It appears that the CEO of Take-Two Interactive has quite the record of lies and corruption.

Source: PSPadvancedmn

Miami, Florida-based Attorney Jack Thomspon (also known as John B. Thompson) sent a letter Wednesday to the Chief Executive Officer of Take-Two Interactive, Paul Eibeler. The letter, which was forwarded to members of the press, members of Congress, various lawyers, and others, discusses the recent and ongoing issues that Eibeler is dealing with. A few of the issues mentioned are the "Hot Coffee" scandal, the recent naming of Eibeler as the "Worst CEO in America" by Marketwatch, and the possible corruption within Take-Two Interactive's legal representation (the Philadelphia law firm of Blank Rome).

In the letter Thompson as far as to tell Eibeler that he and others will "destroy your company [Take-Two Interactive], by all legal, proper, and necessary means." Thompson also strongly suggests that Eibeler would be wise to stop the release of Bully next year, as the violent murder simulator would not only hurt kids, but would also hurt Take-Two.

Here's the text of the letter:

Dear Mr. Eibeler:

You've had quite a week. First MediaWatch names you its "Worst CEO in America" and then San Francisco's Fineman PR puts you and your company on its prestigious "Worst PR Disasters of 2005" list for illegally placing explicit sex scenes ("Hot Coffee" in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas) and then repeatedly lying about it. This deception in the public square prompted a 355-21 vote by the US House of Representatives asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate your company for fraud in the "Hot Coffee" scam.

Senator Clinton, your own US Senator from New York whom I prepped for her news conference on "Hot Coffee," is coming after you. She made Bill sleep on the couch because of another sex scandal. I can only imagine where she wants you to sleep. Attica is closed, right?

Actually, it's been quite a year for your porn-to-kids company. Fortune magazine ran an expose' this summer on the history of malfeasance at your company which includes SEC findings of insider trading and an $8 million fine for fraudulent accounting practices. Bernard Goldberg's cool book 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America lists you, Paul Eibeler, as #43 on that list for making the cop-killing Grand Theft Auto video games that trained an Alabama teen to kill two cops and a dispatcher, reported on 60 Minutes and in the most read magazine in the world, Reader's Digest.

It is appropriate that your rank in Goldberg's pantheon of predation would be #43. That's the same number of US President we have right now, George W. Busha€”Bush #43 as opposed to Bush #41. That's fitting, because your company, Take-Two, has as its registered, official lobbyist in both the US House and the US Senate the Philadelphia law firm of Blank Rome, which has given more campaign cash to the a€?family valuesa€? Bush-Cheney campaigns and the Republican National Committee than any other lobbyist/law firm in the world.

Blank Rome, I hear, is changing its name to "Blank Check," especially since Congressman Waxman, Ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, is investigating the extent to which your Blank Rome lawyers have allegedly used campaign cash to Tom Ridge and Bush-Cheney to get DHS/FEMA contracts for their firma€?s clients. My favorite example is how Blank Romea€?s Alaska client managed to sell portable classrooms to Hurricane Katrina victims in Mississippi at twice the market rate.

Blank Rome's Barbara Comstock is handling the public relations for Tom DeLay. Not sure which is the harder sella€”Tom DeLay or Paul Eibeler. I think you are. Mr. DeLay doesn't mentally molest minors for money and he isn't involved in "Grand Theft Innocence."

Your $500+ an hour lawyers at Blank Rome just lost all their motions to dismiss in the Alabama wrongful death lawsuit alluded to by Goldberg and about which I appeared on 60 Minutes twice this year. Looks like all the lies and deception thrown up in that Alabama courtroom in November by Blank Rome didn't stick, and now we're going to go wading through your company's corporate files to find all the anticipated smoking guns about the marketing and sale of Mature-rated games to children, the addictive nature of the games, and so on. "Big Tobacco" redux.
Mr. Eibeler, you and I were even portrayed this year in an episode of NBC's Law and Order: SVU. In that episode your character was asked by the cops investigating video game-rehearsed crimes "Are you aware kids are copycatting your games?" Your character's reply to the cops: "Yeah, I've got lawsuits flying out of my a--." Not yet, Paul, but just wait. Some of them may be shareholders' derivative actions, as Take-Two's NASDAQ stock shares have plummeted on your watch. Nothing fails like fraud.

You already have class action lawsuits you're defending arising out of your fraudulent and deceptive marketing of sex-embedded San Andreas to kids along with the FTC investigation of the same.

To add insult to injury, now the legendary video game designer Warren Specter and even the Entertainment Software Association's lead lobbyist, Doug Lowenstein, are giving speeches to the video game industry saying that something must be done about Take-Two/Rockstar because your company is putting our entire industry in the crosshairs of federal regulation. This is scapegoating but with facts to support it.

Mr. Eibeler, you're presently set to release in April 2006 a "Columbine simulator" game called Bully in which classmates, in a virtual school, bludgeon their classmates and teachers with cricket bats, slingshots, body slams, punches, kicks, and heads dunked into toilets to "settle scores." There is white-on-black violence that Rodney King would find interesting. You said on a national telephone conference, in response to my leading the charge against this Bully game, "that people in Colorado don't need to worry that this game is a 'Columbine simulator.'" That's not the point and you know it. It's a school violence simulator which will be used as Klebold and Harris used Doom. Duh.

I would submit that the absolute dumbest thing your company is set to do is release Bully as planned in the midst of your company's public relations plummet. Think you had a bad year in 2005? Bully in 2006 will make Take-Two's 2005 look like a victory parade.

I look forward to meeting you at your upcoming deposition. I'll prep for it by reading 1 Samuel 17 which recounts when David met Goliath. "The bigger they are the harder they fall," Mr. Eibeler, although Take-Two is getting smaller with each scandal du jour.

I am urging you, imploring you, begging you to tell all retailers to STOP selling your murder simulators to kids. The brain science coming out of Harvard, Indiana University, Michigan State and elsewhere proves how dangerous these simulators are to kids and to innocent people who might get in their way. The US Supreme Court in Roper v. Simmons, decided this year, cites the same brain scan studies (MRIs) that prove the harm done to adolescent brains exposed to games like GTA and your new gang warfare simulator The Warriors.

You have a responsibility, Mr. Eibeler, to become a good corporate citizen. If you don't, I and others will destroy your company, by all legal, proper, and necessary means.

That would be a good thing. I'm not out to win any Dale Carnegie awards. I'm out to stop what you do for a living. The lies and the molestation have gone on long enough.

Regards, Jack Thompson

We'll keep you updated.

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