"As for this issue in particular, I'm not asserting that this will hurt PTSC in anyway, other than the damage it does by exposing their poor internal controls, oversight, or decision making in putting the PR out the way they did"
We're talking about engaging a consultant to do consulting work. I have never heard of any company that would research whether the Company hired to do the consulting was actually set up as a legal entity. I would think the deal would typically be set up with some kind of engagement letter spelling out the work to be done and other details. If something goes wrong, who's got the exposure - Patriot or Greg Baroni? Baroni does because by not having the LLC set up he he sets himself up as having personal liability, instead of an LLC that could be a shell having the liability. I guess Baroni could be personally judgement-proof by not having any assets. Do you think that's how he does business?
All in all, it could be IR had no answer because again, it's a non-issue. I haven't seen anything that you or anyone else has written to convince me otherwise.