I would also like to point out that the population figures of the LKE currently are not unheard of if you look at the history of the LKE. during the early to mid 2013, there was a similar spike in population figures to about 730 as shown by the following graph,
So for people who had been around during this time, which is the entire LKE leadership, we would most likely assume that these numbers are normal and nothing to worry about.
Add on the fact that regional populations were also increasing at a steady rate like Albion, there was no way for LKE leadership to believe that something illegal was happening.
Adding to that, Bob Moran did not indicate that he was doing anything illegal at all when posting his recruitment reports to the general LKE public as shown by the following:
First Report, Posted 3/27/2015
Our population at the beginning of the term stood at around 524 nations.
Thousands of handsent telegrams and 20 days later, we now stand at 707 nations.
This high figure was achieved through hard work and thanks to favorable circumstances. Indeed the overall NS population has been smashing all records and stands today at 144,176 nations.
We can be proud of this, we must aspire to maintain ourselves at this level.
Second Report, posted 4/10/2015
Late March, at the time of the previous report, our population was in the low 700's.
Since then we have surpassed our all time population record, all the way up to 740.
However, the NS population boom has stabilized, resulting in a net loss of about 4000 nations since the last report. This did not prevent the LKE population to remain strong at around 720 nations.
I don't expect this figure to change much for the rest of the term. Spring is generally an active time for Nationstates.
Third Report, Posted 4/19/2015
Roughly 10 days ago, at the time of our last report the LKE was host of around 720 nations while the NS population stood at around 140k nations.
Since then, the LKE has reached once more its peak of late march when it rose all the way to 740, standing at the time of this report at 742 nations, despite the fact that the overall NS population has decreased by 3000 nations, to around 141k.
This is indeed an extraordinary achievement for a region that has never used Stamps. Among the largest regions, Only 10000 Islands boasts similar results.
Our Delegate has also received 90 endorsements, while the Imperial Army has 20 Units deployed at the moment, for a potential overall voting power of 110 for our Delegate.
Here are the Top 20 regions and their population:
1.The North Pacific 6,802
2.The South Pacific 6,116
3.The West Pacific 6,136
4.The Pacific6,082
5.The East Pacific5,888
6.Lazarus 4,562
7.Balder 4,033
8.Osiris 4,006
9.The Rejected Realms 3,266
10.Nugut 1,550
11.10000 Islands1,572
12.The Communist Bloc1,121
13.Europeia1,001
14.The Black Riders 845
15.The Americas 800
16.Pacific Union 799
17.The Land of Kings and Emperors 738
18.Union of Confederate Regions 518
19.Albion 479
20.NationStates 482
As you can see above, Bob never indicated that he was ever doing anything illegal and also would explain the reasons why the figures were what they were. As such LKE leadership had no reason to suspect that anything illegal was occurring.
We could have suspected that Bob was doing something illegal when he noted that he sent "thousands of handsent telegrams" but, as explained by Onder earlier, this was not unheard of in a region where 200-300 telegrams can be sent by a person per day in years past.