Axanar producer prepared to spend ‘tens of thousands’ to shut down AxaMonitor group

After he’s finished suing former colleague Robert Meyer Burnett, Axanar producer Alec Peters is prepared to wage litigious war, threatening he’s “coming after” his most ardent critics, and speculating on how many lawsuits it will take to shut down the AxaMonitor Facebook group.

Curiously, Peters doesn’t appear to be interested in going after AxaMonitor itself.

In a February 24 email to AxaMonitor editor Carlos Pedraza, Peters expresses his special frustration with two vocal Facebook critics, Shawn O’Halloran and Sandy Greenberg.

O’Halloran, who often takes a comical approach to criticizing Peters, isn’t surprised, given Peters first threatened to sue him three years ago. Once an Axanar supporter, Greenberg was booted from the film’s Facebook group for asking the wrong questions. His criticism of Peters has since been unrelenting.

Embarrassing Peters accuses the two — and unnamed others — of “go[ing] after me personally, posting fraudulent and Photoshopped bullshit to embarrass me, then I am going to take action.”¹⁾

Peters also brags about his prospects in the two lawsuits he’s currently pursuing against Burnett and Hero Prop owner Tiana Armstrong: “I have started two lawsuits this year against people who owe me money. … I will win both cases.”²⁾

Peters’ lawsuit against Burnett demonstrates he’s not bluffing about suing more people, he says, adding, “the Rob lawsuit should be a wake up call. … Being nice hasn’t worked.”³⁾

THREATS Alec Peters says he’s willing to spend a lot of money to pursue those he believes are defaming him. Image/Axanar Productions

It appears Peters most wants to shut down the constant criticism leveled at him in the AxaMonitor Facebook group, saying, “I am happy to spend tens of thousands of dollars on lawyers.”⁴⁾

Not on the list: Curiously, AxaMonitor itself (and its editor, Pedraza) is exempt from Peters’ legal ire. Peters wrote Pedraza with the email marked “personal and confidential.”

No such thing: In his email reply Pedraza reminded Peters the two have no pre-existing agreement as to confidentiality regarding any communication between them; because Peters knows Pedraza is a reporter whatever he reveals has no reasonable expectation of confidentiality.

Peters did complain about Pedraza’s coverage of him and Axanar in AxaMonitor, but added:

You want to attack me, stalk me, lie about me, and post your bullshit for years, I probably won’t sue you.⁵⁾

Though his email specified only O’Halloran and Greenberg, Peters indicated more people were in his sights, and that discovery from any lawsuits should be something his critics should fear. But first things first:

After I finish with Rob I am coming after those who perpetrate defamation and cyberstalking. And the discovery will open up a whole can of worms you guys can’t handle. It will be interesting to see how many lawsuits it will take before you shut down your hate group.

So you can either tell your hate group to back off, or reap the whirlwind.⁶⁾

Pedraza offered to talk with Peters, and, “before going down a litigious road,” suggesting Peters reach out to O’Halloran and Greenberg, even to seek third-party mediation, in exchange for not quoting his email.⁷⁾ Peters never took Pedraza up on the offer.

Sandy Greenberg Image/Facebook

Greenberg reacts: In a statement to AxaMonitor, Greenberg said he doesn’t find Peters’ bravado impressive, contending Peters:

Read Sandy Greenberg's Full Statement

To start with let’s be clear, he’s never been “nice”. I’ll break this down as there’s so much to unpick. First off, his filing suit against Burnett has been a train crash of ineptness.

Second, to prove defamation he’d need to show that something I said was untrue. I have always tried to keep comments factual. He says discovery will open a can of worms and he is correct. He’d have to prove I was wilfully incorrect and to do so he’d need to open up his documents including his financials.

On top of all that he’d need to hire a UK solicitor and file suit against me in the UK. Third, he’s filed a defamation suit against Jason DeBord in the past and lost.

Finally, if he wants me to go away, instead of spending tens of thousands on litigation he should just make the damn film. In short, I’m not worried.

Shawn O’Halloran Image/Facebook

O’Halloran reacts: For his part, O’Halloran asserts Peters “continues to overestimate his own prowess and underestimate those who he who he feels are his ‘enemies.’” From O’Halloran’s statement:

Read Shawn O'Halloran's Full Statement

As Alec Peters has done for the better part of — well — what would seem to be his entire life, he continues to overestimate his own prowess and underestimate those who he who he feels are his “enemies.”

It should be noted that the impetus for my personal dedication to exposing the truth about Peters is the fact that he threatened to sue me three years ago and has had his proxy, Jonathan Lane, do so publicly on his behalf on his blog and on Facebook on multiple occasions.

Mike Bawden noted in his very direct email to Peters that he only pursued Robert Meyer Burnett because he was sure that he didn’t have the resources to defend himself and would capitulate to his demands and he didn’t know what resources folks like myself, Carlos Pedraza or Michael Hinman had at our disposal.

Considering how spectacularly this lawsuit has blown up in his face vis a vis Burnett, does he really think that it’s a good idea to take that chance with any of us? Does he really think that the adults in the room with families don’t prepare for all contingencies?

If this current litigation that Peters is involved in against Burnett is any indication of the level of incompetence and complete lack of legal acumen that I can expect… let’s just put it this way: I’m not exactly quaking in my boots over here.

That said, it’s impossible to take threats from Peters like this seriously. Considering the current stalled nature of the lawsuit against Burnett (a lawsuit that seemingly only exists because I taunted Peters on Facebook because he kept talking about suing Burnett in public without ever actually doing it), the incompetent pleadings and complete lack of knowledge of civil procedure on Peters’ behalf, as per the usual, Peters would seem to be, attempting to abuse the legal system in order to strong-arm the defendant into acquiescing to his demands.

He apparently thinks this is an effective course of action to silence dissent, as well, hence his threats against myself and others.

I would like to remind Peters that the last time he attempted to stifle dissent through the courts, it didn’t work out so well for him. The case was dismissed for violating anti-SLAPP statutes and he was ordered to pay Jason DeBord of The Original Prop Blog over $27,000 to cover his legal fees.

But, of course, Peters knows what the consequences for SLAPP litigation are which is why the next time he wanted to scare someone into silence, he threatened to lie about a critic and falsely identify him publicly as a pedophile.

Peters is weak, impotent and, above all, a coward, which is why that email in question was sent to you and not to myself or Sandy.

But he’s also petulant and impulsive and he doesn’t learn from his mistakes.

So, while I’m not worried whatsoever about a lawsuit from Peters, if, on the off-chance he does have a temper-tantrum and acts on it by making the biggest mistake of his life by filing suit against me, I will consider that a direct threat to my wife and children and I will rain hellfire on him, legally, in such a manner that he could never possibly imagine.

Mike Bawden Image/Facebook

Despite his bluster Peters’ former PR director and close advisor, Mike Bawden, claims Peters chose to pursue the Burnett suit because his former colleague represented the lowest hanging fruit, legally.

In an email to Peters just two days after Peters wrote AxaMonitor, Bawden called the Axanar producer an ”opportunistic bully“ for going after Burnett instead of Peters’ critics:

Compared to what you’ve threatened and refused to do with [former tech chief] Terry McIntosh, [AxaMonitor editor] Carlos Pedraza, [Alpha Waves Radio host] Michael Hinman, [ardent Facebook critic] Sean O’Halloran, [former Axanar director] Christan Gossett and an unending list of people who have said bad things about you … [it] looks like you’ve decided to file suit against the one guy [Burnett] you were sure didn’t have the financial resources to fight you in court.¹⁰⁾

Keywords