Steve,
I'm simply echoing "Bruce's logic" as Franc called it: Given what Jamie
now admits he did, if you send him a poster to work on how can you trust
him not to do something he shouldn't with it? Like use it to make a
near-perfect forgery that would go to someone else... or maybe send you
back the forgery while your original stays with him or goes who knows where?
His total disregard and disrespect for the community of movie poster
collectors -- demonstrated his admitted part in this massive 2-year
forgery scam -- clearly disqualifies him from any future position of
trust in that community as far as I'm concerned.
What, we should say, "Well, he's been caught and will pay (whatever)
price the law lays on him for his part (not much, likely, since he is
now a cooperating witness in the case against Haggard) -- so now he's
learned his lesson, he's sorry (that he got caught), and will promise
never ever to do something like that again... so everything's cool."?
No, I might go for something like that if Jamie had been the one to
first come forward and break the scandal instead of Grey Smith. Or if
Jamie had gone to some of the people who were sold his forgeries and
said "Hey, guys, I think I may have unknowingly been involved in
something that was done to you." Or gone to Heritage, his biggest
customer, and said "Um, Grey, I think I screwed up... here's what I did,
but now I realize I was duped and shouldn't have done it and here's a
list of the posters I forged."
Or he could have simply stepped up to the plate like Diane Jefferies did
in regards to the fake DRACULA poster when she publicly told her story
on this list about how a client pressed her to do things to that poster
which she had serious doubts about. Although she did it -- because
that's what the paying client insisted on -- when she saw her work put
up for auction under false pretenses, she quickly decided she needed to
publicly tell this list what she knew about the situation and so was
instrumental in bringing to light the true nature of that poster.
But no. Jamie did none of those things. He just kept on cranking out the
forgeries until the shit was about to hit the fan (or maybe until Kerry
stopped paying him?). And when the scam was made public even then he
lied, denying for months that he had anything to do with it. He's only
admitting it now in order to cut himself a deal with the prosecutors.
Sorry. Not someone I will ever send my posters to. Other individuals may
be feel differently and can do what they wish of course, but I don't see
how an operation like Heritage -- which takes extremely valuable posters
from people on consignment (in trust) can run the risk of continuing to
do business with him.
As ever, just my humble opinion.
-- JR
Steven F. Poole wrote:
Gosh.....That's a pretty strong statement, JR. To say that Jaime
should never be trusted with posters again.
Help me to understand your point here. Because of being a possibly
unknowing accessory to this crime? Because he may send a dupe your
way on returning work? Because he will always be suspect of making
forgeries of any real posters one sends his way? Or just on general
principle of being an admitted expert at reproducing the real deal by
way of vintage posters?
I'm not trying to be dense here. I just would like yourself or Bruce
to go into more detailed reasons why you guys are holding these tough
(but maybe valid) reasons. I have been a client of Jaime's in the
past and I would appreciate any discussions on the topic.
~Steve
----- Original Message -----
*From:* James Richard <mailto:[email protected]>
*To:* [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
*Sent:* Thursday, December 03, 2009 11:41 PM
*Subject:* Re: [MOPO] BIG News in Universal Horror Fraud Case
No one is that naive. When Jamie was asked to create a duplicate
of the same poster more than once -- a duplicate which would be
virtually indistinguishable from the real poster -- there was no
possibility he did not understand what he was being asked to do or
fail to realize what Haggard would do with them. No doubt Jamie
had what he considered good reasons for going along with scam. I'm
sure Kerry has his own reasons, as well. Doesn't change the fact
that Bruce is right: No one should ever send Jamie Mendez another
poster now that there is no longer any doubt about what he did.
There is no excuse for what he did and he can never be trusted
with posters again.
-- JR
Franc wrote:
Bruce --- I'm not taking sides in this one but your logic is
flawed. A forgery is defined as "the process of making, adapting,
or imitating objects with the intent to deceive." If Jaime
Mendez's claim is actually true in that he didn't know that is
was the intent of Kerry Haggard to sell these works as originals,
then Jaime had no intent to deceive. Hence Jaime is not guilty of
forging movie posters irrespective of the fact that it is his
work that was ultimately used in Haggard's forgery.
Franc
-----Original Message-----
*From:* MoPo List [mailto:[email protected]] *On
Behalf Of *Bruce Hershenson
*Sent:* Thursday, December 03, 2009 7:27 AM
*To:* [email protected]
*Subject:* Re: [MOPO] BIG News in Universal Horror Fraud Case
I guess those who said that we have to give this restorer the
"benefit of the doubt" will now accept that he is *GUILTY* of
forging movie posters (whether or not he was "aware" of what
purpose they would be used for), since he admits to it himself.
Given this news, are there still people here who think they
should send their posters to this person for restoration? How
can you know that *YOU* won't receive a reproduction in
return? And what of the many, many posters he restored for
many dealers and auction houses over the past three years?
Don't they all need to be checked over closely.
I applaud this person for "doing the right thing", but I
certainly would advise him to find a new line of work.
Bruce
On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 3:29 AM, Sean Linkenback
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Sue is probably waiting until their regular newsletter to
make an announcement, but there is BIG, HUGE, GIGANTIC
news in the ongoing civil lawsuits (which will definitely
affect the upcoming criminal suit) in the Haggard fake case.
Jaime Mendez has entered a sworn affidavit in the Gresham
v. Haggard case for the plaintiff and is testifying that
he DID indeed make the fake posters on behalf of Kerry
Haggard, but did not realize the true motives behind
Haggard's request.
There is also a partial list provided by Mendez of the
posters he worked on.
You can read more about it at the LAMP website:
http://www.learnaboutmovieposters.com/newsite/INDEX/ARTICLES/Frauds-Update.htm
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
<http://www.filmfan.com>
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