Δευτέρα 3 Φεβρουαρίου 2014

Sam Chekwas, the Nigerian who was selling pirated books!!!


We Greeks are ready to believe everyone who sells Philhellenism. Lately, I ve noticed a video going around presenting  Sam Chekwas, a Nigerian who had once a Greek bookstore in Astoria. This man was selling pirated copies of my book "The Lonely Path of Integrity". Hundreds of copies were seized at his store and a legal process began, only to be stopped by his Eminence Archbishop Spyridon who  wanted to forgive  Chekwas for his wrongdoings.

Please, check the background of people who present themselves as heroes!!!

Archbishop Spyridon's Biography on Sale Illegally
The illegal printing and marketing of The Lonely Path of Integrity, written by Justine Frangouli, has been denounced by Exandas Publishers. The book, an authorized biography of Archbishop Spyridon, former Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, was first published in December 2000.

Purchasers of the book have alleged that thousands of pirated copies are being sold in various US cities, mainly by bookseller and publisher Sam Chekwas, the owner of a bookstore in Astoria, New York.

Chekwas's illegal activities have been reported both to Exandas Pubblishers and the District Attorney of New York by Stephania and Charis Nikolaou who had bought 100 copies of The Lonely Path of Integrity a few days ago.

However, Exandas Publishers did not limit itself to this alone.

Publisher Magda Kotzia has made a formal complaint to the Pan-Hellenic Federation of Publishers-Booksellers, the Association of Athenian Publishers-Booksellers, the Organization of Collegial Administration of Works of Word (OSDEL), the Publishers' Association of Scientific Books, the Publishers' Association of Books and the Book's National Center.

The denunciation stresses the following: "Exandas Publishers denounces the vast fraud, and the theft of intellectual ownership protected by international laws. However, it refrains at present from taking any legal measures in its effort not to compromise in any manner the prestige of the former Archbishop of America, given that the matter pertains to his authorized biography. Exandas denounces the fact that Sam Chekwas sells and resells pirated copies of the book "I Monaxia Enos Asymvivastou" (The Lonely Path of Integrity) in large quantities. This fact constitutes a danger for Greek literature, given that the said publisher has remained the sole distributor and promoter of Greek books in the United States, while he is also preparing a Greek book fair with the participation of Greek publishers."

The denunciation concludes: "We also call upon Greek publishers to denounce the act of Sam Chekwas through public communications in the Greek and American Press and to take all proper measures in order to stop the illegal circulation of pirated copies of our book in the United States."
[Translated from Greek]

 














Avalaible  at  www.amazon.com

Pirated Copies of Spyridon's Biography in the US
Exandas Publishers denounce their distributor in America for marketing pirated books

Sam Chekwas denies the charges, but does not name his supplier

By Apostolos Zoupaniotis
Exandas Publishers, some ten days ago, brought grave charges against Sam Chekwas, a New York bookseller and publisher, for illegally printing and marketing the authorized biography of Spyridon, former Archbishop of America. The biography is entitled The Lonely Path of Integrity and has been written by journalist Justine Frangouli-Argyris.

The charge was first made public by the Athens News Agency in a press report by the Agency's correspondent in Canada who also happens to be the author of the biography. The charge gives as sole evidence the denunciation made by Stephany and Harry Nicolaou, a couple who had bought 100 copies from Mr Chekwas and who upon opening the boxes "were shocked to find that they had purchased pirated copies, a fact, according to the press report, they reported to the Greek publisher and to the New York district attorney."

The announcement states that "Exandas Publishers denounces the vast fraud, and the theft of intellectual ownership protected by international laws. However, it refrains at present from taking any legal measures in its effort not to compromise in any manner the prestige of the former Archbishop of America, given that the matter pertains to his authorized biography."

As soon as Proini became aware of the charge, it repeatedly asked Exandas Publishers and the author who meanwhile got in touch with us to provide more facts, including putting us in touch with the Nicolaous and informing us in detail about the charge made before the district attorney. The publishers refused to do so on the grounds that the district attorney had already taken up the matter. According to Proini's information, Ms Nikolaou is a former employee of the Archdiocese who was dismissed a year after Archbishop Spyridon's resignation.

At the same time, since the Exandas announcement spoke of "thousands of pirated copies sold accross the US, mainly by bookseller and publisher Sam Chekwas," our newspaper put these charges to Mr Chekwas himself.

At first, Mr Chekwas told us that he did not remember the Nicolaous and that he had never sold anyone 100 books. The next day he confirmed that he had in fact sold such a quantity of books to some couple. He also stated that apart from the 300 copies received from Exandas Publishers, he had been supplied with only 150 other copies by a book wholesaler in Athens. As his wife was at that time having a baby, our contact with him was broken off for a few days.

In the middle of last week, we were able to locate two alleged pirated copies. The first came from the batch of 100 bought by the Nicolaous and the second from a package of ten copies purchased by another individual. The difference in books sold by Exandas Publishers is obvious, particularly as regards the cover and the photographs.

Concurrently, as a result of contacts with various stores that market the biography and with individuals who have bought it in bulk from Mr Chekwas, our newspaper was able to find that they had taken delivery of more than 550 copies in total.

When our charges were brought to Mr Chekwas's attention, we received the explanation that he too had seen some copy which had not seemed to him to be authentic. Nevertheless, as exclusive distributor for Greek publishers in the US he was not able to cite any measures taken by his bookstore to protect his own interests and those of Exandas Publishers.

When we asked him to name his other Athenian supplier, apart from Exandas Publishers, we were told that as he was planning to go to Athens after Easter he himself wanted to speak to the Athenian supplier first and to investigate the charges.

When one of several self-contradictions he had made was pointed out to him, he told us that there is also another supplier from whom he buys books in Athens (a fact that he had initially concealed) and that until he himself had investigated every aspect of the matter, he did not wish to make any further statement. However, he denied any personal responsibility. He described the figures for the sales of the book as "fantasy" and added that he is the victim of a "conspiracy." He did, however, tell us that he had written to Exandas Publishers and to the book's author, Justine Frangouli. Although he told us that he would send us copies of the letters, he has so far not done so.

A charge against the philhellene Nigerian publisher and owner of the sole Greek bookshop has also been made by another Greek-American lady from Michigan. She had sent him the sum of 3,000 dollars of which a thousand was to be used for the purchase of books to be sent free to certain recipients, while the rest was for the publication of a new book to promote Greek literature.

Mr Chekwas, who cashed only the check for a thousand dollars, sent the lady receipts for the books, before, however, sending them to the addressees. The receipts showed that the books had been paid for, not by the Greek-American lady, but by various recipients. Mr Chekwas explained that, being currently out of stock, he would send the packages as soon as he had been supplied with more books. Yet, since a problem had arisen with the lady from Michigan, he would return her money. The Exandas announcement urged those who had purchased "pirated copies" to return them to the bookseller and demand the immediate return of their money.
[Translated from Greek]

 












5 σχόλια:

  1. Θα φροντίσω εδώ στην Ελλάδα να διορθώσουμε αυτό το λάθος, έτυχε να με καλέσουν στη Θεσσαλονίκη την περασμένη Τρίτη για μία εκδήλωση, συνομιλητής ήταν αυτός ο Σαμ, κατάλαβα αμέσως ότι εκμεταλλεύεται τον ελληνισμό. Το είπα στους οργανωτές, είναι ανθελληνική προπαγάνδα με τη βοήθεια μερικών Ελλήνων ανθελλήνων την εποχή που ο ελληνισμός βρίσκεται σε μία χρήσιμη καμπή της ιστορίας του. Όλοι οι ξένοι εκμεταλλεύονται τον ελληνισμό εκτός από μένα. Κάνω το αντίθετο, λέω πάντα ότι οι μόνοι κληρονόμοι των αρχαίων είσαστε εσείς και οι μόνοι που έχετε το δικαίωμα να λέγεστε Έλληνες.

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  2. Νομίζω ότι να καπηλεύονται τον Ελληνισμό οι διάφορι αχρείοι έχει γίνει μεταδοτική ασθένεια. Αντί να προβάλλεται ο απατεών, θα πρέπει να κοπεί απο κάθε δημόσια εκδήλωση. Αλλά είμαστε αθώοι και μας πιάνουν οι Τσέκουες του κόσμου κορόδια. Να τιμάται με επίσημα διπλώματα και επαίνους αυτός που χρωστάει λεφτά σε όλους τους Ελληνες εκδότες και που κοπιάριζε τα βιβλία τους. Ντροπή!

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  3. kala kai aftos thn aftoviografia enos papa-ra 8a ekane peiratiko copy?
    siga mhn htan kai best seller h zwh tou arxiepiskopou...eleos
    mono ta 8avmastika pou evale o ar8rografos deixnei poso pseftiko einai to ar8ro.
    sorry gia tous latinikous xarakthres...o ypologisths mou den exei ellhnikous.

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  4. Εχουν κατασχεθεί 200 πειρατικά κλεψίτυπα του απατεώνα που ενδύεται την Ελληνολατρεία και πουλάει φύκια για μεταξωτές κορδέλες! Οσο για την βιογραφία του Αρχιεπισκόπου Σπυρίδωνος , ε ναι υπήρξε ευπώλητη και ακόμη πωλούνται αντίτυπα από τον εκδοτικό οίκο Εξάντας!

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  5. I'm glad that this thief, Sam Chekwas is being exposed. Posing as a publisher, he had me submit the manuscript to my late father's book. Once he received the manuscript, I never heard from him again. He went on to publish and market the book and to this day has not paid any royalties to me or provided any financial statements. Though I terminated my contract with him in 2012 and had amazon prevent him from selling the book, somehow he has found his way back into amazon and other book selling sites. Beware of this shameless thief!!

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