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Handout via Reuters
Greg Mortenson, author of "Three Cups of Tea," posed with schoolchildren in Afghanistan. He has come under fire for exaggerating and conflating certain details in his book, and four readers filed suit against him.
A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit against author Greg Mortenson, calling claims "flimsy and speculative" that the humanitarian and his publisher lied in his best-selling "Three Cups of Tea" and "Stones Into Schools" to boost book sales.
The civil lawsuit by four people who bought Mortenson's books said they were cheated out of about $15 each because the books were labeled as nonfiction accounts of how Mortenson came to build schools in Central Asia.
The lawsuit by four readers from Montana, California and Illinois was filed after "60 Minutes" and author Jon Krakauer reported last year that Mortenson fabricated parts of those books.
The plaintiffs said Mortenson, co-author David Oliver Relin, Penguin and Central Asia Institute were involved in a fraud and racketeering conspiracy to build Mortenson into a false hero to sell books and raise money for CAI, the charity Mortenson co-founded.
Haddon wrote in his ruling that their racketeering allegations "are fraught with shortcomings" and the plaintiffs' "overly broad" claims that they bought the books because they were supposed to be true aren't supported in the lawsuit.
The ruling is good news for Mortenson and his charity after the Montana attorney general earlier in April announced a $1 million agreement to settle claims that Mortenson mismanaged the institute and misspent its funds. The agreement removes Mortenson from any financial oversight and overhauls the charity's structure, but did not address the books' contents.
"He stands by his books," said Anne Beyersdorfer, the charity's interim executive director, of Haddon's ruling.
Mortenson was on his way to Pakistan on Monday and could not immediately comment, she said.
"Three Cups of Tea," which has sold about 4 million copies since being published in 2006, was conceived as a way to raise money and tell the story of his institute, founded by Mortenson in 1996.
The book and promotion of the charity by Mortenson, who appeared at more than 500 speaking engagements in four years, resulted in tens of millions of dollars in donations.
The book recounts how Mortenson lost his way after a failed mountaineering expedition and was nursed back to health in a Pakistani village. Based on the villagers' kindness and the poverty he saw, he resolved to build a school for them.
The lawsuit claimed, as did the Krakauer and "60 Minutes" report, that Mortenson fabricated that story and others in the book and its sequel, "Stones Into Schools."
In this April 2011 video, Daniel Borochoff, the president of the American Institute of Philanthropy, talks about the controversy surrounding the book, "Three Cups of Tea," by Greg Mortenson.
Morentson has denied any wrongdoing, though he has acknowledged some of the events in "Three Cups of Tea" were compressed over different periods of time.
The judge did not address allegations of fabrications, but wrote that the plaintiffs can't simply rely on general allegations of lies in making a claim.
In fact, many of the items that the lawsuit lists as lies the defendants made after the books were written, such as CAI paying for Mortenson's expenses and purchasing his books, "do not actually appear to be untruthful or illegal, and are overly vague," Haddon wrote.
Haddon also ruled that the plaintiffs can't rewrite their complaint to address those shortcomings, noting that the case has been pending for nearly a year and the lawsuit already has been changed five times.
"The imprecise, in part flimsy, and speculative nature of the claims and theories advanced underscore the necessary conclusion that further amendment would be futile," Haddon wrote.
Plaintiffs' attorney Zander Blewett did not immediately return a call for comment.
The plaintiffs had asked Haddon to order Penguin to account for all the money collected from book sales and refund that money to people who bought the books, with the rest going to a humanitarian organization.
The yearlong Montana attorney general investigation found that Mortenson's poor record keeping and personnel management resulted in unknown amounts of cash spent overseas or for management costs without receipts or documentation. CAI's two other board members were Mortenson loyalists who generally did not challenge Mortenson, and he resisted or ignored CAI employees who questioned his practices, the investigative report said.
Mortenson also reaped financial benefits at the charity's expense, including the free promotion of his books, and the royalties from thousands of copies the organization bought to donate to libraries, schools, churches and military personnel, the report said.
The organization spent more than $2 million on Mortenson's charter flights to speaking engagements, and Mortenson and his family also charged personal items to the charity, according to the report.
Beyersdorfer has said Mortenson will remain the face of the charity, but it won't be as executive director and he is barred from being a voting member of the board of directors as long as he still draws a paycheck from CAI.
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"It's [“Into Thin Air”] there in print forever. It's part of history. People should be above taking someone else down. And for what? For money and egos people are willing to destroy other people to further their careers.”
-- David Breashears, (“Improper Bostonian”, Sept 24, 1997)
Last year, CBS’s “60 Minutes” aired their expose of Greg Mortenson (best-selling author of “Three Cups of Tea”). Jon Krakauer (best-selling author of “Into Thin Air”) said that Mortenson tells a “beautiful story, and it’s a lie” and “uses Central Asia Institute (CAI) as his private ATM machine.”
In response, Daniel Glick wrote: “I believe in the importance of journalism to ferret out charlatans, expose financial fraud, and hold people and institutions accountable. That said, it’s hard to believe why “60 Minutes” decided that Greg Mortenson and the Central Asia Institute qualified on any of those fronts – much less why Jon Krakauer joined in this recent barrage.”
A few weeks ago, the Montana Attorney General’s investigation “did not reveal evidence of conduct that would sufficiently constitute the basis for any criminal investigation.” Today, a federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Greg Mortenson, calling it "flimsy and speculative."
Last years’ expose resulted in a dramatic drop in Mortenson’s book sales and donations to CAI. So, it’s rather ironic that after his break with Mortenson in 2004, Krakauer had written: “I still believe in CAI’s mission … I don’t want to make any public statements that would have a negative impact on Greg’s work….” So then, seven years later, what prompted Jon Krakauer to speak out on “60 Minutes” and write his e-book “Three Cups of Deceit”?
Well, Krakauer was not just a “jilted crank” or “crusading do-gooder” outraged by literary deceit and lax accounting practices. It appears that Krakauer’s e-book was also a publicity stunt whose publication was timed with the “60 Minutes” broadcast (largely based on research spoon-fed to them by Krakauer) to create the “buzz” to raise the investment capital needed to launch his old friend (former “Outside” Editor) Mark Bryant’s start-up of Byliner.com.
Overall, I believe Daniel Glick (at danielglick.net) has offered the most balanced commentary on this affair: “[‘60 Minutes’ and Jon Krakauer’s assault was overkill] lacking in basic elements of fairness, balance, perspective, insight and context. … Mortenson is neither a saint nor a charlatan; Krakauer is not either a jilted crank or a crusading do-gooder. There are nuances, debatable “facts” and conflicting motivations in almost every situation, messy and at times seemingly irreconcilable. This is no exception.”
Once Mortenson comes out of seclusion, he certainly needs to answer questions about his literary and financial practices. But, I believe Krakauer also needs to answer questions about how he “got onto the Mortenson story” (but, like Mortenson, Krakauer isn’t talking to the press).
Note: For more details, see the “With Three Cups of Luck?” chapter in the April 2011 post at the feralfirefighter blog.
Mix envy, greed and stupidity and this law suit is the result.
I agree.
Now let's move on....
Good old Steve Bullock looking out for the “people” but when
Attorney General Bullock was asked to look into the misappropriation of tax
payer dollars in Billings he claims “no jurisdiction” the chief law enforcement
officer in the state and claims “no jurisdiction” nothing like taking care of
the good old boy’s.
If folks would think about Greg's efforts in school building when contrasted with the (then) administration's efforts to destroy the country one bomb at a time, they might see, as I have, the strong likelihood that the CIA and other nefarious institutions which are such a large part of the (then) administration's modus operandi, are probably behind the effort to discredit this peacemaker.
The need to file a lawsuit, really??? Oh well, buying a book from a guy that basicly lied is not worth suing over, just eat the loss and never be fooled by him again.
Krakauer is an example of how the "American Way" has turned away from ingenuity and constructivism.
Opportunistic cranks like Krakauer would rather pick up a brick to throw through the window of someone making the effort to build a house or a school than to use the same effort to apply the brick to actually building something useful. That Krakauer's book became a "best seller" is testament to the fact that public will literally buy into negativity and support profit by people like Krakauer rather than continue to support the humanitarian goals of organizations like Central Asia Institute. Any charitable organization that grows as fast as that one did is bound to have some financial and accounting issues, and those should be addressed. But the basic idea of building schools instead of bombing them is a sound idea that deserves support. Cranks like Krakauer should be dismissed as unproductive distractions seeking only personal gain. What has Krakauer ever done to improve the life of any child?
I really don't know the truth about this author, but I do know that I stopped watching 60-minutes years ago after 3 or 4 of their programs were about facts and events that I had first hand knowledge of, and 60 minutes wasn't just sensationalizing. They were flat out lying. If the allegations came from anyone other than 60-minutes, I might be more inclined to believe them.
I infer that the judge decided that the "60 Minutes" story was as reliable as one in "The Enquirer."
i.e. not reliable at all.
About time our justice system gets the message about frivolous lawsuits. Those who cares whether he streched the truth or not should write their own book. $15 dollars ugh!
The court costs and and other fees are charged to the filer of frivolous lawsuits. It is a message of sorts.
It tells me one thing, this judge does not care about the truth.. shocking and expected, and another one needs to be either removed from the bench or from life.
They should have went to a thrift store and bought it for $1 and supported another charity.