The Detroit press is reporting that Rick Berry, owner of Michigan Toy Soldier Co., has been sentenced to 10 months in federal prison as part of a plea bargain that was agreed upon last Sept. As part of the plea, Berry will serve 10 months in prison and has agreed to paying restitution in full.
Showing posts with label Fraud. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fraud. Show all posts
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Michigan Toy Soldier owner charged with defrauding Peter Jackson
In probably the strangest news I've ever heard in the gaming community, the owner of the popular FLGS & website Michigan Toy Soldier Co. has been charged with stealing Peter Jackson's (best known as the director of the Lord Of The Rings movies) credit card info and using it to purchase $200,000 of merchandise for his business.
Rick Berry, who owns Michigan Toy Soldier, has been charged with credit card fraud in federal court and is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 7th. Media reports state that Peter Jackson made an online purchase and Mr. Berry fraudulently used that information to subsequently purchase around $200,000 in merchandise for Michigan Toy Soldier.
Mr. Jackson became aware of these fraudulent purchases sometime in 2007 and Mr. Berry subsequently repaid about $100,000 of the charges at about $2,500 per month. In his defense, Mr. Berry's attorney claims that he used the money to keep his business afloat and that he had every intention to pay it back as quickly as possible.
I still haven't been able to track down the official court filings via Justia but, when I do, I'll post them here!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Alleged Fraud @ Golden Daemon Chicago '09
Sad news to report today. Dave Taylor alleges that a GD entrant - Marc Schmelze - entered two minis (pictured below) under false pretenses.
Both entries won Gold at this year's Golden Daemon Chicago. However, they were not painted by Mr. Schmelze, but were commissioned pieces done by Karol Rudyk for Mr. Schmelze. GD rules clearly state:
"We will not accept any entries on behalf of competitors who are not in attendance at the event....All models should be the work of a single hobbyist. All work on models entered into the Golden Demon including but not limited to painting, modeling, converting, after-market sculpting, and basing must be performed entirely by the entrant. Neither models obtained from someone else in any state of completion nor collaborative efforts may be entered. Anyone found violating this rule will be immediately disqualified and forbidden from entering future Golden Demon painting competitions." [my bolding]
Whether or not this was a blatant illegal entry or simply a case of rules being overlooked, it appears that both Mr. Schmelze & Karol Rudyk knew that this work would be entered in the GD, as Karol's CMON pages were immediately updated with their GD Gold status after the event.
Whatever the case, let's all hope that GW does the right thing: Take back all trophies, bump all 2nd-4th place entries up to 1st-3rd, and ban both Mr. Schmelze & Karol Rudyk from competing in any further GW painting competitions.
Update! 8/7/09
The following was posted on the CMON forums:
Hey all,
We are aware of what is going on with Marc's entries and have sent him an email regarding his pending disqualifications. As we don't have ALL the facts in just yet, we are apprehensive about taking action immediately until we hear his side. All evidence is pointing to the worst, but it's only fair to hear his story.
We hope to do the following to amend the situation provided that Marc's entries are indeed disqualified:
1. Post the amended winners and notify those who earned 4th place they have received an award.
2. Notify those that won awards in the Open, WFB Regiment, and WFB Monster categories that they should send their golden demon statues back to us at the HQ for re-distribution.
3. Send out the appropriate awards and post the coverage with the correct winners. As it stands, if those three entries are disqualified, the following people will win the awards:
Warhammer Monster
Gold - Kyle Morgan - Chaos Giant
Silver Dave Pauwels - Rat Ogre
Bronze - James Wappel - Slann Mage Priest
Warhammer Regiment
Gold - Kyle Morgan - Red Great Swords
Silver - James Wappel - Salamander Hunting Pack
Bronze - Dylan Gauker - Nurgle Beastmen
Open
Gold - Tim Lison - The Fall of Egrehafen
Silver - Chris Borer - Night Goblin Boss
Bronze - John Shaffer - Snikrot on Rynn's World
I'm sure it may raise eyebrows that my name is on this list, but I assure you I in no way had any influence over the judging of the Open nor was Tim or I even in the vicinity during judging of that category. We always choose a 4th place in case of tomfoolery, and I was lucky enough to be chosen for 4th in a pretty tough category.
Thanks again to those of you that keep an eye out for such things - we will certainly put into place measures to help ensure honesty during the registration process for next year. Unfortunately we often don't know until well after the fact. We're open for suggestions on how we can avoid this sort of thing in the future as it seems to happen in the US all too often. Please post your suggestions here if you like.
If you have any further questions or concerns, just shout!
john.shaffer@games-workshop.com
John Shaffer
Golden Demon Staff
Both entries won Gold at this year's Golden Daemon Chicago. However, they were not painted by Mr. Schmelze, but were commissioned pieces done by Karol Rudyk for Mr. Schmelze. GD rules clearly state:
"We will not accept any entries on behalf of competitors who are not in attendance at the event....All models should be the work of a single hobbyist. All work on models entered into the Golden Demon including but not limited to painting, modeling, converting, after-market sculpting, and basing must be performed entirely by the entrant. Neither models obtained from someone else in any state of completion nor collaborative efforts may be entered. Anyone found violating this rule will be immediately disqualified and forbidden from entering future Golden Demon painting competitions." [my bolding]
Whether or not this was a blatant illegal entry or simply a case of rules being overlooked, it appears that both Mr. Schmelze & Karol Rudyk knew that this work would be entered in the GD, as Karol's CMON pages were immediately updated with their GD Gold status after the event.
Whatever the case, let's all hope that GW does the right thing: Take back all trophies, bump all 2nd-4th place entries up to 1st-3rd, and ban both Mr. Schmelze & Karol Rudyk from competing in any further GW painting competitions.
Update! 8/7/09
The following was posted on the CMON forums:
Hey all,
We are aware of what is going on with Marc's entries and have sent him an email regarding his pending disqualifications. As we don't have ALL the facts in just yet, we are apprehensive about taking action immediately until we hear his side. All evidence is pointing to the worst, but it's only fair to hear his story.
We hope to do the following to amend the situation provided that Marc's entries are indeed disqualified:
1. Post the amended winners and notify those who earned 4th place they have received an award.
2. Notify those that won awards in the Open, WFB Regiment, and WFB Monster categories that they should send their golden demon statues back to us at the HQ for re-distribution.
3. Send out the appropriate awards and post the coverage with the correct winners. As it stands, if those three entries are disqualified, the following people will win the awards:
Warhammer Monster
Gold - Kyle Morgan - Chaos Giant
Silver Dave Pauwels - Rat Ogre
Bronze - James Wappel - Slann Mage Priest
Warhammer Regiment
Gold - Kyle Morgan - Red Great Swords
Silver - James Wappel - Salamander Hunting Pack
Bronze - Dylan Gauker - Nurgle Beastmen
Open
Gold - Tim Lison - The Fall of Egrehafen
Silver - Chris Borer - Night Goblin Boss
Bronze - John Shaffer - Snikrot on Rynn's World
I'm sure it may raise eyebrows that my name is on this list, but I assure you I in no way had any influence over the judging of the Open nor was Tim or I even in the vicinity during judging of that category. We always choose a 4th place in case of tomfoolery, and I was lucky enough to be chosen for 4th in a pretty tough category.
Thanks again to those of you that keep an eye out for such things - we will certainly put into place measures to help ensure honesty during the registration process for next year. Unfortunately we often don't know until well after the fact. We're open for suggestions on how we can avoid this sort of thing in the future as it seems to happen in the US all too often. Please post your suggestions here if you like.
If you have any further questions or concerns, just shout!
john.shaffer@games-workshop.com
John Shaffer
Golden Demon Staff
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