My partner Mark Davis and I have a medium size publishing company that focuses on documentaries. We met Alek Boyd at a convention held in Spain back in 2011. He claimed to be of Spanish descent with a British father.
We stayed in touch and later in 2013 he pitched us an idea to invest into a documentary on South American political corruption. By December 2013, we signed a deal. I think at the time I Google'd Alek, I found a picture of him and my idol the Dalai Lama together. My partner and I really trusted this guy to represent higher morals of society.
Mr. Boyd asked for creative freedom, and for 6 months to complete the book with a final draft. He claimed the book was in his head, the research was done, and just needed the time to type it out.
After we signed the contracts, instead of transferring the advance to an account in London where he currently resides, Boyd had us transfer the down payment to an offshore account in the Cayman Islands. Wow, was that a headache.
About a week after the transfer, our bank contacted us to say the funds had been frozen by authorities. Apparently they thought we we're funding some drug operation. We sent the authorities all paperwork to show we are a legit business. It took around 2 months to unfreeze the money. For whatever reason, authorities refused to deliver the money to his offshore corporate account. Later on, expenses were wired to a 2nd offshore corporate account in Jersey, a British Island located outside of the UK.
When we started pressing Boyd for details on the book, he would delay us. This is normal when working on a documentary - as each fact must be researched. After 9 months and no book, in September 2014 we flew from NY to London to discuss the book and review a draft. Alek's knew exactly why Mark and I we're coming - but played it off as if he didn't know we expected a glance at the draft.
Now mind you Mr. Boyd does have creative control - but all we asked for was either a draft to review or a private reading. Instead, we found Boyd playing it off as our request to read his masterpiece - was suddenly an attack on his integrity. It's like he was saying "I dare you to say it doesn't exist".
The conversation quickly shifted to Boyd claiming he could easily receive a better book deal elsewhere - and if we want - he will have another publishing house pay us out of the agreement almost overnight before we leave London.
Mark and I were stunned. I asked if he had shown the draft to anybody or discussed the research - and while he didn't actually admit - he also didn't deny. It was that moment that I lost all trust for this individual. Dalai Lama or not, that's not the way you treat somebody who paid over 200k over half a year - while suffering additional legal costs to get money unfrozen.
After all, the book was suppsed to have gone to the publishing house 3 months earlier by June 2014. Anyway - Boyd refused to reveal a draft of the book and we went home empty handed.
Alek Boyd did try to calm us down before his departure by promising the book would be ready at the publishing house no later than Dec 1st, 2014. He signed a memo in front of Mark and I at the Hilton Hotel in London, and later replied to emails confirming the date.
So from September til now, we've been waiting anxiously. I won't go into details of the nature or topic of the book, as the project is under contractual NDA, but I will state that on Nov 20th I received an email from Mr. Boyd claiming his house had been burglarized and his computers stolen.
Now mind you the contract clearly states that if within 6 months the final draft was not submitted, Mr. Boyd would be liable for all funds administered in advances (over £200k) + an additional £50k for liability and damages. The date of the contract was Dec 15th, 2013 and the date for the final draft should have been June 15th, 2014.
I've flown at least twice to London in the past year. Alek wrote he has various copies of backups hidden around the world, but in light of the attack on his flat, he's afraid for his life and needs to go under ground. I've called him several times since then to check on his welfare - but he doesn't answer the phone nor does he return calls.
In absense of contact with Mr. Boyd, I contacted a mutual friend named Tom Higgens who englightened me to the fact that Alek Boyd is wanted for crimes committed in various countries abroad - and may have gone into hiding.
He thought I had known about Alek's criminal past. To be clear, Mark and I did NOT know and were (still are...) in total shock. After I explained the nature of our business (careful not to break the NDA agreement), Tom suggested Boyd may have paid burglars to rob his place. Truth is, who knows and nobody cares. I'll never publish a book authored by Boyd - and have instructed our lawyers to seek damages. It's hard to bare the thought I signed a contract with a I feel like just by doing so, I've broken the law.
Don't get me wrong. On one side, we really counted on Boyd to come thru and had planned a full promotional campaign for the book, with the intention of financing a international book signing tour and translating the book to multiple languages. Now mind you that all of this happened in just the last couple of days. Tom Higgens emailed me a couple of links of older news items regarding Boyd that totally blew us away.
Alek Boyd Reviews
My partner Mark Davis and I have a medium size publishing company that focuses on documentaries. We met Alek Boyd at a convention held in Spain back in 2011. He claimed to be of Spanish descent with a British father.
We stayed in touch and later in 2013 he pitched us an idea to invest into a documentary on South American political corruption. By December 2013, we signed a deal. I think at the time I Google'd Alek, I found a picture of him and my idol the Dalai Lama together. My partner and I really trusted this guy to represent higher morals of society.
Mr. Boyd asked for creative freedom, and for 6 months to complete the book with a final draft. He claimed the book was in his head, the research was done, and just needed the time to type it out.
After we signed the contracts, instead of transferring the advance to an account in London where he currently resides, Boyd had us transfer the down payment to an offshore account in the Cayman Islands. Wow, was that a headache.
About a week after the transfer, our bank contacted us to say the funds had been frozen by authorities. Apparently they thought we we're funding some drug operation. We sent the authorities all paperwork to show we are a legit business. It took around 2 months to unfreeze the money. For whatever reason, authorities refused to deliver the money to his offshore corporate account. Later on, expenses were wired to a 2nd offshore corporate account in Jersey, a British Island located outside of the UK.
When we started pressing Boyd for details on the book, he would delay us. This is normal when working on a documentary - as each fact must be researched. After 9 months and no book, in September 2014 we flew from NY to London to discuss the book and review a draft. Alek's knew exactly why Mark and I we're coming - but played it off as if he didn't know we expected a glance at the draft.
Now mind you Mr. Boyd does have creative control - but all we asked for was either a draft to review or a private reading. Instead, we found Boyd playing it off as our request to read his masterpiece - was suddenly an attack on his integrity. It's like he was saying "I dare you to say it doesn't exist".
The conversation quickly shifted to Boyd claiming he could easily receive a better book deal elsewhere - and if we want - he will have another publishing house pay us out of the agreement almost overnight before we leave London.
Mark and I were stunned. I asked if he had shown the draft to anybody or discussed the research - and while he didn't actually admit - he also didn't deny. It was that moment that I lost all trust for this individual. Dalai Lama or not, that's not the way you treat somebody who paid over 200k over half a year - while suffering additional legal costs to get money unfrozen.
After all, the book was suppsed to have gone to the publishing house 3 months earlier by June 2014. Anyway - Boyd refused to reveal a draft of the book and we went home empty handed.
Alek Boyd did try to calm us down before his departure by promising the book would be ready at the publishing house no later than Dec 1st, 2014. He signed a memo in front of Mark and I at the Hilton Hotel in London, and later replied to emails confirming the date.
So from September til now, we've been waiting anxiously. I won't go into details of the nature or topic of the book, as the project is under contractual NDA, but I will state that on Nov 20th I received an email from Mr. Boyd claiming his house had been burglarized and his computers stolen.
Now mind you the contract clearly states that if within 6 months the final draft was not submitted, Mr. Boyd would be liable for all funds administered in advances (over £200k) + an additional £50k for liability and damages. The date of the contract was Dec 15th, 2013 and the date for the final draft should have been June 15th, 2014.
I've flown at least twice to London in the past year. Alek wrote he has various copies of backups hidden around the world, but in light of the attack on his flat, he's afraid for his life and needs to go under ground. I've called him several times since then to check on his welfare - but he doesn't answer the phone nor does he return calls.
In absense of contact with Mr. Boyd, I contacted a mutual friend named Tom Higgens who englightened me to the fact that Alek Boyd is wanted for crimes committed in various countries abroad - and may have gone into hiding.
He thought I had known about Alek's criminal past. To be clear, Mark and I did NOT know and were (still are...) in total shock. After I explained the nature of our business (careful not to break the NDA agreement), Tom suggested Boyd may have paid burglars to rob his place. Truth is, who knows and nobody cares. I'll never publish a book authored by Boyd - and have instructed our lawyers to seek damages. It's hard to bare the thought I signed a contract with a I feel like just by doing so, I've broken the law.
Don't get me wrong. On one side, we really counted on Boyd to come thru and had planned a full promotional campaign for the book, with the intention of financing a international book signing tour and translating the book to multiple languages. Now mind you that all of this happened in just the last couple of days. Tom Higgens emailed me a couple of links of older news items regarding Boyd that totally blew us away.