Prenda Law, the ethically challenged law firm that specializes in mass pornographic copyright lawsuits, is facing growing pressure to answer questions about allegations of identity theft. Last week, we reported on a Minnesota federal court filing by Alan Cooper, a former caretaker for Prenda's John Steele. Cooper has accused Prenda of naming him as the CEO, without his knowledge or consent, of two shell companies that have been filing mass copyright lawsuits around the country.
News of Cooper's allegations has begun to spread to lawyers defending Internet subscribers elsewhere in the country. On Monday, California attorney Morgan Pietz filed a notice informing a California federal court of Prenda's alleged ethical lapses elsewhere in the country. He also enclosed a copy of e-mail correspondence with Prenda attorney Brett Gibbs, who seemed desperate to avoid answering questions about the allegations.
Prenda's stonewalling technique seems unlikely to succeed. If Cooper's accusations were false, Prenda could easily settle the issue by furnishing information about the identity of the Alan Cooper who runs the shell companies AF Holdings and Ingenuity 13. But refusing to answer the questions will only encourage more defendants around the country to raise the issue. And there are a lot of defendants. One count found dozens of cases with one of the firms as plaintiffs. Sooner or later, one or more judges will take an interest in Cooper's allegations and force Prenda to produce documents confirming or refuting them.
"Systemic fraud"
"The facts explained by Mr. Cooper’s attorney, and particularly when read in conjunction with the Florida hearing transcript, suggest possible systemic fraud, perjury, lack of standing, undisclosed financial interests, and improper fee splitting," Pietz told the Central District Court of California in his Monday court filing.
The Florida hearing transcript Pietz references is one we covered two weeks ago, in which a Florida federal judge discovered there were no lawyers willing to admit to being affiliated with the plaintiff, Sunlust Pictures. Prenda claimed, implausibly, that it had nothing to do with the case.
"The Florida hearing transcript provides further evidence of what appears to be a pattern whereby Prenda Law is attempting to defraud the Courts across the country by falsely holding out former/current personal acquaintances of John Steele as the purported principals of the plaintiff entities that Prenda Law represents in its national copyright infringement campaign," Pietz wrote. "In other words, the Florida hearing transcript provides yet further evidentiary support for the same kind of deeply troubling circumstances that have been raised by Alan Cooper of Minnesota."
Pietz also enclosed a copy of an e-mail exchange he had with Gibbs. Prenda had told the court that it had a copy of "Alan Cooper's" signature on file. In a December 3 e-mail, Pietz asked Gibbs to furnish a copy of that signature in order to see if it matched the signature of the Alan Cooper who lives in Minnesota.
Pietz also wanted to know who Gibbs's client was. Officially, Gibbs represents "AF Holdings" and "Ingenuity 13," but it's not clear who is actually running these offshore shell companies. So Pietz asked a simple question: when Gibbs "talks to his client," who does he actually talk to? Is his name Alan Cooper?
In an e-mail response the same day, Gibbs completely ignored Pietz's questions. "I do not like playing childish and manipulative games. So I will not be drawn into this baseless banter, wasting everyone's time and money," Gibbs wrote.
Pietz and Gibbs spoke on the phone on Friday, December 7. In that conversation, Gibbs confirmed that he wasn't going to provide any information about who runs AF Holdings and Ingenuity 13. In a follow-up e-mail, Gibbs accused Pietz of being verbally abusive. "You were swearing at me and being extremely hostile to me on phone, and I frankly had other things of import to accomplish on my schedule—the conversation was ten minutes long and the abuse I was subjected to was uncalled for," Gibbs wrote. (Pietz denies he so much as raised his voice during the call.)
Gibbs made it clear he wasn't about to clear up the Alan Cooper controversy, calling Cooper's letter "a conspiracy theory letter with no factual basis." Gibbs continued: "As I told you over the phone, when you asked 'Is there another Alan Cooper?,' I said, 'I am sure there are hundreds of Alan Coopers in this world.' If your question had been framed more pointedly, and not so vague, maybe I could have provided you with a specific answer."
Of course, there's nothing vague or hard to answer about Pietz's questions. Either Prenda used the identity of Steele's former assistant as the CEO of its shell companies, or there's another man named Alan Cooper who runs those companies. By playing dumb, Gibbs might buy himself some time, but it's hard to imagine the court, or anyone else, will be fooled.
Pietz wants all the cases involving Ingenuity 13 in the California Central District transferred to the jurisdiction of Judge Otis Wright, who is already hearing cases involving AF Holdings. Pietz hopes that Judge Wright will carefully consider the allegations of misconduct against Prenda before continuing with the cases.
We contacted Gibbs by e-mail yesterday seeking comment for this story, but have not received a response.
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