"Fraud and Intent
Ken Whitman (a.k.a. Whit Whitman) is completely correct in that one of the elements of the crime of fraud is intent. However Mr. Whitman’s postings on what intent is or how it is proved are completely wrong. Mr. Whitman seems to ignore the fact that intent can be inferred from the totality of the circumstances. This is partly probably due to the fact that Ken Whitman really does not have any idea what he is talking about, and partly due to the fact that he engages in a tactic called ‘gas lighting’ to convince people that he is right and they are wrong, in order to get his way. (i.e. If Ken convinces you that you are wrong in going after him for fraud and you do nothing, then he gets his way and wins.)
https://www.justice.gov/usam/criminal-resource-manual-949-proof-fraudulent-intent
A quote from the criminal resource manual for the Offices of the United States Attorneys:
949. Proof of Fraudulent Intent
"The requisite intent under the federal mail and wire fraud statutes may be inferred from the totality of the circumstances and need not be proven by direct evidence."
“Thus, intent can be inferred from statements and conduct.”
“Fraudulent intent is shown if a representation is made with reckless indifference to its truth or falsity.”
In Mr. Whitman’s view, intent is not present if the ‘person believes that they have no intent”. Ken wants us to believe that as long as ‘one believes in their heart they have no intent’, then they don’t. This is a wrong view of what the element of intent is to the crime of fraud. It may partly explain why Mr. Whitman keeps posting updates plus claims to be working on the project. He thinks that this will ‘save’ him from any criminal charges. Ken is wrong. Continuing to post lies may even make it worse for Ken in the end, especially where there are numerous postings where he claims one thing and then later it turns out to be a lie. If one reads the case law, they will clearly see that intent can be inferred from false and misleading statements, of which Ken has made lots.
As one small example of the intent to defraud, Ken Whitman lists as the creator as d20 Entertainment, LLC based in Kentucky. This is a lie that Ken Whitman told to everyone, in order to make him and his company look legitimate and further the scheme of defrauding everyone on the Kickstarter projects. The fact that this is a lie that Ken Whitman told everyone is proof of intent for fraud and all any District Attorney needs to get a criminal conviction. That company name has never been incorporated in Kentucky. Another poster on the internet confirmed this earlier by registering the name, but since let the name expire. I just reserved the name this past week on April 21, 2016 in order to confirm this myself. I also reserved the company name in order to prevent Ken Whitman from attempting a legal tactic of filing the LLC now, and trying to have the prior activity of the unincorporated entity covered under the incorporation. This probably wouldn’t work, but it is something I would expect someone like Ken Whitman to try, so I made sure that this legal avenue has been cut off. As long as I keep the name reserved, Ken Whitman can’t register a company under that name in Kentucky.
We still have some more time to go on the ‘30 days demand letter’, but I expect that Ken Whitman is simply too ‘pathological’ to do anything to fix the situation or make amends for any of the projects, and that he hopes that if he does nothing that ‘everyone will go away’. I can assure everyone, that no matter what happens, I will not be going away.
At this point I expect that the end point will be criminal convictions for Ken Whitman, especially for mail and wire fraud. (For a short definition and explanation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_and_wire_fraud and https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1343 )
Due to the amount of money involved and the number of people involved, I think Ken Whitman has a good chance of getting the maximum sentence of 20 years for mail and wire fraud. As you can imagine, since Ken is around 50 years old, getting sentenced to 20 years could mean that he would spend the rest of his life in jail. Unfortunately, with someone as pathological as Ken Whitman, it is probably the only way to prevent him from running his con on another group of unsuspecting people and defrauding people of more money.
Thank you,"
I'm glad I was never a lawyer but I am glad that our system is slow and somewhat cumbersome; that seems to be the only way to get at least a approximation ofjustice. I haven't heard that Ken was cited or even processed at an office of law enforcement so I don't know. In the United States, Ken Whitman would be granted a "presumption of innocence" and the right to a public defender before any trial or judgment takes place. I think we are playing into Ken's "cyber-bullying" scenario by assuming he will be caught and/or convicted of anything. At any rate, I still want my DVD, my production diary(for Traveller), a print of the Spinward art poster and a full digital download of the pilot (with the promised CGI). I realize these things will never happen but these are the things that wished for over the past three years.
ReplyDeleteLook who weaseled his way into a convention
ReplyDeletehttp://www.retromegacomiccon.com