Website
put up for John Fund by Gail Heriot, professor of law in San Diego. The
site was still up and operational on May 17, 2014. Now, it is 'Inactive.' Johnfund.com
Fortunately it is still available through the Way Back Machine. Documents are preserved on Just the Evidence as well.
From the Desk of John H. Fund
Some of you may have heard about accusations that I engaged in domestic violence against a woman whom I had foolishly allowed to stay at my apartment when she ran into financial and other problems and had nowhere else to go in late 2001. These accusations and many others made by that same woman over the last four years are false. Under advice of counsel, I made no effort to defend myself publicly for many months while the authorities had an opportunity to examine the record and decide whether to prosecute. Since the charges were dropped last year, I am making available several documents which I believe will establish my innocence.
It is true that I had a short romance in 1999 with the then-31-year-old woman in question, who now admits to having been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. I paid a steep price for that profound error in judgment. There has been no intimate relationship between us since that time, although I foolishly attempted to be on cordial terms with her in order to smooth over her wrath.
I deeply regret that some female friends and acquaintances of mine were harassed without mercy on account of this woman's perception of my relationship to them, well-founded or imagined. Thanks go to all the friends and loved ones who have stood by me during this ordeal. You know who you are.
Sincerely yours,
John Fund
Documents
From the Desk of John H. Fund
Some of you may have heard about accusations that I engaged in domestic violence against a woman whom I had foolishly allowed to stay at my apartment when she ran into financial and other problems and had nowhere else to go in late 2001. These accusations and many others made by that same woman over the last four years are false. Under advice of counsel, I made no effort to defend myself publicly for many months while the authorities had an opportunity to examine the record and decide whether to prosecute. Since the charges were dropped last year, I am making available several documents which I believe will establish my innocence.
It is true that I had a short romance in 1999 with the then-31-year-old woman in question, who now admits to having been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. I paid a steep price for that profound error in judgment. There has been no intimate relationship between us since that time, although I foolishly attempted to be on cordial terms with her in order to smooth over her wrath.
I deeply regret that some female friends and acquaintances of mine were harassed without mercy on account of this woman's perception of my relationship to them, well-founded or imagined. Thanks go to all the friends and loved ones who have stood by me during this ordeal. You know who you are.
Sincerely yours,
John Fund
Documents
- Notarized affidavit dated January 24, 2002.
In it, my accuser stated, "I have made accusations to the Jersey City
police that John Fund, whom I have known for three years, was physically
abusive at times in the recent past. Those statements were not true.
Mr. Fund has not been abusive to me contrary to what I said in reports
to the Jersey City police." She also stated, "There were never any
wedding plans between Fund and I" [sic].
- Handwritten undated letter to the Wall Street Journal.
In it, my accuser stated that she had been "struggling with emotional
problems for sometime. I have trouble distinguishing between reality and
fantasy ....[I]n recent weeks, I have claimed that John was abusive to
me. John was not abusive."
- Deposition Transcript dated February 22, 2001 in the case of Pillsbury-Foster v. Franklin, Civil Action No. 233136 (Cal. Super Ct.). This case
concerns the woman's mother and stepfather and is unrelated to any
dispute between us. In it, she testifies under oath that she has
"borderline personality disorder." Her condition manifests itself in
"mood swings, all sorts of things," she stated, adding, "[y]ou're just
not functional." When asked during the deposition, "What lies have you
told in the past?," she replied, "Too many to name." When pressed to
give an example, she said, "That I had a heart problem." She then
described how she bilked her stepfather out of $10,000 by falsely
telling him that she had a heart condition that required medical surgery
to correct. This deposition transcript is not the only occasion in
which she has discussed her emotional troubles on the official record.
In a Pro Se Answer to a Complaint filed in California in In re Morgan
Pillsbury, Debtor, Case No ND01-10494-RR, she admitted that she has
"borderline personality disorder. One of the symptoms of this condition
is an inability to discriminate truth from fiction." She further
admitted that by June 1998, she was having severe emotional problems"
and "was entirely non-functional." She also stated that she "has told
whoppers [lies] all her life."
- Answer
and Verified Counterclaim of John H. Fund dated January 23, 2003 in the
case of Morgan Pillsbury v. John Fund, Citicorp Group and Jane Doe,
Index No. 121868/02 (N.Y. Sup. Ct.). In this document, I describe
how a few weeks before the woman in question’s most recent accusation
that I committed domestic violence against her, she stole and forged
several checks drawn on my Chase Manhattan bank account totaling almost
$30,000. She also took out a credit card in my name and charged jewelry
worth $8000. Shortly thereafter, she began demanding $150,000 apparently
in return for peace.
- E-mail message from the woman in question to Professor Gail Heriot of the University of San Diego School of Law.
This is one among many such harassing and often vulgar communications
sent by the woman in question to female friends and acquaintances of
mine. Note that she was using an America-Online e-mail address that made
it appear the message came from me.
- Anyone who is unfamiliar with
Borderline Personality Disorder may want to take a look at the National
Institute of Mental Health’s web site at http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/bpd.cfm.
- UPDATE: On July 14, 2006, my
accuser abandoned her meritless claim against me in the case of Morgan
Pillsbury v. John Fund, Citicorp Group and "Jane Doe," Index No.
121868-02 (N.Y. Sup. Ct.: N.Y. County). She received absolutely no
money from me or anyone else as a result of her voluntary dismissal with
prejudice, and she was clearly entitled to none. The dismissal
occurred minutes before trial was to begin when it finally became clear
to her that I would not submit to her demands.
As the attached transcript reveals, at the same time, I dropped my counterclaims against her. While these counterclaims were well-founded, they had been filed only in response to my accuser's suit and had no monetary value on their own, since she is clearly judgment proof. I also promised to return miscellaneous property that she had left at my home several years ago. This property had long since been put into storage by me, and my attorney had made multiple efforts to return it to my accuser. Those efforts, however, had been met with silence.
The wheels of American justice turn slowly--painfully slowly at times. But at least in this case, they have turned surely. I would like to thank my attorney, Fred Kessler, for all his hard work. I would also like to thank Professor Gail Heriot. Despite my accuser's outrageous threats to sue Gail and her wholly uninvolved employer and colleagues, she flew across the country to be ready to testify each time the trial was scheduled to occur. I don't know what I would have done without Fred and Gail. I hope this will end an unhappy chapter in my life and look forward to the future.
