CARL AND DEB LAU ARE LIVING THEIR DREAM!!!

Dear Airleaf Victims Friends,

It's been a while since I've been in touch with you because there was not much new to report. I wrote to you last year when I found that Carl Lau and his wife Debbie Lau were working for a real estate company in Florida selling homes. According to Carl's profile, he states:

I love living my dream.  My business is built around honesty, integrity, and ethics, and I work hard for my customers.

I found it so ironic that this couple could recreate themselves as respectable business people in Florida. On Lau's profile he continues:

 I have 25 years of corporate financial experience. I am detail oriented in helping you with your decisions, and I love real estate.

Well, Carl, you really can write your own fiction novel based on that lie!

Anyway, since I last revealed Carl's first dream job in Florida last year, he left the original company he and his wife worked for and found a new home at a company called Florida's Realty, LLC. I found this out when his former employer called to tell me how she had been "screwed" by them. I always find it an "ironic twist of fate" when people call and tell me, "You were right" after I've warned them they could also be "screwed" when they choose to ignore my information about working with a crook.

In Florida, both Carl and his wife "Deb" are realtors. So now that they are both living their dream on our misfortune, I contacted their new boss several months ago. After no response, I wrote him this letter a few days ago. Since he refused to respond to me, I am sharing this letter as I promised him with you and on my blog:

Dear Larry Maas,

I reached out to you once before with no response, but I wanted to give you one more chance before I take this to the public since I don't know you. I am writing to you at the request of our board of directors of Airleaf Victims. I am the organizer of the group. Our website is at www.AirleafVictims.com. We are a group of over 600 authors who were scammed out of substantial money by Carl Lau. There is a judgment against him by the State of Indiana for a small cohort of our group for nearly a quarter of a million dollars.

Now they have reinvented themselves after declaring bankruptcy to avoid paying us back the money the courts ordered. I am letting you know that our battle will continue. We have people who were left with severe health conditions including a heart attack after being robbed of their life savings by this fraudulent man. You can read my blog on the website which will document my weekly updates during our battle.

If you want to continue to employ the Lau's, that is your choice. Just be aware that I will be taking this to the media and the State Attorney's Office. I will be posting it on my blog so that people will know what is going on here.

If I don't hear from you within 48 hours, I will understand that you have no compassion for people who got screwed so badly--including me. However, I wonder how much faith your potential customers will have when they learn that two of your agents defrauded over 1,000 people out of nearly 2 million dollars, declared bankruptcy to avoid paying us back, was sued by Authorhouse for stealing their business, and other offenses that I won't go into here. How much faith do you think they'll have in your company when we tell the truth?

Best regards,

Bonnie Kaye 

Organizer

Airleaf Victims 

Now that 48 hours came and went with no response, I am carrying through with taking this to the next step of (1) informing you, (2) posting it on my Airleaf Victims blog, and (3) making a complaint to the Attorney General of Florida. I will also be notifying the government of Indiana who had placed the judgment against Lau to start with.

Some of you may wonder why I am pursuing this after seven years. When I think about the suffering of so many of our authors who lost so much, I feel the need for justice. I need to believe that when good people are hurt, those who hurt them should not be allowed to go unpunished and recreate themselves to hurt others based on lies and deception.

Some of our wonderful authors in this group are no longer with us. Others faced extreme financial suffering due to the fraudulence and deceit. My dear friend Frederick Martin del Campo who lost his home from had a stroke and is in horrible shape from the events that happened to him as a result of losing his life savings to Carl Lau's idea of a joke. For those who are gone or who can't keep up the fight, I will keep it up. Maybe someday we'll see justice.

If you would like to be removed from my mailing list, just let me know by hitting "Reply" and asking to be removed. If not, I will keep you updated.

By the way, if you would like to be on my weekly Books of Excellence radio show, please let me know. I would be happy to have you as a guest to promote your book.

Love, Bonnie :)

CARL LAU RECREATED IN FLORIDA

Airleaf Victims Update
Dear Airleaf Victims and Friends, I know it's been a while since I last contacted you. That was when I shared with you the good news that Brien Jones was out of business sometime last year. I was ready to send a note to all of you at Christmas time saying that I'm closing up the Airleaf Victims case because I believed I had gone as far as I can go. Something stopped me from saying that final goodbye, and in fact, I renewed my annual fee for keeping www.Airleafvictims.com website for another year. I always feel you never know about where con-men will pop up next, and I wanted people to know about Carl Lau and Brien Jones.
Sure enough, last week, I received a confidential email informing me that Carl and Debbie (his wife) Lau were now selling real estate in Florida. At first, I thought that would be impossible. I did some research and found out it is absolutely true. Actually, when I found their information it made me ill because after robbing so many of us for so long, this is what they state in their profiles on the website: http://www.zillow.com/profile/Deb-and-Carl-Lau/ I bolded the line that I thought you would be shocked by most of all. Deb and Carl Lau
About Deb and Carl Lau Southwest Florida is paradise, and I love living my dream. My business is built around honesty, integrity, and ethics, and I work hard for my customers. I am a people person, I'm easy to get along with, and I understand the client's anxiety and need for receiving prompt, accurate and honest feedback from an agent. I really love working directly with people. I think it shows when I help a customer because I really care about their needs, and I want my customer to get the "best".
My schedule is centered around my customer's needs. I have 25 years of corporate financial experience. I am detail oriented in helping you with your decisions, and I love real estate. (anonymous) Realty is located in the southwest Cape area. We are small, but our size allows us to give you the quick response and attention that you need. All real estate companies have access to the same multiple listing service resources; it's the management and people interaction that make your transaction smooth, accurate, and a success! Call me for a private showing on any home in Cape Coral and Fort Myers, Florida.
Needless to say, I was sickened and appalled. I know this is one group of people I don't have to explain that to. So first I checked out the company where they are working. It is called the company he is working for.
The owner actually sounded very shocked and disbelieving. As she stated, "I think you have the wrong people. These people are so nice!"
I explained these were the right people--and they were very nice. That's how so many of our authors were taken for their money. She didn't seem very concerned about it because she never acknowledged my follow-up email to her. Next I called the Florida department of licensing of real estate agents in Orlando. I had been told during my first initial investigative calls that in order to be a real estate agent in Florida, you must get clearance and approval by a board of seven people. I tracked down the assistant director of the agency who was very nice and told me that the Carl and Debbie Lau passed the initial background check which includes a fingerprint check. She did assure me that if I could send her documentation of the judgment handed down by the government of Indiana against him, the board would review it. Of course no promises--other than a review. She did tell me if Carl and Deb Lau misrepresented any of their investigation, they could lose their agent license.
So now I come to you seven years after starting our battle to ask for your support. Sadly, some of our finest fighters have passed away in recent years. But I am hoping there are still some of you who would be willing to join me in this attempt to stop the insanity. I don't want us to feel like victims once again. When we put Airleaf/Jones Harvest out of business, we were victors. Now, the man who took our money, hopes, and dreams and used it to buy a plane and a boat and declared bankruptcy rather than pay us our money--is living his dream in Florida selling real estate. I am not looking for revenge--I am just looking for justice. Joining me may mean you sign a petition or letter with me. Please let me know if I can count on you. Love, Bonnie

Dear Airleaf/Jones Harvest Victims and Friends,

First, allow me to wish all of you a happy, healthy, and peaceful holiday. I wanted to share some important news with you as I continue to seek justice for our group.

1. Some of you have written to me over the years to tell me that your books were still listed on places like Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I couldn’t understand that since Airleaf has been out of business since 2006. Of course, Amazon doesn’t feel the need to answer this question from anyone—including me. I’ve contacted their legal department in the past with no response. So when another author recently contacted me about the dilemma, I decided to check it out.

Here is what my research showed. Some of the books published by Airleaf are still listed on Amazon and other outlets as available for order. One such book posted on Amazon said that 3 of the Airleaf copies were still available. The author never republished after Airleaf. Out of curiosity, I ordered one copy and the author ordered one copy. Now one copy was listed as remaining on the Amazon site. We both received our copies from Amazon several days after the order was made. Now the question is this: Who gets the royalties from the sales? To the best of my knowledge, I believe that Carl Lau is getting the royalties.

Why? My publisher, Paul Rabinovitch from CCB Publishing, explained that publishers have contracts with printers, distributors, retailers, etc., including Amazon and/or one of their subsidiaries. Just because Airleaf is out of business doesn’t necessarily mean that the contract with Amazon or the other outlets like Barnes and Noble was ever broken with Carl Lau, as long as Airleaf’s accounts are in good standing with these companies.

Some of you sent me your concerns that Amazon is reprinting your book and selling it. I don’t believe this to be true. I think that any of the few copies that are listed as “available” are the copies Airleaf provided them that were stored in their inventory. Two of our authors worked on this experiment with me. Once we bought the few available copies on Amazon, no more were listed. In fact, at the suggestion of my publisher, Paul from CCB, I called Amazon on two different occasions trying to reorder eight copies of those specific books for a book club meeting. Amazon’s Customer Service tried their best to reorder the books, but by the end of their research, they told me that the books would not be available any time in the near future. They stated if they would become available, they would notify me. So it appears that the last of the Airleaf inventory is being sold off and then the books will be unavailable unless you republish them.

Even so, I am really trying to get a handle on this because something is wrong. Here’s what I am asking you to do if you published with Airleaf or Bookman, Airleaf’s previous name. Please go to Amazon.com and check whether or not you are able to buy a copy of your book. If you haven’t republished, check if Amazon has any copies available for purchase. Even if you have republished, check and see if the original Airleaf version is still listed and available for sale. Unless you notify Amazon that you want the Airleaf or Bookman version removed from their website, chances are it is still listed by both Airleaf and your new publisher. If any of your Airleaf or Bookman books are available through Amazon, please order one copy and see if it arrives. As soon as you get confirmation, please forward the message to me or email me when you receive the book so I can begin a paper trail to see if Airleaf books are still selling. If they are, someone is getting the royalties—and it is not you.

I don’t believe there are many Airleaf books left in stock, but even if there is one, the money should not be going to Carl Lau. I have asked a lawyer friend of mine to contact Amazon once I compile this information, and he has agreed to do that on our behalf. Hopefully we will finally be able to find out who is getting your royalties. Please write to me at Bonkaye@aol.com after you check your book and if it is still listed on Amazon. I’m hoping we can resolve this before the spring.

2. It really does bother me that crooks who stole so much money from us are able to keep going through life without any real accountability. For instance, Carl Lau destroyed the so many of our authors through his fraudulence, and yet he goes unpunished. In fact, he is working in a Finance Company in Indiana called Royal United Mortgage. A Finance Company—playing with people’s money. Can you believe it?

When I learned this information several months ago from one of Lau’s relatives who contacted me in disgust after reading my website, I sent a letter to his boss. This is what it said:

To: Craig.Royal@royalunitedmortgage.com

Dear Mr. Royal,
It recently came to my attention that you are employing Carl Lau, former owner and operator of Airleaf Publishing in Martinsville, Indiana. As the leader of over 600 members of our group, Airleaf Victims, who were defrauded in figures reaching nearly three million dollars in one of the largest publishing scams in this country, I find it disturbing that your organization that uses the word "Integrity" in your advertising would allow Mr. Lau to be part of its team.

In fact, I find it very frightening to think that you would have a man handling your mortgages in view of the attention that predatory lending has received in recent years. I would like to think that employees in this position actually did have "integrity."

Mr. Royal, please read my site at www.AirleafVictims.com. If you do a minimal amount of research, you will find the judgment from two years ago that the government of Indiana handed down on behalf of the claims of a small segment of our authors for over $325,000.00. Because of the immense number of victims, the government had to set a window to limit the claims, so less than 15% of those who requested a refund were part of the judgment. Sadly, none of us who were rewarded compensation by the Attorney General’s office received one penny because Mr. Lau declared bankruptcy to avoid paying us the money he took from us for fraudulent services and book royalties. Even after the judgment was handed down, Mr. Lau continued to receive royalties from our hard work and kept it for himself.

This also leads us to wonder if your organization did a basic background check of Mr. Lau. If you did, you would have found that he was in bankruptcy in addition to having a government judgment against him. If you wish, you can contact the Assistant Attorney General's office and ask for Tom Irons who spearheaded the case. After I hear back from you, I will notify him of Mr. Lau's employment. You can reach him at Tom.Irons@atg.in.gov in case you have any doubts.
I am surprised that a company that has "integrity" would allow a crook of this magnitude to work for it.

My organization would appreciate a response from you as to why your company thinks that a man who has robbed the most vulnerable of vulnerable--elderly, disabled, religious leaders, and poor people who invested every penny they saved for a dream that turned into a nightmare--should be trusted to work with other people, many who are in the same position as we were. I would to give you an opportunity to respond before making this public.

Sincerely,
Bonnie Kaye, M.Ed.
Organizer, Airleaf Victims
www.AirleafVictims.com

I did send the letter twice. And of course, I received no response. However, at least you can now know where Carl Lau is working. And if you’d like to speak to him directly, feel free to call him there. The phone number is: (317) 664-7700 x7941. I’m sure he’d be happy to hear from you. Or you can feel free to email the director of the company who hired him, Craig Royal, at: Craig.Royal@royalunitedmortgage.com. Maybe if Mr. Royal hears from enough of our members about his employee, he’ll do something about it.

3. How is it when con-men in this business like Brien Jones go out of business, he can still continue to cheat his authors? Unbelievable, isn’t it? Well, it seems like con men always find partners, especially in the state of Indiana where government views “fraudulence” as “bad business practices” rather than a crime.

Authors first were sent a letter by Brien Jones several weeks ago bemoaning his “hard luck” in the publishing industry. To special “friends,” he sent this letter, making each of them think they were getting some special personalized letter—which they weren’t. Everyone I know who had any contact with Jones has received this with the name and the book title being the only thing that is “personalized.” Here it goes:

Dear _________________,

Enclosed is the letter we sent to all of Jones Harvest Publishing authors and vendors. Unlike some of those folks you were always a friend and supporter, and you deserve an explanation as well as my advice on where to go from here.

Six months before we closed I sent a long letter explaining the huge challenges we faced selling books and asking for suggestions.

The short version is bookstores didn’t pay when they ordered our books. JHP had to pay to ship books with an invoice. That was after we paid to print the books. If a store ordered a copy of _________________, they paid nothing. But I had to pay to print and ship the book.

If the bookstore ever paid they sent a check of 50%, but didn’t send that check to us. They sent that check to Baker & Taylor. Later B&T would send us a check for 40%. That was the best case scenario. More often we just received the front cover (stripped off to prove the book was unsold) often over a year later. I didn’t receive any suggestions.

That was with a Jones Harvest Publishing book. Getting even that far with a book from Authorhouse, Infinity or Vantage Press was impossible. When I said Xlibris I heard ‘click.’ Yet even against those odds, I tried to sell __________________ and the rest every way possible—more ways than you ever heard about. As with 99% of our titles I failed. It’s hard. And if you ever try selling somebody else’s book (or even your own) to bookstores you’ll find it’s also unpleasant.

By 2010 I spent half my day listening to bookstores hang up on me and the other half listening to authors that paid $950 to publish (usually less than we spent on the print run) complain about lack of sales. I have to admit I don’t feel very bad about giving up on some of those clients.

I do feel bad about you. You were one of the few that even acknowledged our website was free of vanity publishing information or that we had a bookstore. Most of our clients never noticed. I kept on trying anyway. The in 2011Borders closed 275 stores. Limping along and hoping was no longer possible.

To be a success in the self-publishing industry I would have to change everything. To survive I would have to be like all the rest and focus on selling authors their own books. That’s when I made an important discovery. I don’t want to be a success in vanity publishing.

I wish I could suggest another publisher that’s selling books, has a bookstore or even a website designed for that purpose. There aren’t any. The only subsidy, self or print-on-demand publishing companies with any promotion services are the same ones we’ve all known for years. They’re now offering “publicity” and “promotions” at appalling prices.

However, in my own search for a publisher, I concluded the best choice for you is Accurance, a company I’ve known about for a long time. I sent my books to them because:
1. They aren’t going out of business. They’ve been around since 1999 and growing.
2. Amost all books they produce are for other publishing companies—you’ve heard of most of them. It’s likely the publisher you choose uses Accurance for their production work (editing, book covers, typesetting/formatting, and conversion to eBook). Therefore you can cut out the middle man which takes us to price.
3. JHP could not survive charging $950 to publish because we were never POD. We always did print runs. Yet Accurance offers everything (for publishers) for $899. This is possible because of volume. They actually have a program for authors left in a lurch, because their publisher closed. (It’s not just JHP, there are many more with others to follow.) They have agreed to publish our books for $850.
4. They also answer the phone, or call you back quickly. They answer emails usually within minutes, at most hours. Most of the other companies I called answered electronically and sent me to someone’s voicemail.

There are plenty of companies out there promising the moon for $999 (but calling you from overseas.) I wanted the whole package including Kindle and REAL BOOKS with no surprises. My recommendation is Accurance. THE JHP bookselling plan didn’t work. But I would feel much better knowing you are receiving real books with good pricing, integrity, and stability.

To your books as fast as possible and at wholesale prices call Bill Earle, Author Partner Project Manager at Accurance at 1-727-550-6258. I have already transferred files for my books to them and can do the same for you.

I hope you have no hard feelings. I’m not walking away with a boat or an airplane (or even our house) and I truly tried. I hope you keep writing and trying to.

Sincerely,
Brien Jones

Let me say I found this letter—well—hysterical and pathetic and somewhat sociopathic as Brien Jones truly is. It was filled with lies and gross exaggerations for sure. But I will discuss that in my next update in the near future. For now, this is a WARNING to anyone who actually might be foolish enough to get burned one more time by the master of con.

But first, let me share with you the follow up letter that most of you have received by now from Accurance, the only company that Brien Jones trusts which has “republished” his books about the scary pumpkin and the crooked Vanity Publisher based on his own life story.

Accurance’s Bill Earle sent this letter to the list of Jones authors:

Hello! I wanted to touch base and introduce myself, Bill Earle if Accurance, Inc., since I was mentioned in the letter you should have received from Brien Jones. We are happy to be able to step in and offer our years of expertise to you for your current book that was published and future books. We have been around a long time and we aren't going anywhere.

Right now, we are concentrating everything on the Jones authors who were published with Jones. Those ISBNs are dead now so those books are no longer for sale. Even if sales were poor in the past for whatever reason, you don't have a chance at even one now.

Our Jones Publishing Package, is fast, high quality, as affordable as is possible, and most importantly - complete. Right now, the book you had published with Jones is no longer valid. The ISBN from Jones for your book is a dead account. We are honored to be able to offer you the fastest way back to the market for just $849 as Brien's letter stated:

1. We will revise your cover and interior - and that means as many revisions as you want or as few as changing the "Published by"
2. set up a new publishing account with Lulu.com
3. purchase your new ISBN
4. upload your new files
5. order and ship a proof copy to you
6. purchase and set up your new GlobalReach distribution to the Ingram database of all titles for sale - fresh to the market with a new ISBN and a new look in some cases.

We will also purchase and ship to you 9 more copies of your book at the end of the process before we turn over your new POD publishing account to you to monitor future sales and always order as few or as many copies of your own book at cost. It also all comes with expanded free revision cycles and unlimited email and phone support.

This package is not available on our website for obvious reasons. To purchase now simply go to our Misc. Services web page at :
http://accurance.com/index.php?go=services&goto=author&gotogo=authmiscservice and add to cart 849 units - they will be billed to your credit card of PayPal at $1 per unit. As soon as the purchase (always completely guaranteed) is made you will receive an introductory email from me with everything you need to know. Then, you can sit back and let us get you back in the book selling business the best way in the world we know how, at a price only available to you.

I will of course get back to calling you back as well.

Thanks!

Bill Earle
your author partner
Accurance, Inc.
(727) 550-6268

With the directions from Bill Earle, I did go to the link in his letter which led me to the Accurance website page where you can purchase the 849 units for $849.00. But then I took a moment to explore the rest of the website which led me to the page called “Author Services.” It was quite interesting seeing the pricing for authors who weren’t getting the special Jones Harvest deal.

Here is the irony of the special “Jones Harvest” pack.
Here are the the prices for the non-Jones Harvest author services:

Publishing Set Up Package $249
For the author who has viable, print-ready PDF files who needs set up with a POD publisher for worldwide print distribution (includes ISBN & Proof Copy). Your files will be uploaded, your ISBN will be purchased, you will receive a proof copy for final approval, and be distributed on the worldwide database serving potential buyers at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, and many others.

Book Cover Creation - $199
For the author who needs just the book cover (front/back/spin) designed. You will received a print-ready PDF cover file. Package includes three (3) revision cycles until your cover is perfect for you.

There is even this deluxe package:
The Whole Nine Yards Package - $799
Mechanical Editing/Interior Formatting/Custom Cover Design/Print Publishing/Distribution

Wow—editing your book and the rest of the whole nine yards. And here’s another great deal:

Ready-To-Sell Package & eCombo Package - $799
Interior Formatting/Custom Cover Design/Print Publishing/Distribution/eBook Conversion & Distribution

So let me see if I understand this. Accurance is getting the “viable, print-ready PDF files” from Brien Jones. According to their website, this is the Publishing Set-up Package they are offering for $249.00. If you decide to use them to redesign your book cover, the Book Cover Creation would cost $199.00. And that’s only if you want to have your cover redesigned. Otherwise, you can take off that charge. Okay—even if you want the book cover, that adds up to $448.00. Now, add in 9 additional copies at print cost—that’s approximately $36.00. So now we’re looking at less than $500.00 for the same services that Jones customers are charged $849.00. Hmmmm….

It gets even better. If you want the Ready-to-Sell Package & eCombo Package according to their website, this will cost $799.00. And that includes all the wonderful services of the Publishing Set-Up package, the Cover Design package, and the eBook package—all for less than the Jones Harvest Package. And even if you throw in the 9 extra books for $36.00, you’re still spending less than that special rate for the Jones Harvest package.

And guess what—if you take this route, you don’t have a publisher. Accurance isn’t a publisher—it’s a set-up company that brokers you out to companies like Lulu where you are your own publisher.

Anyway, even before I did the math when I first learned of this new alliance between Accurance and King Con, I wrote Bill Earle a note:

wearle@accurance.com
December 9, 2011

Dear Mr. Earle,
Since we haven't met before, I did want to let you know that if you have developed any type of positive reputation for your company, you should think about how it will be affected now that you are working with Brien Jones. In case you’re not aware, Mr. Jones is under criminal investigation by various government agencies for fraudulent practices against authors. Since it didn’t faze him about screwing hundreds of people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, I’m not quite sure why you would want your name tarnished by being associated with him, but that’s your decision.

Please be aware that when I send out my update to over 600 Airleaf Victims and over 100 Jones Harvest victims, I will be mentioning your connection. Don’t expect great things to happen for you or your company because of that. I would really reconsider your relationship with him because it will really be a losing one for you and your company.

Best regards,
Bonnie Kaye, M.Ed.
www.Jonesharvestfraudvictims.com
www.Airleafvictims.com

To date, I have received no response. Please, do not allow yourselves to become a victim one more time. For some of you, it has happened more than once. Remember—anything associated with Brien Jones will take bring you to a dark place where you don’t want to go. Don’t fall into this pit hole again.

Well, you will be hearing from me soon again with updated news. We are not done yet. With your help, we will continue to be VICTORS and not VICTIMS!

I wish you all the happiest and healthiest of all New Years.
Love, Bonnie

Airleaf Victims Update September 13, 2009

Dear Airleaf Friends,

Some news has recently transpired, and I wanted to update you about this information.
On August 21, 2009, a letter was sent out to the 120 of our authors who part of the cohort of the judgment filed by the Indiana Attorney General against Airleaf last year. This is what it stated:

Dear Consumer,
As most of you know, on June 30, 2008 the Office of the Indiana Attorney General entered into a Consent Judgment with Airleaf and its owner, Carl Lau. Among other things, the judgment contained a provision regarding restitution for your particular loss. For those of you who do not already have a copy of the judgment, please feel free to access a PDF version via www.IndianaConsumer.com. Our ongoing investigation since that filing was made revealed that Airleaf and its owner are insolvent and any attempt at formal collection activity would therefore be fruitless.

On August 3, 2009 Carl Lau and his wife filed a join ‘no asset’ Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana, under Case Number 09-11308-AJM-7. The filing again confirms our conclusion that further attempts to secure restitution are inadvisable.

Enclosed you will find a Notice of Bankruptcy Filing the Bankruptcy Court recently sent to my Office. Please note that the due date for “objections to discharge” is November 20, 2009. Bankruptcy law allows creditors (which you are by virtue of the Consent Judgment) to file a lawsuit within the bankruptcy proceeding to prevent discharge of the debt at issued if the creditor can prove fraud.

The State has concluded that such a lawsuit, even if prosecuted successfully, will not be collectable. Therefore, we will be unable to obtain restitution for your loss. If you believe you might wish to pursue such a lawsuit on your own, please consult a private attorney.

Sincerely,
Tom Irons, Deputy Attorney General, Consumer Protection Division

Okay, I wasn’t surprised—and I’m not quite sure why I felt upset. I expected the bankruptcy to be filed a long time ago because I heard it was in the process last year. But yet, I still felt a sense of anger because I know that Carl Lau has been collecting unemployment compensation benefits since going out of business. I also know that he did have some assets that were never really checked into like his yacht. Proof of those assets came the following week after I contacted our reporter friend Ron Hawkins at the Martinsville Reporter who dug up some interesting information. Here is a copy of his article:

August 29, 2009
By Ronald Hawkins
rhawkins@reporter-times.com

MARTINSVILLE

The Indiana Attorney General’s Office has ended its efforts to collect money from Carl Lau, the owner of the now defunct Airleaf Publishing and Book Selling, following his filing for bankruptcy.

A Martinsville-based marketing and self-publishing firm, Airleaf shut its doors in December 2007 following multiple complaints to the state attorney general, the Martinsville Police Department and Better Business Bureau of Central Indiana alleging that the company failed to pay royalties, publish books and deliver other promised services.

In May 2008, Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter announced the state had filed a lawsuit against Airleaf alleging it had taken money without providing the promised services in return. The lawsuit sought consumer restitution for at least 120 customers.

In June 2008, the state announced it had reached a consent judgment with Lau that provided for restitutions to the consumers.

A Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition, however, filed by Carl and Deborah Lau — who list a Carmel address as their home — in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis, has led the state to believe that further efforts to collect money from Lau would “be fruitless,” according to a letter sent by Tom Irons, deputy attorney general, to the consumers.

“Our ongoing investigation since that filing was made,” Irons wrote in a letter dated Aug. 21, “has revealed that Airleaf and its owner are clearly insolvent and any attempt at formal collection activity would be fruitless.”

The individual consumers, however, if they can prove fraud may file a lawsuit within the bankruptcy before the Nov. 20 due date to prevent the discharge of the debt, Irons wrote.

When contacted about the letter, Irons confirmed that it was his letter and “my signature.”

Bonnie Kaye, a Philadelphia-based counselor who organized an Airleaf victims group, said she wasn’t surprised by the state’s action, but that it reinforces her displeasure with the state’s efforts. She said her organization has more than 600 members.

“This is just another example of how the government of Indiana allowed a tragedy to happen to our authors whose lives have been shattered by the fraudulence of this company,” she said. “While Airleaf was alive and prospering, the AG’s office turned a blind eye when the complaints started pouring in.

“It was only after our actions forced Airleaf to close down that the judgment was handed down six months after the fact.”

Bankruptcy filing details

In the bankruptcy filing dated Aug. 3, the document lists $1,594,771 in total claims against Lau and $160,217 in assets.

Of that debt, the filing claims that $1,472,588 is in unsecured, non-priority claims.

The largest secured claim is $25,125 owed to Citizens Bank of Cumberland County in Burkesville, Ky., although there are several larger, unsecured claims.

The Lau’s debt list includes $74,445.81 owed to the Internal Revenue Service in employment taxes, $16,601 in state employment taxes plus $2,152 in state sales taxes and a $69,100 debt to the state for violations of the deceptive consumer sales act.

In addition to the dozens of debts to consumers listed in the 134-page document, the debts range from an American Express debt of $116 to $230,62 to Premier Capital Corp. of Indianapolis and $273,825 owed to CIT Lending Services of Livingston, N.J.

The bankruptcy also includes $19,999 owed to Author House of Bloomington, a self-publishing firm, and $4,600 to the Morgan County treasurer.

The filing states Carl Lau has no average monthly income, but Deborah Lau has an average income of $3,537 per month. He, however, has received $3,308 in unemployment compensation this year and received $13,192 in 2008.

Their monthly expenses, the document states, are $4,700 including $1,500 in taxes, but they have no rent or home mortgage payments.

Ronald Hawkins
News editor

My frustration comes from seeing that there is still over $160,000 in assets that could have been sought on our behalf. Also, the fact that Carl Lau owes the IRS and the State of Indiana payroll taxes really upsets me because he has received over $16,000.00 in unemployment compensation in spite of his criminal actions. Go figure! Also, as you see in the article, the Lau’s have no rent or home mortgage payments. This is because they moved in with Deborah Lau’s parents. While I used to feel somewhat sympathetic to Mrs. Lau, I don’t anymore. I would tell her the same thing I tell my women that I counsel—“If you don’t know the truth about your husband and he is doing the wrong thing, then you are a victim. But once you learn the truth and you choose to stay there, you are a volunteer.” And I don’t feel sympathy for volunteers.

The article states that Carl Lau owes money to Authorhouse. He owes it to them for stealing their database when he left there to start his own company. He had to make a payoff agreement with them out of court which of course was never paid off. So that shows Deborah Lau that her husband had a lack of scruples before she even knew about any of us. In addition, Carl Lau was forced to pay money for a sexual harassment suit that one of his former female employees contacted me about to let me know about her settlement. It was general information from all of the previous Airleaf employees that spoke with me that Lau was a sleazy guy watching porn on his computer and making sexual overtures to a number of the female employees or even groping them. And yet, his wife still remains with him. So now she is a volunteer, aiding a criminal. No, I don’t feel sorry for her at all. Deborah Lau is helping him avoid his responsibility of standing up and making amends to his victims. She obviously has no concern for us.

Don’t think that our efforts have been for nothing. Carl Lau will have a legacy that will follow him forever. Every time he goes for a job and someone looks up his name on the Internet, they will know what a crook he is—and this has already happened. His road will never be an easy one again thanks to our standing up and fighting back.

I called the Bankruptcy Trustee, Mr. Elliott Levin in Indiana, and spoke to him about our options late last week. There is a hearing for Carl Lau’s bankruptcy on Monday, September 21 at 1:30 p.m. in Indianapolis. Mr. Levin said any of us could show up at the hearing, but without an attorney, it’s hard to do much because an “objection to discharge” has to be filed. However, if any of you would like to go there to stake your claim, I encourage you to do just that. The hearing will only last 15 minutes, so it won’t be very long. But at least you can have a say. If you would like to go, or you would like more information, feel free to call Mr. Levin at 317-634-0300.

Although you know that I don’t have faith in the State of Indiana, I would like to thank Mr. Tom Irons for taking the Jones Harvest fraud seriously. This past week, at least five authors who were victims of Brien Jones in his scamming of authors received back money from the Indiana Attorney General’s office, and there may be more who haven’t contacted me yet. I have tracked 72 complaints from authors who were taken in by this company. If you have been scammed by Brien Jones in his new publishing company, Jones Harvest et. al, there is still hope for you to retrieve some compensation before he goes bankrupt. If you need help with this, just let me know. I will be glad to send you the information on how to file a complaint form or call you to walk you through with it.

I just wanted to give you an update. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

One last announcement—we are accepting new authors for our Books of Excellence Coop. Visit our site at www.BooksofExcellence.com to see how nice the site is. This year, we will be starting Blog Radio for our group with lots of advertising and marketing. We have a monthly newsletter where we provide marketing and publishing tips to help our authors. Write to me if you are interested.

Love, Bonnie Kaye
Organizer, www.Airleaf Victims.com

WRAPPING UP THE AIRLEAF BATTLE

August 9, 2009

Dear Airleaf Victims and Friends,

I am writing this last correspondence to you to let you know that I am wrapping up my efforts on the Airleaf case. At this point of time, I have gone as far as I can go, and it’s time to let go. All of the petitions that many of you were kind enough to sign will be sent to the U.S. Attorney Timothy Morrison this week. If by some miracle he changes his mind after reading them, I will notify you immediately.

I wanted to make sure that I explored every possible course of action, but I have to accept that I have come to a dead end. As so many of you have told me, it’s time to let go. From my point of view, there has been no justice for the Airleaf Victims. The fact that Airleaf closed down was due to our efforts in stopping their cash flow—not government efforts to stop the fraudulence. Airleaf was run by con men. They were experts in making people believe that we could become famous authors through a series of publicity efforts, which in almost every case, never happened. There were no European book fairs, no Bowker reviews, no Carnival cruise, or no Hollywood movies. There was just continued scamming of good people who worked long and hard at becoming authors.

Should you be angry? Of course you should. Most of you were taken for your hard work and hard earned money while others profited off of your innocence with airplanes, boats, trips to Hollywood where sordid affairs took place, and a plush life style built off of your suffering. In addition to the thieves who took your money so willingly but refused to provide you with the promised services, we had the State of Indiana to contend with. Its lack of concern for thieves in their State will always be my greatest reminder of how government doesn’t care about its people.

This has been a wonderful experience for me because it has given me the unique opportunity to get to know so many of you. I have developed life-time friendships with some of the most wonderful people I have ever met. I have read the words of some of the most prolific and profound writers imaginable. I had the fortune of meeting a number of you in my travels and in yours. So every moment that I put into this effort was well rewarded with new friendships that have enriched my life.

Although most of you don’t know much about me, I will share some things with you at this time. In the 1970’s, I spent nearly ten years of my life as an activist for a cause I believed in. I learned a lot in those days about organizing people and using the media to our advantage. I tried to take those skills and use them in our Airleaf campaign. Now with the advent of the Internet, it was easier in many ways. It allowed me to put up websites to alert people, send out press releases to the media, and stay in touch with many of you via email. In the past when I was in my 20’s, I went up against some of the most worthy opponents—and won--including the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in my battle to have Nazi War Criminals removed from this country, the New York Federal Court who did not allow people to view the deportation of a Nazi War Criminal, the City of Chicago (stopping neo-Nazi marches in Skokie, Illinois), the Russian government demanding the release of Russian Jews, and many others who were quite offensive to many people. I may not have won the war, but I certainly did win many battles.

Because of my younger years as an activist, I thought the Airleaf battle would be a piece of cake. It seemed so easy—people being robbed of their money. This was criminal—or so I thought. Little did I know that it wasn’t a crime to take people’s money under false pretenses in the State of Indiana. Silly me. I thought that robbing hundreds if not thousands of people would truly be against the law in any state in this country. It seemed so very cut and clear.

Sadly, at this point of time, I have come to realize that robbing people of millions of dollars is not a crime in Indiana—rather it is what they call “bad business.” Wow, I wish I was a crook. I know where I would relocate to. Indiana would be calling my name loud and clear. As I have told all of the officials that I have tried to convince to be on our side, I could set up a business selling dreams to people at $500.00 a shot, and if they didn’t come true, well, I could say at least I tried. Ha ha. No one there seemed to disagree with me.

The real culprits here are not just Carl Lau and Brien Jones. It’s the government of Indiana. In May of 2007, Airleaf was given an order through the Attorney General’s office stating that they would not conduct any more bad business with customers after having to pay out $12,000.00 to two authors and being issued an AVC order. When our first complaints started going to the AG’s office back in August when I sent the first of hundreds to come, nothing happened. Well, almost nothing. Actually, the Assistant AG at that time, Terry Tolliver, went with our police detective Jeff Buskirk to raid the Airleaf computers in October. This made me feel optimistic. But that was the end of the road. Nothing more came from that. When the new assistant AG took over, Tom Irons, he went to battle for us and a judgment was handed down five months after Airleaf closed. The problem was that the case stopped there. It was a “good will” gesture with no results. Carl Lau lost his home to the IRS, and supposedly his boat wasn’t worth going after. His partial ownership in the airplane wasn’t worth it either I suppose.

I believe that if anyone is guilty, it’s the government of Indiana that could have acted months before Airleaf shut down to demand that our money be returned, but they didn’t. And the final blow was when the U.S. Attorney, Timothy Morrison, refused to consider our case “criminal.”

I have pursued every possible course of action including writing to government officials in Washington, the President, every state representative and state senator in Indiana, the congressmen of the state, and the senators of the state. Heck, I even wrote to the governor’s wife pleading for help. Only one in over 80 representatives that I wrote to responded telling me that it wasn’t a State issue. So what’s new? I already figured that out with the overwhelming mounds of rejection that came my way in the form of silence.

I recently spoke to the lawyer of one of our victims who said we could pursue the case if we put up money. It would take lots of money—thousands of dollars. Then there is no guarantee that we would see anything. After all, Carl Lau lost his home and his business. What will we be able to take from? However, if a group of you would like to spend money pursuing this, please let me know.

So let me share some final thoughts with you.

Last year, a group of us began an author’s co-op, Books of Excellence. It’s a way for people to have a site they can refer people to if they don’t have their own website. We were overly ambitious in hoping people would buy five books a year from other authors. Some did; others did not. The majority of us decided this year just to pay yearly due for upkeep and publicity. I will be starting a new internet radio show in September with our authors one hour a week. This way, authors can promote their books via the computer radio stations and generate some business. We would be happy to have you join us. The cost to join is $60.00 for the first year which gives you a place on the front page of the website as well as your own page where you can advertise you and your books. After the first year, the dues are $25.00 a year. You can visit our site at www.BooksOfExcellence.com.

Many of you came to me with questions about republishing. There are three publishers that I feel confident in recommending to you. The first is my own publisher, CCB Publishing. Several dozen of us have republished there. You can read our testimonials on the website at www.CCBPublishing.com. The price is excellent, the service superb, and in a few weeks, your book is out in the market. Paul Rabinowitz, my publishing hero, works closely with each and every author day and night. He has all books distributed through not only local channels including Amazon and Barnes and Noble, but also the European channels, e-books, and his newest venture, The Expresso Book Machine. Here is some information about EBM:

CCB Publishing is pleased to announce a new distribution channel for its authors’ books. Placed primarily in bookstores and libraries, the Espresso Book Machine® (the “EBM”), a Time Magazine “Best Invention of 2007,” is essentially an ATM for books. The EBM automatically prints, binds and trims on demand at point of sale perfect-bound library-quality paperback books with full-color covers that are indistinguishable from most books on a bookstore shelf. The EBM can manufacture a 300-page book in less than 4 minutes while the customer waits. Books with black and white interiors will be universally available, while books with color interiors will only be available from certain sites. In addition to Time Magazine, this revolutionary new technology has been featured by The New York Times, Newsweek, Fortune, CNN and NPR.

Other participating publishers of note include John Wiley & Sons, Hachette Book Group, McGraw-Hill, Simon & Schuster, Clements Publishing, Information Age Publishing, Macmillan, University of California Press and W.W. Norton.

In addition to being featured at the Book Fair in London, England and at BookExpo America in New York City, there have been 16 EBM installations to date with many more planned. In addition to the following locations, current plans for 2009 include new installations in the United Kingdom through the Blackwell Ltd. chain of bookstores, in Australia through the Angus & Robertson chain and related bookstores, as well as in multiple locations at universities, bookstores and other retailers in North America and around the world.

Current locations:
• World Bank InfoShop, Washington, D.C., USA
• New York Public Library, New York, NY, USA
• New Orleans Public Library, New Orleans, LA, USA
• Internet Archive, San Francisco, CA, USA
• University of Michigan Library, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
• Northshire Bookstore, Manchester Center, VT, USA
• Brigham Young University Bookstore, Provo, UT, USA
• University of Alberta Bookstore, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
• McMaster University Bookstore, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
• University of Waterloo Bookstore, Ontario, Canada
• McGill University Library, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
• Newsstand UK, London, England
• Blackwell’s Bookstore, London, England
• Angus & Robertson Bookstore, Melbourne, Australia
• University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
• Library of Alexandria, Alexandria, Egypt

Paul delivers what he promises—and everything is included in his one price of $750.00. This also includes 20 FREE BOOKS. If you would like to have your book listed as “returnable” for book store book signings, CCB can do this for the low cost of $100.00 for one year. If you check with other companies like Authorhouse, you’ll see that they charge $599.00 for this service. (Of course they are located in Indiana too, so don’t try to fight it!) You can also buy your books from Paul at $2.00 over the cost of printing plus shipping and handling.

The second publisher that I would like to recommend is Mountain Valley Publishing, owned by Bob Denton. I have come to know, care about, and appreciate Bob over the past year and a half. I wasn’t very nice to him in our early days, accusing him of working with Airleaf to hurt writers. I was wrong, and I know I’ve said it before—and I’ll say it again. Bob was used and manipulated by Airleaf as many other well-meaning employees were, and he did quit when he realized that there was no hope and authors were being screwed two months before the closing of Airleaf. He did try hard for authors, especially once Airleaf closed down. Bob was able—and is still able and willing-- to retrieve authors’ disks, and for many of them before the flood, their books that were sitting in the Airleaf offices. Sadly, once the flood came, Airleaf was flooded out along with nearly 50,000 books—and of course, no flood insurance.

Bob has republished books for many Airleaf authors. I have spoken with a number of them and they are always thrilled by his quickness, quality, and customer service. I have not heard one complaint yet from anyone using Mountain Valley Publishing—only words of praise. Bob does everything for authors from cover design, ISBN number, and bar code to Internet distribution. He has a special deal for Airleaf authors to republish your Airleaf book for $750.00 which includes 25 copies for free. If you want to buy your books, he only charges for the cost of printing plus shipping and handling which is an excellent deal. If authors have a new book, Bob will publish that for $995.00 and give authors 25 copies of the book which is still an excellent deal. You can write to Bob at bdenton308@comcast.net. You will find his contact information if you want to chat with him. You can also see his website at: www.MoutainValleyPublishing.com. Please read his list of testimonials from happy authors if you would like to become one of them.

One other publisher that I have heard wonderful things about is Helen Compton from Artship Publishing. Helen is a sponsor at our Books of Excellence co-op. Several of our victims are republishing with her and have the kindest words to say about their experiences with Helen. She gives tremendous thought and help with putting books together, designing the covers, and taking it through the publishing process. You can feel free to visit her site and get her contact information by visiting: http://www.galleryartship.com/ebook.html

On a side issue, I received a letter last week from a woman in Indiana. She wrote:

Bonnie,



My name is Linda and I have been following the Airleaf story with your group. I think you have a great group of writers there and I wondered if they would want to participate in a fundraiser to help raise money for cancer research. My relay for life team is going to have a celebrity auction and we're looking for writers willing to donate an autograph book or photo. If anyone would want to participate they can send them to



Linda Williams

309 E South St

Martinsville, IN 46151



This auction is in memory of two friends who lost their own battles with cancer; Rita Greenwood and Brenda Wisman. Thank you for your time.

Linda



If you would be willing to donate a book or two to this worthy cause, know that it will go for something positive in life. Please send your books to Linda at the above address.

Finally, I would like to thank all of you who put your faith in me. The battle of Airleaf Victims started for me during the year that I lost my beloved son, Jason, at the age of 23 due to his rare illness that was misdiagnosed in his final battle to live. Three years earlier, I had lost my daughter, Jennifer, age 22. My life was in a dark place when this battle began. I felt that life had robbed me of my greatest treasures, and now, once again, I was being robbed. I knew I couldn’t save my children—that was out of my control. But I didn’t want to feel like a victim. I always taught my children to stand up for something you believe in. I taught them that there are always hands reaching out to you—some to pull you up; other to drag you down. It’s my “Misery loves Company” theory of why people look to drag you down. I extended my hand with kindness in the hopes of pulling all of us out of the darkness that entered our lives when men with dishonorable intentions were lurking in our midst. Nearly 600 of you reached back and made this battle your battle so that you wouldn’t remain a victim—but rather a victor.

As I said earlier, I have met some of the finest people imaginable through this battle. I have relived your horrors story after story of how you were fooled and tricked into throwing your hard earned money out the window. There were many nights I cried myself to sleep thinking about your pain, and I made it my pain. Then I went through this horror all over again when some of our victims told me how they were being “re-victimized” by Brien Jones in his new company, Jones Harvest. Again I sent out notices to people to stop paying for services that will never happen. I gave Mr. Jones a run for his money, but he runs faster than me. I have over 80 letters from victims of his, but once again, the government of Indiana is impotent about making this a crime. At this point, I’m ending my battle against him as well. Too much negative energy is being wasted on one pathetic man. If authors aren’t willing to believe all the warnings put in front of them, well, so be it. Let their money be taken from them once again.

I would like to thank my predatory publishing guru Victoria Strauss for helping me through this maze and mess. Victoria was a constant source of inspiration, who helped me during some of my darkest moments when I kept feeling like throwing in the towel. Victoria and her partner, Ann Crispin, are the true fighters for the cause of predatory publishing. They have made this their life’s mission through their website Writer Beware. You can view their site at http://www.sfwa.org/beware/. Put that site in your favorites to keep referring back to because it will be a continued source of inspiration. Anytime you’re not sure about a company, check there first. Ask the experts who keep on top of this daily.

I would also like to thank Detective Jeff Buskirk from the Martinsville, Indiana police department. He made a hero’s effort to put this case together for us. He worked diligently day and night—and there were many nights—helping us present our proof of criminal action. Sadly, all of his efforts were also ignored. Jeff Buskirk helped me believe in the kindness of strangers. He could have said this wasn’t a case for him, but he never did that. He really needs to be commended for his good deeds in trying his best to “do the right thing.” I wish he lived in Philadelphia near me. He would truly be recognized for his good work.

Know that in moving ahead, I am always here for anyone who wants advice or for me to check out something for you. Please email me anytime at Bonkaye@aol.com. Many of you are my friends; some of you have become my extended family. We will always be linked through our tragedy, but we are survivors and have put life back together in spite of this.

Learn from this lesson, and hold your heads up high. You are receiving this email because you refused to walk away and chose to stand up and fight. For that reason alone, you are no longer a victim, but a victor.

Love, Bonnie Kaye

AIRLEAF VICTIMS UPDATE 4/11/09

Dear Airleaf Victims and Friends,

This is a short update to keep you posted on our activity. After sending out the update last week of our rejection by Timothy Morrison to consider Airleaf's action a "crime" in Indiana, 128 of you responded to date that you will sign a petition to request the reversal of that decision, and 53 of you sent me a notice that you emailed Mr. Morrison to voice your objection to his decision. If you haven't had time to respond to the petition, please drop me a note as soon as possible so I can add you to our list. If you haven't sent your message to Mr. Morrison, please take a moment to do so at USAINS.Webmaster@usdoj.gov, The more of us who stand up, the more powerful our case will be.

On Tuesday, I will send out a press release to the Indiana news media about our case. I will announce the launching of my new site www.IndianaWelcomesCrooks.com which you can now click into and read. I have also had our Airleaf Victims website with your stories redesigned to look more professional. You can view it at www.AirleafVictims.com. I want to make sure that our message is heard loud and clear.

Last Sunday, I sent a letter to the 83 state legislators in Indiana. In addition, I sent the letter to the Governor's office, the Senators and Congressmen. It stated:

Dear (Indiana Legislator),

My name is Bonnie Kaye. I am the organizer of the Airleaf Victims group which can be seen at www.AirleafVictims.com. There are over 600 authors in our organization who were defrauded of over 2 million dollars by Airleaf Publishing in Martinsville, Indiana until we forced it to close through stopping its cash flow by exposing its fraudulence. In spite of our pleas for help to the agencies in your state which are there to protect people from consumer fraud, no action was taken to stop the company from operating until after the fact. Last May, your Attorney General handed down a half-million dollar judgment against the company from a cohort of 120 of our authors. The owner, Carl Lau, is declaring bankruptcy, so there will be no restitution. We pushed for retribution by requesting this man be punished for criminal charges. For 18 months, I worked with the FBI and Postal authorities presenting case after case of criminal action on Airleaf's part. On Friday, I was informed by the FBI that your U.S. Attorney, Timothy Morrison, has decided that our case doesn’t constitute “criminal action” in Indiana. My members, many of whom are elderly and disabled victims, are in shock.

The FBI and Postal authorities presented hard core evidence of criminal action by this company. Mr. Morrison has decided it’s not worth his time to pursue the case. This is unacceptable to our authors from this country and other countries who are victims of one of the largest predatory publishing scams in American history.

I am appealing to you as an elected official of Indiana to ask Mr. Morrison to reverse his decision. I will be coming to Indiana from my home in Philadelphia with other victims in June to present him with petitions from our group. As a result of the inaction of your state government, another company, Jones Harvest Publishing in Bloomington, IN, has set up a second publishing scam and has robbed hundreds of authors of their money. Brien Jones, the owner, was the Executive Vice President of Airleaf who left in 2007 to set up his own scam. You can see that site at www.JonesHarvestFraudVictims.com. This decision by Mr. Morrison only allows crooks like this to keep stealing money from honest and vulnerable people.

We plan to make this a national publicity campaign if we can’t find justice in your state. Please help us. Some of our authors are your constituents, and you owe it to them to fight against this injustice.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at Bonkaye@aol.com or call me at 215-288-6959.

Sincerely,

Bonnie Kaye, M.Ed.

Out of the 89 letters I sent, two state reps responded to date telling me that it is not the job of the state senators and representatives to handle this. I guess in Indiana, it isn't anyone's job.

I wrote a letter to my predatory publishing guru, Victoria Strauss, of Writer Beware! asking for her support in having other authors send petitions to express their support of our case. Victoria was very gracious, as always, in printing my letter in her blog yesterday. You can read it here:

Writer Beware Blogs!

I have had six authors respond already stating they will sign petitions to support us. Therefore, I will have a second petition for authors who are not part of our Airleaf group who want to support our cause. When I speak in Connecticut next month about predatory publishing at the CAPA University event, I will ask authors to sign the support petition.

I believe that if we stand up together, we can make a change in this wrongful decision. If we don't stand up, we will be known as "victims" in history. If we fight back, we will be remembered as "victors." We are a group of winners--and we will show this to the government of Indiana.

With love and hope,
Bonnie

INDIANA U.S. ATTORNEY TIMOTHY MORRISON'S REFUSAL TO BRING CRIMINAL CHARGES AGAINST AIRLEAF PUBLISHING

Dear Airleaf Victims,

I am writing this letter to you in great sadness, disgust, and anger. On Friday afternoon, I received a phone call from our FBI agent who was investigating our case. He felt obligated to call me personally since we have worked so much together over the past year and a half to compile a criminal case against Airleaf Publishing and Carl Lau, the owner. He told me that the U.S. Attorney’s office, headed by Timothy Morrison, has decided not to proceed with our case to bring criminal charges against Airleaf and its owner, Carl Lau. Naturally, I was in shock.

He explained that according to the criminal law statutes in Indiana, the U.S. Attorney’s office did not feel that our case constituted criminal acts. I’m glad I was sitting down when that call came in or else I may have fallen directly to the floor. I told him that this is UNACCEPTABLE. We can account for over 2 million dollars that has been stolen from us—and plenty more from other victims that never found their way to our group. I went over all the fraudulent acts—the never booked cruise that people paid for, the book reviews paid for while the books sat under Carl Lau’s desk, the authors’ royalties that were collected long during and long after Airleaf closed that went into Carl Lau’s private account, the trip to Germany that people paid for while Carl Lau sat in his office playing computer games and telling the staff to tell authors what a successful time he was having, the Lite Stone pretend movie site where authors were told their books were in production or pre-production as movies, and the list went on and on. The FBI agent was on our side. He investigated the case, has piles of files, interviews, computer records, and actual testimony from former employees attesting to the fraudulence. He and the Postal Inspector know we are right, but somehow, Timothy Morrison, the U.S. Attorney can’t equate these actions as criminal.

I told the FBI agent that I am in the process of collecting petitions so I can deliver them myself to Mr. Morrison in Indiana in June. Now, more than ever, we need to speak out and demand justice so we don’t have to remain victims anymore. I want to be able to change our name to the Airleaf Victors rather than the Airleaf Victims.
If you haven’t responded to my request to sign the petition yet, please email me and let me know that you are willing to do this. If you live in or around Indiana and you can go with me, please let me know. I intend to make this a media event to embarrass the government of Indiana into action.

My site www.IndianaWelcomesCrooks.com will be up by next week. I will make sure to send that to the media as well. I will notify you next week when it is up so you can view it.

This is a slap in the face to all hard-working authors who invested hard earned money in a dream that was nothing more than a money-making scheme and con game. It sends a message to the other predatory publishers like Jones Harvest that nothing will happen if they keep stealing money from people. For those of you who live outside the United States in countries including Canada, the UK, Australia, and Scotland, I send a big apology on behalf of our government that allows this fraudulence to go unpunished.

Here is a copy of the email I sent to Mr. Morrison yesterday:

Dear Mr. Morrison,
I was informed by the Indiana FBI today that you will not be following through with our case of fraud against Airleaf Publishing. I want you to know that I and the members of group find this totally unacceptable. I have provided the federal authorities with more than enough evidence proving criminal fraud. We have nearly 600members who are part of our group from the United States and other parts of the world who have been robbed of our money, hopes, dreams, materials, and dignity. There are hundreds of more victims of this company that haven't found their way to us yet. Just within our group, the money stolen is in excess of TWO MILLION DOLLARS. We want justice against Airleaf Publishing and Carl Lau, the owner who not only took our money while he was in business, but continued to steal our royalties after he closed his company for many months to come.

By allowing this crime to go unpunished, you are sending out a message to the other predatory publishers that continue stealing money from unsuspecting authors that it is okay to perpetrate fraud in Indiana without getting punished.

We are committed to finding justice against this fraudulence. I will be coming to visit you in Indiana in June to present you with petitions from our victims with their stories. We will contact every government agency in your state asking them to intercede on our behalf. We will also contact your local media and the national media to bring attention to this injustice. We have been patiently waiting for a year and a half for justice, but now you have decided not to help us find it.

This is a true disgrace, Mr. Morrison.
Bonnie Kaye, M.Ed.
Organizer, Airleaf Victims

I would appreciate it if you could send an email to Mr. Morrison this week letting him know about your disgust in his refusal to help us. His email address is:
USAINS.Webmaster@usdoj.gov

Tell Mr. Morrison that you are a victim of criminal fraud. I have provided the Indiana government with a ton of information that proves our case. If what happens to us doesn’t constitute fraud in Indiana, then Indiana needs to change its laws. Please take a moment to send Mr. Morrison an email telling him that you do not agree with his decision and request a reversal of his decision. Let him know how violated you feel after being robbed by a company in his state and then feeling doubly victimized by his decision that it is not a crime.

Please send me a note if you do this so I can track how many people have sent a message. It can be a short note just expressing your outrage, or a note stating your story. The important thing is to let him know we want action, not dismissal in this case.

The government of Indiana is counting on our discouragement to make us feel defeated, hoping we will throw up our hands in surrender. They want us to walk away from this issue as some as you have told me to do. A handful of our authors told me to give up—“we can’t win. It’s not worth the fight.” But I don’t agree. I think about the hours, days, months, and years of anguish so many authors went through, and how their lives were forever changed by losing their hard earned savings to a greed and fraudulence. I think of the whole new group of over 70 victims of Brien Jones at Jones Harvest who is now laughing and telling people the government of Indiana doesn’t do anything while he continues to re-victimize many of our original Airleaf victims and a whole new group of unsuspecting authors who fell for his bait. This decision will give him the green light to keep hurting authors.

We need to stand up for ourselves and our dignity. If you have not sent back your response to being part of our petition campaign, please do so AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. To date, I have 72 responses. We need a lot more to make this a cause that won’t be forgotten. Please write to me at Bonkaye@aol.com to let me know you are willing to join our team of Airleaf Victims No More, so we can become Airleaf Victors.

I will have the petition ready by the end of the week and send it out to all of you who are on my list. You will be able to either email it back to me or send it back to me by mail.

Let’s not give up. Thank you for your support and words of encouragement.
With love and hope,
Bonnie Kaye, M.Ed., Organizer
www.AirleafVictims.com
www.JonesHarvestFraudVictims.com

AIRLEAF VICTIMS/JONES HARVEST VICTIMS UPDATE

Dear Airleaf Victims,
It has been a while since you’ve heard from me. That’s because I had nothing to tell you. Allow me to explain two issues.

When we began our campaign against Airleaf, we took action on two levels. We applied for civil charges with the Attorney General’s office for restitution of our money. We also filed complaints for criminal charges with the U.S. Attorney’s office for prosecution of criminal actions. In Indiana, those are the two government agencies responsible for each of the actions.

My requests to the U.S. Attorney in Indiana regarding the criminal charges against Carl Lau and Airleaf et. al., have not resulted in any determination as of yet whether they will press charges because the case is under “investigation” by the FBI and Postal authorities as it has been for a year-and-a-half. Quite frankly, I’m stumped. I provided these agencies with all the documentation to make the case, but it’s still being investigated. I am tired of waiting for a response with no communication from Timothy Morrison as of late, the Indiana U.S. Attorney, in spite of asking twice for a decision.
In my frustration, I sent a letter to the U.S. Attorney two weeks ago. This is what it stated:

March 11, 2009

Mr. Kenneth E. Melson, Director
United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room 2242
Washington, DC 20530-0001

Dear Mr. Melson:
My name is Bonnie Kaye. I am the organizer of a group of over 600 people who are victims of a predatory publishing and publicity scam by a now out-of-business company, Airleaf Publishing, in Martinsville, Indiana owned by Carl Lau.
As a victim, in addition to being the organizer of the group, I have spent the past year and a half seeking justice for our very upset members by the Indiana U.S. Attorney’s office. The FBI and the US Postal Authorities have investigated this case for well over a year and a half. I have provided extensive documentation to prove that our case is one of fraudulence as opposed to “poor business practice.”
I was successful in getting this company closed by starting an intensive Internet campaign that shut off the cash flow of the company. At that time, I took two routes—civil charges and criminal charges. I had our authors send out complaint forms to the FBI and Postal Authorities of Indiana for criminal action, as well as the Attorney General of Indiana for civil charges. The Attorney General’s office handed down a judgment against the owner, Carl Lau, last spring, months after the company closed. Unfortunately, since he has no money left, we will not see any kind of restitution. However, we are still seeking retribution in the form of criminal charges so that con men don’t feel entitled to rob authors of thousands of dollars with false promises that will never come true.

From the information that I have been able to gather, Carl Lau stole in excess of two million dollars from unsuspecting authors who have now had their hopes, dreams, and money stolen away from them. How is it that one petty thief can go to jail, but a con man of this magnitude can go free? This makes no sense to any of us.
I have spent hundreds of hours compiling files for the FBI to make our case so that the U.S. Attorney of Indiana, Timothy Morrison, can file criminal charges against the criminal. I have had very little by way of communication in a positive way from Mr. Morrison who seems to just “blow us off.” I am writing to you as a last resort in trying to get us the help and justice we are seeking.

You can read our website at www.AirleafVictims.com. As a result of the inaction of the Indiana government, a second company, Jones Harvest Publishing, owned and operated by the former Executive Vice President of Airleaf, Brien Jones, started operating this scam all over again robbing people of thousands of dollars for fake publicity and publishing campaigns. You can see my site at www.JonesHarvestFraudVictims.com.

Mr. Melson, I know you are very busy, and I am only writing to you in desperation. We don’t know where to turn. Many of our victims are elderly people and disabled people who invested their life savings into this dream that became their nightmare. If action isn’t taken to punish people who do this, it sends up a red flag to other people with no conscience that this kind of fraudulence is not a punishable crime.

Please help us by asking Mr. Morrison to take action against the thieves of Indiana who are robbing people not only in this country, but in internationally as well. It certainly doesn’t make America look good when we allow this type of fraudulence to flourish. If you would like me to send you copies of my correspondence with Mr. Morrison, please let me know.

Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Bonnie Kaye, M.Ed.

I am still waiting for a response from his office. I understand he is busy with AIG, but we have our own personal money woes to contend with due to this fraudulence.
The next step I would like to take is this: I would like to know if you will help me by signing a petition that I will personally deliver in Indiana to the U.S. Attorney’s office with our stories. I will go with Sgt. Don Meyers, Indiana’s most decorated Vietnam War Veteran, as well as an Airleaf Victim, and any other author in the area who is willing to join me. I will call the press ahead of time to announce when I am going, and I will launch my new campaign and website “Indiana Welcomes Crooks” which I am in the process of designing. I’ll send you the link in the next few weeks so you can check it out. I am hoping by taking these measures, I will drum up media interest in our case.

Regardless of the fact that we were able to get the Attorney General’s office to bring a judgment against Carl Lau, we will see nothing. Carl Lau sold his house last year, and the money from Lau’s house went to the IRS for back taxes. He is in debt up the kazoo and supposedly claiming bankruptcy. But don’t feel sorry for him—he’s been collecting unemployment insurance this year. And he and his wife have moved in with his wife’s family. His wife has an excellent job, so they are not suffering, but a lot of us sure are.

If you are willing to help me with this petition campaign, please send me an email at Bonkaye@aol.com and let me know I can count on you. I’m willing to donate my time and money to go to Indiana on your behalf. All I’m asking you for is sign a statement that I will send to you requesting that the U.S. Attorney bring charges against Airleaf for crimes against our authors.

In the meantime, I am working with nearly 70 victims of Jones Harvest Publishing owned by Brien Jones. I have them filing reports to the Attorney General’s office in Indiana. When so many of you told me initially that Brien Jones was the real criminal at Airleaf, I couldn’t understand why. After all, he didn’t own the company. But of course I’ve learned the hard way that he was the one who came up with most of the fraudulent schemes and talked you out of your money as you kept telling me. He’s done this all over again on his own. Many of our victims have been re-victimized, and I will keep fighting on their behalf as well as his new victims who have found me due to my Google Advertising on the Jones Harvest page of Google. Feel free to check it out. We have to let the government of Indiana know that we will not tolerate their lack of action against predatory publishing fraud.

Three other items before I end.
1.Airleaf Victim Tom Barnes called me the other day and told me that if you have lost money with Airleaf, you can file it as a fraudulence loss on your income tax this year. Even if it happened two or three years ago, we didn’t know about the fraudulence until 2008. I took mine off my taxes last year. If you haven’t done that yet, please think about adding it to your return.

2.Keep in mind our Books of Excellence author’s co-op. Please check it out if you haven’t seen it lately at www.BooksOfExcellence.com. We have some wonderful authors, and books are selling and being promoted. We would be happy to have you join our group. Please email me if you would like further information.

3.I’ll be in Connecticut in May at the CAPA conference (Connecticut Authors and Publishing Association) as a guest speaker on Predatory Publishing discussing how we as victims stood up to fight and stop Airleaf. If any of you live in the area, I’d love to meet you. Please let me know if you’d like more information.

Thank you for your patience, support, and hopefully, willingness to keep our battle alive until we see justice. What happened to us is criminal—and criminals need to be punished.

Love,
Bonnie Kaye, M. Ed.

AIRLEAF VICTIMS UPDATE AUGUST 23, 2008

AIRLEAF VICTIMS UPDATE AUGUST 23, 2008

Dear Authors and Friends,
I wanted to send you an update to let you know that I am still diligently working on our case. I am in touch with the Attorney General’s office through our representative Tom Irons. The case against Airleaf was filed in civil court several months ago when I wrote to you about the judgment. This is still in the early phases of being resolved. Most likely, Carl Lau will be declaring bankruptcy; however—we do have a chance that this will NOT happen based on some information I obtained this week.
On the website Go Big Network, a website that tries to hook people up with investors, I found this advertisement:
Carl Lau

Company: 2nd Century Films
Industry: Entertainment
Location: Greenwood, IN (USA)
My Focus: Startup;


Startup Company Profile
Startup Name 2nd Century Films
Location Greenwood, IN (United States)
Industry Entertainment
Year Founded 2008
Legal Status Unspecified
Business Stage Unspecified
Number of Employees Unspecified
Company Description A startup company with lots of projects to put into movies, Hollywood likes the screenplays and we have the right actors and directors to produce. Great investment for the long term or short term investor.

It also said Carl is looking for:
Entertainment $1,000,000.00

I found this very amusing. One million dollars to start his own film company—amazing! Well, I can always hope that he’s planning to use that money to pay for the judgment against him by the Attorney General’s office.
It seems that Carl Lau has no shame. After scamming hundreds of us, he’s looking to find new victims. I was happy to forward this information to the authorities who are investigating our case. I wanted them to know that sleeping dogs don’t seem to lie—or rather—lay still for very long.
I am staying in touch with the United States Attorney’s office in Indiana, as well as the FBI to keep pushing them for help. As soon as a decision is made, I will notify you and let you know next steps. This week marks one year since I started our Airleaf Victims group. We’ve made excellent progress in view of the obstacles that have been placed in our way. We must remain vigilant and not give up!
Here’s some very exciting news for our authors. I am always looking for ways for authors to boost their books. I looked into book reviews because some of our authors feel that having a book review will help with their book promotions.
I was excited to find that Barnes and Noble on line does FREE book reviews without charging authors. To make doubly sure, I wrote to them directly. Here was their response:
Thanks for your interest in the Barnes & Noble Review.
Publishers, authors, or publicists interested in having a published or forthcoming book considered for review by the Barnes & Noble Review can mail a galley/advance reading copy or finished copy of the book, along with a cover letter including appropriate contact information, to:
Deirdre Sonsini The Barnes & Noble Review
Barnes & Noble.com 76 Ninth Avenue
New York, NY 10011
Best wishes,
The Barnes and Noble Review
Just to be sure, I wrote to Barnes and Noble to double check if there is any charge at all for this review and the answer was NO!!
Another excellent source of FREE book reviews is Midwest Book Reviews. You can visit their website at http://www.midwestbookreview.com/bookbiz/url_sub.htm
There is great information on there about publicizing your book as well. Directions on how to subject your book for a review is also found there.

In September, I will officially be launching our author’s co-op Books of Excellence. If you haven’t seen our site lately, please check it out at www.BooksOfExcellence.com. We are happy to have any of our Airleaf Victims join the group. We will be promoting it at an upcoming book fair in New York in a few weeks. I have started Google advertising for the site, and our members have started buying books of other members in support. If you would like to join this innovative group, please drop me a note and I will send you the details.

Remember, as you pursue your republishing or promotional futures, make sure NOT to repeat the mistakes of your past. Thoroughly investigate any publisher who offers you anything beyond publishing your book. If a publisher is charging you money for a review, please let me know and I will check it out for you to find out if there really is a cost for the review. Also make sure that you have a signed contract. Many of our Airleaf Victims never received back a signed contract. No matter how “friendly” you are with your publisher, business is business. Also make sure you receive quarterly statements which is standard and promised. And if you buy a promotional package, make sure to ask for a regular accounting of where your book is being sold. For instance, one woman wrote to me recently to tell me that she was told by her publisher that her book is in 33 bookstores. When I questioned her about where these stores are, I couldn’t get a response. Make sure you find out the bookstore and call them to verify this information. And if you are told that your book is being solicited to all of your area media, ask for a list of the media and who was spoken to. Learn from your marketing mistakes of the past. Don’t allow yourself to be a victim again like a number of the Airleaf Victims who have come to me a second time. And if you feel you have been cheated by any book company, please let me know so I can help you retrieve your money.

Several of our authors have recently asked me about the credibility of the Better Business Bureau. In checking out a reliable publisher, don’t assume that you will get a reliable rating from the Better Business Bureau because of the long and difficult process involved. One of our victims recently tried to file a report on line, only to be frustrated because the site froze when she tried to submit it. When I tried to help her with the form, it froze on me as well. In frustration, I called the Indiana Better Business Bureau and explained my frustration. I also asked them what it takes on their part to remove a company that less than reputable from their list. I explained that so many of our Airleaf Victims complained to the Indiana Better Business Bureau, but yet Airleaf remained in good standing with them until the end. They explained that it is a long process to do an investigation on a company once they are a dues paying member. There are a number of steps that have to be taken, and this takes time. They were able to send me the form via email to be printed out and done manually, so that was a help. But as I’m watching the process of this specific complaint, I see the company in question has sent back a response which isn’t responding to the complaint. This means more time and more correspondence and more delays. It becomes a “he said—she said” ordeal with lots of delays. So it’s certainly possible for a company to keep that BBB Accreditation for a long time regardless if their reliability. This is why so many of us were misled by the Better Business Bureau when we checked out Airleaf in the past.

Bottom line—investigate, investigate, investigate before you make your next mistake!
I’m happy to check out any company that you are considering for feedback. Just send me a note.

I will be in touch soon. Please feel free to write to me for help with anything you need or any questions you have.

With love and hope,
Bonnie

AIRLEAF VICTIMS UPDATE JUNE 28, 2008

Dear Airleaf Victims and Friends,

I have had the wonderful opportunity to meet nearly five hundred of you via email, telephone, mail, and in-person visits. I feel as if you are my extended family because we've shared so much together. Some of us will remain lifetime friends long after Airleaf is behind us.

It has been nearly a year since I started my campaign to stop the fraudulence at Airleaf. In this past year, together we have done what people said was impossible—namely put Airleaf out of business and have charges brought by the Indiana Attorney General's office all within this relatively short time period. I have no doubt that other charges will be brought on the criminal end even though things are not moving as quickly.

For the past 10 months, I have sent out my updates on a weekly basis to expose the fraudulence that went on at Airleaf as well as to give important information about republishing your work. Recently, I exposed similar Airleaf-type fraudulence going on at Jones Harvest Publishing. Brien Jones has sent out notes asking people why I am doing this to him. All I am doing is alerting people to the marketing fraud that Brien is repeating at his own company in the same contemptuous way he did at Airleaf.

I would like to tell you something of my past relationship with Brien. When I started my group of Airleaf Victims, a number of people believed and accused me of working with Brien Jones to start the group. They thought he was using me to get back at Airleaf and Carl Lau. Although Brien was very helpful in giving me information about Airleaf, as were other former employees, he was certainly not responsible for my actions. In fact, he was not in favor of them and discouraged me from starting the Airleaf Victims campaign. He still felt some sense of loyalty to Lau or perhaps it was fear of repercussions to him if Lau suspected Jones of working with me.

Many of you wrote to me in the early days when I started my campaign that Brien was the person you held responsible for the loss of your money. I tried to "redirect" your anger against Carl Lau because he was ultimately the person responsible for not providing the services and taking the money into the Airleaf bank account.

From our first conversation, Brien swore to me that he was going to be different than Airleaf. He only wanted to sell books. He said his goal was to travel from bookstore to bookstore asking them to take books because authors want their books in bookstores. In the beginning of his business, he told me that the Hollywood pitches were a waste of time and knocked Airleaf for doing that. He promised me that every promise he made to authors would be kept. HE WAS DIFFERENT THAN CARL LAU AND AIRLEAF. And guess what? I believed him. Because I believed him, I allowed him to use me to gather other authors for his business. That would have been fine if he was doing an honest job. But he wasn't—and he isn't. So many of our authors told me horror stories about Brien, and in time, it became impossible to overlook them. He had an excellent explanation for every accusation, but could so many people be wrong? Now I realize I was naïve and trusting even after being stung. So if it happened to you TWICE, know that you're not alone. But guess what? It won't happen to me ever again. I've learned to be smarter.

Since exposing the fraudulence of Jones Harvest three weeks ago, two people have written to me to tell me that they are happy with Brien Jones and Jones Harvest Publishing. I'm glad to hear that. But I've explained to these authors that there were people who were very happy with Airleaf as well; however, that didn't mean the majority of us weren't victims of predatory publishing. Brien makes promises in writing that he is not keeping nor does he have any intention of keeping. Even stamping that a book is has a copyright when there is no copyright is a blatant slap in the face of every author when that happens. Promising people fame when there is no fame to be had is repeating the same scam as Airleaf did. As so many of you have written to me over the past six months, you can no longer tell the difference between the Jones Harvest ads and the Airleaf ads. This is sickening for sure.

The lesson to be learned from our tragedy with Airleaf is not to make the same mistake twice—or in some of our cases, three times. And, if you made the mistake a second time, you can fix it. Make sure that you have a signed contract in hand from whomever your new publisher is. Make sure you get statements and payments as you were promised. Write down on your calendar the quarterly dates they are do. When you go to a publisher, have him put INTO writing what you can expect to make with the sale of your book. Seeing the profit margin may drive you to keep checking out other possible solutions. Do research on Google. Put in the name of the company and put Complaints about…. And see what comes up. You learn a whole lot that way. And then check with others who have used the company. Check with me! I'll research it for you and let you know what I find out. I have friends now in the predatory publishing world—thank you Victoria, Anne, and Dave! You are all guardian angels of our vulnerable and believing authors. Check out their Preditors and Editors and Writers Beware columns. Learn how to be a good detective before falling for promises that will be broken.

At this point, you will stop receiving the Airleaf Victims update on a weekly basis. I will send you all a blitz whenever there is news on the case. If I need help in getting results, I will write to all of you for your help. I am trying to refocus myself into positive action such as our Books of Excellence Author Co-op and exposing other predatory publishing to make sure victims have a platform.

If you need help in anything and want my help, don't hesitate to write to me. Otherwise, you'll hear from me on an informational basis only. I will let all of you know once our site for the authors' co-op is up and functioning. We will be very proud to accomplish this to show the world that our books will continue to be seen and read.

Incidentally, if you have the WE Entertainment channel on your cable (Women's Entertainment), you can see me in an episode of Secret Lives of Women being rebroadcast on July 1st at 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. You can also catch it on July 4th at 8 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. The episode is "Dirty Little Secrets of Suburban Housewives." It is certainly quite a shocking hour not for the faint of heart—or those under aged! I'm in the segment with the woman who has a gay husband. They interviewed me doing a counseling session with the woman. It's on the second part of the show.

Love to all of my victim fighters who helped make history happen. Better days are ahead.

With love and hope,

Bonnie