Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Huge Ethangate Update

Ethan Reynolds, the ex-boyfriend of porn star Benjamin Bradley and former Ginch Gonch underwear model who I have blogged about here before made a big announcement just recently on his MySpace blog:

Sunday, April 13, 2008

A New Sorta Point of View


Well, gentlemen and ladies, there have been a few changes in life of the Incredible Mr. E. I've recently left the beautifully smoggy citiy of Los Angeles. I had great time and accomplished much. However, I learned that you can't trust everybody, even those that are closest to you, or have known for years. I learned that I and others were being manipulated, controlled and used by someone very close. After that, I simply could not stand for such actions and made the decision to go back to LasVegas, which has always been my home.

Things are not easy though. I left everything behind to start over, yet again. So here I am in. A lost and lonely boy with nothing but confusion for the future. I have a make shift plan of what should do. I'm going to get certified and take a job at the gym. I'm going to work as dancer for awhile, so I can earn money for my class, I'll probably look for an additional job as well, just in case.

I danced last night at KRAVE in Las Vegas. I had a great time and enjoyed the experience. I was scared at first I must admitt. I hadn't danced by myself before. I had always had Ben there with me for support and security, but I learned I have more confidence in myself than I had orginally thought. I met a lot of wonderful people and I can't wait to do it again.

Another issue in coming back home, is more of an issure of unfinished business. Its an issue that saddens me deeply. My boyfriend has all of my things. All things that I have worked so hard for. Things that my money paid for. Its a sickening feeling when all of your earthly pocessions are search through and destroyed, when someone sorts through all your clothes and decides whats nice, whats expensive and keeps them for himself. I now have to deal witht the ackwardness of trying to get my things back, my clothes, my computer, my movies, my books, all of my personal, random stuff. When I try to call he won't answer, I leave message, he doesn't call back, I go to the house he leaves out of town. I have no will towards him. I wish him the best and I want him to be happy. I wish he felt the same. I'm not harrass him, just trying to clean up the mess and move on, and have it be one less thing to worry about.

So ... these are my delimas and where I stand right now. Sometimes I don't know if there is a future, but I know that I will get through this and in end I will be better person for it.

Much Luv,

Ethan
It would appear from the first para of this blog post that Ethan has FINALLY left his abusive con artist manager Rick Altmann. I mean, when he says "...I learned that you can't trust everybody, even those that are closest to you, or have known for years. I learned that I and others were being manipulated, controlled and used by someone very close" who else could he possibly be referring to?

Just to recap for those who are new to the Ethangate saga: Rick Altmann is Ethan's manager, who embezzled Ginch Gonch compensation checks from Ethan and Benjamin Bradley, and who conned former porn star Blair Mason out of thousands of dollars AND sexually abused him. He was also the true author behind Ethan's formerly popular "Brat Boy School" blog, having conned many into thinking it was actually Ethan's thoughts that were portrayed (said deception being parlayed into various money making schemes at the expense of deluded fans).

The massive deception ended when various other parties found out about Rick Altmann's schemes pretty much simultaneously, and exposed them; Blair Mason did so in a video presentation on his now defunct web site; the Brat Boy webmaster turned the entire Brat Boy site (now also defunct) into a massive expose of the fraud; and Benjamin Bradley publically broke up with Ethan after discovering the above, as well as finally wising up to the misappropriation of his Ginch Gonch checks.

And one unconfirmed report (from the Atkol forum) has a further reason for the Ben and Ethan breakup:

"This "manager" is a maggot - best term i have.
What they are not saying and what I know is that this maggot was banging JR "Ethan" Reynolds for 10 years and I am told that Bradley came home and found his fake blond bf bent over the counter and being serviced by the maggot. Thus the breakup."
And there we have it. :-) The only person who stood by Rick Altmann through all this, and never abandoned him, was Ethan. Until now, of course.

The last para of the new blog post is interesting too; apparantly he is having trouble getting possessions back from his boyfriend. The question is...which boyfriend? Altmann, or Benjamin Bradley? I'm GUESSING from the context here he is talking about Bradley...but given his past relationship with Altmann, the question is murky, I think.

It would help if Ethan could clarify this...either on this blog (if he is reading this!) or on his own. Also, I think it would be helpful if he made it explicitly clear the loser he dumped and left in Los Angeles when he moved back to Las Vegas was indeed Rick Altmann. I know it's about 99% certain that's who he is talking about, but if he could actually name him by name and dispel that remaining 1% of doubt that would be nice.

And if he wants bonus extra credit points...post a picture of Rick Altmann! We bloggers covering the Ethangate scandal have been trying to find and post a photo of the camera shy Altmann since this scandal broke...with no success. Ethan, we can really nail this guy's butt to the wall if we can post a pic of him. This will help to ensure that he does not go on to victimize others, under another alias. Given your long standing personal relationship with Rick, if anyone has such a photo, it would be you. So Ethan, if you are reading this...if could post such a photo, that would be peachy!

18 comments:

jim said...

A couple further notes I should make, that I did not mention in the main post:

1) Ethan, in addition to posting this new blog post, also went ahead and deleted most of his former blog posts, having to do with moving to LA, getting work as a reality TV star, and forming a "board of advisors" to direct his new career.

Sources tell me these posts were not written by Ethan, but by Altmann. The "board of advisors" was to be a list of suckers Altmann could then hit up for money from crazed fans.

I note (with no small amount of amusement) Kent Barclay has written glowingly in the past concerning this "board of advisors." LOL, as they say, birds of a feather...

Anyhoo, these obviously Altmann written blog posts are now gone, which further leads me to believe it is Altmann he is referring to as leaving in the new blog post, AND that this new post is indeed the genuine Ethan writing.

2) The new blog post, if you notice, has numerous natural spelling errors (ie, "delimas"). The removed Altmann posts (see above) as well the ghost-written "Brat Boy School" blog was perfectly spelled and written...further leading me to believe this new Ethan post is indeed the real deal.

Rob said...

Jim--

Thanks for this post. It is illustrative of the way that anyone can be taken in by a smooth talking con artist such as Rick Altman. Most of thes guys tend to go the quiet, insecure types. It is difficult for us to see an adult film performer as demure and not self-confident.

In this last point, think about Blair Mason's main points. Blair came from a town in another state. His mom found out about his sexual preference the wrong way and put him on the street. He tried to get work on coming to California in the usual way and discovered working as a stockboy was going to pay the rent. Enter the con man as introduced to him by a few acquaintances.

Next, you will note that the con man wants his mark kept apart from all others--isolated--and, by the isolation, blissfully uninformed. In the cases of both Ethan and Blair, sexual overtures are made, a seduction, and failing that, a sexual assault, with or without GHB to inhibit the object of desire and wipe memory, then, of course, the big grift--guilt trip--well, you Blair, you Ethan set this up. Those clothes you wore; that look you gave me, etc.

If Ethan is lucky Ben may lighten up a bit and let Ethan get his things back. This is an interesting and instructive epilogue Jim. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Wow!
it is sad,
The words "lost soul" come to my mind regarding Ethan.
If that is true about the kitchen sink, Ethan is lucky he left Vegas for California with all of his limbs.
Again if that is true and I were him, I think I would buy some new things, your old ones have probably been donated to Goodwill or some charity or they could be lying in the bottom of a river somewhere.
This depends of course on whether Benjamin Bradley was IN love with Ethan, if he was - then what I just wrote applies IMO [experienced o- unfortunately :(]
If Ben was not IN love but they had some "agreement" or whatever on not being monogamous, then maybe he may get his things back.
Still a lost soul and sad.
I wish him well.
I would not even know where to start on this Rick Altman----

DeWayne In San Diego said...

I bet the ex he is referring too is Rick Altman a little bird told me Rick had been banging Ethan for a LONG TIME and blackmailing him "My way or I tell Ben!"

Ben would more than likely give Ethan his stuff,,Rick is a nasty pervert and con man oh and by the way,,

He is a rapist as well!

jim said...

Yeah, the new Ethan blog post is mildly confusing in that Ethan is reluctant to name names.

My supposition is that he left Altmann in LA, returned to Vegas, and then attempted unsuccessfully to make contact with Bradley in Vegas to get stuff back.

Which if I am correct, would leave in in Vegas right now with virtually no stuff (all of it possessed by either Altmann in LA or Bradley in Vegas).

At least one commenteer on his MySpace blog is advising him to change all the passwords on all his email accounts and MySpace page, so fans will know it is Reynolds they are talking to and not Altmann. Very good advice, IMO.

It'll be interesting if Benjamin Bradley has anything to say about this...stay tuned!

Anonymous said...

Re: what dewayne said,
"My way or I tell Ben"
IMO, it does not excuse Ethans behavior one bit-
whether he was getting blackmailed or paid for it or enjoyed doing it - all the same.
If they were in a committed "monogamous" relationship when this "allegedly" happened-
Ethan is as much at fault as Altman regarding the screwing around on Ben. Again if this is the case I hope he takes responsibility, he is not a victim here- he is not a kid and has no excuse for his behavior, just kind of sounds like he wants people to feel sorry for him. And I do, but it is also on him.
I would have tossed his shit in the river [actually I did].
IMO this is private stuff - [the banging outside the relationship] but if it comes out the way it looks I have a new respect for Benjamin Bradley.

Rob said...

Jim--

Well, I do declare, you and I have managed to draw Jakester's ire. If I follow his logic, and that is no mean task, it seems we use facts to counter his hype and that of his sandbox pal.

I will take facts any day of the week, month or year.

DeWayne In San Diego said...

VJ I got a momentary glimpse into what was going on at San Diego Pride Last year.

Ethan,Ben and Blair were all there, I suspect Rick was as well. (I have not as yet been able to identify him from my pix which is why I wish someone would post one)

Blair mentioned a fight (over Rick) Saturday night and there was a marked change in the tension level between Sat and Sunday!

Just an observation Ethan struck me as extremely dependent (even in public) always looking stage left for direction.

Ben was his complete opposite.

If I were to guess why they broke up Rick would have been the cause in any event.

jim said...

"Just an observation Ethan struck me as extremely dependent (even in public) always looking stage left for direction."

Yeah, DeW, and if you notice from the new blog entry...he is actually nervous about dancing on a box in a club all on his own.

Rick-as-Ethan would never write this!

That (plus the spell errors) tell me we may be reading the real Ethan this time around! So, this is why I think this is so interesting a development.

Anonymous said...

I totally agree with both of you, dewayne and jim.
You can tell,
I am not sure how to put this-
Ethan is a guy who is extremely good looking and extremely messed up- deep seated stuff.
The really deep seated kind of problems that do not make themselves apparent until some time after you marry the guy.

Unknown said...

I have never seen a worse picture of Ethan in my life. Sure it's a dark bar, but he looks absolutely zombie like and nothing like he has in the past. He looks totally out of place and out of comfortable mind zone, imo.

I look for a Roman Hart entrance in the near future. That's all I'm sayin'. For now. :-)

jim said...

Yeah, and believe it or not, this was a photo I myself enhanced somewhat, the original being so dark.

It looks like this latest round of photos was shot with a friend using a camera phone.

Altmann had no doubt been in charge of casual photo ops like this previously. further signs a healthy breakup has occured!

It'll be interesting to read Ethan's next blog post...

Unknown said...

"Altmann had no doubt been in charge of casual photo ops like this previously. further signs a healthy breakup has occured!"

I think this is more of a cell phone photo "drive-by" opportunity than anything else which of course is impossible to manage no matter who you are.

If you have a cell phone camera, than you've got a pic of just about anything you want at anytime you want it.

Ethan still looks like shit and that's a shame. It's got to be difficult going from where he once was, to token solo boy dancer. I always preferred him as a blonde. His hotness really came out.

"It'll be interesting to read Ethan's next blog post..."

From a curiosity viewpoint I guess it will. I just hope that it doesn't turn into yet another one of those "gays of our Lives" mega dramas played out in public.

If so, he might very well end up topical subject matter on yet another blog. Ahem... :-)

I tell all my clients two things:

There is no room for error in the gay skin business. You're either hot or you're not.

If you're hot, know what you're getting yourself into and know yourself well enough to know what you want and how you want to go about getting it. If you don't, you'd better be damn sure of whomever you're getting yourself into bed with to do it for you.

And if you're not hot...Take up auto mechanics, you still get to use your hands a lot and still get to use a lot of different sized and shaped tools.

:-)

Anonymous said...

"gays of our lives played out in public"
LOL!
When I first saw this post I was a little squeemish about reading it.
Reading about Benjamin Bradley and Ethan Reynolds' relationship seemed kind of personal. The Rick Altman part is as bad if not worse than Kent Barclay himself [actually they sound like they could be related- difference being- although they are both male Kent does not have a dick,
so he could not have "pulled off" the kitchen sink episode- unless of course he used his little finger]-
It actually is really sad to see this.
Ethan dancing wearing "ginch gonch" underwear where he was once a model/spokesperson for and, and kind of made a disgraceful exit from that.
I would have worn fruit of the looms.
This post has made me think,
about a lot of things. But it looks like a sad situation that is not really getting better at the moment.
Now I can comment past the "kitchen sink" part of the story- I was stuck there for a bit.
I hope a picture of Rick Altman is found and posted - this guy is beyond trash and needs to be exposed.

GOTCHA_RICK said...

Rick Altmann is an obese, beady-eyed, smooth-talking pedophile. I've seen him in person and he does NOT allow himself to be photographed. I guess that goes along with being a criminal.

Anyway, last I knew Rick was living in his parents' tiny shit-shack house at:

1829 Margarita Avenue in Henderson, NV.

FUN FACT: He and JR (Ethan) used to share a bedroom there where they slept on bunk beds! LOLLLLL!!! I sure hope Rick had the bottom bunk--FATTY! And yes, Rick would fuck JR.

Anonymous said...

Here is a rare picture of Rick with his newest victims: http://nd03.jxs.cz/072/888/e40d158714_55661872_o2.jpg

adeleine cohens las vegas said...

I came across this site as I was recently pondering my experience as a youth, active n a church youth group in Las Vegas, Nevada from 1996 - 1999. My search for Rick Altmann resulted in this posting. Immediately, once seeing this photo - it sent chills up my spine. Rich Altmann was the youth pastor at a small church and grew a small 20 member youth group to over 120 young, youth members in a relatively small amount of time. Then, one day - he was gone. I realize now, that he was likely terminated from his position as youth pastor because of innappropriate behavior and relationships with some of the youth, but I don't know the details. What I do know is that Rick is very predatory and has an inexplicable charisma and charm that attracts people to him. As an active member of the youth group I found myself drawn to him, at a young age, although as a female, and recollecting now, I did not have as strong a relationship with Rick as many of the males in the group had. In my recollection of over 15 years ago, I recall that Rick had moved to Las Vegas from the mid-west somewhere and had also served in a youth leader capacity. I now wonder what he did to young youth back then and if he was also terminated from a church. I am sickened at the number of years this predatory pedaphilia has been going on and hope that others will come forward with their stories. Rick is a sick individual with traits of a psychopath and socio-path. He is a liar who is deceptive and deceitful. More importantly from what I can tell online and through my recollection, he preys on young, weak individuals and likely sexually violates. I hope that one day charges can be filed against this individual who has ruined lives for over 20 years. Those with stories to tell need to come forward and band together. Over the four years that I knew Rick, there were signs, but we all just "believed." May the truth be told and may justice pervail.

Anonymous said...

A picture of Rick Altmann has been found: http://stoprickaltmann.blogspot.com/