The Alberta Securities Commission (ASC) has released a
warning for investors to beware of a company known as Thunderlight Entertainment, stating the company “appears to be engaging in activities that may pose a risk to investors.”
The company, according to the ASC, “has solicited Albertans to invest in ThunderLight securities, even though the Ontario-based company is not registered with the ASC to sell securities, is not a reporting issuer in Alberta and has not made any filing with the ASC.”
If that wasn’t clear enough, “The ASC urges investors to be cautious about this company.”
What’s striking about even the most cursory online search of the company isn’t that they are engaging in potentially worrying activity; it’s that anyone could ever conceivably fall for their ridiculous pitch.
Thunderlight may just be the most obvious ‘bad investment’ since Nigerian princes started trying to move oil riches out of their country through random requests for your bank account details.
Thunderlight, which boasts of being a “multi-dimensional entertainment company engaged in the development of film, television, music, Broadway live theatre and publishing” runs
a website that appears to heavily ‘trade off’ on people, properties and companies such as Walt Disney, Sony, Spiderman, Shrek, American Idol, The Beatles, Justin Timberlake and TV networks CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, mentioning them often, and in ALL CAPS, without any record of ever having been involved in said people or properties in any way.
The company appears to be the brainchild of ‘Chief Creative Officer’ Allan Sussman, who pegs himself as the writer, composer and lyricist of “The Count of Monte Cristo – The Musical,” which has yet to be performed as far as I can tell (He offers video clips from Monte Cristo movies on the site) and boasts he has written and produced films “in regions as exotic as Thailand.”
The IMDB does show an Allan Sussman having co-written a 2003 film called
Final Combat, which was shot in Thailand and in which “Tonny must use all his impressive martial arts skills to fight in the vicious Octagon tournament and defeat the deadly feared warrior, Kasu.”
But Sussman is not listed as a producer, and he appears to have no other recognized credits to his name in the years before or since.
In essence, the ASC appears to be warning people against investing in a guy who gives the impression that he walks around town wearing a beret, looking through a camera lens, framing random people crossing the street and yelling, "Come on, babies. Work with me, people. Show me love! Grrrrrrowl!"
But hey, maybe I’m being too harsh. Maybe there’s some kernel of truth to his claims of impending awesome. Maybe if we just dig deeper…
Nope.
The Thunderlight website is full of straight up delusional claims, such as “THUNDERLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT is now vying to become every bit as successful as a young DISNEY OR Paramount. And we will succeed. We are encouraged by the interest that is being shown by the MAJOR STUDIOS and MEDIA GIANTS who look favorably upon our CREATIVE CONTENT which translates into commercial and critical success.”
It continues, “See you at the MOVIES, on TELEVISION and BROADWAY.”
Presumably in the cheap seats.
Sussman’s claims of grandeur are all over his website, such as the statement that his novel, the optimistically titled ‘
The Owl: A Novel of Extraordinary Fantasy’ has sold 25,000 copies, though the book has no customer reviews on Amazon.com and is ranked #2,248,941 in books sold.
It is believed to take around 6,000 sales a week to rank #3 on Amazon.
Sussman includes pullquotes on his site claiming an astounding level of quality in his work, from people such as Lorne Yacyshyn (“is to thrilling fantasy fiction what Tolkien's Lord of the Rings is to the fantasy epic”), whose
LinkedIn profile suggests he’s a purchasing manager at a catering company.
And respected piano teacher/actor
Marco Girgenti, who is quoted as saying Sussman’s book “CARRIED ME ALONG IN A HEART-STOPPING DRIVE WITHOUT A BREATH UNTIL THE VERY LAST PAGE,” which would indicate he’s either a phenomenal speed-reader, or dead. (he's none of these things it turns out - see update below)
‘Monica de Albuquerque’ also said nice things about Sussman’s work, but I couldn’t find anyone by that name online who isn’t living in Brazil or Portugal, so hey, maybe she’s legit?
Though he claims on his website his book was ‘published’ through Thunderlight Publishing, The Owl was actually published through vanity publishing house Trafford Publishing, which will put your book out for as little as $549 and submit it to ‘The US Review of Books’, which pays book reviewers to provide reviews of vanity titles.
Which is all to say, hey, Allan Sussman probably shouldn’t be trying to sell equity in his non-listed company.
But the more obvious question is… who on earth would buy?
UPDATE: Allan Sussman threatened legal action Friday morning if this article was not removed from our site, stating in an email, "Who does he think he is writing this kind of report or article about our company HOW DARE HE!!!"
We have offered him the opportunity to answer questions related to the ASC warning and the details of the article but, as of late Friday, he has not elected to do so. We will update the article if and when he puts forward his side of the story.
UPDATE #2: We have received calls from several people who have done business with Alan Sussman in the months since we posted this article, each of them verifying the details of the piece as accurate. Sussman has had run-ins with the law several times over the years and allegedly taken money from family members and friends, as well as seniors he has befriended. We are told the reviews of his book come from relatives, his best friend, and his girlfriend, and that he is currently on disability. Mr Sussman remains welcome to correct anything in this piece he feels is incorrect or unfair, but has not returned calls.
UPDATE #3: I received an email from Marco Girgenti clearing up his supposed 'review' of The Owl:
"I worked with Allan Sussman on a musical showcase in New York and Toronto some time ago, I could tell you stories. However I am writing to set the record straight and I would appreciate if you would amend your piece accordingly - I have never read the book in question The Owl, by Allan Sussman, though I was given a copy. I read the first chapter and did not return to it. This is not to say that the book was good, or that it was not, I simply did not return to it so I could not possibly have formed an opinion."
Alas, it seems like there's no end to the people Allan Sussman is prepared to exploit. Thanks to Marco for his note, and I wish him well in all endeavours.