fraud

Peter Beagle was forced out of his home, but media is spreading the fraud story. Readers support him to #TakeBackTheUnicorn.

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Peter Beagle recently lost his apartment as a result of abuse by his ex manager, Connor Cochran.

“I just found out that due to some influence his last agent had over his lease that Peter S. Beagle lost his home and is now in substandard housing…”

Cochran watched this happen while enriching himself with movie shows that pay Peter nothing. Where does Last Unicorn sale money go?  It pays Cochran’s lawyers to attack Peter, deny his rights and delay justice.  Meanwhile Peter is forced to have a fundraiser sale.

In the latest money grab for Cochran’s scam operation, The Last Unicorn movie played in one Florida theater on 3/27/16.  Fans were misled to ask if Peter would appear, without knowing about his lawsuit against those profiting from the show.  But the wrongdoing can’t be suppressed.  Media watchdogs have picked up the story and are carrying it where it needs to go – to the awareness of every fan.

From VICE: “The Sad, Strange Legal Battles of ‘Last Unicorn’ Author Peter S. Beagle”. The Onion A.V. Club: “The Last Unicorn author locks legal horns with his manager”.

You can help. Share these articles on social media and add hashtags #LastUnicorn and #TakeBackTheUnicorn. (Share sources: Facebook, Twitter 1, Twitter 2). Also thank the journalist and ask for more coverage of the wider story about cheating against Peter’s fans.

The elder abuse revealed by Peter’s lawsuit shows that fame and devotion is no guarantee of safety. Mickey Rooney and Harper Lee had similar stories about them.

Readers call “bullshit” on Cochran.

After Peter was abused, Cochran’s countersuit doubled down with a heinous attack at Peter’s girlfriend.  He pretends she’s a gold-digger in their 17 year relationship.  It’s a strategic smokescreen and punishment to emotionally defeat Peter, cut him off from support, and keep him under Cochran’s thumb. In Cochran’s bully mind, he’s yanking the choke chain on a disobedient dog. It’s the pattern the caused Peter’s lawsuit:

41 Defendant Cochran deliberately defamed Beagle, not just to the public or to business associates, but specifically to his children and to his close personal friends. He refused to stop including Beagle’s children and friends on his emails to Beagle, despite repeated requests to do so. On one such email, dated June 23, Cochran claimed that he didn’t “have any reason to make stuff up”, but this is clearly not true. As long as Beagle could be portrayed as an ill, incompetent, and alcoholic old man to his family and friends, Beagle would lack their support at a time when he was in critical need.

With all of the evidence of Cochran’s wrongdoing, nobody on any of the links has fallen for claims against the girlfriend. He’s struck out after years of lying and manipulation. Peter’s fight is winning. Here’s what readers really think.

girlfriend

These readers nail it.
slimy

This one nails it, too.

“The other side of the story is very deceptive and all sourced from the manager. It’s known that the children were not part of the movie tour. Peter Beagle’s internet presence and facebook and twitter pages are owned by his manager, and there’s been a high amount of deletion of comments. Meanwhile all of the other complaints and lawsuits against the manager outweigh the excuses by a huge amount. It really is a story with a right side and a wrong side.

Copying a top post to the VICE piece on social media –

Beagle’s lawsuit was reinforced by another lawsuit at the same time by the Last Unicorn Movie Tour investors. His manager stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from them too, and he refused to tell them where it went. LA Superior Court case BC605386.

This story has a clear villain and a clear victim. Nobody has a bad word to say about Peter Beagle. His manager Connor Cochran has a decades long reputation for scams and fraud. Just google it.

Cochran claims Beagle is crazy, like many other targets he called crazy to get away with cheating them. But Beagle’s lawsuit gives medical exhibits that he’s in excellent health for his age. Cochran also is targeting Beagle’s life partner with legal attacks that claim she’s a gold digger. She’s been with Beagle for 17 years since before there was any gold. It’s an absurdly flimsy hit tactic/smokescreen. You can read the entire lawsuit at Beagle’s support site. http://supportpeterbeagle.com/wordpress2/

Please update this in a while because Cochran sure isn’t going to avoid paying huge damages. It takes a lot of attention for the audience who have been following all the shifting stories and lying about his scamming, but just read the piles of horror stories to get informed.”

Nice hashtag here – it deserves to be shared.

hashtag

Please share a fundraiser for Peter Beagle, and oppose false sale of his work to fight him.

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Would you buy the work of a creator you love, if it funds an abuser’s fight to grab his rights – to financially crush him into submission, steal his creative time, make him lose sleep, punish people he loves, and delay aid and solutions?

How would you feel if your goodwill was misused that way without your knowledge- because the seller hid the creator’s objections?

This is happening with sales of Peter Beagle’s work at Conlan Press. It enriches owner Connor Cochran while he battles Peter in court, and Peter is living as “close to the bone” as possible.

Here’s a good way to get books without guilt, and help him eat and live.  “All proceeds go directly to Peter. There is no middleman.”  Please share: 

A Fundraiser for Peter and A Lot of Damn Fine Reading as Well!

Consumer rights abuse is only part of the problem with Conlan Press.  There’s something very wrong with the misuse of goodwill. Well-intentioned fans are paying without being informed about Peter’s lawsuit against Cochran for Elder Abuse and Fraud.  Their money funds Cochran’s vexatious attack back at Peter.

Cochran’s appeals for money won’t mention any lawsuit – in his “Raven” newsletter, his web store, his ebooks at Amazon.com, and his exploitation of the Last Unicorn movie rights and licensing.  DON’T BUY ANY OF IT! He’s doing “sleazy money and intellectual property grabs using Peter as bait without Peter’s permission or benefit.”

He’s milking Peter’s name like there’s no tomorrow – because there isn’t one for his business while Peter’s lawsuit moves forward.

Cochran wormed his way into Peter’s life by selling snake-oil about a better deal. He pushed out previous exploiters to take their place.  But this fundraiser isn’t like his “crisis for poor Peter!” tearjerkers he did to exploit goodwill. It’s not promoting another false savior. It’s simply dealing with the results of Cochran’s scamming, that hit so many others who need relief too.

Didn’t get your book, just excuses?

So, you’re one of countless deceived fans who paid Conlan Press without knowing about Peter’s lawsuit or Cochran’s 11 years of withholding goods.  Please notice his new strategy to delay timely delivery, put off complaints, and sweep scamming under the rug.  (And to hide violation of the FTC’s 30-day rule.)  He recently enlisted a Crisis Manager to make the excuses look good.

Read about Cochran’s PR manipulation in our extra-super-detailed post.

DON’T LET HIM GET AWAY WITH IT.  Silence makes more harm.

If your money was taken deceptively, or if you got nothing – demand refunds now. Take NO excuses. Keep pressure going. Don’t hold hope after years of lies. Don’t let your money fund attacks at Peter instead of what you paid for.

No refund? File a Credit Charge Dispute.

(Non-lawyer tips to use at your own judgement. Read more at Credit.com.)

Never pay cash to a shady seller. A card brings important protection.

If ONE refund request to the company isn’t honored, find the transaction in your statement and ask the bank for a charge dispute. It can be done online in a minute, or call them.  They’re rarely fought.  Watch time limits (often 120 days.)  The bank takes the money back and credits your account, then reviews if the decision is final.

If you got no item, the refund is yours.  If something did arrive, you may mail it back (ideally, postage due) and keep the tracking number.  If the bank follows up to ask for proof, share the tracking number and the refund is yours.

If the company delivered something different than you paid for, delivered more than 30 days late, didn’t answer your request, refused to accept a return, or there was any problem with return address, tell them and the refund is yours.

Banks make money from providing this service – they’re strongly on the side of consumers. Also, they review accounts that receive many disputes.  Too many and the account may be cancelled.

We’ve seen cheated victims of Conlan Press go empty-handed without knowing about this protection.  Knowledge is Power – use it today.

Conlan Press gets Crisis Manager instead of delivering goods promised now. Fake “pre sales” are continuing since 2005. Meet the new Human Shield for fraud.

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Conlan Press is crashing and burning with multiple lawsuits for over $50 million and a fraud scandal.  That includes 11 YEARS of fake “pre sales” for TWO HEARTS.  Most recently, the lying delivery promises were for October… then November… then February… “Spring 2016″… and then all dates were removed from the sale page:

conlanpress.com

(- Conlan Press).  See bottom for more outrageously slimy excuses for why this isn’t happening.

The lies have been so consistent and intentional that they need special tracking to list them all.  We started in 2014. (Another site has a Lie List too). The public is fed up:ten

Complaints keep piling up about Kubo art prints, Last Unicorn Blu-ray movies, “Better Beagle Bundles”, THE LAST UNICORN expanded graphic novel, and THE LAST UNICORN worldwide screening tour edition. From 2/17/2016:

(Facebook post by G.N.) I consider myself to be a rather intelligent and cautious man when it comes to scammers and those who choose to take advantage of others for the sake of a dollar… the reason I am posting this… is to draw attention to Connor Cochran of Conlan Press and expose him to the world as the crook that he truly is. I also wish to express my deepest sympathy to Peter S Beagle and his family who have all been taken advantage of by such a disgusting and self-serving lowlife. I may never see my $120.00 again or ever receive my merchandise, but I refuse to stand by and let the legacy and beauty that is “The Last Unicorn” be tarnished and desecrated in such a manner…

Here’s what owner Connor Cochran delivers, instead of what you paid for.

Mr. Reece Mack has publicly announced getting the Crisis Manager role for the “Last Unicorn Movie” page on Facebook.  Months afterwards, that is.  On LinkedIn, he says it happened in September 2015. (Was it timed in advance of Peter’s lawsuit?)

social

A deleted comment by Mia S.: “So… By happy place do you mean deleting all mentions of bad business on the part of the publishing company?” 

 

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Mr. Mack’s LinkedIn profile publicly presents his Crisis Management role. It shows a talented, wholesome-looking guy, making sympathy about a good person damaged by association with Connor Cochran. (Below, read a professional’s advice to get distance.)

linkedin

Connor Cochran gave this role to Mr. Mack while he’s in school near Vancouver for a PR degree.  Using a student has benefits for a manipulator. They may be passionate and exploitable – until they’re burnt out and disposed. (See how Cochran exploited a cancer patient until they collapsed.)  

Why would Cochran want a Vancouver connection? It’s a center for animation industry with lots of international investment and tax breaks. And don’t forget refuge from legal jurisdiction. In 2015, he fled California after calls for investigation, and moved to Bellingham WA, 15 minutes from Canada’s border.  He was chasing $125 million from Chinese movie investors – until they saw Peter Beagle’s lawsuit.

September 2015 was an interesting date to engage Mr. Mack’s service.  Cochran had already done a few months of calculated deception about Peter’s health. (See the doctor’s report about good health in Peter’s lawsuit).  That was to spread distraction, because Peter refused to shield Cochran’s fraud any longer.

So Cochran reeled in a crisis manager.  We sympathize for Mr. Mack about being strategically put in the line of fire. It sucks to be a Human Shield – and if it comes down to it, a scapegoat like many before him.

We’ve been respecting Mr. Mack’s prudent silence about this, until he belatedly announced and named himself on Facebook, to soothe customer anger about fake “pre sales” and delivery lies by Cochran.

It’s a shitty job, but nobody has to do it.  Let Cochran face justice with no more delay.

Mr. Mack, it’s time to stop excusing fraud and be honest to all – including yourself.

Years of consistent complaints aren’t “negative rumours.”

rumor2

It’s not a rumor that Connor Cochran has been sued many times for scamming.

  • Penguin Group (usa) Inc. couldn’t get Cochran to pay his $3,000 bill until they sued. We received a report that they won with damages: San Mateo Superior Court, case #CLJ511166 (2012) – A writ of execution was issued in the amount of $6001.28. The judgment was finally satisfied in early 2015. 
  • Baker & Taylor Incorporated sued for $6,000 of DVD’s after Cochran broke their contract, and pretended to have other terms that didn’t exist.
  • Sydney Clemens had $25,000 stolen when Cochran promised to publish her, broke the contract, forced her to sue, and gamed the system to run up her bills.
  • The Last Unicorn Tour investors are suing him for misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars.
  • New grounds to sue keep coming, because Cochran treats contracts like disposable wrapping paper on presents to himself.

Mr. Mack, what this site exposed in 2014 wasn’t rumor. It was prediction long before Peter’s lawsuit gave so much more evidence. See a letter we put out to your predecessor, Chris Rickert, and wonder if she saw it coming.

chris

Mr. Mack, please read advice about Cochran from one publishing professional to another one, who was disgraced for supporting him:

Dude, I don’t know how far back you go with Cochran, but some friendly advice having known and worked with someone just like Cochran… don’t go to bat for him. I’m a casual observer, I know maybe a smattering of the details, and everything I see is red flags.

Seriously. What’s more likely: he’s the innocent victim of a decade of bad luck and poor project management, along with a duplicitous client and an internet-wide smear campaign lasting ten years, masterminded by angry fans and a former employee using a bunch of sock puppet accounts to sully the name of somebody trying to preserve a beloved author’s career… or the more realistic version?

Honestly, just take a step back from all this. Do it for your own good. I worked for a small publisher in my area for a couple of months, and he fed me a line of bullshit just like Cochran’s about a few projects we were doing… Seriously, just get distance and don’t look back.

Mr. Mack, please don’t underestimate how much worse it will get with the sad thing you’re carrying on.  Think about whether a disgraceful fraud scandal belongs on your resume. Get on the right side with the victims, and support consumer rights and Peter Beagle.  We wish you the best in getting distance from Cochran’s damage.

For anyone else, if you don’t feel like you’re being scammed by Cochran’s PR manipulation – YOU ALREADY ARE.

Even more outrageously slimy excuses with one Human Shield after another.

“The Raven, January 8, 2016 – This is a free email newsletter from Conlan Press regarding Peter S. Beagle’s work” (A slimy way to exploit Peter more without permission.)

“EXTENDED PRE-ORDER DISCOUNTS ON NEW LAST UNICORN BOOKS (Linda Robertson’s loss is your gain)”

Last October Linda Robertson, our freelance book designer, was in a car accident while taking her father on a much-delayed vacation. Linda and her dad came out of it all right, thank goodness, but the same could not be said for the car, which was totaled. So Linda asked us to share this note with all of you:

“Hi everyone. I’m Linda, the book designer working on the tour edition of The Last Unicorn and the exciting Two Hearts hardback. I’m thrilled to be working on both of these books and I hope you’ll love the finished volumes.

“If you’ve ever worked in publishing you’ll know that delays are almost a given. After 40 years in publishing I could tell you stories that would make your eyes cross and head spin. At my end a recent auto accident has taken up a lot of time. Though none of my family was hurt, I am left dealing with insurance companies and an attempt to find a replacement car.

“So please don’t think the books are on the back burner and that you’ll never see them…

DOWNSIDE OF THE ACCIDENT: We wanted The Last Unicorn Worldwide Screening Tour hardcover and the illustrated Two Hearts hardcover to be out by now, but obviously that’s not happening. This delay also pushed back our schedule on the new expanded Regular and Deluxe hardcover editions of The Last Unicorn graphic novel.

UPSIDE OF THE ACCIDENT: (a) Linda’s loss is your gain, assuming you’d like to save money. Our pre-order discount on these titles was supposed to end in October, but because of the accident we are extending it until the books go to press. In addition, (b) the additional time made it possible to add a section to the tour hardcover commemorating Lula Coe, the amazing Idaho girl whose terminal cancer prompted us to bring a screening…

See again the victim report of how Connor Cochran exploited another cancer patient.

And a car accident last October is his amazing BS excuse now after 11 years of fraud. That’s how gullible he thinks you are when he uses others to promote himself.

Getting a crisis manager can keep the excuses coming.  It can’t fix the ownership of the company.  For real solution, see CALL FOR INVESTIGATION in the sidebar.

Deceptive art print sales reveal new fraud by Connor Cochran – a warning to avoid Conlan Press.

fan conman press news, Consumer Complaints, Lawsuits , , , ,

We’re letting everyone know about the below post to the Peter S. Beagle Facebook page. (Thanks to Kevin for the tip.)

–

rafter

–

The deleted post was here.  Here’s others about Frank’s animation collector website, and a blog post from 2010, showing that he is indeed who he said he is.

Peter Beagle’s Facebook page is controlled by his abusive ex-manager, Connor Cochran. Many grievances have been scrubbed away from the page to hide wrongdoing, depriving Peter of his voice and his connection to fans.

But the internet is forever, and Connor has no power to delete anything we share.

This post adds evidence about the same fraud revealed by many other lawsuits against Connor and Conlan Press. (See sidebar.) There’s strong public need to know about this ongoing pattern of abuse.

The Conlan Press web store offers a few dozen items for sale that reprint other people’s work. (It has long operated as a signature factory and false front for “pre sales” of goods that are never produced.)  Seven Kubo fine art prints are being sold for hundreds of dollars. (Are they really “limited edition”?)

Kubo

Cochran has bragged about handling 300,000 sales. The prints have a prominent place at the top of his store. Consider if 5,000 prints were sold at $100 each. A half million dollar take would give excellent grounds for a lawsuit for falsely withholding commissions. You see the scale of theft blithely committed by Cochran while he claims to do “Good Things For Good Reasons” – Conlan Press’s fork-tongued motto.

Fans Against Fraud has already shared many complaints about these expensive prints being withheld from confused and angry customers. From The Last Unicorn Facebook page:

noprint

Connor has since removed all such comments from his own site, but we helpfully saved them for you.

Jessie Dias June 14, 2015 at 5:27 pm

Hi my mom and i ordered a bunch of stuff when u guys were on tour in Houston TX but we havent gotten anything we ordered yet and were not sure why are u guys waiting till the tour is totally over or are u just backed up on orders?

Sold in April 2015 – STILL undelivered in Feb 2016 (breaking the FTC’s 30-day rule):

These are just some of countless scam victims who should be warned about the consumer rights abuse we have documented.

Cochran broke the promises that were part of sales both coming and going.  He has been sued by publishers for taking stock without paying. Then he takes sales money without delivering.  In essence, he steals twice – from providers, and from buyers who are shortchanged.

Come up with your own words for the way this slimy cartoon villain has inserted himself in the middle of this business.

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Reports are coming in with higher volume than we can cover. Look for more soon.  Please share, and visit Peter Beagle’s support page in the top corner of this site.  Keep the faith that the more this truth comes out, the faster Cochran’s fraud operation will crumble, until there is fairness for Peter and the victims.

Report: Connor Cochran pushed cancer patient and Last Unicorn Tour volunteer to work until she vomited – and her family was cheated after her passing.

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It is with sorrow that we share the following story about a movie tour volunteer and her family, reported by her friend.

In respect for the dignity of the departed, we ask readers to pay a moment of thought for her as a generous person, as many fans of Peter Beagle are.

Giving from the heart is the quality that Connor Cochran targeted for his own greedy gain. His profit came from exploiting fan generosity as a continual source for enrichment that he would never repay.

As deplorable as this is, the report may not surprise you if you’re caught up with updates here. For a wealth of supporting evidence, start with the introduction to Cochran’s history – item 1) in the side bar.

We want this reporter to take heart in knowing that it helps other victims to share.  We asked approval to post this, and she answered: “Thank you for giving me a voice to express not only my anger but the truth of Cochran’s behavior.”

Below, read her most recent message sent directly to Cochran, regarding cheating of her friend’s family and 13-year-old son in their time of grief.

Then, read her experience of volunteering for the Last Unicorn Tour.  She sent it to Peter Beagle’s lawyer, to add even more evidence about Cochran’s history.

Names are removed here, but already submitted for legal use as appropriate, exclusively and solely by the reporter. We’re grateful to have the second look.

Message to Connor Cochran

Mr. Cochran,

You have put off, lied and manipulated for years now. This year before Christmas you wanted me to ask H____’s family for their address to have a package sent to her son (now a men’s medium!). Knowing you had no intention of actually resolving this I was lucky enough to have saved every email from you and your cohorts where I had given it (H____’s address) to you years previously.

And, like I thought, NOTHING came to fruition.

What kind of man are you? The lying kind. The kind that will tell anyone whatever he thinks will get them off of his back for a period of time. A man who would have had me get a 13 year old boy excited for a gift which in his eyes would be from his mother – (not you) – who died less than a year before.

You not only did not get it sent to him for Christmas, you didn’t have it sent by mid January for his birthday, which was hard enough for him since his mother passed on the day after his birthday the year before.

You are truly a deplorable person and someone who can not be trusted. Your morals and values need to be put in check, you need to stop lying to the world and start being honest.

It must feel very upsetting to you to know how the public views you.

I have contacted Mr. Beagle’s lawyer, Mrs. Hunt and gave her a write up of my account volunteering under your Tour (it was yours wasn’t it?) and forwarded all emails sent back and forth between the two of us.

Hope this brings you a lot of shame because you deserve nothing less.

Mr. Beagle deserved better than you and so did the people you manipulated to volunteer under false pretenses.

Thanks you very much, I see no reason to further contact you for the packages as it is obvious after three years you have never had intention to mail them out.

Sincerely,
E____

While reporting here, she added:

“Hopefully this wil help support the claims being made by Beagle and give a clear and very depressing look at how much Cochran values his volunteers and humans in general… Purely a man out for the buck with no ascertation of how to be a good, caring human.” 

“My depression is strong and missing my best friend has drastically changed my life and attitude towards life. It is difficult for me to remember times like this as I would much prefer to concentrate on the good days H____ and I had. Still, I did get this done.”

Movie Tour Volunteer Experience

E____’s account of working for The Last Unicorn Tour.

It was in April of 2014 I believe. My best friend and I signed up to help with the tour. At this point in time H____ had just finished chemo and radiation for cancer.

Sadly a few weeks before the show she found out the cancer was back (note here that H____ didn’t tell me the cancer had returned until after the show), though that did not stop her from participating and wanting to carry on.

We showed up early and went in to the theater. We were told no one from the show had arrived. After waiting around for an hour we decided to walk to Denny’s (a few stores down) and grab a bite to eat. Afterwards, we went straight back to the theater. Still no one had arrived. H____ and I walked around and window shopped for a good amount of time and made it back again to the theater and still no word from anyone from The Last Unicorn.

Finally, Connor Cochran and Peter Beagle drove up in a tiny van. Cochran said his wife was sick and she stayed behind (somewhere). It was just the three of us getting things ready while Beagle, looking exhausted, rightfully took some time to himself. Beagle appeared tired and a little melancholy, sat at a table with a drink and read a book.

Cochran was working us more than double time. I knew it was too much for H___ and took him aside and told him about her situation (she would never have wanted anyone to know).

I had brought up that my father who was paying to attend the screening lived close (at the time) and could help us set up. Cochran said that would be great and that he would also make sure my Dad got one of the packages for the volunteers. My father was in his mid 60’s at the time. H____ and I had known each other since 9 years old and my Father knew her situation well and came up to the theater quickly (we were all like a big family).

H____ needed to take breaks but it didn’t seem like Cochran had any compassion. H____ mentioned to me Cochran made her feel badly for not being able to keep up with the rest of us.

During our setting up, my father, R____, mentioned that Beagle had been sitting alone for a long time, Cochran was noticeably not paying any attention to Beagle even to make sure he was doing okay.

At that point I encouraged my Dad to go and say hello to him and talk about The Lord of The Rings. My father recalls Peter Beagle being on point, having no issues with a confused mind and someone who was quite intelligent. They continued to chat while we set up the trinkets. Afterwards my Dad was pretty happy getting to have the opportunity to pick Beagle’s brain. My father later said while discussing the lawsuit that Beagle seemed on point and not confused, most importantly very sober.

So, the show went on. The crowd filled the seats, Cochran took to the stage first. Talking skittishly to the audience.

In the middle of the show I had noticed H____ had left her seat for an extended period of time which seemed odd because of her love for The Last Unicorn. Sadly, I found her sitting on the ground in the bathroom and she was throwing up. The work was too much and she had clearly over did it.

After the show ended and all questions taken we headed out to sell merchandise. This part my Father did not participate in. It was H____, myself, Cochran and Beagle at the end of the table talking to a huge amount of fans all wanting a chance to speak with the beloved author.

We sold merchandise for a few hours, the line dwindled and so did Beagle’s energy. Not once did I see or hear Cochran ask Beagle how he was holding up and if the mass of fans was too much for him. It would have been for me, I really don’t know how Beagle handled all of that as it must have been difficult as he was already very tired, especially without a bathroom break after the show and through all of the fans purchasing items.

When it was time to pack up Cochran was there to make sure all inventory was in boxes. Then seemed to take off when it was time to put tables away and pack the van up. H____ again over did it, Dad tried to help as much as possible but I felt like most of the work fell on my shoulders and was angry that Cochran didn’t care about H____’s health or my father’s for that matter doing all this heavy lifting. During this time Beagle sat again at the table exhausted.

It wasn’t until the very end of the night that we asked about the packages for volunteers. Cochran said they would be mailed out to us quickly and drove off.

From that time on, I had sent numerous emails to Cochran asking about the packages as more about H____’s health was revealed. When we learned that she would not survive she asked me to email and request the package be made up for her son rather than for herself. Again, Cochran agreed to this and said once the red tape was “cut” he would be sending out the packages.

Now it is 2016, my best friend of over 20 years is gone and there have been no packages sent out to us, or, any Canadian volunteers as far as I have been able to find out.

This past December 2015, I had been discussing Cochran’s behavior online and my experience working the tour.

On the 14th of December 2015, Cochran messaged me asking for the address to mail out the packages. As we talked about before they were to all be mailed to one address and handed out to make it easier. Though that was not good enough for Cochran who would have had me message H____’s Mother for her address (I am still close with H____’s family and luckily did not have to bother them with this as I knew it wasn’t going to amount to anything) to have the package mailed.

On New Years Eve Day I emailed back asking for the shipping information because if he had mailed it they should have been in Canada by then. Cochran had explained to me because it was Christmas that the packages were not mailed out. He mentioned that he was being nice to us by putting in a shirt, where I had reminded him that the people working the tour were to receive special shirts saying we worked it, and have heard nothing back since.

I will forward you the emails between Cochran and myself so you can read how he talks to his volunteers and manipulates people.

Cochran did not make a good impression on me or anyone that night. He only cared about money and that still seems to be what he is doing now. Asking me to contact H____’s family a year after her death to get an address that was told to me previously that was already recorded. Then, to not even mail out the package to H____’s kid, who was waiting… Well, I think that gives an exceptional example of what his morals and values are.

We must emphasize that Connor Cochran would sue to shut her up, if he could.

Fans Against Fraud offers rock solid support to make your voice heard.  (Use “Report” link in the sidebar.)

The reporter speaks against resistance that has kept many silent. If false promises fail to manipulate victims, then comes Connor’s threats and abuse of the legal system. We hold many such reports in confidence.

Methods to cheat the system come from Cochran’s disgraced partner, Charles E. Petit, an unlicensed ex-lawyer who can’t work a real job.  The luxury of such free and dirty service has been used against many victims – including Peter Beagle now.

For Cochran’s attack against Beagle, his “official” lawyer also represents Harlan Ellison.  Charles Petit’s former client was Harlan Ellison.  You put two and two together.

Dishonest litigation is Cochran’s real business. He inserted himself between Peter Beagle and fans by seizing other people’s work that way.

The corruption revealed by these stories makes it so important to tell them. We’ll share the truth because every victim deserves it. Please share, and visit Peter Beagle’s support site in the sidebar.

Lessons to learn from guilty denial of fraud by Conlan Press – Part Four.

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The secrets are out about the mess Connor Cochran made by defrauding Peter Beagle fans.  So far, pressure forced him to make a public refund promise, and retract attacks he made against whistleblower employee Michael Bolger to distract attention. But he plays victim about the harm he did.  Here’s what you’re really hearing when you hear denial about it.

10) Shady partners show “birds of a feather”.

Associating with crooks may happen unintentionally.  But honest people don’t do it knowingly. It’s indefensible with the evidence on the table.

Bleeding Cool’s report about this story added new disreputable association with artists of the Last Unicorn comic.

Ray Dillon and Renae De Liz are also still accused themselves of non-delivery and delay of projects from the Peter Pan graphic novel Kickstarter, to the Womanthology Kickstarter, as well as repeated stories of commissioned work that was extremely delayed or never fulfilled.

Cochran’s sordid partnership with ex-lawyer Charles Petit, whose license was taken away, has a few more background details.  Petit represented writer Harlan Ellison, and helped cause Ellison’s reputation for “litigious rampages” against everyone – like suing AOL because a piece of Ellison’s writing was posted to a newsgroup.  Petit represented Ellison to sue publisher Fantagraphics in their 30-year feud that was called an “adolescent pissing contest.”  And Petit had a role with The SF Writer’s Association that’s very embarrassing in hindsight: he served their Literary Fraud Committee – before he lost his license for doing fraud.

Petit was the chosen partner for a routine of bullying and scrubbing stories of anyone who complains about being scammed.  As a reader said: “if only Con-nor put as much effort into making customers happy as into arguing and suing…”

11) The biggest disappointment of all.

Message received from an ex associate of Connor Cochran:

Glad to see someone is finally calling Connor out in public for his scams… it’s worth noting that even though Conlan Press has been around since 2005 it  has yet to publish a single thing. All they are is a Peter Beagle signature factory that sells other people’s stuff. The only correction I would make is that I don’t believe Peter is as innocent in this fraud as he would like us to believe. I bought into that fairy tale at first because that’s the story you want to believe. The sad truth is that he’s allowed himself to be put in these situation and is silently complicit, as long as he gets his $3K a month in rent and living expenses I honestly don’t think he cares who gets burned.

Oh.

If true, that crosses a line from injustice for duped victims, to something worse.

If true, it’s very sad to hear this about a creative hero.  Beagle is surrounded by fans and handlers shielding him from reality – while a con man uses him for a shield.  It’s like finding out a benevolent community organization has a bad secret.  (Actually it’s a company with a website full of them.)

But can you blame an old writer, with bad business experiences that would tire anyone?  Beagle just wanted to write- and let the ends justify the means.

Every saint is human, with human faults.  Passivity isn’t the worst fault in the world.  Failure to act, when alerted about scamming, can be charitably called sad.  It was sad that Beagle stayed passive when whistleblower Mike Bolger quit Conlan Press and tried to alert him – with nothing to gain except doing the right thing.  The right thing was stopped, and Bolger was trashed for it.

The burden of blame falls on Connor Cochran – and other knowing supporters who can read the story now. They deny, push back, and want to kill it again.

noevilLOGO

 

Cochran treats fairy tale believers as easy targets.  You can hear him chortling about taking candy from babies.  He fluffs them up to believe anything about their hero.  Dirty business happens behind the front of nice old Peter.  If smoke and mirrors fail, a sob story about Peter is Cochran’s nuclear bomb against complaints.  After all, if a complainer doesn’t buy it- many others can turn on them.

Peter’s poorness and bills, dead mom, house troubles, hard work, “cramped hand” from writing… whatever it takes to make an excuse, Cochran will say it.  He plays a violin and sings Peter’s name. He strews it around like sweet sawdust on a puddle of puke.  “Peter wants…” You can hear the heartstrings while the cash register rings.

“Why can’t Beagle speak for himself? Why is it continually, ‘Peter says this,’ ‘Peter likes this’? The guy is a con artist.“

If you see a statement about business from Peter Beagle, it’s dictated by Connor Cochran and puppeteers. Beagle doesn’t manage his Twitter account or his career. If you tried to get in touch, it would happen through a handler making a false front.

“I reached out to everyone associated with Peter Beagle and Cochran including the Twitter account claiming to be the “official” Twitter account of Peter S. Beagle; surprise, it isn’t. It was just another layer between the fans and Mr. Beagle set up by Cochran.” – victim

In response to this story, Beagle supposedly dismisses all intricate details, with an empty little statement posted by his Twitter account manager.  Supposedly, you should trust a second-hand denial that says “you can count on it.”  Ignore countless corroborating complaints.

Some eat it up like they want to be treated like suckers, and don’t care if it happens to others.  Meanwhile, other trusting people are left in the dark, who haven’t even realized there’s a story at all.

At risk are uninformed fans, liable to get cheated against their will.  Hopefully they won’t learn the hard way.  People of conscience need to tell everyone at risk.

12) Future innocent victims deserve truth.

When an unrepentantly lying businessman gets away with cheating – the ends do not justify the means.

For deniers, it’s your money to burn if Cochran steals it.  There’s no use for “wake up, sheeple!” messages.  It’s enough to point out what’s actually happening to victims, and leave a warning for others who haven’t yet been harmed.

This site is here for good to record it.  In a few years – when your Last Unicorn audiobooks are STILL never delivered – remember, you were warned.

It’s encouraging that pressure from this site forced a public refund offer. That wouldn’t have happened without it. But it wasn’t initiated honestly. Buyers should not be rudely surprised when delivery dates pass for goods that were never produced, and then they must beg and plead for refunds instead of finding them in their mailbox.  Victims deserved to be sought and told the truth, instead of having it squeezed out of the cheater’s fists.  You’ll see how hard Cochran rages against truth in the push back to the story.

Keep watching for new reports.

Reported:

reader

Lessons to learn from guilty denial of fraud by Conlan Press – Part Two.

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Continuing Part One about the mess Connor Cochran made by defrauding Peter Beagle fans.  So far, pressure forced him to make a public refund promise, and retract attacks he made against a bystander to distract attention. But he plays victim about the harm he did.  Here’s what you’re really hearing when you hear denial about it.

5) There’s copious corroboration about fraud – that’s how to catch Connor Cochran lying.

We’ve noticed another blogger who recently posted a long, long, LONG list of broken promises they experienced from Conlan Press.

Read it and wince.  It’s bad.  Check this quote from Connor Cochran in March 2008:

For the most up-to-date details, remember to check the new UPDATES page at Conlan Press. Actual release dates will be announced there first.

Repeated on July 18, 2011:

For updates on projects and products, always check the UPDATES (http://www.conlanpress.com/html/updates.html) page on the Conlan Press website first. That’s where to go to get the latest news.

But then excuses are contradicted.  Straight from Connor Cochran on the website:

The status of all delayed items has been regularly and accurately updated to customers through the company’s email newsletter.

How very slippery. Emails send cheated customers to the website (currently listing broken 2013 promises). The website sends them to emails. That’s the “runaround” reported by angry buyers – part of the Conlan Press attrition process we reported.

6) Fraud was done with classic con games and manipulation of victims.

Doing business involves keeping costs as low as possible.  Unfortunately, stealing is the cheapest way to get something.  It’s an inherent temptation for businessmen of weak conscience – as many cheated Conlan Press customers experienced

Connor Cochran may have started with intentions to fulfill promises.  But since 2004, he over-sold what he would really deliver.  Countless customers got nothing.  Maybe he thought new sales could help fulfill the backlog, so he made more promises.  Over-selling becomes a habit and a self-feeding cycle.  That’s how a publishing company became dishonestly run like a 10 year chain of Kickstarter campaigns gone bad.

It starts with white lies.  Soon, good intentions are forgotten.  New victims are deceived with confidence tricks to quell suspicion.  Excuses play on their sympathy and beg tolerance for bad business.  It becomes a dirty game of capitalizing on devotion.  Lovers of fairy tales are treated like easy targets for emotional ploys.

Love for Peter Beagle is the key. What fan can get angry at poor, wise old Peter? It’s how this went on for 10 years. Fans were strung along for much longer than they’d allow for any other business. But the company that uses Peter’s name isn’t owned by Peter. It all inflates value of Cochran’s properties.

“Connor Cochran is so nice!” – say people who trust him. Predators groom trusting believers. The success of con artists depends on charismatic lying. Consider the biggest fraudster ever, Bernie Madoff, who claims to be a victim even from jail:

“His voice is the most amazing, soothing voice,”… “You really feel like you’re talking to your uncle, your nice, rich uncle who’s a nice guy and, you know, you don’t feel like you’re talking to an arch-criminal.”

A cheated buyer’s opinion of Connor Cochran:

he may be very polite and nice to speak to but he is still a no good, rotten, dirty worm who steals from people none the less.

Confidence tricks play on natural human instincts: love, greed, want.  When Cochran offers something that sounds too good to be true – he entices people’s want for special things supposedly worth much more than they’re paying. They walk into the con.

His 2009 “Extra Deluxe” Last Unicorn sales (still not produced) heavily pushed this trick.  Cochran promised the $85 sales were valuable enough to sell elsewhere for $300.  That’s a con man working you until you want him to steal your money.

A reader commented about the list of “Extra Deluxe” Last Unicorn book buyers:

Screen Shot 2014-12-27 at 5.12.27 AM

Did separate lists manipulate people to think there were fewer buyers than there really were, so they believe they might not wait long? (5 years later, still waiting…) A red flag: no edition limit was mentioned. 79 sales are documented here, but at least 350 are reported.

If you have other lists, please send them to help other victims!

7) There was a history of poor integrity.

We previously asked: What made you go bad, Connor? Why did you stoop to this? 

What breeds a con man without a conscience?  As a little boy growing up in Kansas, maybe he was never taught not to lie and steal.  Or maybe his parents were too strict.  Take a guess from a story about ditching his family (on page 14, where he was named “Talky Li’l Blaggard.”)  But it doesn’t matter for cheated buyers – an adult can’t be excused what Cochran did.

There’s more clues in this commenter’s story.  A partnership that failed in 1984 was meant to pair Connor “Freff” Cochran with dependable creator Phil Foglio:

D’arc Tangent was a magazine-sized black and white comic with impeccable art and what seemed to be a really interesting storyline, published by “ffantasy ffactory,” a company that Foglio and Freff formed together to publish the thing. It was supposed to run 16 issues, but only 1 was published before the partnership dissolved amidst much finger-pointing. Foglio accused Freff of being incredibly late in producing his part of, well, everything, and I’m fairly sure I remember at the time that Foglio had other accusations about the way Freff conducted business in general, although I can’t find any documentation for that now…  Freff in turn accused Foglio of kind of half-assing, well, everything, and later claimed most of issue #1 was actually his work.

Both Freff and Foglio have claimed to hold rights to continue the story at various points, but neither one ever did. My (possibly not so) wild suspicion is that legally neither one could really move forward without the other’s permission, and neither one would cross the street to piss on the other one if he was on fire.

Who was at fault?  Take a guess by comparing Foglio’s successful history of delivering creative works, with the sad record of non-delivery by Connor Cochran.  We’re glad that Foglio left a bad partnership to produce with integrity on his own. Beware of giving trust to frustrated artists who can’t produce.

Here’s what a Beagle fan thinks about Cochran:

I’m so disappointed that Peter S. Beagle hasn’t left to find a publisher with actual integrity.

Watch for part 3 soon.

Lessons to learn from guilty denial of fraud by Conlan Press – Part One

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The secrets are out about the mess Connor Cochran made by defrauding Peter Beagle fans.  So far, pressure forced him to make a public refund promise, and retract attacks he made against a bystander to distract attention. But he plays victim about the harm he did.  Here’s what you’re really hearing when you hear denial about it..

1) All of the deflection and smokescreening is admitting guilt for delivering no goods.

Conlan Press made countless sales under false pretenses, and gave buyers nothing for ten years.  Beneath the excuses and blame, everything circles back to this fundamental, undeniable harm. 

TEN YEARS.  Are you sick of lies yet?

New tips have been sent in about sales of Last Unicorn audiobooks around 2004.  They estimate 1,000 cheated buyers never got what they paid for – roughly $40,000.

(How far did it go after that?  Compare: The Last Unicorn did 2.5 million video sales in ten years and the “novel has sold 6.5 million copies.“)

The “Extra Deluxe” Last Unicorn hardcover has 79 sales in 2009 recorded here.  New tips estimate at least 350 sold.  At $85 per sale, that’s – roughly $29,750.

Connor Cochran is STILL expecting victims to trust that goods will be delivered.  He expects suckers to believe that the long chain of promises won’t be broken again. (Until it is.)  Here’s a few of countless lies through the years until now:

From 2005:

…we expect the MP3-On-CD audiobook edition to start shipping in 3-4 weeks.  …we expect the 8-CD audiobook edition to start shipping in 6-7 weeks.

From 2006:

* The MP3-on-CD Last Unicorn audiobook edition will go to press in February and ship along with Two Hearts.
From 2007:

The manufacturing problems that delayed the Conlan Press CD audiobook editions of THE LAST UNICORN (and the free illustrated hardcover collector’s edition of TWO HEARTS) have now been solved, and all orders should be shipping by late March or early April.

“Team Beagle” attempts to help in 2008:

I know that some of you have been waiting for two years and some of you have even been waiting for three years.

From 2011:

 GOOD NEWS DELAYED PRODUCTS UPDATE:  Nearly all of them will be done and shipped by the end of the year. Those that aren’t will be at the printing plant and on their way for shipping in early 2012.

IN 2014, THE CONLAN PRESS WEBSITE STILL SHOWS BROKEN PROMISES OF DELIVERY OF THESE GOODS FOR 2013. Some hold futile hope:

Hopefully Cochran can find the time and resources to ship out all those back-orders soon—and I’m really looking forward to seeing them in my hometown in 2016.

2) Buyers will still never get their goods.

Time marches on – and audiobook CD’s aren’t manufactured, because they don’t sell any more.  You might as well publish an 8 track tape.

Many buyers have forgotten or lost proof, making the attrition process pay well.

Some have begged for refunds (forced to initiate responsibility for Cochran’s job to fulfill what he owes).  Attention from this site is now forcing him to address them.  Some accept downloads, a Bait and Switch for what was promised.  Many resign themselves to perpetual waiting because Cochran refuses to tell the truth.

3) Fraud was done by promising products, like a business – but dishonestly operating like a Kickstarter campaign gone bad.

Buying a product is not pledging to a crowdfunding campaign:

I placed an order for a set of Last Unicorn audiobook MP3 CDs on April 15, 2005 and it still hasn’t shipped yet. But that’s not due to any sort of malfeasance on Cochran’s part, other than perhaps being a bit more ambitious in some of his projects than was truly wise for a one-person business. Given the number of Kickstarter projects that have failed to deliver over the last few years, he’s hardly alone in that.

Disingenuous comparison!  Here’s the malfeasance:  Cochran did not promise to “try” to deliver with terms of a crowdfunding platform or pledge drive. He directly took money for promised goods, not philanthropic support.  And this was not ONE failed amateur, first-time project, it was a series representing a publishing company.

Instead of fixing a failure, before accepting money for a new one – he repeated it again, and again, and again.

Beaneath supposed nobility of creator support, the profit goes to a crooked businessman, with old fashioned greed for lining his pockets.  It may or may not be cash.  But it is inflating property value of his company.

4) Conlan Press wastes ill-gotten money of YOURS on silencing complaints… instead of producing what’s owed.

In the Conlan Press attrition process, see massive effort wasted by Connor Cochran to deflect complaints – instead of doing a promised drawing to complete a book he owed.

It’s the true test of this crooked businessman’s principles. Instead of fixing a mess he made and repairing harm to cheated buyers, now he threatens with expensive lawyers to silence criticism and hoard ill-gotten gains.

Unfortunately, when he tried to play victim about this story, he lashed out to falsely accuse an innocent bystander for telling it.  It revealed him to be an ill-tempered abuser who loves throwing weight around to get his privileged way.

But you can read the truth here, and demand fairness. Look for Part Two soon.

New readers report being “sickened” by Conlan Press.

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Here’s new reader reports sent in response to this site:

For my wife’s birthday 10-12 years ago I ordered a special edition of “The Last Unicorn” which had new art, new stories, and IIRC a copy of the movie. It was due to come out well before her birthday in June so I didn’t think about it until it was July, then August, etc.

I tried to get a response for a long time, almost harassing the “customer service” but to no avail. Promises of delivery never were kept and at the end I gave up. I wrote it off as a “buyer beware” story and promised myself that I would avoid this guy in future. The fact he is still scamming people after all these years is not too surprising. We still get emails saying that the items are “coming soon”.

And another:

I was at DragonCon 2009 in Atlanta, GA when I first met Connor Cochran and Peter Beagle. I purchased an autographed DVD of The Lord of the Rings and an autographed book for my wife. I also purchased an Extra Deluxe Collectors Edition Last Unicorn hardcover and that’s when my troubles began.

I understood that handwritten pages had to be added by Mr. Beagle as well as a custom illustration by Cochran so it would be shipped later. Boy, did I underestimate what “later” meant. After about six months my wife asked me if I had received my book. I had not, so I called Conlan Press. Thus began a five year slog via email, phone calls, and Twitter messages.

I heard every excuse under the sun. Someone had just been hired and was working to get the books “out the door”, someone had just quit and left everything “in a mess”, someone’s relative had died, they had been on tour, they were fighting a “legal battle”. In 2012 I was assured the handwritten pages were done and all that was left was a sketch and the book would be mine by Christmas. I should have asked, “Christmas in what year?”. All the while I was also receiving Mr. Beagle’s email newsletter detailing all the wonderful things he had been or would be up to.

Finally (I know) this year, 2014, I had enough of waiting. I went full-court press on Conlan Press via email and Twitter; I couldn’t stomach the thought of having to listen to Cochran’s voice again so I skipped calling. I reached out to everyone associated with Peter Beagle and Cochran including the Twitter account claiming to be the “official” Twitter account of Peter S. Beagle; surprise, it isn’t. It was just another layer between the fans and Mr. Beagle set up by Cochran.

Then, after posting and re-posting via Twitter, Cochran actually contacted me to accuse me of harassment. I explained all I wanted was the book I paid for. Well, apparently that did not sit well with Cochran and he outright told me he would not be sending me the book but would refund my money. Needless to say I was skeptical. I contacted the BBB in California where Conlan Press is located and filed a complaint. Cochran continued to libel and harass me via Twitter but shockingly I did receive a check for $85 about a week after I filed my complaint. I am happy to have the refund but still sickened to know that others are going through the same thing.

I will always advise anyone to never purchase anything from Conlan Press.

They echo many reports of abusive customer service by Connor Cochran:

In May (several weeks since I ordered the book) I e-mailed Conlan Press and asked them about my order. A few weeks later (in June) I decided to call the company in CA since I had received no reply from them. I spoke to a guy who from the start gave me nothing but excuses. I told him that the book was a birthday present and that I really needed it. He started telling me that his company was small and that a female employee who handled everything had left suddenly and they were trying to pick up the pieces. He said that since it was for a birthday he would make sure the book was signed and sent that Monday (it was a Friday that I called.) I told him that I was not “Oprah” and did not need all his excuses – just the book. He said he didn’t need the “abuse” I was giving him and so I told him I expected the book to be signed and mailed on Monday as he said and when he tried to give me more excuses I hung up on him. A few minutes later he called back and asked if I could be “civil” with him so we could resolve the problem. I was biting my tongue so I wouldn’t tell this CA laid-back idiot what I really thought of him. The call ended and I was expecting the book in a few days.

The book never arrived. I was waiting another week to call back and see where it was (since it could have been mailed and just in transit.) I then received a generic e-mail from the company explaining that my book was being delayed because they were a small company and a female employee was getting divorced and had left the company to work on her personal issues. It did not mention the call I had made to them about getting the book that Monday and so I called them again.

I explained everything to the guy I spoke to (including about it being a birthday present and I had been told before that it would be delivered by a certain date and that date had come and passed.) He started out with the same excuse as I have received from everyone at this company – about the female employee. I told him that I had heard that excuse for months, but that this time the mistake was due to a male employee (the one I spoke to the first time I called.) He kept repeating that they were a small company and that it was misplaced, etc. I told him that if they were a small company then it should be easy to know who had made the mistake and to correct it. He did a stupid laugh at that and said that perhaps I had made the mistake. After hearing him blame me I went off on him and told him what I thought of him and his company and told him that I had better receive the book within the next few days or I would file official complaints with anyone and everyone in CA (including the Feds) and then I hung up.

At the BBB:

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Watch for more info soon.

Document: cheated Last Unicorn buyers frustrated by Conlan Press claims attrition process.

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If you’ve previously seen cases of fraud, you may know how delay and denial is used to stifle claims, drain costs, and run out the clock for timely solutions.  Uncovering the story is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle.  It’s a forensic process of comparing many sources.  It requires asking victims to step forward.

This consumer rights campaign is calling for public input.  10 years of broken promises means it’s time for public light.  People of conscience need to call for REAL solutions to end ongoing harm.  Our goal is fairness for fans.

In Victim list of “extra deluxe” Last Unicorn book buyers, we outlined the claims attrition process used by Conlan Press to get away with fraud.  Now, we’re sharing details of how it’s done.

In the 10 year chain of broken promises, a delay and attrition process has happened over and over. It’s a consistent experience corroborated by many victims.

When buyers ask for goods, instead they get a chain of delaying excuses: Someone died, someone put their back out, an employee left, an employee was stealing, the post office lost the book, the post office lost the check, we’ll send a replacement (but it doesn’t come…)

Excusing fraud from 2004 to 2014.

At each step, Connor Cochran shifts responsibility. He puts claims off to shed more and more of them.  Each time, fewer persist. (The below claim persisted through three house moves.) The Statute of Limitations is run out to make them powerless. If a few make it through- paying them off costs a small portion of the total take.

The Better Business Bureau has a new corroborating complaint, just noticed and attached here after completion of this article:

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In the chain of excuses, the common denominator is Connor Cochran.  He’d like you to believe that he’s a victim of circumstances beyond his control – but supposed coincidence after coincidence tells a different story.

Since we began reporting, new victims have come forward. One writes:

Hi, I have some tales to tell about Connor Cochran and his scam company. I ordered the Last Unicorn audiobook way back in 2005 and stuck with my order for 8 long years and 3 moves. I ate the BS he shoveled at me regarding why the CD’s never materialized and continued to be patient. So patient that when Connor personally called me to let me know about the deluxe Last Unicorn book with Peter’s extra story and a sketch to be done by Connor, I jumped at the chance to purchase it. It was 2009 when I ordered that one.  Here’s the string of emails I sent and received regarding the status of and cancellation of my orders. I did eventually get my money back for the CDs and the book, but I still have yet to get the book despite Connor telling me finishing his sketch and mailing it to me was “the least he could do” for me waiting so long.  That was last year.

Feel free to use these emails on your site.

The emails are below. This is only one case of countless others.

NOTE:  Conlan Press insiders refute claims made by “unreliable narrator” Connor Cochran in his emails.  Timing clues even indicate Connor posed as employees he then blamed.  Uncovering truth requires comparing consistently bad experiences of victims.  IF IT HAPPENED TO YOU, PLEASE STEP FORWARD.

Names are edited by request to protect identities of victims.

Connor Cochran <connor@conlanpress.com> 4/27/10

Hi!

This is just a quick note to let you know that your LAST UNICORN comic book order shipped out yesterday from California, and is now on its way to you. Sorry about the slight delay — IDW printed the issue later than planned, so we didn’t get our shippable copies in until just last week. Thanks for supporting Peter S. Beagle’s work by shopping with us.

All best,
Connor Cohran
Conlan Press

<customer@xxx.com> 4/27/10

Excellent, thanks Connor. I was wondering if you had news about hardcover version of The Last Unicorn that I ordered late last year. Do you have an estimate of when that might be shipping? I was excited to hear the audiobooks will be coming out late this year.  Thanks!

Connor Cochran <connor@conlanpress.com> 4/27/10

Working on the extra deluxe TLUs. They are taking longer than I’d like, obviously, but I hope to be done with all of them before midsummer, and maybe sooner.

<customer@xxx.com> 4/27/10

Thanks very much!

Connor Cochran <connor@conlanpress.com> 7/30/10

Hi!

Just a quick note to let you know that your current LAST UNICORN comic order shipped earlier today. I have to apologize — It would have gone out sooner, but I was away doing necessary business at Anime Expo and then Comic Con, and my part-time assistant <FirstEmployee> wasn’t able to come in to work because she threw her back out while on a family vacation. When one of us is gone, things slow down. When *both* of us are gone…well…we try not to let that happen very often. Now I’m back from Comic Con, and <FirstEmployee> is back in the office working, so shipping is once again under way. When your order arrives, please let me know by email so I can cross it off the list.

All best,
Connor

<customer@xxx.com> 9/27/10

Hi Connor,

The first issue of the comic was beautiful, but I still haven’t received the second issue.  If it went out in July then I’m afraid it must’ve gotten lost.

Connor Cochran <connor@conlanpress.com> 9/27/10

Hi:

I’ve filed a complaint with the Post Office and they’re going to run a search. Supposedly I’ll get a report in a couple of days. Meanwhile, I’m shipping out a replacement comic to you today. Thanks for letting me know about the problem.

Connor

<customer@xxx.com> 1/25/11

Hi Connor,

I just got the newest issue of the Raven and I’m really excited to hear the bluray of The Last Unicorn is coming out! I also saw that the graphic novel of The Last Unicorn will be coming out soon. I ordered the 6 issue comic series, but I only received issues 1 and 2. Would you be able to check and see if there was a shipping problem? Also, I thought I’d ask about the status of the hardcover novel I ordered.

Thanks!

<SecondEmployee@conlanpress.com> 2/14/11

Hi,

I have your Extra Deluxe scheduled for sketching on the 21st. The comics are still on order as well as the Graphic Novel. Once we have them in our hands I’ll be able to give you a rough estimate for timing on shipping. We are excited about the blue ray as well! I’m not sure if you got my email about your comic order, so I’ll tell you now.

In mid-December we sent an email out to all our LAST UNICORN comic subscribers explaining the delay which had taken place with issues 3-6. (Recapping briefly: thanks to a communications problem, IDW only printed enough copies of issues 3-6 for their comic shop outlets, and none for us. They *are* reprinting the ones we need, but it is going to take a while, possibly even a few more months.)

In that email we offered everyone two options for dealing with the remainder of their subscriptions.

1) Wait for IDW to complete the reprinting, and get a special LAST UNICORN art print along with the remaining issues as thanks for their patience, or

2) Cancel the remainder of their subscription and take a signed, personalized copy of IDW’s hardcover graphic novel version instead. This hardcover (which is now shipping) contains all six issues, interviews with Peter S. Beagle and Peter Gillis, and a gallery of additional art.

Unfortunately, we haven’t heard back from you about your choice. Please write or call and let me know which option you’d prefer — and if you are going with option #2, please also tell me how you would like Peter S. Beagle to personalize your copy when he signs.

You can reach me at 650-728-8098 during my normal work hours (M-F from 11 AM to 5PM, California time) or email me.

<customer@xxx.com> 2/15/11

Thanks! I look forward to seeing Connor’s drawing and reading what Peter wrote. I guess my email crossed in the mail, so I would like to cancel the comic subscription and instead get the graphic novel.

Thanks again!

<SecondEmployee@conlanpress.com> 2/16/11

Hello,

Thanks for that! I’ve updated your comic order. I look forward to sending you all of your items!

<customer@xxx.com> 3/6/12

I thought I would check in to find out the status of the hardcover version of The Last Unicorn I ordered a few years ago. Last year you mentioned it was due to be sketched around the 21st of January, which I believe was the only thing holding it up from being shipped.

Thanks!

<ThirdEmployee@conlanpress.com> 3/6/12

Thank you for writing.

<SecondEmployee> quit their position with Conlan Press last April in order to deal with personal matters involving a divorce. The departure was extremely abrupt. Some of the cascading problems this created are still being sorted out, so I ask your patience while I put everything on the product shipping/customer service side back together, and hire and train suitable replacements.

Meanwhile, all customer support queries should be sent directly to contact@conlanpress.com. Or you can call the office at 650-728-8098 between 9 AM and 5 PM California time. If I’m not in (or can’t pick up), just leave a message and I’ll return your call as soon as I can.

All best,

Connor Cochran

<ThirdEmployee@conlanpress.com> 3/7/12

Thanks for contacting us about this. I apologize that you were quoted an incorrect turnaround time that Conlan press was not able to honor. We’ve had problems with former employees making promises they could not keep so I’m going to refrain from making that mistake again.

I see that the last time we spoke you mentioned that you were planning to move soon. If that has happened please let us know so we can update our database. I currently have XXXXXX as your current address.

Again, thank you for your patience.

<customer@xxx.com> 3/7/12

Thanks for getting back to me.  You’re correct, I actually just recently moved.  Here’s my new address: XXXXXX.

I’m not trying to be a jerk, but can you tell me if I can expect the book this year at least? Is it possible to just forget the sketch and send me the book with what Peter wrote in it? The sketch was a cute idea, but what I really want is the book and the extra writing that Peter wrote into it. I ordered the book 3 years ago now and I’ve been patient, but, unlike the audiobook, which I’ve had on order for 7 years, the book has already been manufactured and, unless I was told incorrectly, Peter’s already done his part of the order. Would you be able to look into it and see if Peter did finish his writing and, if so, could you ship the book to me?

Thanks for your help.

<ThirdEmployee@conlanpress.com> 3/8/12

Thanks for being patient. I wanted to double check with Connor before replying to you and yes, we’re planning on completing all outstanding Deluxe Last Unicorn books and the Last Unicorn audio CDs this year. Connor thinks your sketch request is a creative one and is looking forward to finishing it. Unfortunately the agreement with these books was that they were to be released with both the hand written chapters and the sketch. Connor plans to finish his sketches as quickly as possible but if for whatever reason this does not sit well with you, you are always welcome to a full refund at any time.

Again, thank you for your patience.

<customer@xxx.com> 3/24/13

I would like to cancel my orders for the Deluxe Last Unicorn hardback and the Last Unicorn audiobook cds. Previously, I heard that I would be getting them by the end of last year, but it is now March of 2013 and according to the answer I received via the Peter Beagle handle on Twitter, there is no longer an anticipated manufacture or delivery date. I have been waiting for the audiobook since 2005. If/when it is actually manufactured I may reorder, but as of now I am asking for a full refund.

As mentioned below, I would very much like to receive the hardback book with Peter’s writings, which has been manufactured and that I have also been waiting years to receive, but as that is apparently impossible without waiting for Connor to complete his drawing, I would also like a refund for that product as well.

<customer@xxx.com> 5/5/13

Thank you,

I can only assume that <ThirdEmployee> has also quit Conlan Press as I never received a reply to the email below. Again, I would like to cancel my order for the Last Unicorn audiobook, which I have been waiting for now for 8 years. I do not know if I will reorder if/when it ever comes out.  I would also like to cancel my deluxe hardcover Last Unicorn book order unless I can get it without Connor’s art as I understand that’s the hold up on me getting it. I’ve also been waiting several years for that order.

Please issue a refund check to the following address: xxxxx

Connor Cochran <connor@conlanpress.com> 5/5/13

We had to terminate <ThirdEmployee> ‘s employment last October when we discovered they were stealing from the company – something which would have been difficult enough to deal with under any circumstances, but since the company operates out of our house it was particularly traumatic for my wife. Shortly after the termination I had to go to New York with Peter for a convention and other business, and the entire time I was gone she was unable to sleep properly because she was scared that <ThirdEmployee> might come back to the house to steal something else and/or commit some major act of vandalism. Because of what he did, we determined that there would be no more Conlan press employees until the company was big enough to have its own office somewhere other than where we lived. As a result I’m doing everything, which means that a short work-week for me is 80 hours, and more than once since last fall I’ve actually hit 100+.

Through all of that I have continued to finish drawings and send out books, though obviously at a reduced pace.

Thanks for writing to my email address instead of <ThirdEmployee> ‘s old one, since that account had to be closed as part of the new security measures and password changes put in place after <ThirdEmployee> was fired. I never received the 3/24/2013 email you included in your newest message. If I had, I would have responded as promptly as I am to this one.

Regarding THE LAST UNICORN audiobook, regular updates on our progress have been posted to the UPDATES page atwww.conlanpress.com. All we are waiting on is for John Howe to complete his illustrations for the TWO HEARTS book, which he says he will be sending soon (though obviously I have to wait for him to fit our drawings in around his work on THE HOBBIT movies). If you are certain you want to cancel, please confirm that you want a refund and it will be sent immediately.

Regarding the extra-deluxe LAST UNICORN, although Peter has completed his handwritten pages and the inscription on your copy, I can’t send it to you without my sketch. That’s not my call, but Peter’s: he is adamant that none of these special copies ship incomplete. Given that, please let me know if you are willing to wait a little longer or would prefer a refund now.

I do apologize for how long things are taking, but the delays are all for reasons outside my control, and I am doing my best to bring both projects to the quickest possible conclusion.

All best,

Connor Cochran

<customer@xxx.com> 5/7/13

Hi Connor, I’m very sorry to hear about <ThirdEmployee> ‘s stealing. I’m sure that must’ve been really traumatic and I’m glad he was sacked. I appreciate your getting back to me so fast. Yes, please refund me for the audiobook. As I mentioned, I may reorder once it’s manufactured and complete. I do still want the deluxe hardcover The Last Unicorn so I can wait until July, which is when I may be moving again. If I don’t have it before then, I will unfortunately have to cancel.

<customer@xxx.com> 6/3/13

Hi Connor, please see my previous email (below) and refund me for the Last Unicorn audiobook.  I will wait until July 1st for the deluxe hardcover The Last Unicorn.

<customer@xxx.com> 7/5/13

Hi, Connor, as I mentioned in my previous email, I am canceling my Last Unicorn audio book order and, as it is now July and I have still not received it, my order for the deluxe Last Unicorn hardcover with Peter’s story and your artwork.

Please send me a refund now for both items to XXXXX.

Connor Cochran <connorfc@earthlink.net> 7/8/13

I am in Pittsburgh with Peter right now, so I can’t do anything about this until I get back home later this week. Will do so immediately on return.

<customer@xxx.com> 8/5/13

Hi Connor, has my refund been mailed?  I have not received it yet.

Connor Cochran <connorfc@earthlink.net> 8/5/13

Mailed it, as promised, the day I got back from Pittsburgh — July 10th. If you haven’t gotten it by now then the post office has clearly mislaid it somewhere. This is not annoying, but not entirely surprising. Since I started shipping products in 2005 I’ve encountered an average USPS failure rate of around .5%, meaning that 1 in 200 things that are mailed either never show up, show up months past when they should have, or eventually show up back home in some mangled state. (I actually got one book shipment back that was literally in tattered chunks, and the pst office returned them to me in a sealed plastic bag.)

Will stop payment on the 7/10 check and send a new one today. Please note: the new check will be #2270 on the Conlan Press account. Should the original check (#2236) show up at your place someday instead of coming back to me, please tear it up.

By the way: I’m going to complete your book anyway and send it when it is done. Least I can do. And I really want to do your suggested drawing.

Connor

The Last Unicorn “Extra Deluxe” edition (sold since 2009) and audiobook (sold since 2004) have STILL not been produced at the end of 2014.

AGAIN: Conlan Press insiders refute claims made by “unreliable narrator” Connor Cochran above.  Uncovering truth requires comparing consistently bad experiences of victims.  IF IT HAPPENED TO YOU, PLEASE STEP FORWARD.  You are not powerless!