@bigsocrates: Thank you for articulating points I was not able to in a 6 am post. To answer the specific question, I left out some context: the IGN article (can’t link, on mobile) made sure that they used language like “alleged”. My take on that is that someone, ideally the journalist who wrote the article, should reach out to verify that the conversation took place so they could remove that couched language. It turns the larger allegations into a contest of words, which contrasts greatly (as you noted) with people’s certainty in online forums.
Here’s the portion of the IGN article I was focused on:
“ Karl Jobst and SomeOrdinaryGamers also provided audio of what they claimed to be a call with The Completionist himself.
"I knew [the money] was sitting there at a certain point and that's what made me proactively go about it," the speaker, allegedly The Completionist, said. "I was made aware in 2021 that the money hadn't moved yet, and that's what made me go, 'that's not f**king cool' and that's when I got personally involved to move it and... not 2021, last year, 2022."
The speaker added: "I assumed that it was all going to a charity and I assumed incorrectly." Despite this, The Completionist said again in a 2023 stream that the Open Hand Foundation was contributing to various organisations, which is after Karl Jobst and SomeOrdinaryGamers allege he knew otherwise.”
This feels like a central point of what would come up in any court case, granted I have absolutely no training in law. As you pointed out in a later comment, if he indeed was aware the money hadn’t been distributed but then stated exactly the opposite thing during Indieland (on camera, much easier to validate), Jirard is probably in some level of trouble. I don’t think there is necessarily any criminal activity here, but it’s tough to see how Open Hand Foundation recovers from this breach of trust. I would expect them to suddenly find an acceptable organization for their funds, but I don’t know how any pending legal action / counteraction will affect that.
Log in to comment