Oh yeah, because Michael has been so wrong about everything!
Branch Brazealeans sound off.
Branch Brazealeans sound off.
Star Trek Convention Cancelled DURING Event
- Thread starter Frontier
- Start date
number6
Vice Admiral
It looks like things really went down as I described it. While a failure of this magnitude doesn't happen everyday, the circumstances surrounding this failure is more the norm than the exception.
Class action suits won't happen in this case. This would only become necessary if the promoters refuse to give refunds or try to tack on "additional fees" to recoup their losses.
This letter totally covers the responsabilities of the promoter in this instance.
For anyone who is worried about getting their money back, this statement is legally binding.
It is clear that the organizers know what they must do to make good, and legally this is exactly what they have to do.
Actually you know no such thing. We have HIS/THEIR explanation, not the truth. To take a public statement by ANYONE connected to the con' at this point as the truth and a factual account of invents is foolish and nearsighted. They all have a vested interest in covering their asses, and as such nothing they say can't be treated as an objective factual account of events.
number6
Vice Admiral
They can complain all they want. No AG is going to touch something as straightforward and as unamiguous as this.
As far as the court of public opinion, the lynching has begun and let no facts get in the way.
Upon reading the stuff on the FedCon USA site and the less biased article on TrekMovie, I get the sense that things will more likely go the way i have already described. I can't blame fans for being pissed off. I would be too.
The fact that I disagree with the lynchmob mentality doesn't make me a Branch Brazealian. My professional experience with promoters tells me otherwise, and trust me, I've had to deal with shadier, more corrupt promoters than this guy.
it is clear to me that these people went into this with the best of intentions but lacked the professional and financial recources to really pull it off.
They should have seen the writing on the wall and had the good sense to either scale back or cancel this event before it ever went this far.
Such is the naivite of the inexperienced, idealistic promoter.
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number6
Vice Admiral
Sure I do. When an event is organized and promoted, there are certain factors that always need to be taken into account. Whether it is a Star Trek convention, or a Music Festival, or any kind of public event where guest speakers or performers are involved. If there isn't enough upfront money available, promoters will gamble on attendance numbers to meet their expenses. There is a minimum number of advance tickets that need to be sold to keep the project solvent, otherwise the gamble falls entirely on walk up sales. This is a very risky thing to do. A good promoter will know when walk up numbers will or will not justify keeping an event going. If the walk up doesn't match expectaions, there is no other choice but to shut it down.
The right thing to do would have been to cancel the event based on poor advance sales. Lollapalooza did this four years ago and then scaled back their operation to just Chicago.
This was obviously a poorly planned and poorly executed event that has lost a lot of money due to the inexperience and sheer incompetence of those running it. I may not know the specific facts surrounding this event, but the mode of failure is certainly not uncommon.
Those of us who dealt with Brazeal three years ago, and saw all the VERY questionable actions he took are far less likely to cut him any slack this time around.
As far as criminal prosecution on the bounced check it depends on what actually happened with the check. If the Hotel took the check and deposited it, only to find out later it was bad, then yes Brazeal may indeed be charged with passing bad paper.
However, if the Hotel called the bank to VERIFY the check before they deposited it, then it becomes a little murkier. An argument could be made that their was no theft of services, as such, because the hotel evicted the Convention when they discovered they COULDN'T deposit the check.
The other issue is intent, and on this it would seem that their was an INTENT to issue a check that was NSF. Brazeal's representatives issued a check that they knew was bad on the hopes that they might have gate revenues to back it later. That is a major problem for them.
As far as criminal prosecution on the bounced check it depends on what actually happened with the check. If the Hotel took the check and deposited it, only to find out later it was bad, then yes Brazeal may indeed be charged with passing bad paper.
However, if the Hotel called the bank to VERIFY the check before they deposited it, then it becomes a little murkier. An argument could be made that their was no theft of services, as such, because the hotel evicted the Convention when they discovered they COULDN'T deposit the check.
The other issue is intent, and on this it would seem that their was an INTENT to issue a check that was NSF. Brazeal's representatives issued a check that they knew was bad on the hopes that they might have gate revenues to back it later. That is a major problem for them.
Going ahead with the convention after FedCon Germany backed out was the big mistake. Going ahead without enough upfront cash was another big mistake. Hoping for more walk-in attendee's was more than just naive, it was stupid. Brazeal's own words tell the story -
"As anybody who has run a convention can tell you, it's not a cheap thing to do. There are a thousand little things that add up, as well as many big things. When we started off on this endeavor with FedCon Germany at our side, we had the financial backing and experience of one of the best convention organizations on the planet. However, with their understandable withdrawal from FedConUSA, we were left without the inside experience and cash reserves.
For a first time convention, getting financial support in today's economy is next to impossible. There are so many upfront costs – flights, hotel rooms, convention space, food, guest fees, etc – that need to be paid before the convention even gets under way. From day one, FedConUSA has been operating in the red..."
He knew what would happen. There was no question that the show should not have gone on.
number6
Vice Admiral
There is no proof that they wrote a bad check with the intent of backing out of an agreement. I'm sure that TPTB were trying to bank on a solid walkup to meet expenses. The proof of this was the fact that day one of the event went forward.
No question. They should have cancelled the moment the German FedCon people pulled out.
Luke Lightsaber
Captain
It's funny how people in the 70's could run cons better than we can now.
And I'm sure Tim and Jane enjoyed spending the interest they made in holding onto that money for so long, and hoping no one would ask them to give it back.
My last name is spelled "Hinman" ... please get it right.
And no, I don't think we have an exclusive on anything so far. We've been very clear where the source of our stories are coming from ... and in fact, the only exclusive I have even seen has not come from SyFy Portal, but from TrekMovie. John Champion cornered Tim's stepson right after the cancellation of the convention.
So, talk about my character? You're making it up as you go.
Luke LightSaber said:
Yes ... no news, lol! Tell that to our thousands of readers every day. They must feel like they are wasting their time day in and day out. Yet they keep coming back.
number6 said:
Actually, in our attempts to get a confirmation of an investigation (they rarely confirm investigations in progress), we have learned that it's a bit deeper than that. You may find out that there were some bigger shennanigans than you think.
But that's there own dumb fault.
Haha! Do you even live in America? Do you know the laws here?
When you represent yourself as something you aren't, or lead people to believe that you're something that you are not, or that you have a specific product that you don't ... that is called fraud.
Last time I checked, AGs everywhere love to tackle fraud.
Oh ... and something interesting ... if Tim is so clean on all this ... why is he losing all of his biggest supporters who partnered with him? Chris McKeown already bolted (and then one of Tim's puppets tried to blame him for the fiasco), and I hear Tom could be next. He's publicly said he's sticking around, but I'm hearing other whispers.
We'll be announcing on SyFy Radio tonight (and you're reading it here first, lol!) that Tim has been removed as a co-owner of Galactica.com and there's talk that the site may move off of Tim's server. Tom may say he's sticking around ... but I don't think he is.
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They might have been hoping to be the check back to the bank, hoping to make night-deposits and get credit before or at the same time the check passed through the back-- I've seen this in the past, had it done to me in the past by advertisers and with people that didn't have the money to pay for projects when it was due. The idea being that if the deposit and debit goes in at the same time, they'll cancel each other out.
If this was the case, then it's still knowing passing a NSF check.
So if there is a bad check involved-- as was being stated on FedconUSA boards-- then it comes down to when the hotel found out.
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).
And look at all the compassion coming from TrekUnited! From their boards:
Yes, I don't care about those people who spent all that money to travel to a convention they thought was not only going to have the guests they were told were going to be there, but actually HAVE a convention.
ensign edwards said:
Yes, I don't care about those people who spent all that money to travel to a convention they thought was not only going to have the guests they were told were going to be there, but actually HAVE a convention.
Well I saw some people at the FedconUSA board mention suing for their travel expenses. So really it boils down to how pissed some people are and how far are they willing to push.
One thing for certain, this isn't going away quietly.
I went to a Star Trek convention in New York City back in 1975. It was a lot of fun. Everybody was there. Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley, Doohan, all the rest. The hotel was packed, everything ran well, and fun was had by all.
No, it won't go away quietly. Star Trek fans are way to vocal to let that happen. But suing and successfully getting an AG to investigate are two totally different things.
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.
To be sure they are, but the "X" factor is how much past BS by those involved come to light-- via whatever process-- that make an AG sit up and take notice. Plus an investigation by the AGO doesn't necessarily translate into prosecution by the AGO's office-- though, even if it doesn't, it can pretty well fuck up your life even if they don't find anything.
Analogy aside, not everything can be investigated, regardless of how outraged people get. We'll just have to wait and see (and you're preaching to the choir here)...
On another note, do you have anything to do with SyFy Portals webpage? The main table for content is only 800 pixels wide. It would look better if it was wider. Also, the last news item runs off the bottom.