To Trekkies, that is.

How, I don't know.

But it's all they've got. Even seasoned vets would have trouble spinning this crap into gold.

They're screwed.

any time there's a basic business agreement but there's still a contract to negotiate, it's not uncommon to say that the effective date of the agreement is at some previous time.

for instance, let's say you're starting a new job as a ceo, there's a business agreement as to the basic points, but you want your lawyer to look over the employment contract. this process may take a few weeks, but you're anxious to get to work and your employer is anxious to get you started. so you actually start working in the expectation that you'll nail down an agreement quickly, after all, you're down to the kind of fine print only lawyers worry about. in that situation it makes sense to backdate the hire date to the date you actually started working.

there are similar issues regarding retirement, and there are contracts relating to that as well. what is unusual in rmoney's is that it appears to have taken 3 years(?) to finalize everything. it's most likely that rmoney preferred to have the ambiguity for some reason before being forced to be more specific. which suggests that he was trying to game the system, one way or another.