Be sure to check the updates at the end of this post!
Just when you thought the story of fake TV writer and convicted conman James Strauss aka James R. Straus couldn’t get any stranger or sleazier…it does. My relentless and intrepid Facebook friends, including Barbara Early and a few who wish to remain anonymous, have uncovered more disturbing stuff about Strauss. Follow along. Strauss has a company called “Antares Research and Development” that is, according to its webpage, involved in:
“Silver Mining, Indian Jewelry, Fabrication & Sales, Computer Hardware Assembly, Documentary Film Production, Literary Works for Hollywood & New York, Consulting for the United States Government in the areas of Diplomacy, Finance, & Cultural Accommodation Abroad.”
Strauss has a board of “Advisory Directors” for his company. They are:
Advisory Directors
USA, EUROPE, ASIA, AMERICAS, & OTHER AREAS
1. James Strauss, Author
Antares Productions, Inc.
2. Frank Samuelson, Washington State
Antares Productions, Inc.
3. MR. X [Name Redacted]*, California
Ask, Seek, Knock, Inc.
4. Jeremy Rosetta, New Mexico
Raincloud Silver
5. MOVIE PRODUCER [Name Redacted] *, California
Movie Production Company [Name Redacted]*
6. Chuck Bartok, California
Focus Society Mastermind, Inc.
7. Barry Johnson, Texas
Colonel, United States Army
Here’s where it gets really interesting
MR. X [Name Redacted] was convicted in the late 90s for conspiracy, money laundering, and a host of other charges. On Mr. X’s resume on IMdB, he claims a close association with “Movie Producer’s Movie Production Company” [Name Redacted]. A Mr. X was imprisoned in the same Federal pen as Strauss at the same time. Coincidence? You be the judge.
Speaking of coincidences, let’s talk about Jeremy Rosetta, another one of Strauss’ top advisors. He’s based in New Mexico, where Strauss once lived and was arrested back in the 1990s for fraud. There’s a picture of him here. On his website, Rosetta says “I create my work in a jeweler’s shop on the Santo Domingo Indian Reservation.” Oddly enough, that’s also where convicted sex offender Jeremy James Rosetta lives. He was arrested for “Criminal Sexual Penetration” and “Aggravated Sexual Abuse.” You can see a picture of him here. Same guy? You tell me. Maybe it’s just a coincidence.
So if you’re a world leader or an aspiring author who needs to negotiate an international trade agreement, or get a movie made, or have your printer set up, or you’d just like some really cool jewelry, you’ll want to go to Antares Research & Development and their crack team of convicted conmen and registered sex offenders will be glad to take care of you.*
(*hat-tip to Kelley Elder for letting me steal some of his lines)
*I’ve redacted the name of the movie producer and his production company at the producer’s request. He fears that associating his name with Strauss will damage his reputation and I certainly can’t argue with that.
*I’ve redacted the name of Mr. X, at the request of the movie producer mentioned above, who claims they’ve lost “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in financing as a result of being associated with Strauss, who included their names in his other scam business ventures without their knowledge or consent. Since Mr. X and the producer have cut all their ties with Strauss, I agreed to their request. 11/3/16
UPDATE AUG 12, 2024 – Strauss is battling three felony fraud charges. Here’s the link to keep up on his prosecution as it moves through the courts.
UPDATE FEB 15, 2023
A reader alerted me that he’s at it again. Take a look at this 2022 order from the State of Wisconsin’s Department of Financial Institutions… it speaks for itself.
UPDATE JAN 28. 2015
Fake TV writer and convicted conman James Strauss is back…this time expressing on Facebook his happiness that his author page is finally creeping up to top of Google search results for his name as opposed to all the posts on the web about his swindles. What amuses me about this bizarre post is how he casts himself as a victim…as opposed to the many people that he deceived and defrauded.
I can not tell you have helpful this blog post is to me. I’ve been looking for a crack team to fulfill just those requirements. And all in one place! I can’t thank you enough for pointing them out to me.
This is starting to look like a potential “Castle” story. Get Nathan on the horn, stat!
Oh, if Castle were writing it, the CIA black ops part would be true.
Sounds like a perfect keynote speaker for a future Writers’ Police Academy. I doubt he’d like his one-way ride-along, though.
C’mon, the Antares folks are just like the merry band from Leverage, only with bad makeup, a preference for sex crimes, and a poor publicist.
Lee,
Again, humor aside, what you’re uncovering is unsettling and even frightening. Con artists, like serial killers, up the ante of each crime the more they get away with. And judging from this violent crowd, whose to know what’s next. I think some authority should at least be made aware of what you’ve discovered.
I’ve shared what I’ve learned with some friends of mine in law enforcement. The thing is, nobody has filed a complaint with the police about being defrauded (at least that I know of), so there’s no crime to investigate yet. But the authorities have been made aware.
Mr. Goldberg, you do not know the Jim Strauss that we know. A man who spends countless hours trying to improve our small city. He attends council meetings, interviews current and new shop owners and investigates questionable actions by city officials and local establishments. And then at his own expense [about $4,000/week], he writes, publishes and distributes the information in a free weekly paper [The Geneva Shores Report]. Furthermore, even if what you have written is factually accurate, it is not relevant today and it serves no purpose, except to destroy the good work that he is currently doing for us. Everyone [including you] has things about themselves that they do not want published on the internet for the whole world to see. — I wonder what purpose publishing the information served for you, but regardless of your motive you have done a great disservice to us.
Terry O’Neill
From the crap he has written about our American Legion Post, we never doubted for a minute that he was a great fiction writer.
2017 UPDATE. Terry, maybe you can ask James Strauss about his stay last year(2016) in Hawaii where he has de-frauded honest hardworking people out of money yet again, this time while traveling with his buddy Frank Samuelson. Jim has avoided all our communication going back to last year, and when I tracked down Frank to see if maybe he could help us understand what was going on with Jim he denied he even went to Hawaii with Jim(he replied “wrong Frank”) which is very strange considering I have pictures of them altogether at our beach house! When I sent him the pictures, he conceded he was there, but his only reply was “How did you let Jim get the keys without all the money upfront”. Ya, like I should have known that Jim was a professional con man who would stiff us for the second half of what he owed with an invalid credit card. Frank had nothing else to offer and has no issue with the fact that is buddy and ‘agent’ Jim Strauss stole money from us so that he and his wife would stay at our beach house with Frank and his wife.
Frank Samuelson and his wife Suzanne Lamon have an acrylic art studio in Port Townsend WA. On his website he lists Jim Strauss as his “agent” which by definition makes him morally and ethically responsible for Jim’s thievery, especially since he benefited from it. Like Jim, Frank is obviously a liar and thief, which of course is quite natural, as like attracts like–always and without exception.
Say whatever you will about James Strauss, Mr. Goldberg, but realize it is all meaningless to the 100’s of people who really know and love Jim for his generous heart, boundless spirit, first class intellect and willingness to help and comfort those in need. A better friend you’d never find. Jim Strauss will always be a hero to us!
Versus the thousands he’s defrauded through his appearances at conventions and sitting on panels LYING about his life?
Doesn’t add up for me.
Or for anyone with a few brain cells…
I notice that you don’t don’t list “honesty” among his traits…
Not only do you not know the real James Straus, or Jeremy Rosetta, but your attacks are dishonorable. All of us have pieces of our lives we would prefer not to have. Especially if those pieces that have attached themselves, are undeserved. I do not know your background or beliefs — other than those evidenced by your unfair and hollow attacks on those you do not know — but if you follow the tenets of any great leader or teacher, you have violated your professed core beliefs by your actions: all great leaders propose kindness, compassion, forgiveness, and self-examination.
Hilarious….and what about the people Jim is currently stealing from this very day?
Since I live in the Lake Geneva Area I can tell you I know of two people that like Strauss, Terry Oneil and Dick Malmin. Strauss has somehow inserted himself into local politics and does nothing but complain. I want to see a list of his good works.
I was on a board with Mr. Oneil when he was on the Lake Geneva City board. The voters elected him to be involved but he quit becsuse he couldn’t get his own way. He offered little input to the board we were on.
They all envision themselves populists saving the world from the ravages of “the man”. I often expected them to begin wearing green tights and carrying bows and arrows. Of course since Jim probably knew Robin Hood personally it would all be authentic.
I am not surprised as I always thought this was a scam.
Interesting that Terry Oneil would point to Jim Strauss interviewing our local politicians about “questionable actions”.
We are talking about a convictef felon that has continued to con people. I guess if there is one person that understands quentionable actions it would be Strauss.
I can’t believe that Dick Malmin and Terry Oneil are so.desperate for heros that they would choose to defend a conman.
It is astonishing to me how much time and energy many of you have to squander in violation of a core commandment: let he/she among you who is without sin cast the first stone. Those of you so thrilled to be part of the gang that is so gleefully and indiscriminately negative and judgmental, should be more careful: the evil that someone will do with you, that same someone will eventually do to you. Each of us has a “resume’” that we would prefer not be used to define us; and none of us is the same we were 10-20-30 years ago. I know Jim well. He is a fierce friend, and a compassionate enemy. I stand with him.
You say he’s not the same man that he was 10-20-30 years ago. Perhaps you can explain why he pretends to be a produced television writer (when he was not), a WGA member (which he is not), and to have written for HOUSE, DEADWOOD, etc. (which he has not). Those aren’t transgressions and lies from years and years ago… he was telling those lies right up until I outed him a year ago. He still claims to be a WGA member on IMDb, which he most certainly is not. How do you reconcile those blatant lies with the “fierce friend” you know now?
Thank you Lee for exposing this charlatan. Jim’s background info was very helpful for us in figuring out why Jim stole from us in 2016.
A friend who is a Marine & Viet Nam Vet sent me a web page to check out. I am an Army VN Vet. “30 Days Has, September” by James Strauss. Once I started reading, I could not stop. I commented to my friend, “unless you were there and wittnessed some of this you would be reading in total disbelief”. Then I got t thinking, there was no mention of him keeping a daily journal! Has this guy got a photographic memory? I guess a better question would be, was he really a Marine? Was he awarded a Purple Heart, which he claims to have? These are all recent post on his web page. Has anyone verified his military service? I’m in the process of trying to now!
His Dec. 2016 book, “Down In The Valley,” has a transparent set of positive reviews on Amazon.com, along with one negative review. The negative review has a pretty obvious counter-offensive working against it, apparently led by Strauss and those allies he can muster. Their collective ability to write well is laughable, but anyone who has read his work will not be surprised by that.
https://www.amazon.com/Down-Valley-Patton-Adventure-Adventures-ebook/dp/B01N1RZRUG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8