In all fairness, numerous cases of fraud are perpetrated every day in this country and they're never investigated. No AG can investigate or prosecute them all. The ones that are taken on are usually high profile and/or provide some sort of political gain. As I said before, it was just a sci-fi convention and some people have gotten their money back. Lawyers yes, AG's no (but anything is possible).
The reason why many frauds aren't prosecuted is the same reason why so many people can speed down the highway: Just because you don't get caught doesn't mean you're never going to get caught.
There are some major issues here at play, issues which can help build a case.
Tim Brazeal decided to put on a convention. He announced a partnership with a well-known and well-established convention that had promised both operational and financial support. The well-established convention had a strong reputation not just with actors, but with attendees (or people who wish they could attend) as well.
He added guests as "confirmed" and opened up ticket sales, selling tickets to people who were expecting guests. Those guests cancelled for one reason or another, and were replaced. Those guests were cancelled for one reason or another and also replaced.
In the meantime, the big partnership that was announced dissolved, and it turned completely into a licensing situation, where Tim Brazeal was all on his own. With that, he continued to advertise big-name guests that would have a huge draw, but then never get them tickets to attend.
People traveled to Texas even as late as Friday believing these guests would be there. Radio ads, according to reports, even said these guys would be there. But people arrive ... and no headliners. John Billingsley is there, a few others are there, but not the people that were said to be there.
They are told there is shooting schedules interfering, that some are missing their planes. Which the latter is true ... they are missing their planes because they never had a seat on the plane and they are taking off without them.
Then the con gets cancelled. Refunds are only offered from cash reserves which came from same-day cash sales. Yet, even that isn't enough money to pay back the people who paid cash because some of that cash was spent right out of the till.
Vendors, attendees and even guests were led to believe ... strike that, had every REASON to believe that FedCon Germany was involved, because THEY SAID SO. THEY ANNOUNCED IT. AND NEVER TOLD ANYONE OTHERWISE.
Imagine I had a little software company and wanted to sell it to people on the Internet. I form a partnership with Microsoft, who says they will provide both financial and logistical support for my product. Microsoft doesn't like how I do things, and think my software is crap, so they pull out as a partner. But Bill Gates, being the charitable guy he is, lets me use his name for a short time after the partnership dissolves because I had some contracts with the Microsoft name on it.
You come to my site and see that my software carries the Microsoft brand. So you feel it has to be good (you're obviously not an evolved Mac user), so you buy it. A lot of people buy it.
What they end up with, if they even get it at all, is a shabby product that had nothing to do with Microsoft. I keep the money, and say I may return it but then point to my no return policy they agreed to when they made the purchase.
Do you think I did something fraudulent?
Sorry ... but it's a PERFECT analogy to what happened here.
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