Reposted with some massive additions from the comments section from people who worked with Ross Rojek. And since the article still gets hits months after originally posted, obviously there is still interest in this case.

Ross Rojek, formerly of Another Universe, formerly of Comics and Comix, formerly the guy who served four years of a nearly 7 year sentence for screwing a bunch of investors who were fooled into believing he had created some kind of cool facial recognition technology that was going to keep the world safe from Al Queda, was released on September 18, 2008 from Sacramento Community Corrections.

If you are one of the many self publishers who shipped Rojek product for which you were not paid (including me), don’t expect him to be making good on those debts any time soon, felonious scoundrel that he is.

Rojek apologized to those people hurt by his actions on his personal web page. But that’s down, now. I’ll bet it was heartfelt. At least, heartfelt to people who fall for sappy crap.

Here’s an early Comics Journal article on Rojek’s arrest.

Ross got into an interesting bit of trouble over dvd’s of My So Called Life.

Here’s a website which once had pages and pages of jokes excoriating Rojek, and now you can get them in handy downloadable format! 73 pages of Rojek memories!

Somewhere on the internet, Rojek’s ex went public and ballistic at the same time, and if I could find that, I’d post it, too.

Rojek isn’t mental, or misunderstood, he’s yet another creep with no moral compass.

Just my opinion.

But then, he ripped me off, so I’m entitled to not feel a lot of sympathy for the guy. And while it may seem as if we are piling on here, in my experience, people like this don’t go away. The public needs to be aware of scammers and how to spot them.

Additions from those who experienced the wonder that is Rojek below the fold:

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I am baffled, perplexed, yea and verily, utterly flummoxed when I hear of poor, starving artists going up against big bad corporations and nefarious industry individuals, and these poor creators are utterly unable to afford legal advice or representation, when I REPEATEDLY RECOMMEND THE VOLUNTEER LAWYERS FOR THE ARTS to them AS IF I AM CHANTING A FREAKING MANTRA!!!

THE VOLUNTEER LAWYERS FOR THE ARTS, an organization whose name should be seared into your brain by now, takes cases pro bono or based on need as indicated by your income.

If you come to me for advice, and I direct you to the VOLUNTEER LAWYERS FOR THE ARTS, and you do not do as I have recommended, and then you complain you can’t get a lawyer…well, Darwinism is at work. I have recommended THE VOLUNTEER LAWYERS FOR THE ARTS to a number of creators over the years, and they represented me when I was a young and poor artist, and they also recommended adequate legal counsel elsewhere at very reasonable prices. I have NEVER known them NOT to represent a creator to the satisfaction of all involved WHEN THERE WAS A LEGITIMATE CASE.

In fact, I just paid my extremely expensive art and entertainment attorney his hundreds of dollars an hour fee to go over a legal matter for a creator who pleads abuse and poverty, and the money out of my pocket did not get the creator the answer they hoped for – i.e., they’ve got a loser of a case. Bummer for them.

However, if you don’t believe me, or if you don’t believe my lawyer WHOSE BILLS ARE PAID BY ME O, Clueless One, then you STILL could have gone to the VOLUNTEER LAWYERS FOR THE ARTS to get an independent assessment, which appears to be something you did not do.

Like I said, Darwinism.

So, don’t be low critter on the food chain. When your funds are limited and your grievance is genuine, contact the VOLUNTEER LAWYERS FOR THE ARTS, and do what smart people do.

They don’t get mad. They let their attorneys get mad for them.

By the way, I would like to point out that the person who first directed me to the VOLUNTEER LAWYERS FOR THE ARTS was Bill Mantlo, a former comics creator who took up the law as a public defender. Mantlo was badly injured in a freak accident while rollerblading and has been living with brain damage ever since.

Mantlo did me a great service, spent hours with me going over my case, helped secure me a link up with the VOLUNTEER LAWYERS FOR THE ARTS, and kept in touch with me until the matter was resolved. My total financial outlay over several year’s worth of legal struggles was only $1,000. I call that a bargain. It saved my project A Distant Soil.

I am eternally grateful to Bill Mantlo. Thank you for your kindness, your decency, and for giving me the information that I was able to pass along to other creators who also had very satisfactory results with the VOLUNTEER LAWYERS FOR THE ARTS.

In fact, the next time I donate to a legal fund, my money is going to the VOLUNTEER LAWYERS FOR THE ARTS.

VOLUNTEER LAWYERS FOR THE ARTS SERVICES, all right there online for anyone to read, any day, any time, for months and months and months:

About Us

etc…

But wait! there’s more!

VLA is deeply grateful to the hundreds of law firms, individuals, foundations, corporations, and government agencies for their extraordinary generosity during Fiscal Year 2004-05. This year VLA raised over threequarters of a million dollars from our Special Events, Foundation, Government, Law Firm and Corporate Membership programs.

During the past five years, VLA’s activities have been particularly supported by our law firm and corporate members. The list of members continues to grow. As of June 30, 2005, there were 30 law firm and corporate members. The level of law firm and corporate support also continued to grow. VLA received its first and largest corporate membership contribution at the $25,000 Patron level from Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP.

Wow. Look. Real money. Real lawyers. Real power. Real experience.

Really good idea.

c

On Monday at noon, Libertarian intellectual Timothy Sandefur will lecture at the University of Virginia law school before the Federalist Society, Room 298 of Slaughter Hall.

I am way too sick to travel to see this lecture, but I am very interested in his thoughts on property rights, particularly with regard to intellectual property rights.

Sandefur’s Cornerstone of Liberty: Property Rights in 21st Century America is the first book to be written on property rights after the Kelo Decision which greatly expanded the U.S. government’s eminent domain and the scope of asset forfeiture.

Sandefur’s blog is on my list of favorite’s to the right. You can also read Sandefur’s papers here.

I really don’t know that much about Scans Daily. Apparently, it was an online community where people posted reviews, comments, and scans of comic books. I have seen it maybe two or three times (Or five, dunno.)

I’m told it was against the rules to post entire stories, but the couple of times I visited was because someone had posted entire stories of mine and a concerned fan wrote me to inform me of the copyright violation. I chose not to do anything about it because I didn’t want to draw attention to it. As I recall, you could find many of my short stories published in their entirety on that website.

I saw reviews of my works posted there with a few pages scanned to accompany the comments. Fair Use, in my humble opinion. And in at least one case, the poster was conscientious enough to park a link back to my own site. Cool. Others simply do not grant creators even that small courtesy.

I get the impression most of the fans at Scans Daily really didn’t want to do any creators any harm, they just wanted to have a good time. But as always, some people were abusive and didn’t follow the rules or spirit of the rules within the community.

In any case, the community was shut down by Live Journal this weekend and I got a couple of letters from folks asking what I knew about it.

Absolutely nothing.

I haven’t even looked at Scans Daily in I don’t know how long, and didn’t even know about the shut down until folks wrote me about it. And since we haven’t had power or satellite access much of the weekend, I’m a little slow on the news.

Anyway, the most interesting discussion of the matter is over here at Peter David’s website. Some fans have gotten the impression Peter David is personally responsible for shutting down the site, and some have sent threats while others have promised to boycott his work.

Interesting reading for all the wrong reasons.

The comments thread is about as diverse a discussion of the attitudes for and against copyright protections – and the attitudes of the general public toward creators – as I’ve ever seen. (EDIT) I’ve had a chance to do a more thorough read of the comments thread and some of it is downright scary. “It’s just the internet! That’s the way people are!” is not a suitable reaction to threats.

c

Hodge, Crusader for Justice, has given me kind permission to post this very interesting list of tips for spotting the bad guys, the scammers, the big promise – little delivery types who waste your time and weasel your money.

It’s just plain good advice for anyone who doesn’t want to lose their shirt to a huckster…

Common Features of a Fraudster

* Dictator
* Promiser
* Bearer of gifts
* Charmer
* Entertainer
* Never there
* Excessively secretive
* Permanently short of money
* Living beyond their means
* High roller
* Bad business record
* Imply victim is stupid if asks explanation of anomalies in fraudster’s patter
* Manipulative
* Psychopath
* Believe themselves to be a victim of conspiracy

Key tips to managing a Fraud

* Manage problem
* be decisive
* Have an action plan
* What do you want to achieve?
* money?
* Identification of culprit(s)?
* Zero tolerance policy?
* Publicity?
* Principle?
* Call any advisors you have early
* Gather evidence
* bottom out problem / black hole
* Asset search
* Injunction
* Stamina
* Reality check on expectations
* The money is rarely found overnight
* Expect endless/pointless delays
* Often late instruction of lawyer / change of lawyer

DON’T

* Bury head in sand
* Sit on the problem
* think it will go away
* think it won’t get worse
* Be emotional

I’m looking at the first list, and hanging my head in shame. Yep. I have dealt with people who fit almost every single item on it. It’s like some kind of amazing light going off…entertainer, promiser, dictator, bearer of gifts, short of money, bad business record, living beyond means, high roller…etc.

Gasp! I could paint that portrait!

And I hang my head even deeper in shame because I am the person who sits on the problem, hopes it goes away, and hopes it won’t get worse.

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