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CBS/Paramount sues to stop Axanar

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Reilly said:
The more there's talk of Alec funnelling money into the production, the fishier it sounds. Disregarding the ever-changing amount it increasingly sounds like he looks at money brought in by either Axanar donations, studio rentals (if there's been any), Propworx auctions or any of his other interests (let's assume he has them to allow for the amounts he's saying he donated) as just one big pile of money that's getting moved around.

I'm no accountant but saying that profit from the Propworx auctions was donated back to Axanar sounds odd. If you hold an auction, and end up 30k in the black from it, isn't that Propworx money? Can Propworx just dump that into Axanar? If you take Alec at his word there are not inconsiderable sums of money being moved around and I have to assume that's going to have implications.
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I can believe he may have put funds in and may have done so legitimately, but the fact is that even if he used his own money towards it, any salary and profit offsets the amount he has funded, even if partially. It's like buying a TV for £150 and then getting someone to give you £50 back to ease your outlay. Either way it's still wrong and it also doesn't impact the contract he has with his "donors".

There's also the possibility that he didn't start putting money in it until the law suit in an effort to keep it afloat (I'm speculating) and the salaries may predate his financial input.
 
Ion said:
Where would he be getting the money to "pay it back"? Isn't Axanar his full-time job?
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Arguably not given Propworx. Plus it's entirely possible he had money in the bank when he started all this, such as previous earnings or family money. He may even have investments, such as shares in something or property. I wouldn't assume that just because he supposedly does this full time he has no money.
 
I wonder how all of this is explained on his IRS Form 1040..................

Did he claim it as income? Did he then claim the repayment as a tax-deductible donation?
 
Non of his alleged "donations" to Axanar, personally or via Propworx would be tax deductible as Axanar is not incorporated as a 501(c)3. You can't get a deduction by giving funds or services to a for profit organization.
 
Maybe he considered it as a zero-interest loan. But if memory serves, the IRS has a limit on how much one may borrow at zero-interest. Who else wants to be a fly on the wall (or a spider under the table) if the IRS should audit his books?
 
The studio should have the cash in and cash out for Axanar Productions now. Perhaps they will itemize the payments and incomes related to Alec's cashflow, since they are claiming he obtained a benefit. If Alec is claiming he put the money back, and therefore didn't get a net benefit, he would also have to pony up details into the record at some point.
 
ozzfloyd said:
Non of his alleged "donations" to Axanar, personally or via Propworx would be tax deductible as Axanar is not incorporated as a 501(c)3. You can't get a deduction by giving funds or services to a for profit organization.
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I genuinely hope that his claims of making "donations" either personally or through Propworx are just a bit of theater and he didn't actually try to do it. Such behavior tends to draw the attention of people with no sense of humor and a real ability to screw up your life (even more than being sued for IP infringement by a multi-billion dollar company).
 
Ion said:
Which would leave us with the question of why he had to pay himself a salary out of donations in the first place... :-)
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He answered that again recently on Kickstarter as quoted by Carlos. Roughly, its not reasonable to expect anyone to work full time without getting paid. :rolleyes: Previous versions were suffixed as I recall with "and besides, we are all professionals here too".
 
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Ion said:
Which would leave us with the question of why he had to pay himself a salary out of donations in the first place... :-)
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Personally I don't think it does. The answer is likely to be no more than "because he thought he could get away with it".

I think, like many people offering services, he thought that he was spending time on it therefore he deserved to be compensated. It's not unlike a company director taking drawings.. That's why it was spun as an expense. I don't think the question of whether or not he actually needed the money needs to be asked. It's actually pretty irrelevant. He likely just thought he could come up with an excuse to funnel a little extra cash directly into his pocket and proceeded on that basis.
 
Earthrise said:
I genuinely hope that his claims of making "donations" either personally or through Propworx are just a bit of theater and he didn't actually try to do it. Such behavior tends to draw the attention of people with no sense of humor and a real ability to screw up your life (even more than being sued for IP infringement by a multi-billion dollar company).
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I think the whole idea was to surf ahead of the wave all the way in. Adding sea anchors just seems to come naturally to their SOP, though.
 
It's a bit out of my reach in terms of law knowledge, and I'm barely awake right now, but surely funnelling money back in would be a moot point as it'd just be treated in the same way as the 'fan film' terminology? It happened, we sued you, there's no way to undo it. He openly defended and justified his right to a salary before (and after) the lawsuit - backpeddling now can't save anything, can it?
 
He's been quiet for a while but now I think it's fair to say Alec Peters is back on social media with a vengeance and he's handling criticism with his usual aplomb. I actually think this is him thinking ahead to after the court case and what he does next (because obviously getting a job is totally beneath someone of his stature) and, even though in his usual way he's upsetting people left, right and centre, he's trying to shore up his fanbase for when he needs them in the new year.

Or he could be drowning in shit and lashing out as he goes down. It's so hard to tell.
 
OtherGene said:
He's been quiet for a while but now I think it's fair to say Alec Peters is back on social media with a vengeance and he's handling criticism with his usual aplomb. I actually think this is him thinking ahead to after the court case and what he does next (because obviously getting a job is totally beneath someone of his stature) and, even though in his usual way he's upsetting people left, right and centre, he's trying to shore up his fanbase for when he needs them in the new year.

Or he could be drowning in shit and lashing out as he goes down. It's so hard to tell.
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Seems almost like a difference without a real distinction, eh?

I analyzed the three accompanying declarations because I am, apparently, a masochist:
http://www.gandtshow.com/declarations-axanar-motion-compel-discovery/

In two days, the analysis of the supplemental junk will be up. Main thing for today's blog post is I was able to put together a timeline. A lot of it consisted of "Nuh, uh, you started it!" and "He's a jerk!" and "Moo-ooom!" Er, I mean, "Judge Eick!"

Thank you, as always, for your kind support.
 
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