Yeah, things are not looking good for the Completionist.
The implications of this are disturbing. That is an incredible amount of money not being documented. I don’t see this coming out squeaky clean after an investigation, but I’m curious what the family are able to do to prepare for it. They’ve got a lot to try and hide, and I doubt they could hide it all.
It was one thing with the money that was sitting there from Indieland, because at least all the money could be accounted for, but this is where things start really looking sketchy. Muta’s post tomorrow is likely to be the big one.
Jirard hasn’t said anything, which looks bad but probably is the best thing legally.
Karl did what he should so far. He put out the initial video of damning, but still very narrowly justifiable accusations, and gave some time for Jirard to respond.
the fact that Jirard hasn’t already taken what would be the assumed logical step of owning it and donating the money immediately means that something much shadier is likely going on. It is not looking good. I like that Karl is trying to bring light to and change the things he sees as corrupt in the world, I just hope he doesn’t get into trouble with the wrong people.
Not looking good for Jirard. Something is definitely up and the IRS really should be placing the whole family and charity under investigation.
I’ll reserve my full judgement for the Some Ordinary Gamers video (Mutahar puts out good content), but based on what Karl presented alone, I strongly suspect that somebody is embezzling charity funds. So much shit doesn’t add up here.
And to those stating that Karl is talking about stuff he doesn’t remotely understand, I work in commercial reporting, am fully AAT qualified, am in my second year of ACCA study and previously served as treasurer of a housing charity. Even I think something is seriously up with their finances.
Karl Jobst is also very careful about throwing accusations around. You would be if you had the nerve to go up against Billy Mitchell…
Didn’t think that the Completionist’s final challenge would be a ten year stint in federal prison, but then again, this is a crazy timeline.
I remember when Greg had Jirard take all the old videos with him in it down. At the time, I believed he was kinda being a dick. Now I’m starting to believe (especially because we can see him in photos at the Open Hand golf tournament) he had an inkling of a suspicion that shady stuff was going on, and wanted to distance himself. I don’t think Greg has anything to do with what Jirard is being accused of, but I remember him having issues with how little he was compensated for the videos he was in, and it seems likely that he would have noticed some odd money-handling behaviors from his friend and decided it would be best to get the fuck outta Dodge.
EDIT: This comment did not present itself as I intended. Please read ThunderingJerboa’s response to this, as well as mine.
I think this is a bit revisionist. You even say the real answer, Greg likely wasn’t getting a cut he thought was sufficient, he had a falling out with Jirard probably due to said cut not being enough. So he requests Jirard pulls down content that has him included because he doesn’t want the man profiting off his work. Its a mixed bag and I can see both points of view but lets not include “new bad thing happens, this is the ‘true reason’ ________ left” moment. Its no secret that mixing friends and money can easily lead to a falling out, I just find it silly whenever there is drama we have to add our own conspiratorial twists when we already have a very logical reason why X happened. Unless Greg chooses to confirm this is the reason why he left its pointless to assume its this way, hell even if he does confirm it we have to keep in mind, people are willing to lie to get seen far more favorably and jumping onto a dogpile is pretty easy. Greg hasn’t really kept an online presence, so I may actually believe him far more than if it was another content maker doing this because there is far less to gain from this.
You’re absolutely right. However, it was not my intention to imply that Greg actually knew about the alleged fraud. Rather, I meant that because it seems Greg got fucked by Jirard in the money department, he would be more likely to suspect it was happening to others. Because of that, I wondered if it played a part in his decision making. The detail about the Open Hand photos adds more of a conspiratorial twist to this message than I meant. I was surprised that Open Hand was old enough to be around the same time as Greg, and only included that to point out this fact. Upon rereading it, I do realize that my comment takes a very matter-of-fact tone, and I appreciate your measured response counteracting that. I agree that it’s totally pointless to speculate without an official testimony and with an obvious answer already present, and will try to refrain from doing so in the future.
You are good mate, this stuff just always happens where it gets a bit annoying. We see this in the drama cycle where news comes how X person is an awful person or did something wrong. We know about Y events that happened in the past so people try to draw Y events around this new bit of news but we don’t really live in a fictional world where all these plotlines/events all culminate into something satisfying. Life is a rather complex thing and it makes it feel so small when it all culminates into every event we the public know about a public figure have to fit into each other like a complete puzzle when huge portions of a public figure’s life is typically shrouded in mystery.
Ok, I’m not so up on all this YouTube drama, since I’ve only watched Completionist videos when YouTube’s recommended them, and that’s only been on the last few years. Who’s Greg? What happened with him and Jirard?
Okay Completionist started 2011 or 2012, he has a costar named Greg and it seems they met at college and were friend. Greg played the comic relief of the show at the time. Fast Forward to 2015, he leaves unexpectedly. Then fast forward another 2 years when in 2017, Greg I believe with lawyers told Jirard the completionist to unlist all the episodes Greg has appeared with. That is basically the story of Greg. It seems there were issues with extended work periods that didn’t gel well with his schedule and priorities and good for Greg understanding that since choosing loved ones over work is rather important. It seems Greg got shafted because Him and Jirard had a falling out and there was no formalized contract between them since he expected friends to look out for each other. It sucks but I consider money to be a part of the equation with the removal of those old episodes since he didn’t like the company using his image to earn a profit.
Also take this with a grain of salt but apparently he also made a post about it on reddit in the past with these lines
“It is extremely difficult to move on from a project that I helped create for so many years. Not only were we building the show as a creative outlet but, also as a source of monetary stability for the both of us. Both of these are no longer true for me. While we may have not put in precisely equal hours on the show, I believe that had Jirard and I’s mind not morphed into one for four years, TOVG would not be what you see and enjoy today.”
This could be a random poster and not be Greg, seeing as this is their one only post. I just don’t think its a huge leap that money and friends typically don’t mix well. Money breaks bonds in so many different ways and its a prime reason why I don’t like dealing with loans with friends or family. It really rarely ends well.
Thank you! I appreciate the detailed write up!
The evidence they show in all the videos are not to be doubted, but they are still making conclusions that I am not sure they are qualified to make. They report on this with so much bias and opinion.
Just report on it and express that it needs to be investigated properly. Let the qualified people perform the full investigation with audits and then draw your conclusions.
Let the qualified people perform the full investigation with audits and then draw your conclusions.
Had you watched the video, you’d knew that that’s the point it’s actually making.
I watched the whole video, and while yes Karl does conclude with that, many of the statements of fact he makes aren’t actually fact but speculation. This is super biased reporting. Doesn’t mean he’s wrong, just that he’s biased.
many of the statements of fact he makes aren’t actually fact but speculation.
Given his ongoing history with Billy Mitchel, I’m pretty confident he had his lawyer(s) check whether he can make such a video without being libelous. He’s not a journalist, so I don’t see why he cannot release an opinion piece that then asks US citizens to have the IRS look into it.
I’m hardly suggesting he can’t. I’ve imposed no moral assertion here, but you have by suggesting that the OP didn’t watch the video and is commenting on it none the less.
Karl, being in Australia is not realistically bound by US libel laws. Sure Billy is using, but that’s gone nowhere, and it’s a motherfucker to sue someone in a foreign country, so realistically he doesn’t need lawyers for this. Regardless, in the US a discrepancy or even a series of discrepancies on a tax return is not proof that a charity isn’t doing charitable things. Innocent until proven guilty; ergo Karl is speculating.
All that is actually being said is that op can have watched the video, sawn that Karl was in fact being biased, stated as much at which point you came in and said “yOu ShouLda wAtCheD THe viDeo. 🤪”
I’ve replied to the statement that Karl should let the authorities investigate instead of releasing opinions/speculation.
The authorities didn’t investigate for 10 years, so he’s using his platform to make the authorities investigate the donations. Everyone who watched the video until the end saw that and I’m pretty certain you now use that SpongeBob meme style of quoting to deflect from you initially not watching the video until the end. Were you interested in actual conversation, you wouldn’t use such childish methods.
There’s no conversation here. You accused someone of something that is entirely irrelevant to the original post. OP didnt say that Karl was wrong, or that he didn’t say “go to the authorities.” They said that Karl is reporting on something in a biased way that likely is inaccurate in some of its details which is irresponsible. Your reading comprehension failure is why I’m mocking you with the quote method. Figured the changing capitalization might gather your attention long enough to get you caught up, but I guess not.
At no point does OP ndicate that isn’t what Karl said in the video. They state that the video is unnecessarily inflammatory when “yo, the tax returns for this charity golf tournament don’t look right either. I’m not saying people are pocketing the cash, but it doesn’t look like donations are being accurately reported. Since I’m not a citizen, you should report these guys here.”
Dear god, what I would do for a write-up instead of a youtube video.
https://www.sportskeeda.com/esports/what-allegations-the-completionist-s-open-hand-foundation
Here’s one that sort of summarizes it, but it just references the Youtube video…
Also, the whole “Play War Thunder now with my link…” bullshit at the beginning of the description makes this guy sound like as much of a fucking grifter as the people he’s exposing. Fuck me.
Video game writers, please fucking write instead of making shitty videos if you’re going to reveal serious shady stuff.
That’s old. This came out today, just a few hours ago, and is all new allegations.
And it’s YouTube because he and Muta, the ones investigating this, are YouTubers. This is the primary source here.
the ones investigating this, are YouTubers.
I get that, but a YouTube video you can’t put in footnotes to reference documents and why they matter.
Let me ask you, do you think in-depth reporting of any type succeeds more because of video or text?
Video is always dumbed down for audiences. I know, I worked in television news for several years, its a joke. Youtube news is just as much of a joke.
When someone with some skin in the game can give me a decent write-up, then I’ll take it seriously.
But a fucking Youtube video that begins with advertising a War Thunder thing… like get the fuck out of town with this unprofessional bullshit.
“why does he have to make a living it makes me upset”
Their main complaint is the format of the report, not the advertisement. So, this summary is a disingenuous representation of their point. Though, I don’t think they made their point very well.
Karl’s videos have advertising is for the same reason newspapers have advertisement pages, most new sites have ADs all over them, and others still charge a subscription fee - the money to make this stuff has to come from somewhere.
As it is the last video he did on this was unsponsored, which meant he took a huge hit to his income for the video - that’s unfair to say he can’t advertise because it looks tacky when other free to access mediums do exactly the same (or rely on donations ala Wikipedia).
Is a 13 minute video enough to cover absolutely everything in-depth?
Absolutely not, he literally states as much in the video - but he isn’t trying to cover everything, he’s covering one specific aspect of the situation and it’s covered well.They’re literally digging through tax records, but you think they aren’t serious because you don’t take the medium seriously. Ok. Have a good day.
deleted by creator
I’ve watched you post on here consistently, and I’ve gotta say your flagrant dismissal of people who have any criticism is petulantly childish. If you’re going to be a source of news, be it actually looking for content or, seemingly, just copying shit straight from Reddit, it wouldn’t kill you to not be a bitch.
To be fair, that criticism is kinda invalid. The medium doesn’t change the story. Any written-up article, like the other commenter is requesting, would be second-hand reporting of the story, anyway, as the YouTube videos are the original source material.
it wouldn’t kill you to not be a bitch.
Follow your own advice.
This is independent journalism, how do you expect them to get money if not from advertising?
Do you know they show ads for all sorts of shit on TV before, during, and after the news? I guess they’re all unprofessional amateurs as well to you? You can also watch many instances of investigative journalism in video format on news channels, don’t those fucking clowns know only text is acceptable?
What’s your real fucking problem? That it’s YoUtUbE?
Video descriptions are a thing, and is generally where links to primary sources and whatnot go.
But I do agree, YouTube isn’t a great place for news. The good news is, this isn’t news, it’s a guerilla campaign to shame someone into doing the right thing. We’re not talking about a ton of money here, it’s like $600k donated to a YouTuber’s charity. However, it’s still wrong and related to gaming, and that’s Muta’s thing.
So I watch stuff like this as entertainment mingled with information, I’m not actually interested in following this particular case (I have never donated, nor is it something I’d likely donate to or meet someone who has), I just like being along for the ride. And for that, video is fine.
You didn’t watch the video you’re commenting on.
You’re right, but I have watched a few videos prior to this video (I think all of the ones Muta has put out, plus an extra or two) about the charity in question that “the completionist” is affiliated with.
But I wasn’t talking about this specific video, I was talking about this kind of news presented by YouTubers. I don’t watch YouTube to stay informed about relevant current events, I watch it for entertainment, with some news mixed in. If I want actual news, I read articles by actual journalists.
Edit: I just skimmed the video, and it’s just a recap of the videos I’ve already watched, with some additional speculation about the golf sponsors. That has nothing to do with my argument.
I’ve been subbed to Jobst for years. I really like his speedrun content - particularly his Goldeneye stuff as he’s both an engaging storyteller, and supports it with his own top-tier experience of running the game.
It rubs off on his other gaming content too - his evaluations of the speedrunning scenes for various different games is pretty polished and easy watching for the layman.
His coverage of the Billy Mitchell and Todd Rodgers lawsuits are not my kind of thing - I absolutely get why he’s doing it because both of them have tried to do his legs and he’s firing back, and his coverage does seem to be fairly balanced given the legal threats that have been repeatedly thrown his way. It does feel like a playground argument that has gotten far too serious, but hey - it’s an interesting story and it’s a unique insight from someone who’s a defendant in this case.
The whole Completionist thing does seem to be a mountain out of a molehill though, it’s a bit of a strange thing to put someone on blast for even though it absolutely should be called out and remedied by people with experience with these sorts of financial shenanigans. It doesn’t help that the charity’s spokesperson (was it his brother? I forget now) tried to handwave it away gave the case a proper Streisand effect, but the way Jobst has approached it feels like he’s just uncovered who actually shot JFK, rather than some bollocks accounting practices and misleading public in a charity event.
I’m a fan of investigative journalism, the whole Panama Papers and WikiLeaks Câbles have exposed people and factions for doing shady shit, and sent a message to the world that this is absolutely disgraceful. This does seem like small fry, and I’m not sure why Jobst himself is taking up the cause.
why does everyone on Lemmy whinge about everything. you’re welcome to not watch the content.
I have a plugin for my browser that summarises youtube transcripts with chatgpt, you might find that more to your taste.
Did you listen to him 3 seconds before the ad? He literally apologized and said sponsorships is how he makes money. Doesn’t sound shady to me.
I mean… Just to be clear, he’s very obviously advertising something that will benefit him and being upfront about it.
The people in the video are allegedly telling people they are donating money and then just keeping it.
Equating the two of them only serves to minimize what he’s talking about. There’s really no need to compare and contrast the two here. You can hate them both, but one certainly deserves a lot, lot, lot more hate.
Also, the whole “Play War Thunder now with my link…” bullshit at the beginning of the description makes this guy sound like as much of a fucking grifter as the people he’s exposing. Fuck me.
Welcome to YouTube. Advertising revenues are at an all time low and pretty much anything could get you randomly demonetized.
Unfortunately a lot of content creators have to get by either through crowdfunding platforms like Patreon or through shilling random crap.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/JZ6tYkStri4?si=HiCb0Q98KlHmEIyt
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
