Some might recall a moment in the news last year when a man claiming to be a former intelligence agent sued HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco in California over an alleged breach of contract, making all sorts of lascivious accusations along with but quite unrelated to his claim for tens of thousands of dollars. Of course the case was immediately thrown out as no court in California would have jurisdiction over the Prince of Monaco who is also protected from prosecution by sovereign immunity as a sitting head of state. I said as much at the time in my own comment on the spat which attracted the attention of the accuser. At the time I did not believe it was actually the person in question (thinking he would have better things to do than troll forums and blogs to call names of anyone who questioned the merits of his case) but I was certainly wrong there. Not only was it the actual person (I use the term lightly) in question but it was recently brought to my attention that he has been obsessively following my little blog on Monaco ever since, hanging on my every word.
Evidently this extremely thin-skinned person adopted your humble blogger as his secondary arch-enemy after the Prince of Monaco himself. Showing how valid his claim to be an “intelligence agent” was, he tried without success to uncover my “true” identity. I can only feel a little sorry for whoever “Joe Mann” is for enduring the juvenile name-calling of this individual on the belief (or intentional lie) that he is me (well, if he’s not my man he must be Joe Mann I guess). However, aside from being your humble blogger’s most devoted “fan” he has also evidently made it his primary occupation to slander the Prince of Monaco. Coming out with new tirades and conspiracies on a daily basis he has accused Monaco’s Albie of everything but stealing the Lindbergh baby. Recently he has managed to gain a few mentions on internet news sites for accusing Prince Albert II of taking bribes as a member of the International Olympic Committee, sending a letter stating such to the president of the organization (which is probably the only reason anyone mentioned it at all).
The IOC, of course, is not even bothering to investigate such a ridiculous claim. Given the history of this man he could hardly be taken as a source worthy of serious consideration. There is the fact that he has a grudge (some would say obsession bordering on a severe case of the notgay’s) against the Prince, there is also the fact that Prince Albert is hardly someone liable to take bribes considering that he makes more money each day than he could spend tomorrow and finally there is the fact that this same individual has accused Prince of Albert of every sort of malicious deed imaginable, being involved in every sinister global conspiracy and being associated with everyone from the Russian mob to Islamic terrorists. Given that, (and the fact that even by saying this on my dusty little corner of the internet I can guarantee that this man will respond vociferously to me as he does my every utterance -he may in fact be the most religiously devoted reader I have) no matter what the facts or allegations of this case entail it will be dismissed as no more than the ravings of a captain of the tin foil hat brigade and left at that. So far, the Prince of Monaco has considered this crank unworthy of response. Given that his wedding is coming up next year and that there will be an historic papal visit the year after, this course will probably be continued no matter how irritating such ravings might be.
Evidently this extremely thin-skinned person adopted your humble blogger as his secondary arch-enemy after the Prince of Monaco himself. Showing how valid his claim to be an “intelligence agent” was, he tried without success to uncover my “true” identity. I can only feel a little sorry for whoever “Joe Mann” is for enduring the juvenile name-calling of this individual on the belief (or intentional lie) that he is me (well, if he’s not my man he must be Joe Mann I guess). However, aside from being your humble blogger’s most devoted “fan” he has also evidently made it his primary occupation to slander the Prince of Monaco. Coming out with new tirades and conspiracies on a daily basis he has accused Monaco’s Albie of everything but stealing the Lindbergh baby. Recently he has managed to gain a few mentions on internet news sites for accusing Prince Albert II of taking bribes as a member of the International Olympic Committee, sending a letter stating such to the president of the organization (which is probably the only reason anyone mentioned it at all).
The IOC, of course, is not even bothering to investigate such a ridiculous claim. Given the history of this man he could hardly be taken as a source worthy of serious consideration. There is the fact that he has a grudge (some would say obsession bordering on a severe case of the notgay’s) against the Prince, there is also the fact that Prince Albert is hardly someone liable to take bribes considering that he makes more money each day than he could spend tomorrow and finally there is the fact that this same individual has accused Prince of Albert of every sort of malicious deed imaginable, being involved in every sinister global conspiracy and being associated with everyone from the Russian mob to Islamic terrorists. Given that, (and the fact that even by saying this on my dusty little corner of the internet I can guarantee that this man will respond vociferously to me as he does my every utterance -he may in fact be the most religiously devoted reader I have) no matter what the facts or allegations of this case entail it will be dismissed as no more than the ravings of a captain of the tin foil hat brigade and left at that. So far, the Prince of Monaco has considered this crank unworthy of response. Given that his wedding is coming up next year and that there will be an historic papal visit the year after, this course will probably be continued no matter how irritating such ravings might be.
(this is a double post from my blog Mad for Monaco)
Yes I remember hearing this hub-bub in the news quite a while back yet I frankly find it a tad disturbing he has latched on to you because of your own attention to Monaco.
ReplyDeleteHe's obviously a disturbed individual. I devoted a grand total of one short post on the original case and promptly forgot about it, only finding out a couple weeks ago that this man had been obsessing over me ever since that one post a year ago. I had first thought the original case was a simple effort at extortion by an embittered ex-employee. Once I was put on to his activities since I have become convinced that he is a charlatan and his entire back story is probably false as this is simply not the way any professional would behave, certainly not a highly trained former federal agent. Still, it is a little flattering in an odd way that he considers me the top defender of the House of Grimaldi on the WorldWideWeb. The next time the Prince comes for a visit to discuss his latest scheme I'll have to see if I qualify for a reward for suffering the slings and arrows of such a crank on behalf of my Princely Family.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious to know how you found out this was the crank himself--but perhaps it is indiscreet to ask. Anyway, you seem to attract the most bizarre attacks, but I admire the way you handle it all with humor.
ReplyDeleteHe put me on his website. Just to make sure, a year after the fact, I even did a little test; making one passing mention of the case in a post on my Monaco blog, checked back at his site and sure enough he had taken the bait and was calling me all sorts of things and quoting (very selectively of course) the post in question, so there's no doubt he's the one doing it.
ReplyDeleteI have also since done a little looking around on-line forums and the like devoted to Monaco and found out this is in keeping with his 'character' as he has evidently threatened to sue several forums which allowed people to post unfavorable opinions of him and his "legal case".
Well, he is obviously a professional troublemaker.
ReplyDeleteYes, I saw one of these I found by accident. He offered a free pencil to anyone who betrays you! I wonder if he thinks really Mr. "Mann" is you or he just made up the person? At least he probably puts more visitors to your blog by saying your blog name so much. Such a crazy might get more people to look at mine. Why you get all the best enemies? lol
ReplyDeleteI really don't know, I thought it was common at first but after asking around it seems I do seem to have more than my share to deal with. As for the 'identity' who can say? He may have made it up in an effort to intimidate people. It certainly doesn't intimidate me since I'm not that guy. I have also considered the extra attention he might have pushed my way over the year -see, even having a cyber-stalker can have a silver lining.
ReplyDeleteSadly, attention from con artists, cranks and the occasionally mentally disturbed are a bit like "Hail to the Chief" for heads of state. Which is to say it comes with the job. Nut jobs like this are usually harmless. But one must always be careful. In rare cases they can become compulsive and even psychotic. When they start actually believing their own tripe you need to worry. It is not always easy to discern the annoying but generally harmless troll or gold digger from the next John Hinkley Jr. I am not sure to what extent they would have jurisdiction, but one might consider passing along a friendly tip to the Secret Service. I am sure they maintain cordial relations with the security services of other countries. And if nothing else it would be good if this man were in the files of the responsible authorities.
ReplyDeleteIn ICXC
John
Given how careful this man has been to bring his accusations forward only in times and places where they cannot be acted upon I have no doubt he is too cowardly to be any real threat. If he wanted to find me he'd first have to find out my actual name -not likely as it would require him to admit he made up the first one- travel way off the beaten path, get through some oil company gate guards recently installed and then consider the wisdom of approaching someone who is well armed in a state with the strongest "make my day" laws in the country.
ReplyDeleteIn short, I've been in 2 *bad* car wrecks, I've faced down everything from gangs of drug runners to rattlesnakes and I've been shot before. A cyber-stalker who calls people names doesn't scare me.
WOW! What do you work as ?! And yeah, he wouldn't be wise to attack you in that case. Maybe he's suicidal?
DeleteI could use very strong language to describe my astonishment at what you've been through, but I'll just leave it at this - you must be made of steel or something, inside and out!
ReplyDeleteOrdinarily I would encourage you to direct your strong language in the crank's direction but that would not really be possible. He allows no comments to be posted on his blog and though he encourages email contact that would mean he would have your email on record as well -and that wouldn't be good. He might send you pictures of his spy equipment! 8-0
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