Michael Collins Piper
Email:
[email protected]
December
1, 2004
Mark Weber
Institute for Historical Review
Dear Mark:
I
am writing this letter to you both as a personal courtesy and at the advice of
my attorney who, it should be noted, has no relationship whatsoever with Willis
Carto or any organizations or publications with which Willis has been
associated.
Please
forgive me for my delay in responding, but what with my two week trip in August
to Malaysia and then a one week trip, of more recent date, to Japan, in
conjunction with the release of my books, FINAL JUDGMENT and THE HIGH PRIESTS
OF WAR in those countries, I have been, needless to say, quite busy, during the
last few months.
First
of all, please note that this is a letter from Michael Collins Piper alone. It
represents my personal opinion and should not be perceived as an indirect
communication from Willis and/or Elisabeth Carto or any organization or
publication with which either of them are associated.
Neither
Willis nor Elisabeth will have seen this letter before it is dispatched,
although, needless to say, I did advise both of them that I would be writing
this letter and both of them provided me bits and pieces of information that I
have incorporated in this letter. However, all of the material utilized is that
of my own choosing and, in fact, I chose to reject much of what they provided
me.
In
any case, I am not—repeat NOT—acting as their agent in any way. This letter
strictly represents my personal point of view.
In
addition, for the record, it should be noted that my involvement with both American Free Press and The Barnes Review is largely peripheral
and I have very little, if anything, to do with the day-to-day operations of
either of these publications, popular misperception notwithstanding. I have
neither an office nor a desk on the premises. I have absolutely no ownership or
proprietary rights in either publication and I have no employee benefits of any
kind whatsoever.
As
such, it was somewhat comical and, actually, ironic, that you included me—of
all people—as a co-defendant in your baseless suit against American Free Press which, of course, you subsequently withdrew . .
. and wisely, for your own sake, I might add.
In
any event, with that having been said, permit me to continue.
This letter is stimulated,
of course, by your communication (both hard copy and by e-mail) addressed to me
in care of the office of American Free
Press and via an email address for me which appears on the website of American Free Press.
Your letter was a
follow-up to a brief discussion between us during the Labor Day weekend
conference sponsored by David Irving in
For the record, it should
be noted that I was attending the
My purpose at the
conference, at Mr. Irving’s invitation, was to speak about Willis Carto’s
history in the Revisionist movement and, only in passing, about the Farrel
legacy. The only part that Mr. Carto played in the preparation of my remarks
was to provide, at my request, a list of the books and magazines and journals
that he had published or republished.
In our discussion at the
Irving conference you told me that you (and presumably the controllers of the
Legion for the Survival of Freedom, whomever they may be) wanted to enter into
some form of settlement agreement with Willis Carto regarding the ongoing
litigation and other conflicts stemming from the dispute over what I shall
refer to as “the Farrel legacy.”
During our brief
conversation, you noted that, previously, you had made a public statement (to
an audience at the Irving conference) indicating that you would like to reach a
settlement with Willis, and, in fact, a number of persons who were attending
the conference confirmed that you had made such an offer.
Parenthetically, I would
note that you made your public pronouncement after, earlier that day, I had
told the audience in attendance at my lecture that the Legion for the Survival
of Freedom had received some $1.7 million in total from two estates—those of
Adelaide Allen and Bob Keifer—that had originally been earmarked for Liberty
Lobby.
This information came as a
surprise to many people, including several stalwart Revisionists who later
informed me that, just hours prior to that, you had, in one gentleman’s words,
“been poor-mouthing” and saying that the IHR was in dire financial straits,
largely, you said, as a consequence “of Carto.”
(Funny thing, but the IHR
was never in dire financial straits when Willis Carto was in charge, but that’s
another story altogether. And nor was Liberty Lobby ever insolvent until the
massive judgment you and certain parties orchestrated against Liberty Lobby,
but that’s also another story altogether.)
Briefly, you suggested
that Willis Carto should “return” all of the remaining funds from the Farrel
legacy and drop any existing lawsuits against you and the Legion and that the
Legion would also drop any further claims. The remaining funds, you suggested,
would be placed in a trust fund to be administered by independent parties and
distributed for the good works of Revisionists worldwide. I think that is a fair
assessment of your comments at that time, or at least as I understood them. If
there is any minor misunderstanding, and I don’t think there is, I stand
corrected. However, for the purposes of this letter from me to you, that offer,
as you shall see, is largely moot, as we shall see.
In any case, Mark, after
you mentioned your desire to make a settlement “with Carto,” I suggested that
you put the offer in writing. Further, I suggested,
that you consult with an attorney in preparing the settlement offer and then
direct the letter to Willis and/or one of the attorneys who has been
representing his and/or Liberty Lobby’s interests in the related cases stemming
from the circumstances surrounding the conflict over the Farrel legacy.
Upon returning to
Well, needless to say, I
was quite surprised to subsequently receive your hard-copy letter and your
e-mail (the two items being identical), both addressed to me, rather than to
Willis or to any attorney representing him or Liberty Lobby.
I also had the distinct
impression—although I could be wrong about this—that you had written the letter
on your own without benefit of legal counsel.
In addition, that part of
the letter which was not a rehash of the rulings of Judge Runston Maino but
which purported to contain the framework of a “settlement” was actually rather
difficult to understand, and I say this as someone who is, at the least,
semi-literate and who also had one year of legal training supplemented by some
twenty years of working closely with attorneys and legal documents of all
kinds, in addition to having been (at least at one time) fairly well versed in
the details surrounding the Farrel legacy and the legal bloodbath that
followed.
Legal documents, by their
very nature, often tend toward the abstruse and opaque, but, in my humble
opinion, your “settlement offer” was so unclear that no serious legal
negotiations could emerge from it.
Your offer should have
been framed in very specific language and, even more importantly—as I’ve
already said—sent directly to Willis Carto.
To be honest, Mark, I felt
as though your letter was simply what one might call a “jiffy job” and that it
was a production designed to have the “look and feel” of a settlement offer,
something that might be flashed in front of the naïve and unknowing as
“evidence” of your good faith—somewhat along the lines of “Here’s the
settlement offer I made to Carto, but he refuses to negotiate.”
The truth is that the
letter was NOT a settlement offer and it was NOT made to Willis Carto.
Regarding the actual
amounts received by both Liberty Lobby and the Legion from the Farrel legacy,
let us first of all consider what Liberty Lobby actually did receive. And note,
too, that the monies received by Liberty Lobby were ALWAYS in the form of
LOANS, not grants. All of these loans were earmarked to be REPAID BY LIBERTY
LOBBY TO THE CORPORATE ENTITY ESTABLISHED TO ADMINISTER THE FARREL FUNDS!
That is something that is
hardly known by most Revisionists.
In addition, the fact
remains that the money loaned from the Farrel legacy to Liberty Lobby had not
even come due at the time the Legion was wrested from the control of Willis
Carto. The amount received by Liberty Lobby constituted UN-REPAYED LOANS that
were not yet even yet due!
Judge Maino ruled that
Liberty Lobby “owed” the Legion (vis-à-vis the Farrel legacy) some $2,650,000,
based on the fact that this amount, essentially, had been lent to Liberty
Lobby. And had Liberty Lobby been able to continue functioning, not hampered by
the lawsuits initiated by you and the Legion, these funds would ultimately have
been repaid. So this, again, is something that is not widely known.
The system of loans set up
by Willis Carto (at the encouragement of then-Legion attorney Bill Hulsy) were
designed to protect both the Farrel legacy and Liberty Lobby from the Mel
Mermelstein lawsuit that was in litigation at the time the Farrel affair was
settled. It was a good business move and it made good legal sense. It only
became “embezzlement” when you and your associates seized control of the Legion
and used that as a springboard to launch the assault on Liberty Lobby. That is
the cold, hard truth, Mark and you know it.
All of the funds advanced
to Liberty Lobby were accounted for in detailed bank records, including wire
transfers from
I personally sat in with
Willis Carto and Liberty Lobby’s controller Blayne Hutzel and our attorney,
I know this for a fact. I
saw these records. I saw the totals, Mark. I know that these records were
provided to the court and to your attorneys. And that is why I was astounded
when you repeatedly said to me, to my face, at the David Irving meeting, that
Liberty Lobby had “never provided an accounting of the Farrel funds that it
received.” Frankly, Mark, I was so shocked at your audacity in making this
claim—which I knew to be patently false—that I was hard pressed to respond. I
couldn’t believe that you would sit there and tell me that I had not seen what
I saw. In fact, it was on the basis of these very records that Judge Maino made
his ruling, at least in part, insofar as Liberty Lobby was concerned.
Needless to say, Mark, I
have told many people—including some very respected
Revisionists—that I think you and your associates were quite shocked to find
out that the Farrel funds advanced to Liberty Lobby were no longer extant, that
they had actually been expended. It is my belief that you believed that Liberty
Lobby was somehow “sitting” on this money when, in fact, it had already gone to
the Sun Radio Network! This must have been a very real shock to you, but it is
a fact that you cannot dispute. The records prove it. Judge Maino made his
judgment based on these records.
And, as I said, these
funds would ultimately have been repaid. This is the TRUE story of the money
received by Liberty Lobby from the Farrel legacy.
And it should be added
that the original charter of the Legion—prior to the time that you and your
associates re-wrote that charter, which went back to the original founding of
the Legion in the 1950s, very specifically cited radio outreach as one of the
ways of communication that the Legion hoped to advance its message.
And as an aside, here’s
another point that many Revisionists also are unaware of; that is the fact that
the IHR was always a subsidiary of the Legion, just as was the Noontide Press.
Historical Revisionism—Holocaust or otherwise—was never, repeat never, the
primary or sole purpose of the Legion. It was one of many missions in the realm
of free expression to which the Legion was committed.
Your constant claim that
the Farrel legacy was earmarked exclusively for Revisionism, specifically
Holocaust Revionism, could not be further from the truth. This is a point that
even Willis Carto often failed to mention when he became bogged down in
fighting off the Legion’s assault, but it is a fact that cannot be denied.
Now regarding the funds
received by the Legion itself from the Farrel legacy (specifically the bank
account in Switzerland) it is important to note that, contrary to what Judge
Maino ruled in court, there is some real dispute about how much was actually
received by the Legion.
And I hasten to add that
while you claim that the Legion only received $100,000 from the Farrel legacy,
there are numerous financial records in existence which suggest that this
figure is far less than the actual reality.
For example:
• In September of 1991,
Legion received $100,000 from the Farrel funds.
• In March of 1992, Legion
received $200,000 from the Farrel funds.
• In September of 1992,
Legion received $150,000 from the Farrel funds.
• In October of 1992,
Legion received $100,000 from the Farrel funds.
• In addition, beginning
on February 11, 1991, many invoices from printers and authors who were billing
the Legion were paid from the Farrel funds totaling some $100,000.
• Also, employee benefits
and salaries at Legion, totaling another $98,000 were paid over a period of 15
months.
By my accounting, based on
the above information, that is at least $748,000—some $648,000 more than the
amount you have stated in court that Legion received from the Farrel funds!
According to Elisabeth
Carto, the total that she can reconcile from the materials she has available is
slightly higher: $755,927 paid to the Legion. However, Elisabeth says, she is
certain that the figure is closer to about $900,000.
So even granting the
lesser amount of $748,000, that is a much higher level of funds that Legion did
receive and of which there are existing bank records from the now-depleted bank
account in Switzerland that held the Farrel legacy.
These are facts that are
not known to most Revisionists, even those who have followed the case closely!
One
final point regarding the Farrel legacy. You have constantly made a point, even in
swearing out a search warrant for the Carto home and property in
As you certainly know,
when the Farrel legacy was placed in the hands of Roland Rochat, a Swiss notary
given the assignment by both sides in the dispute over the Farrel legacy,
Rochat was charged with liquidating these diamonds. These diamonds were sold by
Rochat as part of the liquidation of the entire legacy and placed into the
entire amount for distribution between Willis Carto and the Legion and Joan
Althaus, with whom the Farrel legacy was in dispute.
In short, Mark, ALL of the
funds that Willis Carto assumed control of from the Farrel legacy were either
distributed to Liberty Lobby or to the IHR or to other parties (including
attorneys, accountants, etc) who were involved in the procurement of the
estate. No funds remain from the Farrel legacy.
Now here is something else
that MUST be considered if an actual settlement offer is made in good faith. I
note, Mark, that the Lennon company of Costa Mesa, which acted as a receiver
for Liberty Lobby in its bankruptcy, collecting sums on behalf of the Legion,
issued a report dated September 24, 2004, detailing the fact that between 1998
and 2004, some $1,031,780.32 had been collected from Liberty Lobby directly or
from letters containing money and checks that had been sent to Liberty Lobby
during this time frame.
This amount also included
a number of substantial payments made directly by Liberty Lobby as part of the
bankruptcy settlement—including sums as high as $200,000 on at least one given
occasion—until the bankruptcy court effectively voided the settlement after the
Legion charged Liberty Lobby with violating the agreement, the circumstances of
which are beyond the purview of this letter.
(The sum also includes the
amount of money taken from personal accounts of Willis and Elisabeth Carto and
the residue of funds left over from the sale of their home which was seized by
the Legion.)
Nonetheless, the fact
remains that Liberty Lobby did, in fact, give the Legion $1,031,780.32 under
these circumstances—a point that many prominent Revisionists, to this day, are
unaware. Many persons remain under the illusion—should I say delusion—that
Liberty Lobby paid little, if any, to the Legion following the institution of
the bankruptcy settlement agreement.
So it is that this
$1,031,780.32 is a substantial amount indeed and, in fact, quite a large chunk
of the actual funds advanced, via loan, from the Farrel funds in the bank
account in
Add this amount of
$1,031,780.32 to the $748,000 given directly to the Legion from the Farrel
legacy funds in
$1,779,780.32
This is the actual amount of money that the Legion had already
received, directly from the Farrel legacy and from the money taken from
Then, Mark, please add to this the $1.7 million that the
Legion has now received from the
This brings the total to:
$3,479,780.32
Quite a
substantial amount indeed. And this is far more than the $2,650,000 that Judge
Maino ruled that Liberty Lobby owed the Legion.
Dare I say, Mark, noting
the current reported desperate financial straits of the Legion that you
described to persons at the David Irving conference, one might logically ask:
WHERE DID THE MONEY GO?
And, of course, the fact
remains that this is a substantial chunk of the Farrel legacy that Willis Carto
assumed responsibility for at the time of signing the settlement agreement with
the attorneys for Joan Althaus in 1990.
And, again, this does not
include all of the money paid out to attorneys, accountants, expeditors and
others who were involved in the procurement of the Farrel legacy, including, I
recall, some $650,000 paid to Swiss banker Francois Genoud, a longtime friend
of the Revisionist movement, who played a key role in
securing the legacy. I have been told that you denounced Genoud as a “Nazi,” a
point that will surprise many Revisionists who worked closely with Genoud over
the years, prior to his untimely death in, I believe, 1991.
And at this juncture
another little understood matter should be pointed out for the benefit of those
who may not be in tune with all of the seemingly peripheral details surrounding
the Farrel legacy and the Liberty Lobby bankruptcy. And this is very important!
Many of the funds listed in the previously
mentioned total of money ($1,031,780.32) seized by the Lennon Company included
payments for books, videos and other materials, including SPOTLIGHT
subscriptions, that people sent to Liberty Lobby AFTER Liberty Lobby had
actually gone out of business and was denied the opportunity to continue
functioning.
Unfortunately, however,
those who sent these payments never received the books they ordered or the
subscriptions. Instead, your receiver, the Lennon Company, took the money and
checks out of the mail addressed to Liberty Lobby and directed the funds to the
Legion and presumably itself and your attorneys.
I personally received
numerous letters from individuals who had ordered copies of my book, FINAL
JUDGMENT, but never received them. I was forced to write them
letters explaining that the Legion was taking the money they sent to Liberty
Lobby and not attempting to satisfy the orders or return the money in any way,
shape or form. God only knows how many good patriots and Revisionists across
For my own part, I
attempted to provide gratis copies from my own extra supply of copies of FINAL
JUDGMENT to those who bothered to write, but one can only imagine how many
people did not know how to reach me or how to reach the former staff of Liberty
Lobby and The SPOTLIGHT.
In one instance an elderly
woman in the Mid-West returned to Liberty Lobby’s address what I recall to be
$16,000 in silver that she had purchased from Liberty Lobby some years before.
She hoped to redeem the value of the silver and had Liberty Lobby still been
operating, she would have received that money. Instead, the Lennon company took the silver and never gave the woman the
$16,000. She has since died, I understand, and is unable to pursue any legal
action on her own, although it is conceivable, of course, that her heirs may
choose to do so, and this would be a legal difficulty for the Legion, not to
mention an utter PUBLIC RELATIONS DISASTER. [See Addendum]
Imagine the headlines:
“Revisionist Group Sued by Elderly Woman’s Estate.”
All of this is not to
mention the untold thousands of unfulfilled SPOTLIGHT subscriptions and Board
of Policy memberships that were left hanging. What follows are the number of
SPOTLIGHT subscribers and the members of Liberty Lobby’s Board of Policy and
the total count at the time of the last issue of The SPOTLIGHT. The dollar
amounts listed are the values of the remaining subscriptions.
Subscribers:
45,732 $1,818,302.99
BOP 7,527 $154,233.14
Total: $1,972,536.13
This means that at least 53,259 total patriots and
Revisionists were left wanting. To my knowledge, although the Legion
effectively assumed “ownership” of Liberty Lobby and its assets—including
forthcoming estates earmarked in wills and trusts for Liberty Lobby—the Legion
never made any effort whatsoever to satisfy any of these outstanding
subscriptions and memberships.
Considering the fact that the Legion was receiving
in excess of $1 million in Liberty Lobby funds, issued directly by Liberty
Lobby and seized from its mail, it seems that the honorable and rightful thing
to do would have been to at least write these good folks a letter and offer
them a free book or back issue of The JOURNAL OF HISTORICAL REVIEW. This would
have not only been good “public relations” for the Legion, but it might have
won over potential new contributors and subscribers in a show of good faith.
But no such show of good faith ever materialized.
Frankly, Mark, if you had done your job in making
some effort in this regard, you might have literally conjured up another “Jean
Farrel” out there in
Now, of course, Jim Floyd, the outspoken Alabama
Revisionist, has been spearheading efforts to organize these, shall we say
“disenfranchised” SPOTLIGHT subscribers and Jim puts it bluntly: “Anyone who
would open up the letter of a good patriot or Revisionist and take his money
and then consciously refuse to send him what he’s ordered or even return the
money if his order couldn’t be filled cannot and will not ever classify as an
honest man in my book.”
And, Mark, I’m sorry to say, this problem is one
that is going to hang over your head and that of the Legion as long as all of
these people are left in the lurch. Frankly, your credibility
and integrity as at stake.
Even if your Jewish lawyer and your collection
agency, the Lennon Company, chose to operate in this underhanded fashion, you
could have personally made some effort to resolve this matter. But you did not.
So this is really a matter that—for the good of
all concerned, especially those who have lost out—must be considered in the
matter of a “global” settlement of this most unfortunate affair surrounding the
Farrel legacy. NO REVISIONIST, NO PATRIOT should be cheated of his money.
Only good can come if you make some effort to
resolve this and make it a factor in any settlement proposal. I’m confident the
names of those who lost out—or at least many of them—are probably available,
even at this late date. How about it, Mark? Why not try to make good on this
matter.
And regarding the Liberty
Lobby mailing list. Here’s a point that should be noted. Although your failed
lawsuit against American Free Press
failed precisely because of the fact that, contrary to the claims you made, American Free Press had NOT run off with
the Liberty Lobby mailing list, the fact is that your agents who came to
Liberty Lobby’s headquarters in Washington never took the list with them when
our then-controller Blayne Hutzel made the entire list (subscribers and Board
of Policy members) available when these individuals came to our office on
Capitol Hill, along with, I might add, all of Liberty Lobby’s financial
records.
(If I recall correctly, those acting as your
agents were local members of the
It was the fault of YOUR agents and your agents
alone that the Liberty Lobby mailing list (quite a valuable asset) was never
secured. And perhaps, in the end, that is for the best, considering quite
convincing stories that you and your associate Greg Raven discussed selling the
list to either the Anti-Defamation League or the Church of Scientology—a point
I have heard that you have disputed, but not convincingly, in my humble
estimation.
There is probably much more that could be said,
but I have touched on the relevant highlights that you MUST acknowledge and
consider when you make a genuine, formal settlement offer—not a letter to
Michael Collins Piper.
Your letter indicated that copies were being sent
to members of the board of directors of the Legion for the Survival of Freedom,
although no individual names of said directors were listed.
As I do not have their e-mail addresses nor do I
even know the names of the board, I am taking the liberty of sending copies of
this letter to you to a number of prominent Revisionists so that I can be
certain that my comments, at least, will be on the record, inasmuch as you
involved me in this matter by addressing your initial letter to me.
In addition, inasmuch as
this matter certainly does involve other Revisionists, by the very nature of
the loose framework of a “settlement” that you have been discussing, I feel it
is all the more appropriate that these Revisionists have the opportunity to
consider all aspects of the affair, at least as much as I can provide any
insights thereon.
In summary: there is
NOTHING left of the Farrel legacy, other than (1) the money that was taken from
Liberty Lobby by your receiver, the Lennon company, and (2) that money that was
earmarked for Liberty Lobby in the Allen and Kiefer estates (and which would
have ultimately been repaid by Liberty Lobby, over the long term to the Farrel
account in Switzerland).
As a parting note, in the
spirit of your initial suggestion, I would comment that I personally will
certainly encourage Willis Carto to use the egis of both American Free Press and The
Barnes Review to perhaps join with the IHR itself—whatever the IHR
constitutes, and it doesn’t seem to constitute much more than an Internet
website at this point—to issue a hard-hitting fund-raising mailing to raise
money to set up a trust fund to be accessed by responsible Revisionists.
Further, I would be
pleased to offer, gratis, my own modest talents as a fund-raising letter
writer—and I had largely written, by far, virtually all of Liberty Lobby and The Barnes Review’s fundraising and
subscription letters over a 20 year period (no small accomplishment)—in
furtherance of such a project. I would be proud to do it.
However, Mark, your dream
of procuring some “hidden” or “remaining” Farrel funds is a pipe dream. It will
never happen. Your legal hounds have managed to grab back all of the funds—and
more—that Liberty Lobby received and the Legion itself received a substantial
amount of the Farrel funds, directly and through payment of Legion bills, from
the very beginning. These are facts that cannot be denied. You must consider
all of this when making a formal settlement offer, and I hope you will.
In closing, I hope that
this letter—an honest effort by yours truly to lay out some little-known but
highly relevant facts concerning the Farrel legacy—will contribute to the settlement
of this matter.
Please, Mark: do not write
me in response to this letter.
Instead, sit down with
your attorneys and your board of directors—maybe consult with some respected
Revisionists such as Fredrick Toben, Jurgen Graf, Germar Rudolf, Michael A.
Hoffman II, David Irving, Robert Faurisson, Ingrid Rimland, Arthur Butz,
Bradley Smith, Robert Countess, Michael Santomauro, Mark Farrell—the list goes
on and on—and get some good solid input and come up with a very real and very
solid and reasonable settlement offer. Then, finally, all of this can be
resolved.
The Revisionist movement
is much bigger than Mark Weber or Willis Carto or even the IHR and The Barnes Review. Remember that, Mark. No,
better yet—as Mel Mermelstein’s father would say: “Never Forget.”
Constructively,
MICHAEL COLLINS PIPER
ADDENDUM: February 26, 2005. Since this letter was first issued to Mark
Weber, I have been advised that the elderly lady whom Weber and his handlers
and their appointed receiver bilked out of her silver rights was actually
robbed to the tune of $1600 rather than $16,000.
This error was brought to
my attention by Elisabeth Carto who—like me—wants to keep the record vis-à-vis
the Farrel matter complete and accurate. It should be noted, however, that
despite this error, it does not subtract from the total amounts as rendered in
this letter, as the correct figure of $1600 was noted within the amounts
supplied by Weber’s own attorneys. It was only my memory of the amount being
“16 thousand” rather than “16 hundred” that was incorrect.
In addition, as of this
date, February 26, 2005, I am unaware that Mark Weber has ever responded to
this letter by making a genuine settlement offer to Willis Carto along the
lines that I suggested.