David Feldman's book, Reverse Mergers: Taking a Company
Public Without an IPO, now in its third printing, was published in 2006
by Bloomberg Press (available on http://www.amazon.com).
View David Feldman's reverse merger blog at www.reversemergerblog.com.
Joseph Smith and David Feldman are coauthors of PIPES:
Revised and Updated Edition - A Guide to Private Investments in Public Equity
(Bloomberg Press, 2005) available on http://www.amazon.com.
In the News
Eric
Weinstein quoted in a New York Post
article on June 16, 2007 about his current
case with author Laura Albert ("JT
LeRoy").
Tale's
a Tear Jerker
by
Kati Cornell
The
real-life mother of the author behind
the "JT LeRoy" literary hoax sobbed
hysterically yesterday as she told a
federal jury about severe psychiatric
problems suffered by her daughter, who
penned popular books under the alter
ego of a truck-stop hooker's son.
Carolyn Albert, 70, broke down as she
recounted hospitalizing Laura Albert
on her 14th birthday.
"I'm sorry. I remember how bad
I felt," the mother said, causing her
scandal-scarred daughter, who slumped
at the defense table, to weep with her
head in her hands.
"She had been threatening suicide.
She wasn't going to school. Her behavior
was impossible," the bawling mother
told defense lawyer Eric Weinstein.
"I remember thinking I'm leaving
my daughter in a psychiatric hospital
on her 14th birthday."
Manhattan federal Judge Jed Rakoff called
a break in the emotional testimony and
dismissed Laura Albert, 42, from the
courtroom for the rest of the questioning,
explaining that he wanted to "ease the
psychological situation."
Carolyn Albert apologized to her daughter
out of earshot of the jury, receiving
the tear-choked response, "Please, not
now."
Albert's book "Sarah" was supposed to
mirror JT LeRoy's upbringing, in which
the fictitious author was forced to
watch as his mother turned tricks at
truck stops and engaged in prostitution
himself before finding his talent for
writing.
The book became an instant sensation
when it was published in 2000 and so
did LeRoy, as played by Savannah Knoop
- the half-sister of Laura Albert's
ex-boyfriend - who disguised herself
as an androgynous young man for public
appearances.
JT LeRoy attracted celebrity pals like
Madonna and Winona Ryder and duped the
media with glowing articles appearing
in such widely read magazines as Vanity
Fair.
Laura Albert is fighting a lawsuit by
Antidote International Films, which
bought the screen rights to the book
and claims Albert defrauded the firm.
At the heart of the writer's defense
is her claim that mental illness drove
her to adopt the JT LeRoy persona, which
she bolstered by hiring a pal to pose
as the tortured genius at publicity
events.
Antidote paid Albert's corporation Underdogs
Inc. approximately $45,000 over three
years before the hoax behind JT LeRoy
was exposed in a flurry of media accounts
in early 2006.
Carolyn Albert said her daughter's second
psychiatric hospitalization occurred
when she was 17, after she refused to
leave her bedroom for three years.
Asked earlier by an Antidote lawyer
if she hid her daughter's identity to
sell more books, Carolyn Albert said,
"It's to protect her, because she didn't
want it known.
"I think Laura was really scared
of using [the name] Albert. I think
she was scared of being herself."
