BUSTED CONMAN Robin Jacob, fraudulent director, producer, actor.
Reports of this individual abound throughout Asia. The matter was referred to me by a Los Angeles based Film Producer checking into his background. I started with the Media Development Authority (MDA) of Singapore who has him black-listed. He had apparently claimed to be a Director and had a few credits for low-end productions (video and music) that no-one seemed to have seen, but they are on Internet Movie Data Base (IMdb) nonetheless. Digging a bit further it turned out the credits listed on www.IMdb.com are in fact cross referenced by Tiger Records in the Philippines and Tiger Films, his own companies so in fact, could not be established if he had actually done any of the work.
The matter was referred to IMDB for investigation.
Jacob had set up a company in Singapore Tiger Films Pte Ltd (a dollar company with no assets). His previous address in the Philippines - #98,15thAvenue, Murphy, Cubao, QC in Manilla was unable to reveal too much other than he was known in the district with some negative comments from a family member of one of the records Jacob claimed to have produced on IMDB.By this time I chased him from his company address in Balmeg Hill in Singapore where he had been served a writ for slander and libel by a Dr Lawes of Bangkok (suit#17085 of 2006_20060830095256) to the Singapore Court, who had ordered removal of a website also owned by Jacob hidden in the GoDaddy network called UrbanRebel which appeared to be some sort of ego driven diatribe written by Jacob.in further investigation into the case the plaintiff was asked to reword and resubmit his case but there appears to be no further action at this time. No judgement was entered, only the Court Order against Jacob to remove the Urban Rebel offending comments against the plaintiff
Next was the Singapore Department of Special Investigations (DSI) who had Jacobon file through a criminal complaint apparently an unlicensed individual illegally authoring DVD's and Music in Singapore and shipping to Philippines. Further checks found confiscated postal articles in the Philippines sent from Singapore associated with Jacob. At last count the noose was tightening on Jacob from both countries. But from the Plaintiff in Singapore, the next investigation began in Bangkok.
The Singapore plaint opened a can of worms in a film called Shadow Island filmed inThailand in 2005. Jacob had previously referenced this to his IMDB credits (which has since been removed) although he still has this all over his website www.robinjacob.com. First we found a website www.officialshadowisland.com. The site was all about Jacob but on further digging we also found www.shadowisand.net. This turned out to be the actual site. On doing a search and finding the owner this was in fact the same plaintiff for the action in Singapore. Looking into ownership of the real Shadow Island website the Host Service Provider (www.hosit4u.com) informed me Jacob had plagiarized all the material he had created from the shadowisland.net site. He also informed me photographs on Jacobs own site www.robinjacob.com were in fact copyright to the film and illegally displayed.
Whilst Lawes, the plaintiff in the Singapore action, was not willing to discuss Jacob in detail due to criminal complaint, he did forward me a Thai Police report lodged against Jacob. Lawes referred me to a number of people from the film who verified complaints about Jacob and his inabilities. The producer listed on Jacobs version of the website had been fired from his former company and was unable to be contacted at the time. However, speaking to the sound recordist in Australia who was alongside Jacob daily clearly stated, Jacob had no ability whatsoever as a director. I further contacted two of the co-stars from the movie who also made it very clear, Jacob was grossly incompetent. Further I dug, the cinematographer, the script supervisor and so on, all made it very clear Jacob had in fact, little if any, idea of how to direct the film. It was also verified Jacob had orchestrated a powerplay for the film trying to wrest control from Lawes. Lawes informed me on legal advice he had not paid Jacob as Jacob had doubled his agreed fee on invoice and after the power play, and especially after Jacob was found to be grossly incompetent. Lawes alleged Jacobs interference in completion of the films caused Lawes to cancel finance for completion from his investor and squarely lays the blame on the collapse of the film on Jacob. Lawes also claims some 15% of the film (23 scenes) were missed by Jacob. Lawes also handed me a DVD of outtakes from the film, alone very damning, showing Jacob walking in front of camera during filming, talking during filming, even whist actors were delivery lines and in one take, was in a shot on a boat as the action was being filmed, looking out at sea with no interest whatsoever on what was being filmed.
Whilst I dont know anything about filmmakers I do know a Director has to watch the entire action. On the day I watched the DVD I asked the US editor at the time, what he thought. He simply responded a student could have done a better job. Two other editors I questioned who had looked at the film were unable to put the film together and also shook their heads with some very firm expletives as to the directing.
My last port of call was the Royal Thai Police to clarify what action had been taken if any. I was told of a cops and robbers tale of Jacob eluding the Town In Town Police and fleeing Thailand. There are still outstanding warrants for Jacobs arrest inThailand as there is no statute of limitations on criminal behaviour.
So in conclusion, having searched Jacob all the way back to his school days at Hendon in the UK, there was nothing further worth reporting other than it appears he has had no filmwork whatsoever since 2005 unless he is not putting up any further details at this point for fear of reprisals. I did note he had been involved with or is clearly continuing to harass Lawes through a number of bogus sites and under a number of transparent aliases clearly traced to a Philippines outgoing server thus I conclude, from Jacob himself.
My report was handed to my Los Angeles client who will make appropriate movesregarding his enquiry.
Busted Cons
Hong Kong
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