Robbo

Hi WilliamH

You have my sympathies but we need to focus on the way your site is
now, correcting anything that is unsatisfactory now, and then - if
necessary - you can submit a businesslike request for
reconsideration.

You can be reassured that lots of people have had there sites returned
to google goodstanding once the "faults" have been corrected.

The exact details of who did what when and why and who knew what are
not really relevant to google evaluation as long as (a) you fix any
faults; (b) you summarise what you have done; and (c) satisfy google
that you have no intention of allowing a recurrence of the faults.  In
other words, if it is your submission that your previous SEO was
buying links, the most relevant things NOW are that (i) you have done
your best to remove all such links; (ii) you have replaced your
previous SEO; and (iii) it ain't going to happen again.    Part of the
reconsideration process is that you are open and honest with google,
show that you know what the "faults" were and that you have fixed
them.

Website owners in this sort of situation also need to distinguish
clearly between and actual PENALTY/BANNING and a fall in ranking for
other reasons (such as the removal of the artificially high boost you
may have previously obtained due to the bought links which have now
been devalued/removed.

So I suggest a multi-pronged attack on the situation:

1.  Ensure that any and all infringements (bought/sold links; spam;
hidden text/links; cloaking etc) are dealt with (removed).

2.  Ensure that your site presents in a as good a way technically as
you can.

3.  Review all the navigation and content from all relevant
perspectives.

4.  Encourage good quality links from relevant sites - make your site
so good and useful/informative that other sites will want to link to
you without you offering any inducement/payment/exchange, etc.

Robbo