And speaking of great writers...
S'tan,
The number of posts under your name seems to be stuck on 664.
What is that about?
We are ALL waiting anxiously for #666.
I know it will be good.

OUTED! Kind of a low beginning to the end of the deceptions. If you go to the article in the Times there is a nice picture of all three of the protagonists in the scam, all looking massively neurotic and spooked under the cameraflashes. Kind of sociologically perverted that novels done from the persona of a gay hustler end up in a totally hetero personal conflict. I like how, much more than just making a nom-de-flimflam, they created a media virus that once it infected the literary and newsworlds, spread voraciously enough to generate huge revenue. And then that was the undoing of it all -live by the dollarbill die by the dollarbill. But wierdly, no one has proposed what the moral of the story is so far.
_______________________________________________

Figure in JT Leroy Case Says Partner Is Culprit
By WARREN ST. JOHN

A central figure in the case of the mysterious writer JT Leroy has come forward to say that no one named JT Leroy exists, and that the books published under that name were actually written by a San Francisco woman named Laura Albert.

Geoffrey Knoop, Ms. Albert's partner for the last 16 years, said in a telephone interview on Saturday evening that he had seen Ms. Albert write the books of JT Leroy in their San Francisco apartment. He added that for much of the last decade, he had been present when Ms. Albert conducted telephone conversations as JT Leroy with unwitting editors, writers and celebrities, using the voice of a young man with a West Virginia accent. Ms. Albert, 40, is originally from Brooklyn.

"The jig is up," said Mr. Knoop, 39, a rock musician. "I do want to apologize to people who were hurt," he added. "It got to a level I didn't expect."

Mr. Knoop said that he played an important role in the creation of JT Leroy, who developed a cult literary following. "On the business side, I ran a lot of the day to day," Mr. Knoop said. "Sending things out and contacting people, making decisions about what we were and weren't going to do."

Mr. Knoop, whose 25-year-old half sister Savannah Knoop was unmasked by The New York Times last month as the public face of JT Leroy, said that he had come forward out of concern for his son, family members and others affected by what he called an all-consuming web of deceit. He said he and Ms. Albert separated in December, in large part because of stress caused by the deception. He said they are involved in a custody dispute over their young son. "If you're feeling more and more suffocated by the complications and lies, it's not worth it," he said.

Mr. Knoop has hired a Los Angeles entertainment lawyer and said that he hopes to sell a movie about his experience. (New York Magazine yesterday cited an anonymous source saying that Mr. Knoop was seeking a book deal about the Leroy story, which Mr. Knoop denied.)

Mr. Knoop's statements and first-hand account — the first by anyone involved in the deception — may help solve once and for all a truly bizarre literary fraud, one that drew in countless people, many of them celebrities and noted literary figures who had lengthy contact in person and on the phone with someone they thought was making literature out of a terrible childhood.

"People were generous because they thought they were helping an H.I.V.-positive former drug addict, ex-prostitute, who used the hardships of his life to make art," said Ira Silverberg, JT Leroy's former literary agent and an early champion.

In the interview, Mr. Knoop outlined the origin and execution of the scheme, which he said was motivated initially by his and Ms. Albert's shared desire to have their artistic work — his music and her writing — acknowledged by a wider audience. Ms. Albert's attorney, Peter Cane, of Manhattan, declined to comment. A person answering the phone at Ms. Albert's home hung up on a reporter.

Mr. Knoop said the ruse began in 1996, when Ms. Albert sought to get in touch with Dennis Cooper, a noted gay writer of edgy fiction whose work she admired. Concerned that Mr. Cooper might not be interested in communicating with a woman in her 30's, Ms. Albert had the idea to approach him as a troubled teenage boy nicknamed Terminator, with the biography of a street hustler.

Mr. Cooper said his memory of that early call was consistent with Mr. Knoop's account. He said that Terminator's life story seemed almost taken from the pages of one of his own novels.

"He was very much like one of my characters, so I was interested," Mr. Cooper said.

The conversation went off without a hitch, Mr. Knoop said, and soon Mr. Cooper and Terminator — Ms. Albert later changed his name to JT ("Jeremy Terminator") Leroy — were speaking frequently about Ms. Albert's writing. Eventually Mr. Cooper championed JT Leroy to writers like Bruce Benderson as well as several prominent Manhattan editors. As JT Leroy, Ms. Albert also successfully solicited editorial advice from writers like Michael Chabon and Dave Eggers.

As the books of JT Leroy built an audience — the first, "Sarah," was published in 2000, followed by "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things" in 2001 — Mr. Knoop said, media interest in JT Leroy and his improbable story increased. When a German television station asked for an interview around the time "Sarah" was published, Mr. Knoop said, he and Ms. Albert recruited his half sister, Savannah, to stand in. She wore a wig and sunglasses as a disguise, he said, an outfit that would become JT Leroy's trademark.

Ms. Knoop did not return voice messages left seeking comments.

"At first it was just to validate it," Mr. Knoop said. "There was a lot of buzz, but you couldn't meet JT."

"We just need to make an appearance or two," he said, summing up the thinking at the time. "Then JT would go back to being a reclusive writer."

But that didn't happen. Instead, in 2002, Ms. Albert put together a six-week European book tour with JT Leroy's various European publishers. Savannah Knoop went along to play Leroy in public, with Ms. Albert in the role of his chaperone. The trip culminated with a large event in Rome, at which Ms. Knoop, as JT Leroy, conducted a reading while hidden under a table.

But the ruse, Mr. Knoop said, eventually began to take its toll on the couple's relationship. He said he had tried to convince Ms. Albert to abandon the deception, either by taking credit for the works of JT Leroy, or simply by letting the persona quietly fade away, but that she refused.

Though Mr. Knoop and Ms. Albert lived together for years, they were not legally married. If Mr. Knoop is to share in any of the monies generated by JT Leroy's books and films, he might need to demonstrate that he was an integral part of the deception.

Mr. Knoop's account also sheds light on one of the most confounding aspects of the Leroy story, the involvement of a Bay Area psychologist, Dr. Terrence Owens, whom JT Leroy often credited with starting his writing career. Several writers, including Mr. Benderson and Patti Sullivan, a screenwriter who worked on a film script for "Sarah," said that they took part in conference calls with Dr. Owens and JT Leroy when the writer was supposedly experiencing psychological problems. The involvement of a legitimate psychologist lent credibility to the ruse, they said.

Mr. Knoop said that Dr. Owens himself was a dupe. He conducted his sessions with JT Leroy by telephone, Mr. Knoop said, and met a stand-in only once, in the late 1990's.

In a phone call, Dr. Owens said that he did not know Mr. Knoop and that patient confidentiality constrained him from speaking. "I know it doesn't meet the public curiosity, but it's a different obligation I'm held to," Dr. Owens said.

Mr. Knoop said he did not believe Ms. Albert would ever admit to her role in the JT Leroy scheme.

"For her, it's very personal," he said. "It's not a hoax. It's a part of her."

JT LEROY LIVES!!!

The moral of the story is in the very last lines of this article: the actual writer does not believe it is a hoax. She IS JT Leroy.
She is obviously mad, and obviously talented --
otherwise the illusion could not have continued.

Talent will always out.
It is not enough to be weird. You have to also be able to write a hell of a sentence.

That a therapist was tricked and extended the illusion exposes the poor practice some therapists have of doing therapy over the telephone. Many times when I was in therapy I tried to get my doctor to do this, when I felt I was too fucked up/depressed to get out the door. But they still wouldn't. I understand why now. There is no cathexis/catharsis whatever ...without a face-to-face.

The first deception, getting through to a famous gay writer as a GAY person, is also of note...

'The media virus' that created piles of cash... what a great description! She better not give back a nickle.

I totally support her in the deception, as I have been burned in this respect.
I'm not mainstream-male-gay. As a writer on the topic of S&M,
I was picked up here and there, more than once, as an interesting freak case, gayish and a sexual anomaly... and then dropped for whatever queer reason of the moment. E.g., Ira Silverberg was my publicist when he worked for Grove Press... and sequed to unsupportive later on, with one exception -- the "High Risk" anthology... So I am happy to see them all burned by Ms. Laura Albert -- who, when all is said and done, IS JT Leroy.

I believe the work will live, even though there has been a media blackout on Ms. Albert. Correct me if I'm wrong.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: S'tan,

Consider the "media blackout on Ms. Albert" over, S'tan now that she is on trial for fraud or somesuch.

From today's Gothamist

quote:

...But now a film production company is suing Albert for money advanced towards making a film based on "Leroy"'s novel Sarah, arguing that since JT Leroy signed the contract and since JT Leroy doesn't exist, the contract is void.

Carolyn Albert, Albert's 70-year-old mother, detailed her daughter's past, which included bringing Laura to a psychiatric ward when she was 14 after suicide attempts.

http://gothamist.com/2007/06/16/trial_reveals_j.php

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Chi Chi,

Wow.

But how can a nom de plume be considered fraudulent?

It seems her 'hoax' could be a function of pathological shyness?

How very peculiar.

She sounds wrecked...

Anyhow she is a still a major artist in my book.


June 23 -
Jury Finds ‘JT LeRoy’ Was Fraud

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/23/nyregion/23writer.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Alan Feuer wrote 5 articles on the case in one week...

It is so demoralizing when an innate pathology overwhelms the genius.

"Yet even though the company’s lawyers assailed her in court as a trickster and wily master of self-promotion, they — and their client, Mr. Levy-Hinte — admitted a grudging admiration for her writing talents, and for her performance."

Oh yeah, by the way - she's brilliant.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: S'tan,

from Times' Select...
another point of view... sort of a 'Farewell Charming Old NY' mixed in with JT...


The City’s New Motto: ‘See You in Court’
By CLYDE HABERMAN

Manufacturing is all but gone from New York. The information technology industry, while on a roll, does not quite have the Silicon Alley ’90s buzz. This city is in danger of falling behind London as a financial capital.

Thank goodness, we still have lawsuits.

... We have people of unparalleled dedication, like a lawyer who said he had worked 30 to 40 hours — worth nearly $10,000 in billable time — to fight a $65 parking ticket. Last week he won. Where else would you find someone willing to spend so much on so little, all in the name of justice?

[Or the case of] Mamadou Soumare, the unfortunate immigrant from Mali whose wife and 4 children were among 10 people who died in a terrible fire in the Bronx three months ago... he has filed [a claim] with the city comptroller’s office. The notice was a required first step in a possible $100 million lawsuit — repeat, $100 million — against the city.

Among those named by Mr. Soumare was the Fire Department, which he said had “failed to respond in a timely manner.” Never mind that firefighters arrived 3 minutes and 23 seconds after 911 was called. Never mind that the call had come disastrously late because people in the burning house had wasted precious time trying to put out the flames themselves.

The notice of claim does not mean that Mr. Soumare, who is in this country illegally, will definitely follow through with a lawsuit. But it means that he might. If he does, he will show that he truly understands American ways.

As does a company called Antidote International Films, which is suing a writer for fraud in federal court in Manhattan.

The company paid $45,000 for the rights to “Sarah,” a novel that made a splash in 2000, in part because it was supposedly written by one JT LeRoy, said to be an H.I.V.-positive, teenage male prostitute out of West Virginia. Only there was no JT LeRoy. He was the invention of the actual writer, Laura Albert, 42, a mother with Brooklyn roots.

Antidote, which was entranced by the autobiographical back story of the nonexistent author, was not happy. It was so unhappy that it had six lawyers — enough people to form a hockey team — in court yesterday trying to get its money back.

Is Ms. Albert a malevolent fake? Or is she, as described by her lawyer, Eric Weinstein, a “complicated person” who created the JT LeRoy persona because “this is how she communicated with the world.”

In case anyone may have forgotten, we are talking about a novel, by definition a work of fiction. What difference, some might ask, does it make if it was written by a young male hustler or a middle-aged mom?

It’s not as if Ms. Albert is the first writer, female or male, to create a false identity. Mary Ann Evans wrote “Silas Marner” as George Eliot. Isak Dinesen, of “Out of Africa” fame, was not a man, but a Danish noblewoman, Karen Blixen. George Sand was the French Baroness Dudevant, Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin.

The list of assumed identities goes on and on. It includes Joyce Carol Oates, who 20 years ago wrote a pseudonymous novel, “Lives of the Twins.” She hadn’t intended to play “a trick,” Ms. Oates said at the time. She simply “wanted to escape from my own identity.”

In a 1987 essay, she said that with a pseudonym “there is the possibility, however quixotic, of making a fresh start” and “not being held to severe account for it.”

But then, unlike Ms. Albert, Ms. Oates didn’t get caught up in the thriving New York world of lawsuits, where it is all about being held to severe account.

http://select.nytimes.com/2007/06/19/nyregion/19nyc.html?pagewanted=print

This message has been edited. Last edited by: S'tan,

And more!
I'm posting all this in case one doesn't have Times Select.

from
June 22, 2007
In Writer’s Trial, a Conflict Over Roles of Art and Money
By ALAN FEUER

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/22/nyregion/22writer.html?pagewanted=print


Ms. Albert, both in testimony and through her lawyer, Eric Weinstein, has said that JT Leroy was never a profit-making venture, despite the fact she paid a friend to appear in public as “JT” in a blond wig and sunglasses to promote the book. Her contention is that JT Leroy was not an ordinary nom de plume in the Mark Twain-Samuel Clemens mold but a fictional necessity, a sort of imaginary survival apparatus that allowed her both to write and to breathe.

It is within reason to assume that the commercial value of “Sarah” will rise on the force of the publicity the book has received at trial. There is, however, another situation that might inflate its value even more.

Steven Shainberg, the proposed director of the film, testified that when he learned who had truly written “Sarah” an inspiration came to him to make a “meta-film,” a triple-layered movie that would blend the novel with the lives of its real and purported authors in a project he took to calling “Sarah Plus.”

Of its three required elements — the book, the JT Leroy saga and the inner life of Laura Albert — the latter two have essentially been thrust into the public sphere by testimony at the trial.

While it remains uncertain, in a legal sense, it may be that those latter two are now fair game for any screenwriter to employ.

Which leaves the key to making “Sarah Plus” the option rights to “Sarah” — which also remain uncertain, at least until the end of the trial.


[Didn't we say the story of the hoax is more interesting than anything...?]