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Just SLAPP It!

Due to some major confusion regarding this particular case, I've decided to post exactly what's taken place thus far...

DOUGLAS Art Prints® News is the Plaintiff in a SLAPP lawsuit to silence free speech by International Galleries, Inc.(IGI) for reporting on IGI being a pyramid scheme. Facing bankruptcy because of the legal expenses to defend against this suit a fund has been set up to prevent IGI from winning by financial default.


(PRWEB) December 2, 2005 -- DOUGLAS Art Prints® News is the subject of a SLAPP lawsuit filed in Federal Court by International Galleries, Inc. for reports on this blog about the company being a pyramid scheme. (A SLAPP Suit is a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. A lawsuit in which a corporation or developer sues an organization in an attempt to scare it into dropping protests against a corporate initiative.) Actually the corporation DOUGLAS Photography, Inc. and Douglas Konkol personally are being sued. (U.S. District Court. Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division Case No. 05 CV 2299) It is not just Konkol’s opinion but the opinion of many, including one or more top flight attorney's with expertise on pyramid schemes and other pyramid scheme experts that International Galleries, Inc. is a pyramid scheme.

“You can find that on DOUGLAS Art Prints® News that I have found not only documents and expert opinion supporting this but I have also found that on May 5, 2003 one Stanley Leitner formed the IGI corporation and was the sole director of the corporation. On April 14, 2004 Mr. Leitner also formed and was sole director of the Megafund Corporation. Mr. Leitner was the Director of Megafund and International Galleries, Inc. until July 11, 2005 when he was replaced as director. Seven days prior, on July 1, 2005, Stanley Leitner and Megafund were formally charged by the SEC for operating a $13.8 million dollar investment fraud. There are State of Texas documents that prove more than one of the Megafund Officers were also and are still officers of International Galleries, Inc. In fact Megafund Officer Robert Fridd was named Co-Director of International Galleries, Inc. to replace Stanley Leitner. In fact SEC documents should prove that Stanley Leitner ran Megafund from the offices of International Galleries, Inc.” Konkol said.

“I am being sued for opinion I offered in my reports exposing International Galleries, Inc. being a pyramid scheme and the ties between them and Megafund. Not only is International Galleries suing me but they are also suing a hispanic newspaper in Chicago, La Raza, for the same report,” Konkol continued. “I was fully prepared to go represent myself. I have no insurance to cover this and more important I believe I could easily prove to a jury that I had every reason to believe what I said is true and documents and sources included in my reports would further prove that. Because International Galleries is not just suing me personally but me and the corporation they have found a way to prevent me from defending this suit myself, pro se. There is precedent that a corporation must be represented by an attorney. I am being forced into a very expensive legal defense in federal court.”

For the rest of the article, click here!

What's a SLAPP lawsuit?

According to Wikipedia:

A "SLAPP" lawsuit is a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation ("SLAPP") is a form of litigation filed by a large corporation or in some cases an individual plaintiff, in order silence a less powerful critic by so severely burdening them with the cost of a legal defense that they abandon their criticism.

The acronym was coined in the 1980s by University of Denver professors Penelope Canan and George W. Pring.