The BuzzBee Psycho Drama Continues

[Richard Kaufman]

With the aid of Mark Lewis, Jeff Busby posted the following message on alt.magic. The claims that he makes in it are entirely without basis. Not a single person that I know of who has written anything here on the Genii Forum has been sued, or contacted by any attorney and threatened with suit. Please note that as the sole owner of the Genii Forum, that NO ONE has contacted me as Busby claims. Nothing unusual going on here, except in Busby's nightmares.
Here is Busby's message:
Dear Magic Friend:
It's very interesting to check and record NOW what the GENII "forum" is doing. As you must be aware, this forum run by Kaufman and Racherbaumer
made me a "special case." They openly stated ANYONE could libel me -- no matter how outrageously -- there.
If you check the forum, you will not only find that said by Racherbaumer, but encouragement of falsehoods by Kaufman, Racherbaumer, Farmer, Sisti, Biro, and many, many others. In the background, lending as much credence
to the lies as possible, you will find Jim Riser, and Dick Hatch and several others.
Only occasionally you will find something like, "Of course, I really don't know him, and I have actually never dealt with his company." This is
usually followed by this person -- whom I have never dealt with at all -- with a variety of outrageous things.
Many times, they get their "out" on ANOTHER forum that Kaufman and Racherbaumer do NOT control. Then you will find them admitting they have never done any business with me, but I MUST be a real bastard because they heard so from "reliable sources." Regrettably, those sources ARE reliable, but reliable only in the way I warned eBay: they will reliably tell untruths consistently.
What is shocking is this: These people have OPENLY wished I would die several times.
Regrettably, they are doing this, and have been up to this mischief, while I have been seriously ill. They KNOW IT, but instead prefer to cover it up.
That information has been deliberately suppressed on the GENII forum. If a participant mentioned they had dealt reliably with me and that I was
square with them, one of two things happened: (1) that participant vanished INSTANTLY from the GENII forum, and was then permanently barred, or (2) the truth was sloughed off by Kaufman as MY FABRICATION.
Only in the past few days has eBay taken to heart my advice the participants in the GENII forum were exacerbating the problem. The head attorney was on the GENII forum. We warned him to check these people out and make them make statements under penalty of perjury. He didn't do that.
He is following a course of tactics attempting to scare us by throwing a huge lawsuit at us, egged on by every one of those mentioned above.
I think that's a bad approach, since he has harmed us greatly by NOT asking for sworn facts, but instead relying on the opinions of all the
people noted above. And, not one of those opinions has been sworn ... or is true,
Additionally, I have boxes -- literally boxes -- of evidence -- including cancelled checks to Paul Fox's daughter and Danny Dew -- that I have done
what I said, and OWN the rights that I have stated under oath. I have many more statements, letters and cancelled checks from the people I named
above.
It's funny how agreements change when money is waved again, long after you got paid. We told eBay to kook at all our files on ALL these people and
determine the truth themselves. Instead, the GENII forum bombarded eBay with falsehoods. However, if you check you will find we are NOT on eBay,
but it is NOT because of what people on the GENII forum say ...
In contrast to what I've said all along, we have a group of people known to lie, fabricate and tell stories without a shred of anything to back it
up to deliberately harm someone.
What you may have noticed is this: Immediately when eBay was put on notice of their misbehaviour about a week ago, suddenly the libel on GENII
started toning down, and the people mentioned above became quiet ON THAT FORUM. But check back and see what they WERE saying. As well, check them
out on OTHER FORUMS.
As you may also know, the GENII forum DELIBERATELY suppressed ANYONE who had anything nice to say about me of my business before NOW. As mentioned,
we warned eBay about the deliberate misperception the GENII forum was creating. However, they simply encouraged this misbehaviour and KNEW IT.
Suddenly, there's a lawsuit. And what you see is this: People who were trashing me just a few days ago on that forum are now grudgingly saying
mildly nice things about me and my products. I think you don't need to be a genius to realize they've, again, been warned by eBay about their past bad behaviour and how it is not only provable, but false, and they will be
held accountable for it.
As noted, you may want to check the GENII forum to see if what I've said is true, if those earlier statements haven't vanished. Then you may get a
laugh realizing they've been warned by eBay to change their behavior. Too late. When it happened we did record it all, and the evidence is already
there.
Yes, magic "was" a minor variety art. Many of my friends don't take it seriously. However, it IS WHAT I DO TO MAKE A LIVING. It is NOT a hobby or
a pastime for me. It is my business. Take what I say in that light.
In any case, I did think you might be interested in seeing this misbehaviour for yourself.
Sorry, but I can't write you personally now. It has been difficult enough to deal with the serious problems this group causes. Just remember -- we
did not create them. Thanks for your support and help.
[Jeff Busby]

Okay (RK here again, back from the land of Oz, where the world has been turned topsy-turvy). We can all see that Busby is nuts, and would rival any Russian disinformation master at spreading lies and propaganda. I have reprinted his posting from alt.magic in its entirety just so we can simply prove the falsehood of his statements. Ready?
If you have any complaints about Jeff Busby Magic or Jeff Busby, please post them now. If you wish to compliment anything you've purchased from him, please post it now. By posting both of these items we shall show what an utter liar he is: I do NOT delete or edit posts that praise his products, and we have NOT been threatened with any lawsuits and we shall continue to condemn his thievery whenever it is true.
I'll start!
Jeff Busby is a crook: I paid money for subscriptions to "Epoptica" and "Arcane" and never received a SINGLE ISSUE. Not one, and I never received a refund.
Jeff Busby is a crook: I paid for a subscription to the "Braue Notebooks" which stated that I would receive about 15 installments over a specified period which I believe was 18 months. I received 8 installments over a period of the last decade! I have never received a refund on the balance of my money.
The rest, folks, is up to you. Please contribute to this thread and we shall quite simply show everyone that Busby is lying (as usual). :)

[Richard Kaufman]

Brad Henderson posted the following on another thread, which I've deleted to consolidate things into this single thread:
Here is Brad's reply to Busby's post.

This is undeniably the most reasonable post, in tone, Mr. Busby has made. (I would be interested in having read it without any editing on Mr. Lewis' part.) However, it draws an incorrect conclusion. The reason the chatter on Genii forum has died down is because the goal of getting ebay freed of ridiculous and oppressive auction closures has been accomplished. Legitimate items, purchased through legitimate channels, are now being sold without interference from Mr. Busby, as should be allowed in any free trade environment. That is all I wanted to see happen, and as it has, "beating a dead horse" becomes pointless.
I know Busby feels he had the right to close these auctions, but every lawyer to whom I spoke (who took the time to read Mr. Busby's Vero rights "about me" page) was puzzled by his thinking. This of course lead me to the 5 questions I posted on another thread in this forum, one to which Busby has yet to thoughtfully reply.
Even if Mr. Busby does own the rights to the line (claiming to have evidence and showing that evidence are two different matters) that still does not excuse or explain his behavior on ebay. What actual statute gives him the right do close auctions for legitimate items, purchased through legitimate channels. Give us a statute number and we can discuss this objectively without name calling and inflammatory threats.
And then let us know when the Braue notebooks will finally be released. You know, the ones that were paid for so long ago.

[Steve Hook]

Of course, Busybee is mad.

Jeffrey: Where are the Epopticas (years and years ago, my friend Keith Billingsley simply gave up on you) and where are the Notebooks? If you don't have a reasonable reply to those questions, then put a sock in it.

[Pete Biro]

Once a friend of Jeff's (we were buddies in Oakland, Calif., some years ago) I lost that trust and friendship when he failed to deliver the Braue Notebooks.

The excuse he gave me was he had a typetting machine and the files were entered, the machine crashed, and he lost the input. I "believe" I said something like, "Why don't you just re-enter the text?" He said something like, "It's too much work." (It was a long time ago, and the exact wording eludes me).

However, fans, he was OBLIGATED to deliver, as he took our money.

Sure, he had a great line of products and people giving him things, Like Gaetan Bloom and Richard Osterlind.

Where have they gone?

He had the greatest cups (whether he paid for the rights or not may be in dispute) but he really NEVER DELIVERED. Hence, many made "similar" cups, Sisti, Johnson, JS, me, et al... and he moaned and groaned and THREATENED... but he had no legs to stand on.

The ebay was a huge mistake on his and ebay's part, in my opinion.

Sure he can write amazing letters, ads, etc. but who need 5,000 words on something when 50 would do? And I am sure he "suckered" ebay into his way of thinking...

BUT...

Once ebay checked it out they saw he had nothing.

Once a Chevrolet was sold, and Chevrolet didn't complain, that set the precedent.

Anyway, Jeff has gotten himself where he is and he continues to drive nails into his own coffin.

Too bad... :mad:

[Kurt Lee Flickner]

I don't think any of this crap going on at alt.magic is at all from Busby, I believe this is all the creation of Mark Lewis.

I believe our ole friend Mark Lewis is laughing his head off that he has managed to get his posts repeated by others onto the Genii Boards, considering that he has been kicked off this board several times.

There were some posts supposedly, originally (?) from Busby on alt.magic, but I don't want to waste my time searching thru the mess to find them again, but they all had a hotmail address, a most likely forgery, and most likely Lewis's creation, just to create all this craze. The posts, that were supposedly from Busby, and Lewis's reprinting of emails supposedly from Busby onto the alt.magic, are all so uncharacteristic of Busby,,, he does NOT want to spend the time making stated his position, or answering complaints. He explained it all once, and only once on his VERO page, and he did not want to bother with any personal correspondance of explanations.

When Ebay had cancelled my auctions by Busby, they notified me to send email inquiries to busby to:
ipcomplaints@imbris.net

so he has a server other than hotmail that he uses for real email communication.

I have often wondered with all the posts and rantings from Mark Lewis on alt.magic (he has an opinion on every single topic of discussion there, and many multiple posts on each topic) plus all his attempts to cloak himself onto other boards to create trouble, (Genii is not the only forum he has been kicked off of) ,,, well when does this GREAT (great, at least in his own mind) performer find time to perform??? He claims to be very busy performing.

Kurt Flickner
www.MagicEstateSale.com

[Tom Dobrowolski]

I too was ripped off with the Braue Notebooks.

Over the years I sent letters stating if there would be no further books published and/or no refund was imminent I would be willing to take the balance in other merchandise from Busby. He never bothered to respond.

[pduffie]

Hi Pete

"Sure, he had a great line of products and people giving him things, Like Gaetan Bloom and Richard Osterlind. - Where have they gone?"

I did quite a bit of business with Jeff Busby in the early 90's. He was the first USA dealer to stock my booklets and tricks. He always paid on time, and we had a healthy correspondence on magic over that three or four years - his ability to seek out little-known facts and background info from his library was often astounding.

He stopped ordering mid-90's and that was the last I heard from him. We never fell out (as far as I know) - never had a dispute. Everything just stopped. A later email (all previous contact had been by snail mail) got no reply.

Maybe it was same with some others?

Best Wishes

Peter

[Richard Kaufman]

As someone who's read a lot of Busby's ranting over the past decades, I think that the letter posted by Mark Lewis is an authentic rant from Busby. It sounds EXACTLY like many things he's written before. Of course, if Busby didn't write it, he's free to register on the Genii Forum and tell us. :) But then I'd know his e-mail address, so that seems unlikely.

[Robert McDaniel]

I also purchased the Braue Notebooks, which were quite expensive at the time. And, of course, I never received all of the notebooks as promised either.

Robert

[Chris Bailey]

The more I think about him the more I find it incredibly sad. What makes someone like that?

[Dave Egleston]

I'll be glad to testfy under oath - Luckily, unlike so many others on this forum - I never ordered The Magazines or the Notebook - Lucky for him - In my younger days, I wouldn't mind driving a thousand miles for a little fun - especially for the amount of money he stole.

He treated me like crap for no discernible reason, and wasn't enough of a man to reply to my inquiries, after almost a decade of doing occasional business with him.

Dave

[Gary]

Busby got me for the Braue Notebooks, Arcane, and Epoptica...I still have my original order form from Busby....dated February 9, 1985 and the original non-disclosure agreement. Item 3 on this states "I also understand that if the 15 volumes cannot be produced from the material that exists, I WILL RECEIVE A PRO-RATED REFUND BASED ON THE NUMBER OF VOLUMES PRODUCED (my caps). I got in for $150.00...that seems like $10 per volume...8 were produced, 7 were not, so seems like a lot of people are due $70 (plus interest) from Mr. Busby.

[Tom Ladshaw]

Anyone know how many issues of Epoptica were eventually published?

[Richard Kaufman]

Gary, while you paid only $150 for the Braue Notebooks, I paid $250! And others paid $350.

[Gary]

Right Richard.....some are due quite a few more bucks. As far as Epoptica goes.....the last one I received was dated September 1989 and was Issue Twelve.

[Richard Hatch]

Originally posted by GatorGas:
Anyone know how many issues of Epoptica were eventually published?

Gary has a complete file to date of EPOPTICA. According to Fr. Stephen Fernandes excellent MAGIC MAGAZINES OF THE SECOND MILLENIUM, the Sept. 1989 issue #12 was the last one issued. There was also an EPOPTICA YEARBOOK - ALL TRICK SPECIAL in 1984, but that was sold seperately, for $20 I think. I believe one could both subscribe to Epoptica or get the subscription extended by buying a certain amount of stuff from Jeff between certain dates. It's been a long time, but at one time I figured I had about 6 issues still coming... I subscribed to ARCANE (an excellent magazine, as was Epoptica) just as his publishing schedule imploded. According to Fernandes, issue 14 from October 1995 is the most recent. I am also a charter subscriber to the Braue Notebooks (Busby is the all time master of mail order magic ad copy. I think most of us have sprained our wrists trying to get the credit cards out of our back pockets in a hurry to find out what that "unpublished Vernon subtlety" might be). I was surprised to see my name mentioned by Jeff as lending support to his detractors here, as I don't believe I have ever publicly complained about Jeff's ethics or business practices. Nor have I asked for a refund. I'd still rather get the promised issues! I guess I can pretty much kiss that fantasy goodbye now that I am on his official enemies list...
(I think this will be my 32nd post. Of the other 31, one - today - dealt with Hofzinser and the other 30 with Erdnase. A very few of the latter mention Jeff's important research on this topic. It is well known that I disagree with much of what he has published on this topic, but that has nothing to do with his ethical/business practices. To have included me in his post strikes me delusional paranoia, perhaps confirming the reports of his ill health, alas...

[Pete McCabe]

...Kaufman, Racherbaumer, Farmer, Sisti, Biro, and many, many others. In the background... you will find Jim Riser, and Dick Hatch and several others.

Dick Hatch:

Don't feel bad, that's a pretty good list you're on there. I didn't even get mentioned!

[Pete Biro]

I just got an email direct from Busby. He said the Braue Notebooks are at the printers, and the Vernon material will be sent as a bonus. :D

In addition, he told me he got a message from Saddam Hussein asking about Idaho as a place to seek asylum. :eek:

That would make a great pair, eh? :rolleyes:

[Richard Kaufman]

Pete! It's April 1st ... but Busby's da fool.

[Bob Farmer]

Busby took my money for the Braue Notebooks and never delivered in full. I tracked down Braue's daughter in the Oakland area and she said she'd never heard of Busby and that he had absolutely no rights to publish her father's material.

On a rough estimate, I figure Busby collected about $60,000 for the Braue Notebooks, spent about $5,000 putting out half the volumes promised and pocketed the rest.

It was with great personal pleasure that I recently assisted a lawyer to boot Busby's large keister out of court and down the courthouse steps -- Busby was deprived of the hundreds of thousands of dollars he was claiming.

I also pointed E-Bay to all the key people they should contact for the Paul Fox matters. That felt great too.

Busby should have sent me the $108 pro-rata refund I requested when he failed to deliver the balance of the Braue Notebooks.

Don't ever get on my bad side.

[Bob Farmer]

In Busby's rant he says:

"... (E-Bay's) ... attorney was on the GENII forum ... He is following a course of tactics attempting to scare us by throwing a huge lawsuit at us ...."

I had a hint that E-Bay was going to sue Busby or take some sort of injunctive action against him. E-Bay takes very seriously anyone who interferes with their members and their operation.

There must be a God--

[Richard Kaufman]

Please pardon the puddle that appeared here for a few hours today. We've mopped it up and this thread is once again open for people who wish to either condemn Jeff Busby for his unscrupulous business practices, or praise him for ... well, that's up to you.
Isn't it nice to know that after screwing up hundreds of auctions on eBay by falsely claiming to own rights that Mr. Busby is now being sued by eBay? Lovely lovely lovely.
There is some justice in the world.
It must be spring.

[Pete Biro]

It's a shame that someone "BIG" isn't going after Busby! Hahahahahah.... the real April Fool! :D :p :D

[Richard Hatch]

Doing a google.com search on "Jeff Busby Magic" and "ebay" turned up the following on a cached page of Northern District of California NEW FILINGS:

"This list was posted on: 03/27/2003 05:29:49 PM

SF VENUE
CIVIL CASE LISTING
03/27/2003

03-01244 EDL EBAY, INC. -v-JEFF BUSBY MAGIC, INC.
category 9 ADR , logged in SJ Mar 24 13:02:51"

Could be serious. Anyone care to explain the legal abbreviations and provide a follow up?

[Pete Biro]

My legal secretary bride said it looks like the ADR stands for "arbitration" -- she will dig more tomorrow at work. :D :D :D :D :D Wonder what he did, other than lie, to ebay to get them to sue him????

[Dustin Stinett]

My guess would be that their only real damages would be the lost income from all the auctions he allegedly stopped illegally. (You like how I used the "a" word to cover MY ass?)

Dustin

[Chris Bailey]

Big smile on my face over here!

[Pete Biro]

I have forwarded the pertinent information to the late Danny Dew's lawyer, and he is going to try to contact his associates on the left coast to see what's up on the ebay law suit. :D

[Kurt Lee Flickner]

I would imagine since he signed an affadavat under penalty of perjury, Ebay feels they need to make an example of him, to protect themselves from other lying VERO members.

Ebay does not wanna get involved in the middle of anything, but they need to protect thier biz, and being agresive with Busby sets a precedent.

When I worked in retail loss prevention, I found it intersting how some employers prefer to sweep under the carpet internal theft,,, trying to avoid giving others ideas,,, while other employers would spend mega bucks prosecuting someone that would never get them back the money that it costs to prosecute.

GO EBAY!!

[Guest]

Pete:
Here's direct text from the US District Courts for the Northern District of California web site.

"Welcome to the home page for the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Program at the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The ADR program applies to civil cases filed in the Northern District of California..."

So, it appears that arbitration is on target. Based on what you fine folks have said, I can easily imagine Jeff sitting down for a friendly arbitration.

[Guest]

Busby-related question: On eBay currently is the latest of several copies of Busby's supposedly limited edition of the book Ponsin on Magic to appear on eBay in the last year. Is someone printing up more of this photocopied publication?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... gory=14013

[Brad Henderson]

I don't know how limited this edition is. I do know that Murphy's Magic is one of its current distributers.

[Guest]

The seller states it's limited to 500 copies, though Murphy's site doesn't. Glad to see it's still available. Any guesses how much money's going to the late Sam Sharpe's family?

[Richard Hatch]

The ebay seller of Busby's edition of Sharpe's PONSIN says he'll be out of town until November 10 and will ship on the 11th. Since the auction ends on April 9th, prepare to be patient! We (H & R Magic Books) have new copies in stock for immediate shipment!
I've wondered about the limitation statement of 500 copies. We have sold many over the years and never had trouble restocking (I imagine we'll have trouble doing so once Mark Murphy runs out!). I'd be surprised if Sam Sharpe got much for the reprint rights. My impression is that he was generally happy just to get his work in print, and not much concerned with the financial aspects... I think these were priced at $15 or less when first printed by Jeff. The list price now is $20...

I like this little book alot and applaud Jeff for having published an expanded and affordable edition. Being in a good mood, let me also state publicly that I enjoyed Jeff's SECRET OF THE PALMETTOS, all the Osterlind works he published, and the two mammoth Bart Whaley references (WHO'S WHO IN MAGIC and ENCYCLOPEDIC DICTIONARY OF MAGIC). I refer to both often. And I refer to THE MAN WHO WAS ERDNASE almost daily and genuinely like it, even though I can rebutt much of it as it stands (I can't prove Milton Franklin Andrews was NOT Erdnase, however, though he is not my favorite candidate. He's one of my favorites though, and would be the one favored by Hollywood!). ARCANE and EPOPTICA were great in terms of content. I have been a bit disappointed by the content of the BRAUE NOTEBOOKS (to date), but would still rather receive the balance of the material than a refund...
I also don't feel that Jeff entered these projects not intending to fulfill them. Things happen. In his case, many things happened: Divorce, an earthquake, a major move, diabetes, another relocation, a very serious hailstorm that damaged much of his library and equipment, a stroke, etc. Some of the postings give the impression that Jeff deliberately took funds with no intent to provide the advertised goods, or that he never intended to pay Danny Dew whatever balance he may have owed him. I really don't believe this to be the case. I realize that does not excuse his subsequent behavior, but I don't believe his behavior was premeditated.

[Pete Biro]

I have found out the law firm Ebay is using is a MAJOR OUTFIT... and so far Jeff is "not represented"... I can't reveal any more or my source will dry up on me.

[Bob Farmer]

I agree with Richard Hatch: Busby produced some great books, had excellent taste and a great eye for unique material.

If some sort of pre-frontal lobuzztomy was possible, it would be to magics benefit to remove the evil portions of the Busby noodle to allow his good works to continue.

Perhaps he didnt intend to take my money and then fail to deliver the goods, perhaps he didnt intend to rip-off the Braue family I gave him the benefit of the doubt at the beginning but he did nothing to make amends when problems arose, so I have long since decided that, whatever his intentions, his actions show him to be a man without honor, ethics or conscience.

He certainly intended the destructive E-Bay attacks and now hes paying the price. Perhaps at some point, hell clean up his act, at least apologize to the people hes offended, and re-enter the magic community as a positive participant.

I have to go back to the ashram now and send out some more positive karma. OOM.

[Pete Biro]

Maybe, in the next week or so, when they have nothing left to do, the US Special Forces can go in and take over? :p

[Guest]

Originally posted by Richard Kaufman:

(quote from Jeff Busby letter)
What you may have noticed is this: Immediately when eBay was put on notice of their misbehaviour about a week ago, suddenly the libel on GENII
started toning down, and the people mentioned above became quiet ON THAT FORUM. But check back and see what they WERE saying. As well, check them
out on OTHER FORUMS...

...Suddenly, there's a lawsuit. And what you see is this: People who were trashing me just a few days ago on that forum are now grudgingly saying
mildly nice things about me and my products. I think you don't need to be a genius to realize they've, again, been warned by eBay about their past bad behaviour and how it is not only provable, but false, and they will be
held accountable for it.
...Then you may get a
laugh realizing they've been warned by eBay to change their behavior. Too late. When it happened we did record it all, and the evidence is already
there.

Could somebody please explain me why would people here be afraid of Ebay? What on earth can a private company do if you slagg off somebody? This guy is utterly insane!

[Chris Bailey]

I'd reply to that but I was warmed by Ebay last week. Son instead I'll just say how Busby is a mildly nice guy and has put out decent products.

[Brad Henderson]

warmed? or warned? by ebay. What, may I ask did they warn you of?

Brad