One of Brett Kimberlin’s associates who probably hasn’t had enough scrutiny is Brad Friedman. He was the subject of the TKPOTD for eight years ago today.
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The two officer/key employees listed on the Justice Through Music Project IRS Form 990 are Jeffrey Cohen and Brett Kimberlin. Although he cofounded Velvet Revolution US with Brad Friedman, The Dread Pro-Se Kimberlin is not listed on that organization’s 990. Cohen and Friedman are, but not Kimberlin.
Who is Brad Friedman?
Friedman’s Wikipedia entry begins with this warning: This article may contain improper references to self-published sources. Friedman does have a documented history (Exhibits O and P) of shading the truth.
He’s a blogger. His blog is called BradBlog, and it’s a fairly minor league site with traffic roughly comparable to Hogewash! (but still much greater than the JTMP and VRUS sites combined). He has a one-hour-per-week radio show (The Bradcast) on KPFK, a station that routinely ties for dead last in the ratings in the LA market. He hosts a “nationally syndicated” (on five stations!) program called Green News Report. He’s Brett Kimberlin’s partner in VRUS.
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VRUS failed to file any IRS Form 990s after the 2015 tax year, and the IRS has revoked its 501(c)(4) tax exempt status. Cohen and Friedman were listed on that final 990. However, there is no indication that either Cohen or Friedman are still associated with the organization. Indeed, Friedman appears to have made some effort at scrubbing references to his connection with Kimberlin.
In 2017, Kimberlin changed the corporate name of Velvet Revolution US to Protect Our Elections/EMPR Inc.
The IRS has finally caught up with posting online copies of 2018 Form 990s. Here’s a link to the return from Justice Through Music Project. I would normally post it to Scribd, but that site is currently having issues processing some uploads.
One thing I found interesting is that Jeffrey Cohen is still listed as the Executive Director, but when I attempted to send correspondence to him and serve a subpoena on Justice Through Music Project through him in 2017, it appeared that he was no longer with the organization.I’m sure there are other interesting tidbits contained in the filing, and the Gentle Readers are encouraged to see what they can find.
Yesterday, I explained the origin of the title The Dread Pirate Kimberlin. Here’s a repost of the original listing of his crew from last November—Brett Kimberlin’s Ship of Fools. Note that the relative importance of some characters has changed.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
The Dread Pirate Kimberlin—(AKA Brett Kimberlin, The Speedway Bomber, John Doe 1, Breitbart Unmasked) A Director of and sole full-time employee of Justice Through Music Project and unpaid employee of Velvet Revolution US. Convicted felon with a rap sheet too long for this space. Apparently not a registered voter. [A correction about Kimberlin’s status as a registered voter was published after he doxed himself in a court filing and I was able to determine his date of birth. I regret the original error.]
His Crew
First Mate Neal Rauhauser—Tragically-failed wind-powered ammonia plant entrepreneur. Hacker wannabe. Democratic Party operative. Deadbeat dad. [And he may already be a Weiner.] Crew Member Ron Brynaert—Erstwhile reporter. Possible SWATting suspect. Potential mutineer. Cabin Boy Bill Schmalfeldt—(AKA Liberal Grouch) Minor, if somewhat grandiose, Twitter troll and selective blogger of sealed court papers. [Recently promoted to major nuisance.] Imaginary Friend Occupy Rebellion—(AKA Sheridan) Twitter sock puppet.
His Enablers
Jeffrey R. Cohen, Esq.—Intellectual property lawyer and Executive Director of JTMP and VRUS. His signature is on their IRS Form 990s. Brad Friedman—A Director of Velvet Revolution US. Myra Lowenthal, CPA—Accountant who prepared the IRS Form 990s for JTMP and VRUS.
Assorted fanboys, wannabes, third- and fourth-rate musicians, trolls, useful idiots, and fools.
Let’s take another peak at the IRS Form 990 for the Brett Kimberlin not-for-profit, Velvet Revolution US.
As noted in an earlier post, The Dread Pirate Kimberlin is not listed in the leadership of the organization—not even as a key employee.
The organization’s books are shown as being kept in the care of either Cohen or Friedman. However, they are as being located at the main address for VRUS which is TDPK’s residence address.
Mr. Cohen is also the Executive Director of the other Kimberlin not-for-profit, Justice Through Music Project. JTMP’s Form 990 shows that he possesses the books and records of that organization and that they are kept at Mr. Cohen’s residence address.
Dan Backer, Aaron Walker’s lawyer, has filed his Response to Defendant Kimberlin’s Motion and Memorandum in Support of Rule 11 Sanctions Against Plaintiff’s Attorney Dan Backer in the federal Walker v. Kimberlin, et al. lawsuit.
I’ll have more to say about TDPK’s sanctions motions and Mr. Backer’s reply in later posts. For now, let me simply refer the Gentle Reader to Mr. Backer’s section A Note on Ethics beginning at the bottom of page 16 of the response (page 20 of the pdf).
Wow!
Bitten off more than he can chew. Fighting above his weight. Whatever. TDPK is in way over his head. Get the popcorn ready and stay tuned.
Jeffrey Cohen is a lawyer who is the Executive Director of Justice Through Music Project and Velvet Revolution US. (That makes him, technically, The Dread Pirate Kimberlin’s boss.) Mr. Cohen, who is acting as the pro bono counsel for the “charities,” has filed a boilerplate Motion to Dismiss in the federal Walker v. Kimberlin, et al. civil suit.
The Gentle Reader who has been following the Saga of The Dread Pirate Kimberlin for a while may remember that TDPK threatened Dan Backer, Aaron Walker’s lawyer, with a Motion for Sanctions in the federal Walker v. Kimberlin, et al. lawsuit, said motion to be filed on 20 November. Here are the documents that were filed in the case on that day:
Even the Most Casual Reader will note that neither of the documents is a Motion for Sanctions. The paperwork for a Rule 11 sanction was served on Mr. Backer in time to allow filing with the court on the 20th. Given that Mr. Cohen filed this on that date without filing the Motion for Sanctions as well, perhaps he has reconsidered its validity. It may not be in best interests of his clients, Justice Through Music Project and Velvet Revolution US. Those interests may be rapidly diverging from TDPK’s.
<mockery>Thus far, TDPK’s threat is empty. He may follow through at a later date, or perhaps he’s figured out that wasting a court’s time is not a good way to win a judge to one’s argument.</mockery>
Meanwhile, back in Virginia, the clock is ticking down to 10 am, 4 December. There are, if I’ve got the count right, seven motions on the docket. Two are from TDPK. One is a Motion to Dismiss, and the other is Motion for a Protective Order to allow him to blow off discovery. There is one from the Prince William County Police to quash a subpoena from TDPK for information concerning the ongoing criminal investigation into the SWATting of Aaron Walker. There are four from Aaron Walker. One is a Motion to Deny Dismissal. One is a Motion for Sanctions against TDPK for multiple reasons. Two are Motions for Default Judgments, one against Crew Member Ron Brynaert, the other against First Mate Neal Rauhauser.
IANAL, but folks who are tell me that TDPK’s motions don’t seem to have much basis in law. They also tell me that the police motion to quash is a slam dunk for the cops. They also believe that the default motions against CMRB and FMNR should probably be granted. My lawyer acquaintances say that the interesting part of the hearing will be the sanctions motion against TDPK. They all believe that he should be sanctioned, but there’s a wide range of expectations about what Judge Potter will do.
Stay tuned.
Tick, tock, tick, tock, …
CORRECTION—The Waivers of Service were actually filed with the court by Mr. Backer. It may be that a sanctions motion has been filed but has not been posted to the docket on PACER yet. We will see.
I did an earlier post called Dread Pirate #BrettKimberlin Doubles Down on Stupid that mentions TDPK using his Response to Plaintiff’s Motion for Sanctions in the Virginia Walker v. Kimberlin, et. al. lawsuit to threaten Dan Backer, Aaron Walker’s lawyer, with sanctions in the federal Walker v. Kimberlin, et. al. case and doing so after his sanctions motion in the Virginia case had been shot down. In that filing he said that he would produce a written exchange between the Justice Through Music Project/Velvet Revolution US Executive Director and Mr. Backer concerning the sanctions threat. When Judge Potter consolidated the hearings on motions to 4 December, TDPK was not able to present his written exchange and get it into the public record. Not to be deterred, he has included it as Exhibit O in his federal Motion to Dismiss.
This document raises some intriguing questions. Jeffrey Cohen’s email to Dan Backer contains the following notice:
This message contains information that may be confidential and privileged and is intended for use solely by the intended recipient. Unless you are the intended recipient (or authorized to receive for the intended recipient), you may not use, copy or disclose to anyone the message and any attachments or any information contained in the message.
The intended recipient of the email was Dan Backer. Do you think that TDPK was authorized to receive messages for Mr. Backer? Me neither. So how did he get a copy of the email exchange?
Jeffrey Cohen is the Executive Director of JTMP and VRUS. He is also a lawyer, and as we can see from this exchange, he is representing the two organizations in the federal lawsuit. (They are among the et al. defendants.) He’s not Brett Kimberlin’s lawyer, and his clients’ interest in the lawsuit are likely to be adverse with respect to TDPK’s. Did he give the emails to TDPK?
Hmmmm.
<fisking>In his email to Mr. Backer, Mr. Cohen asserts that the
accusations against the nonprofits are simply nothing other than unsupported supposition.
Oh, really? Just for openers, TDPK’s email communications relating to his personal litigation have often come from a Justice Through Music Project email address. Some are tagged as being sent from a JTMP mobile device. That use of corporate IT assets establishes a connection between his personal activities and JTMP and VRUS.
In the motion itself TDPK writes:
This conduct by Plaintiff demonstrates that this suit was brought for an improper purpose to harass Plaintiff [sic] and others. On October 30, 2012, Plaintiff [sic] served a Motion for Rule 11 Sanctions on Plaintiff’s attorney regarding this case, and that attorney told attorney for the non-profits that he will not withdraw the suit. Therefore, that Rule 11 motion will be filed with the Court on November 20, 2012.
</fisking>
Rule 11(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Proceedure states (in part):
By presenting to the court a pleading, written motion, or other paper—whether by signing, filing, submitting, or later advocating it—an attorney or unrepresented party certifies that to the best of the person’s knowledge, information, and belief, formed after an inquiry reasonable under the circumstances:
(1) it is not being presented for any improper purpose, such as to harass, cause unnecessary delay, or needlessly increase the cost of litigation…
<mockery>That Team Kimberlin would have the chutzpah to invoke Rule 11 … Oh, never mind.
And the timing for filing the motion … Rule 6 requires 14 days of notice for a hearing. Let’s see. 14 days after 20 November is … subtract 30 … um … 4 December. Nice try, but it won’t be hard to get the hearing rescheduled because of the conflict with the already docketed hearing in the Virginia case. We should all plan on being in Manassas on 4 December.</mockery>
Team Kimberlin is flailing away, looking for an exit from the trouble TDPK has led them into. As the net of Justice draws tighter, escape is being made more difficult. They’re beginning to resemble roaches that scatter when a light is turned on.
The Gentle Reader who has been following the Saga of TDPK for at least a month or so will remember that TDPK filed a motion in the Virginia Walker v. Kimberlin, et al. case that contained documents which the court had ordered sealed. That was a clear violation of the judge’s instructions to keep the material confidential.
Doing something like that once could be taken as a mistake. Breaching the ordered sealing the material multiple times starts to look like willful disobedience of the court’s order.
This second breach raises some interesting questions with respect to Mr. Cohen’s involvement. IANAL, so I may misunderstand the rules. However, if Mr. Cohen is not TDPK’s attorney, I’m not sure why it would be proper for him to have access to the sealed discovery documents. Furthermore, as a lawyer licensed to practice in Virginia and an officer of the court, wouldn’t he have a duty to inquire about the provenance of the documents before receiving them?
BTW, if Mr. Cohen is representing Justice Through Music Project and Velvet Revolution US in the federal Walker v. Kimberlin, et al. lawsuit, then his clients have potential adverse interests with respect to TDPK. Is it proper to use sealed documents from the Virginia case that he should not have to support negotiations in the interest of his clients in the federal case?
<mockery>Again, the legal strategy behind breaching the court-ordered seal on the documents is either clever beyond the understanding of all the lawyers I’ve discussed this with, or it is mind-bogglingly stupid.</mockery>
If these were the only breaches of the seal on discovery documents, my suspicion is that they would be enough to cause TDPK to be in a heap of trouble when Judge Potter rules on the sanction motion on 4 December. They aren’t. There’s more to come.
You may want to start buying your popcorn (or Jujubes or Raisinets) in bulk.
I didn’t think that I would actually be SWATed on Halloween. From the top down, all of Team Kimberlin strike me as cowards. It takes a certain level of gumption to be a suicide bomber. Where is the bravery in setting time bombs and skulking away? I doubted that any of them would risk making a SWATting call to a law enforcement agency that was expecting it.
I’ve been blogging about TDPK for a bit over five months with very little push back. Oh, I had a few tweets and comments from sock puppets and fan boys, but nothing substantial. Nothing substantial that is until this week. My Monday morning blog post Dread Pirate #BrettKimberlin’s Boss’ Day Job resulted in this comment:
Of course, the comment was not really made by The Lonely Conservative.
But back to this post … Was there something particular in that post that pushed a button? Or was it the accumulation of five months of blog posts that inspired the SWATting threat? I don’t know that I’ll ever find out, but I do know that by not following through, Team Kimberlin has proven themselves to be a cowardly lot. But they can be dangerous cowards. I understand that. I keep my eyes open. I take reasonable (and sometimes unreasonable) precautions. And my friends, including those in law enforcement, have my back.
As Harry Truman once remarked, “I’ve been shot at by experts.” I’ve dealt with my share of tough guys and tough guy wannabes during my life. They’ve been to jail, and I haven’t. I look forward to seeing TDPK and his thugs and enablers brought to justice, and I intend to have some small part in that. I may have just become his worst nightmare.
Those of us who make our living by creating things and ideas know the importance of protecting our intellectual property. I have a patent. I own copyrights. I own trademarks and service marks. Indeed, if you click on The Fine Print above, you’ll find copyright and trademark notices about this site and its contents.
Jeffrey R. Cohen‘s law practice deals primarily with intellectual property. He has filed more than 300 trademark applications with the Patent and Trademark Office, some for clients and some for himself. Yes, he owns trademarks himself. Here’s one that he filed and later abandoned:
I can understand why he abandoned this one. There probably wasn’t much of a market for Plumber’s Butt work pants. (Mrs. Hoge is laughing while I type this.)
I admire the creativity behind this trademark, but I don’t think much of the judgment behind it. It may not be Mr. Cohen’s only lapse of judgment.
Jeffrey R. Cohen is a graduate of the Washington University Law School and is listed as an adjunct faculty member at the school for its Fall, 2011, term. His bio on the school’s New and Visiting Faculty page for that term contains this:
He received his undergraduate degree from George Washington University and his law degree from Washington University Law School in St. Louis. Prof. Cohen is admitted to practice in New York, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia and Massachusetts. He is admitted in numerous Federal Courts. Prof. Cohen is also the author of West’s Trademarks form volume …
I’m just a bush league blogger, but if you google my name, you will find thousands of results, and the top entries will be things such as my Twitter account, my business web site, and this blog. Some folks are easy to find on the Internet. Finding Jeffrey R. Cohen, Bethesda, Maryland, is a bit more difficult.
First of all, there seem to be quite a few Jeffrey Cohens in Bethesda. Second, for a lawyer who is billed as “[n]ationally known entertainment attorney Jeff Cohen” and a “computer savvy” activist on the About Us page at the Justice Through Music Project, Mr. Cohen has a rather obscure web profile.
He does have a blog. The last entry was on 16 July, 2010. He posted under the name of Entrepreneurship, and describes himself this way in his profile:
I have practiced intellectual property and entertainment law for over 20 years. I’m married that long and have two wonderful children a daughter who is a student at the U of Michigan and a son who is going into his senior year and already interning with my entertainment mangement company and ad agency that I own
He has a Twitter account. It isn’t very active.
Searching for jcmotifs does turn up some results, including some rather foul-mouthed user comments at YouTube.
He has at least three businesses other than his law practice, Sumerian Records, Outerloop Management, and Music Biz Magazine. Sumerian Records has an active web page. It also has a strange logo which consists of the Sphinx and pyramids, an Egyptian theme for a Mesopotamian named outfit. Outerloop Management only has a “New Site Coming Soon” web page but does appear to be active with social media. Music Biz Magazine has no noticeable web presence. The phone number for all three businesses is the same as a number listed for Mr. Cohen’s law practice. The snail mail address for all three is the Arlington, Virginia, address of the law firm where Mr. Cohen practices (although it appears that he usually works out of his home in Bethesda, Maryland).
In an earlier post I pointed out that this Jeff Cohen is not the Jeff Cohen who is a former child actor who practices law in Los Angeles. I should also point out that he is not the lawyer named Jeff Cohen who is associated with the Tides Foundation.
I’m sure we will learn more about Mr. Cohen as the federal Walker v. Kimberlin, et al. lawsuit develops.
Court records show an email address for a Jeffrey R. Cohen who has the same street address as Justice Through Music Project. That email address is associated with the law firm of Millen, White, Zellano & Branigan. The firm’s web site gives this information about Mr. Cohen:
Our entertainment practice focuses on music, film and television. Because of our intellectual property expertise, we understand not only the finer points of contract terms but also the significance of the intellectual property issues at hand. Jeff Cohen heads this practice group. Jeff owns Sumerian Records and is a partner in an entertainment management company Outerloop Management.
A while back, I did a post about Jeffrey Cohen, the lawyer listed as the Executive Director of both TDPK’s “charities”—the 501(c)(3), Justice Through Music Project, and his 501(c)(4), Velvet Revolution US. The Gentle Readers who have been following the Saga of TDPK may remember that both of those organizations have been added as defendants in the federal Walker v. Kimberlin, et al. suit.
Because he is their Executive Director, Mr. Cohen has certain responsibilities and obligations with respect to JTMP and VRUS. Now that they have been sued, he must look out for their interest. Since he is a lawyer, he can handle the suit himself, although every other lawyer I’ve talked to about this situation thinks that would be unwise. They all also tell me that, whether he handles the case for the “charities” or not, it would be a severe breach of legal ethics for him to advise TDPK or represent him in any way related to the federal case because of the possible conflict of interest between the corporations on the one hand and TDPK as an individual on the other.
TDPK states in one of his motions in the Virginia case, that in a communication with Aaron Walker’s lawyer the “Executive Director”
… responded that he would … seek Rule 11 sanctions against counsel for bringing a frivolous suit …
TDPK’s knowledge of this leads one to wonder how close to the line (and on which side of it) the relationship between Defendant Kimberlin and Defendants JTMP and VRUS is with respect to legal defense. One hopes that Mr. Cohen has not knowingly received any discovery materials from the Virginia case via TDPK. He may not be involved in that case, but as a lawyer, he would be ethically bound to inquire as to the provenance of such material.
Oh, and one more thing … There seems to be some confusion about which Jeffrey Cohen is connected to JTMP and VRUS. This Jeffrey Cohen is the lawyer who practices patent and trademark law in the DC area. He is not the Jeffrey Cohen who has an entertainment industry related practice in Los Angeles.
Yes, it seems that TDPK appears to have a boss, at least at his day job as Director of the Justice Through Music Project. If you look on page 7 of the JTMP’s 2010 Form 990, you’ll find that Jeffrey Cohen is listed as the Executive Director. Shouldn’t that make him Kimberlin’s supervisor?
Ah, I hear the Gentle Reader asking, “Who is this Jeffrey Cohen person?” Well, it doesn’t take much Google-fu to discover that there is a lawyer by that name who both resides at and practices law from an address shown on various JTMP Form 990s. Or that the lawyer’s email address seems to be associated with a patent and trademark law firm in Northern Virginia. Or that the lawyer appears to have sued various companies for trademark infringement not only for clients but also for trademarks that he personally owns.
One of the interrogatories to be answered by TDPK in the Virginia Walker v. Kimberlin, et al. case by this Friday concerns his relationship to and participation in the management of JTMP. One subsidiary question would be to what extent have those activities been supervised by Mr. Cohen. Further, since JTMP is now tangled up as a defendant in the federal Walker v. Kimberlin, et al. lawsuit, we may be hearing more about Mr. Cohen soon.
Curiouser and curiouser.
Tick, tock, tick, tock, …
UPDATE—Instalanche! Thanks, Prof. Reynolds, and welcome Instapundit readers. There’s more mockery of TDPK to be enjoyed here at Hogewash! Click on the Home link in the menu bar and scroll around.
