So, the questions I raised a week and a half ago appear to be more than intriguing. In fact, the intricate web that has been cast amongst these directors and foundations even appears to reach as far as the Boy Scouts of America in Texas. There is no data that says that these directors and executives acted fraudulently, but consider this: Plains CEO James Flores, who is also a Director at McMoRan Exploration, made nearly $20 million on just his Plains stock. Also, he owned 7,597 shares of McMoRan Exploration, whose shares also rallied nicely on the day the deal was announced.

Freeport CEO and McMoRan Exploration Co-Chairman Richard Adkerson made ridiculous sums of money on this deal as well while Freeport shareholders lost more than 10 percent of their investment in the company. In fact, if you go back and look at the times that he has sold shares over the past year, Adkerson should give up running Freeport and get a job trading at a hedge fund. He so perfectly called the top in Freeport shares back in February 2011 that even Steve Cohen would be jealous. Here is a stock chart, courtesy of Petainen, which shows his sales of Freeport stock.

Once again, we are not attempting to raise calls of fraud or illegal doings at the company. We simply want to point out that this deal may not be in the best interest of Freeport shareholders. Remember, Freeport is a copper miner and the acquired companies are oil exploration companies. It's hard to see the synergies in that business model, unless Freeport was ready to admit that the mining boom is dead. However, in the press release of the deal, Freeport CEO Adkerson wrote, "We will not diminish our focus in our mining operations on safe and efficient production, executing our organic growth projects, prudent capital allocation and an entrepreneurial spirit of creating values for our shareholders." So if mining isn't dead, then why do the opposite of what is attractive in the market, divestitures not acquisitions, and move into unchartered businesses?

The fact is that there will probably never be a direct answer from any of the questionable parties. The only thing that can be done now is Freeport shareholders need to step up and ask questions. As a shareholder myself, this is my protest. I'm not saying the deal is terrible and needs to be revoked now, but the executives need to answer these questions to regain the confidence of their loyal shareholders. This story is far from over, and maybe it is time the SEC steps in and starts looking at the relationships between these boards? Maybe it's time that we start limiting the amount of boards people can sit on, since so many boards are interlinked in a giant web of corporate collusion? All I know is that if this deal goes to a vote, I'm voting no with my shares right now, and I implore other shareholders to do their own research to come to a rational thesis on just exactly what is going on.