James Watson, Jr. and James Watson, III are thieves.
James Watson, III is President of Festival Entertainment of Texas, Inc. They produced the Texas Music Festival 2008, held in Houston, TX over Labor Day weekend 2008. It appears that James Watson, Jr., the father of James Watson, III, collected all the money from the ticket booth and vendors on the second night of the poorly attended event and failed to show up on the last day, leaving the bands and vendors high and dry without payment. Apparently, this is not the father's first criminal act - see below.
The Texas Music Festival claims that they cancelled the last day of the event due to the threat of bad weather from the outer bands of Hurricane Gustav. However, the real reason was they had no money to pay the bands and most bands scheduled to perform on the last day didn't show up as a result.
My company, f-stop photography, LLC, was contracted by Festival Entertainment of Texas, Inc. to photograph the event. Two photographers were required, requested and provided, myself included. I have submitted my invoice to Festival Entertainment of Texas, Inc. via email and hard copy, along with other emails and voice mail messages (as James Watson is never available to answer the phone). All have gone unanswered. Not only have I not been paid for the work provided, but I have had to pay my second photographer for his work out of my own pocket.
Watson, Jr., the scumbag, has since been arrested for parole violation and other charges and is in jail, where he will hopefully die an early death. James Watson, III filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy and all debts were discharged, so he is no longer liable for his debts and nobody will ever see a dime in payment for their services.
So, I would advise anybody who has intentions or plans of dealing with Festival Entertainment of Texas, Inc. and/or James Watson, III and/or James Watson, Jr. to avoid doing so. If you have any plans already in the works, I'd back out now and save yourself a lot of trouble and money.
------------
http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2002/09/16/daily47.html
Thursday, September 19, 2002
Festival organizer sentenced in bank fraud
Sacramento Business Journal
The principal organizer and executive producer of the Sacramento Jazz Festival
held in August 1999, 2000 and 2001 was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison
and ordered to pay $400,000 in restitution, following his conviction on a single
charge of bank fraud.
James Walker Watson Jr. of Los Angeles, 46, was also sentenced by U.S. District
Court Chief Judge William B. Shubb to five years of probation. Of the $400,000,
$250,000 will be paid to investors in the Sacramento Jazz Festivals.
The Sacramento Jazz Festival is not affiliated with the wildly popular Sacramento
Jazz Jubilee that is held annually during Memorial Day weekend.
The bank fraud, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, began in June 2001
when Watson asked his mother to write three checks totaling $150,000 payable
to the Society of Performing Jazz Festivals Inc. even though she told him that
she didn't have the money in her checking account to cover the checks. During
each bank transaction at U.S. Bank, Watson assured the same supervising bank
teller that were sufficient funds in the account for each check. Bank records
later confirmed that to be false. On at least two occasions in August 2001,
Watson told the bank's corporate security investigator that he was aware of
the overdraft, his parents were getting a divorce and that the funds would be
repaid once the divorce court proceedings were completed.
In fact, his parents were not getting a divorce.
Watson pled guilty on May 15 to one count of committing bank fraud.
--------------
JAMES WATSON, JR. INDICTED - ROT IN HELL SCUM BAG!!!!
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2010/05/james_watson_jr_indicted_over.php
The 2008 Texas
Music Festival in downtown's Eleanor Tinsley Park was supposed to be the first
of an annual event, but you might have noticed there haven't been any more.
Why not? Part
of the answer might have come today, when a federal grand jury indicted promoter
James Watson, Jr. for fraud in connection with the event.
Watson, 54,
is currently in prison in California for a scam surrounding a jazz festival
there, so we're not saying he sounds suspicious or anything, and far be it from
us to connect any blazingly obvious dots.
The feds say
Watson raised more than $2 million from investors for the Houston event.
"In connection
with the scheme, Watson used investors to engage in a $400,000 check kite at
Bank of America, fraudulently and without authorization using the credit card
number of one investor to make a charge on the card in exchange for another
investor who believed the card was Watson's, giving him cash," the U.S.
Attorney's office said.
It's not only
investors who might have got screwed -- "weather concerns" forced
cancellation of at least part of the event. Los Lobos was one of the acts canceled.
Right before
the 2008 event, Watson told a reporter, "This is going to be a festival
with something for everyone."
Something
for everyone -- except the investors, we guess.
Watson was
indicted on charges of bank fraud and credit card fraud.
The maximum penalty, upon conviction, for bank fraud is 30 years in prison and a fine up to $1 million. The maximum penalty for credit card fraud is 10 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.
----------