April 14, 1995
Re: Ishi Press International
Dear Ms. Dodini,
I am concerned about the fact that you are still not respecting the wishes of the majority stockholders of Ishi Press International and that you apparently are siding with an insurgent group who illegally assumed working control of the corporation in January, 1995.
While we respect Professor Elwyn Berlekamp as a distinguished and world famous mathematician, it is obvious that he knows nothing about California Corporation Law. Mr. Berlekamp only owns approximately 36,000 shares of stock in Ishi Press International. Richard Bozulich owns 197,000 shares of stock, plus additional shares are owned by his family members, his close friends and his business associates in Japan. We recognize that your bank has a close relationship with Professor Berlekamp, but you also have a legal obligation to do what the law requires you to do. Professor Berlekamp simply does not have any legal right or claim to control the management of Ishi Press International.
The current situation is that Ishi Press International is virtually closed down. Hartland Snyder no longer goes into the San Jose office. Martin Lowenstein has virtually quit. Anton Dovydaitis, the long time salesman and the only person who has shown any real personal interest in this company, is virtually running the corporation out of his home apartment, even though he has never been given any real authority and his name is not even on the signature card.
All of the authors who have written books published by Ishi Press are complaining that they have not been paid their royalties. I am one of those authors, and I recently won a judgment for $5,000 against the corporation in the Los Gatos Small Claims Court. Another author, David Fotland, who wrote the "Many Faces of Go" computer program, which is Ishi Press International's biggest selling and most profitable item, without which the corporation would have been out of business long ago, complains that he has not been paid $19,000 in back royalties. Mohamed Poonja, the Trustee in Bankruptcy of The Connelley Group, which is in bankruptcy in San Jose Federal Bankruptcy Court, is investigating possible fraud by James Connelley, in his parking of assets of The Connelley Group with Ishi Press International. The telephone of Ishi Press International has been disconnected intermittently and UPS no longer accepts shipments because their bills have not been paid.
All of these terrible things have occurred entirely because Professor Berlekamp has placed personal friendship over good business judgment. Professor Berlekamp has insisted that his personal friends, Hartland Snyder and Nat Berkowitz, be allowed to run this corporation, even though neither of them have any experience whatever with this sort of business.
Since I am aware that you are in constant contact with Professor Berlekamp, I recommend that you advise him that his continued opposition to the rights of the legitimate stockholders of this corporation can lead to serious legal consequences for himself. He has absolutely nothing to gain and everything to lose from this intransigence. The shares of stock he now owns are virtually worthless and will continue to be so until he voluntarily steps out of the picture and allows the rightful owners to run this corporation.
Accordingly, I demand full access to the bank accounts of Ishi Press International. In particular, I demand to know the outstanding loan balance of the corporation. We understand that your bank has loaned $100,000 to Ishi Press International, but this figure may or may not be accurate. Since you are presumably going to expect our management to repay these loans, I can see no reason why you would not want us to have that information.
I am faxing you separately some further documents so that you will better be appraised of the actual legal situation.
Very Truly Yours,
Samuel H. Sloan
VIA FAX: (510) 839-8853