Xethanol's X-Factor

Even in the high-stakes game of ethanol development, Horowitz portrays Xethanol as more secretive than most, including Canadian biomass-to-ethanol rival Iogen.

"Iogen has a demonstration plant," he points out. "They're not going to show you their secret sauce. But they'll at least answer some questions."

No Answers

Xethanol failed to answer questions about its founding CEO as well. Rather than offering concrete proof of Taylor's credentials, the company suddenly fired him this week instead.

After that shake-up, interim CEO Louis Bernstein told TheStreet.com that the company has in fact verified some disputed claims in Taylor's resume. He also suggested that the company would be more forthcoming in the future.

"If my small gesture of returning your phone call is a mark of progress, then we're happy to keep it up," Bernstein told TheStreet.com on Wednesday. "We absolutely want to be responsive to our investors and the people who cover that community. ... It's the right thing to do, and we think that we have a good story to tell."

Meanwhile, says Bernstein, Xethanol continues to weigh whether Taylor should retain his seat on the board -- a group that's allegedly dominated by friends with dark secrets of their own. Sharesleuth.com, a Web site financed by billionaire investor and short-seller Mark Cuban, has by now raised plenty of questions about that lot.