Kaku vs. Szczepaniak:
Four Things That Still Surprise Me
BY AGNESS KAKU
JUNE 20, 2015
Ive never defended myself in the sundry places where Johns libel is being spread. I try not to look, but from time to time, someone will send me a link. Before the next phase of the case swallows up my time, Id like to address some of the recurring themes in third-party flak. And this time, Im just going to talk about myself, rather than repping all the victims of Johns 19- month-long attacks.
1. A Lunch, a Coffee
Then Shitstorm
Three hours. Thats how long I met with John Szczepaniak IRL. He asked me to lunch, and a month later, I had coffee with him. Thats it. Not even three hours. Yet almost everyone out there believes I worked on the book, that Im an interpreter, that I was at the interviews, even that Im the president of an interpreting agency. You may as well claim Im a dentist. But out of this misinformation comes the first refrain: Agness shouldve handled Johns complaints better.
Handled them how, exactly? How blindsided would you be if some guy who asked you for a professional referral suddenly started shouting from the rooftops that youd plotted to defraud him? If he started emailing your workplaces, present and potential?
Oh, please, youre probably thinking. John wouldnt hate on you like this if he only met you for three hours. Please question that assumption, especially if youre one of the backers who said something reasonable to John only to have him flip out. He didnt know you, either. Hes not right about you, either.
How I handled ithow Im still handling it, with the love and support of my partneris not a story thats been told. What youve heard is me defending myself, and weve tried our best to be as transparent and evidentiary as possible.
2. Just Because John Says?
But John says, the standard chatter goes. John says hes the victim here. John says
interviewees complained to him about Agness. John says Agness attacked first. John says she stalked backers and will stalk me next.
Trouble is, John also says a well-respected localization firm colluded with Siliconera in an attempt to sabotage his Kickstarter. John says theres a secret society of armed-and dangerous game collectors that trade with the yakuza and piratesthe kind with ships. And John says wifi makes him ill.
So maybe John says
isnt good enough. Maybe his word shouldnt have been enough for you to condemn me to massive income loss and marginalization.
3. Afraid of Shadows
I felt intimidated, is another refrain from people whove never even met me. Im creeped out by Agness, she scares me.
With all due respect, its not my problem that youre a pearl-clutching fraidy cat. Im a 96 lb woman who writes ad copies and stories about immortals battling timetravelers. If you swallowed Johns lurid tales about how Agness is the second coming of Carlos the Jackal, thats on you. Ive never harassed anyone. Ive never tried to harm anyone the way Ive been harmed over the past 19 months.
If Id actually harassed someone on social media, do you honestly think John wouldnt have plastered the screenshots all over Kickstarter?
Other backers say they were upset by the courtesy notice they received. Again with all due respect, your naiveté is not my doing. If you publicly announce under your own name that you intend to commit tortious interference, the least you can expect is a reminder that your credulous crusading is hurting me.
I think most of you who were sent the notice ultimately understand that. I think you were mostly decent guys incited into doing something remarkably shitty. And when you were asked to look at your actions, you stopped.
4. Theres No Parity Here
Two camps hurling insults at one another, is the way Ive heard this case characterized by some.
If only it were that equal.
If only I could move all of Johns uphates to Twitter, instead of the SEO monster Kickstarter. If only Johns malicious emails to my clients could be from a corporate address instead of HG101, so that he had to face the same kind of organizational scrutiny for accusing, as I did for being accused. If only he hadnt gone to a so-called #GamerGate outlet and nominated me as an ideal target for their well-documented, seemingly limitless ire.
I took John Szczepaniak to court because I needed something resembling a level playing field. Something away from Kickstarter, which John has used as a protected platform for his libel, and away from social media, where my every tweet competes against 500 million others just like it daily. Away from the game loc scene, where Johns poison-pen emails and his supporters' gleeful gossip have done their work.
Two camps hurling insults. Johns named me a con artist, psychopath, political terrorist, deportee, thief, stalker, one of the most dangerous people in the game industry. In response, Ive named him a liar. These insults dont even compare.
Bottomline: The Right to Face My Accuser
Johns accused me of actual criminal offenses, the evidence for which hes claimed from the beginning to have. If all that evidence exists, John can and should beat me in court. He would be cleared of libel, and I would be ordered to pay his legal costs.
So why doesnt he want that?
At the initial trial in Niort, John presented no evidence to back up his claim that I stalked interviewees and backers. No evidence that I attacked him first, anywhere. That I bullied coworkers, that Im considered a national security threat by authorities, that I stole money from him, or any of the other ugly, damaging accusations he has made over the past 19 months. He delivered none of the evidence he promisedno audio recordings of meetings, all email correspondence, and signed invoices.
He didnt even try to fight the libel charge. Instead, he went straight for a jurisdictional technicality which comes down to, France cant try me, Im an expat.
John Szczepaniak runs from level playing fields. Maybe thats the only point you need to consider in the run-up to the July trial in Poitiers, and the upcoming case in London
