is good at what he does. I sent him 12 months of my bank statements. Then, after talking to him on the phone, something felt off. My newsie alarms went off, and I switched bank accounts. I tried to warn my grandfather before he died. The Bag Man had access to my grandfather’s email account on the day he died.
Chief Operating Officer, Board Member and Co-founder of BigString Corporation: According to his 2025 corporate bio, those were the Bag Man’s titles. BigString Corp’s core technology let email senders recall, modify or erase messages after they’d already been delivered. Even after the recipient had opened and read them.
Recall Mail Corporation promoted The Bag Man.
“We’re looking to save ourselves from embarrassment, from lawsuits. Everyone makes mistakes with email, and now we’re giving control over those mistakes.”
Adam Kotkin, chief operating officer, Recall Mail Corp.
The Bag Man became a board director of BigString Corp.
The Bag Man is elected “Secretary” of BigString Corporation. He told my step-grandmother’s lawyers that he was her Secretary.
The Bag Man is appointed as CEO of a company named Apps Genius Corp. Local Publications refer to the company as “AppsGenius,” but Apps Genius Corp is how the SEC lists it. So I’ll use the space.
“Adam Kotkin is freaked out.”
— Dustin Racioppi, reporter for redbankgreen
The Bag Man was promoting an app to detect bedbugs: “No matter where you are, you can find them. If I go to Savannah tomorrow, I’ll find bedbugs.” He also promoted other apps from his Apps Genius Corp. “Drama Lama” sends Facebook friends warnings for posts you don’t like.
“If someone has drama in their life, send them a Drama Lama,”
— Adam Kotkin told local media in 2010
The local Red Bank, NJ reporter said Apps Genius iPhone apps specialize in “doing unfriendly things to your friends.” Apps Genius developed another Facebook app called “crybaby.” The Bag Man said he received these Facebook crybabies from his employees when he was out sick.
“The APP inventor is Adam Kotkin, a self-described ‘idea man’ who runs a company called AppsGenius in Red Bank, New Jersey.”
— NBC New York’s Andrew Siff
Local exterminators flagged the unknown origin of the bug reports data as a concern.
The SEC sends the Bag Man a letter. And its very first comment (Comment 1) simply asked the Bag Man to include the company’s primary SIC on the cover page of the registration statement. It wasn’t there at all. This first letter also flagged his employment conflict with PeopleString Corporation as an unexplained risk to Apps Genius Corp. Conflict of Interest. Wikimedians call people with conflicts of interest COI fish.
The Bag Man gets a formal letter from the SEC. The SEC smelled something fishy and reissued the unresolved cash-runway concern, cash on hand of $143,000 against $485,000 in projected 12-month expenses. The independent federal regulatory agency flagged a mismatch in the industry code between the filing and the SEC’s own EDGAR system. The SEC caught a mismatch: the filing listed SIC code 4822 (which covers telegraph and other message communications), while EDGAR’s own system had Apps Genius listed under SIC code 7374 (computer processing and data preparation services). Hanlon’s razor applies to my policy of always assuming ignorance over malice. This code mismatch reminds me of a notary code mismatch regarding my grandfather’s estate. The pattern of weaponized incompetence emerges.
This is the article that made me want to write up this timeline and profile the Bag Man.
“People are into the whole poop thing. When you speak with a 12 year old you realize that they know more than the rest of us … It’s fun to throw poop around. Poop sells.”
— Adam Kotkin, Apps Genius CEO, told TechCrunch
The Bag Man promoted an Angry Birds clone app called “Angry Turds.” This would be a great structural ending to this timeline. But alas, there’s so much more.
The Bag Man personally loaned Apps Genius Corp $5,000 as the CEO/sole officer amid going-concern doubts from the SEC.
This is where Snooki enters the conversation. Yes. That Snooki. Apps Genius Corp’s new app “Snookify Me!” altered pictures of people to look like Snooki.
“This app absolutely rocks! My fans have been trying to get me to build apps for them to use. I have listened to all of you and I can’t wait for you to see the first of many that I have ideas for. I am getting a big kick out of seeing the Facebook postings of my ‘Snookified’ friends!”
— Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi told The Investor Relations Group
I got a selfie with Snooki when I worked at Fox News Channel. I forced my way through the crowd to grab a quick selfie with her. The Bag Man had a working relationship with her.
“Nicole ‘Snooki’ Polizzi and I worked into the wee hours of the morning last month to finalize the official version of ‘Snookify Me!’ We designed it to be incredibly user-friendly, with lots of options, so that everyone can actually become ‘Snookified’—so to speak—on their phones. We are very confident that the fans and friends of ‘Snooki’ are really going to enjoy playing with the app and sharing the images they are able to build. There are going to be so many ‘Snooki’s’ on Facebook that Facebook will have to become ‘Snookified’ itself!”
— Adam Kotkin, CEO of Apps Genius, told The Investor Relations Group
The Bag Man and Snooki team up again. This time: they’re making games.
“These games and applications are my new favorite accessories, and I love them to death. Having worked on these from the beginning, I know Jersey Shore viewers and my other fans will love them. I can’t wait to release the first one that we have been working on with Apps Genius.”
— Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi said in a statement
The Bag Man liked talking to the press about his apps.
“Snooki’s enthusiasm for this new venture represents the perfect start for our Celebrity Entertainment Division. Our celebrity apps and games are a partnership in design and creativity with the celebrities we work with, and my team and I look forward to working first with Snooki in the design of her games and applications.”
— Adam Kotkin said in a statement
The Bag Man’s corporate life wasn’t always fun and games with reality TV stars. Amazon Payments froze payments to Apps Genius Corp’s LGBT Crowdfunding Website GetGayFunded.com.
“It was very important for us to work with Amazon Payments to process the money that had been pledged for those projects already. We appreciate the tremendous outpouring of support from the public to get our website back online and we are grateful to Amazon Payments for working through this issue so GetGayFunded.com can go back to work providing much-needed funding support for LGBT community projects.”
— Adam Kotkin said
FAL Exploration Corp (the renamed successor to Apps Genius Corp) completed a reverse merger with a private company called Vapir, Inc., creating a new combined entity called Vapir Enterprises, Inc. The Bag Man resigned as CEO of Vapir in a reverse merger amid lawsuits and tax liens. He kept a board seat and a 2.49% beneficial ownership stake in the newly merged company.
This shows a recurring pattern: stepping back from a titled executive role right as a company he built hits serious financial and legal trouble, while quietly retaining equity and board influence rather than making a clean exit. It’s the second time that the SEC specifically named the Bag Man in a formal comment letter over incomplete disclosure, reinforcing that this wasn’t an isolated first-time filing error but a recurring issue tied to his role across different corporate shells.
The SEC sent another letter. With 30 disclosure discrepancies. 2 are tied directly to the Bag Man.
Comment 18: The SEC outlined that the filing doesn’t even have the minimum required identifying information for its own listed owners.
Comment 19: The executive compensation doesn’t include any information.
Comment 20: The company disclosed it has “not entered into any employment agreements with your executive officers,” which means leadership was restructured without documenting who’s actually being paid what, or under what terms.
The Bag Man starts his career at the Points Guy. That’s where I will start my next story.
Similar to my latest story on my year without Papa, this is an abridged version of my look into the Bag Man’s corporate life. I plan on continuing this post on Wednesday to connect the two stories.
Donate to the #PapaStarkFund to help my family continue this story.
Freddy Furiosa is going to hide out in this tent until you donate.
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.