Sam Sloan's lawsuit against the USCF was dismissed. I couldn't help but include this image, which is from Sam's dvd (available from Amazon!) "Sam on Afghanistan."Product Description: Ismail "Sam" Sloan escaped from police custody in Afghanistan in 1978 and now offers his commentary on the current War in Afghanistan.
comments, anyone?
14 comments:
I admit I have found this whole affair too depressing to follow it closely, and I've generally relied on others to keep me informed about it.
So what happens now? Does Susan's suit get dropped and the investigations halted? Does the USCF resume spending at least some of our dues on something other than lawyers?
To answer TOM:
1. Sloan's action was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds. The merits of his complaint were not addressed. He can file an appeal to the 2nd Circuit which he claims he will do. If his appeal is rejected, he can then file his complaint in state court--probably NY.
2. Ms. Polgar's suit, which she commenced in state court in Lubbock, Texas has been removed with the consent of all defendants thus far served to the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas on the basis of diversity jurisdiction.. There is no longer a state case. The case will most likely stay in Federal court where the rules of pleading are a bit different than in Texas state court. Defendants can make motions to dismiss for failure to state a cause of action, counter claim against Ms. Polgar and move to join Mr. Truong as a third Party defendant. Counsel and the parties are subject to Rule 11 sanctions for frivolous, harassing litigation and acts done essentially in bad faith. Federal judges generally tolerate no nonsense.
3. The investigation of Mr. Truong and secondarily, I suppose, Ms. Polgar is independent of her Texas action and is proceeding with depositions expected to be taken of Polgar and Truong. It is my understanding from the newspapers, that the material thus far obtained by the USCF has been turned over to the US Treasury Department, specifically the Secret Service's Electronic Crimes Task Force in San Francisco. I doubt this matter is going to go away any time soon.
4. Mr. Truong's bankruptcy discharge in 2007 is now being examined by the Trustee in Bankruptcy who is in possession of my submission to Judge Milton of materials indicating that Mr. Truong committed bankruptcy fraud. Mr. Truong told the court on 6/21/07 that he was unemployed when he was in fact running a business with Ms. Polgar (they led a tour to Hungary for chess enthusiasts just days after he filed his petition). The court and trustee now have in their possession Mr. Truong's earnings statement from TTU indicating that he was employed and on the TTU payroll at $75,000 per year from 6/1/07, some 20 days before telling the court that he was unemployed. In August, 2007, Mr. Truong appeared for an asset hearing before the bankruptcy trustee asserting that he had no assets. Interesting, no?
5. As one of the named defendant's in Ms. Polgar's action who has not been served, I will state categorically that her action as to me is totally without merit, is made in bad faith and is nothing more than a malicious prosecution brought for the purpose of silencing her critics and keeping the truth of Polgar and Truong's activities in the dark. If I am joined in any action by Ms. Polgar or Mr. Truong, I will commence litigation against Truong, Polgar and certain of their associates. While I much prefer not to litigate, if forced to, I will take them to the mat and make them regret the day they learned to play chess.
Brian Lafferty
brian laffable,
"While I much prefer not to litigate, if forced to, I will take them to the mat and make them regret the day they learned to play chess."
you know, you really won't..... but good job sounding lame on the internet!
Oh, okay. I take it then that the answer to my question is: "No."
Tom, as to the USCF's membership money, it isn't a complete no. There is money being spent on good things, particularly in the scholastic area. The problems caused by Truong as the Fake Sam Sloan, his refusal to cooperate with USCF counsel in defending against the Sloan action and his wife's commencing action in Texas have all wasted USCF monies that could have been better spent. Add to that the virtually complete lack of money brought to the USCF through Polgar/Truong's efforts over the past year, and it is clear that these two board members have and are severely damaging a USCF that has not been financially well managed for a number of years.
The good news is that state associations are doing some really good things all over the country. If the USCF can get the Polgar/Truong and financial problems sorted out, the USCF could really move forward in a positive way to everyone's benefit.
Brian Lafferty
Thank you for sharing, teren.
BL
Just to be clear, Sam Sloan is absolutely and totally wacko crazy insane, right?
HI! thank you for linking me and putting me in your chess links. I have also added you.
regards,
Boris
I recently obtained a book published by Sloan (Ishi press). In the forward, which he wrote, (the book itself is a reprint of a classic collection of endgame problems), he rambles on about hitchhiking across the country, making it clear he isn't gay, the Lindbergh baby kidnapping...it's very weird. I'm sure a psychologist could make a clinical diagnosis from the forward alone.
That said, he may be less crazy (or at least less harmful) than Truong, who apparently is a pathological liar and scam artist, based on his inflated and unverified claims and his actual multiple bankruptcies. And of course his obsessive online impersonation of Sloan, the evidence of which looks to be good beyond a shadow of a doubt.
It's enough to make one hide the fact they play chess, so as not to be associated with such types.
Wow, that makes me really start doubting Polgar. I've been reading her blog for a while, but now I need to take everything I read there with a grain of salt.
Wow, one of the great chess luminaries from the state of Massachusetts is posting comments on your blog.
Doesn't it kind of make you want to go through some kind of fumigation or louse removal process?
I used to be a participant on another message board that had a fine motto:
Don't stick your hand in the Crazy.
Once you stick your hand in the Crazy, you can never get it out again.
There's more than enough Crazy in this situation to go around.
Sam Sloan is not in the least bit crazy. He's eccentric, but quite sane, lucid, rational, etc.
That's not to say that anything he says is valid - one can be sane and rational yet still be deceptive, self-intersted, misinformed, or reason incorrectly. I even once saw someone on a chess blog (this one, maybe???) argue rather persuasively that Bobby Fischer's views weren't insane. Fischer's assertions about the Jewish conspiracy were hateful and misconceived, the guy said, but he added that "many sane people believe these things." (I don't doubt it.)
In Sloan's case, his main eccentricity that I'm aware of, seems to consist of an obsession with getting public attention. And he seems to especially crave negative attention - he loves to shock people. That seems to be his mission in life. Sort of a Howard Stern-type. (And Sloan has a good sense of humor.) Going all the way back to his undergrad days when he was a leader in the Berkeley Sexual Freedom League.
I think Sloan is aware that at least 50% of the things he says are untrue (which doesn't imply I think the other 50% actually are true - only that Sloan may think they are).
In fact, Donna Alarie may have put it best: Most of Sloan's causes and accusations start from a kernel of truth. Often you have to look real hard to find it - because even when his main point is valid, he just about always mixes in a large quotient of untruths, half-truths, and statements that he might have thought were true but never lifted a finger to check out.
He's a decent writer, so the yarns he spins from this hash of facts, lies and speculation masquerading as knowledge, often have the ring of truth, especially to the uninitiated.
You might say they have "truthiness."
At September 6, 2008 2:11 PM, Brian Lafferty wrote:
4. Mr. Truong's bankruptcy discharge in 2007 is now being examined by the Trustee in Bankruptcy who is in possession of my submission to Judge Milton of materials indicating that Mr. Truong committed bankruptcy fraud. Mr. Truong told the court on 6/21/07 that he was unemployed when he was in fact running a business with Ms. Polgar (they led a tour to Hungary for chess enthusiasts just days after he filed his petition). The court and trustee now have in their possession Mr. Truong's earnings statement from TTU indicating that he was employed and on the TTU payroll at $75,000 per year from 6/1/07, some 20 days before telling the court that he was unemployed. In August, 2007, Mr. Truong appeared for an asset hearing before the bankruptcy trustee asserting that he had no assets. Interesting, no?
Assuming Mr. Lafferty's statement above is correct, why has Mr. Truong failed to resign his seat on the USCF board?
My memory is hazy, but I spent an evening half-listening to the Sat. afternoon Dallas videotape while working. Didn't Mr. Troung offer an explanation to the USCF delegates that he was discharged in bankruptcy prior to starting at Texas Tech?
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