Missing money

Casper has recently posted a heavily edited version of his 2007 email to me on the Sellaband forum. This is the original complete email of his from 15/09/2007. It is full of mistruths and discrepancies and out and out lies in our opinion.

It's a long one, with our responses to Casper's ridiculous attempts to cloud the only thing he was asked: what happened to the missing 400 Euro's he actually didn't spend (that he said he had). We wanted (and still want) that money to be returned to the sponsors.

The short story is that Casper had sponsors from the Sellaband community put money into his AmN (festival) bank account, to pay for my husband to accompany me to Holland (to help and look after me as I prepared, did gigs all over Holland, and met with many lovely people from Sellaband who had supported me). My husband (Gary) had said he didn't want to go and have people spend money for it to happen, but people insisted. Casper looked after the money and said we would have money available for living expenses while we were in Holland.

After we arrived he told us there was no money for our expenses, so we transferred all our savings and borrowed alot of money from my family to keep us going.

After a few believers had asked about how we had spent the sponsors money, we told them we hadn't... there had been none left as Casper had spent it all on the flight and villa.

We believed Casper at first but he had also spent alot of the money on a rented villa which we had told him (when we were in Australia) that we didn't want. He ignored this and did it anyway, with the sponsors money. We became a little suspicious ourselves when Casper initially said the villa had cost 1300 Euro's (our 2nd day in Holland). In our last week in Holland he said it has cost him 1100 Euro's. A couple of days later he said it had cost him 900 Euro's. Where did the extra money go then? We never saw any of it, which is totally against what the sponsors had wanted.

Casper had also promised 800 Euro's from the Almelo Meets Nashville account, but this was never mentioned by him when we were there, and we didn't want to ask him about it as it made us feel strange. We had appreciated Casper's good side and didn't think it would be right to pursue that money from him.

At the very least, 400 Euro's was unnacounted for, and if we had asked Casper to honour his commitment, then it would have been another 800 Euro's.

Casper initially stuck by his story (in earlier emails) that all the money had been spent before we got there. Later he admitted that the villa/bungalow had cost 900 Euro's, but offered no explanations as to the missing 400 Euro's of the sponsors money.

Casper's sums say he had 'kept back' 220 Euro's, but last time we checked, 1300 Euro's minus 900 Euro's is a difference of 400 Euro's.

Casper's text is in italics:

*******************************************************************************************

Hi everyone, this was a surprise from Casper, as we thought he would not have wanted everyone to know that he had kept money back from us that the sponsors had donated.

Such a long email, but the main point has (at last) been admitted.... there were at least 200 Euro's we never saw (and this is discounting that you said AmN would sponsor any difference in the amount sponsored.... to 3300. If that had been included then it would be 800 Euro's). Quoted from Caspers post on Mandyleigh's profile page (page 12):

"The foundation Almelo meets Nashville USA/Australia/Germany/Holland www.almelomeetsnashville.com wish to thank all the persons below for their spontaneous contribution for Mandyleigh and Gary.
We needed 3.300,- euro and we have reached a total amount of 2.500,- euros
The rest will be paid by the foundation A.m.N."

That has been our only really serious issue with you. Whenever you were difficult or controlling (from our point of view of course) on the music/business side of things, is a totally seperate issue, which we overcame and learned from. It was just the fact that we could have transferred less of our own money over (we transferred 1550 Euro's in the end, just for being ion Holland), if you had been honest about the sponsors money. On the 2nd day we were there, I (Gary) asked you how much money was left over after the flights and bungalow, and you said 'none'. Plainly some cleverer people than us got their calculators out and saw this wasn't true.

We are trying to argue about this sponsorship money as a seperate issue to anything else. You know we really like you on alot of levels, and really appreciated most of what you did, and have alot of fond memories of most our time with you. Mandyleigh also has a business connection with you, in regards to the cd single that is going to be released by 'Bo', the TwenteTalent winner, of which Mandyleigh wrote the lyrics and melody (you changed the melody of course), and also if "Deep Sea Green" were to be recorded with your music on the album. How can we trust you on the Bo cd single if you lied about the sponshorship money, and conveniently forgot that you said AmN would sponsor the shortfall.

You are trying to make out that we hate you or something. That is not the case. We feel deceived in one important area..... why you said the sponsor money had all gone on our second day there (not true), so we had to transfer alot of money over ourselves.

You have now admitted to there being some money left over, after repeatedly saying there wasn't over the last week. Thank-you. Anyone can make mistakes Casper, especially when they are stressed and busy organising a festival. We would now like the money that was left over to be returned to the sponsors, or paid to us. It's up to the sponsors.

But it must be returned, as what you say you used the money for (below) is NOT what the sponsors meant the money to be used for, and also, you didn't even give anyone the choice as to what YOU did with that money. That was wrong, and you (and have been) trying to hide your 'mistake' behind alot of smoke and mirrors..... points which are irrelevant or untrue.

For the sake of the few believers (that we have the email addresses of) I have included on this email (as you only cc'd people so we don't know who you sent your email to, and can't contact them all), we will try and go through each of your points below. Johan emailed us in regards to this issue, so I`m surprised you emailed him, as he was not a sponsor. Apologies for the late reply everyone, but we have two children to look after, and feel time with them is much more important than taking all day to reply to this:

On 15/09/2007, casper van vulpen < kredo@wanadoo.nl > wrote:
Hello dear Mandyleigh and Gary sponsors & believers,

I'm writing this open letter to all of you because I feel wrongly accused and attacked by the family Storm. I'm not the kind of guy who likes to write open letters but I really feel that I'm forced in this situation by Mandyleigh and Gary.

As you all know I'm from Holland so please don't blame me for my English writing.

As you all probably know during the time I was busy organising Almelo meets Nashville, I (Casper from Caya) recorded & send some guitar Mp3 files to Mandyleigh Storm in Australia. She wrote the lyrics and recorded her melody over it and put the songs on SAB after we both were satisfied with the first results. Lots of mailings and a nice partnership in music started.

During that time there were also a lot of discussions about SAB. Subjects like PR etc. between the SAB community/believers and artists. We thought that SAB could do some more promotion for artists and finding new believers etc. In this time period I had the idea to bring Mandyleigh and her husband Gary over to Holland to meet and greet her believers and to participate in the 'Almelo meets Nashville festival' with a lot of famous artists from Nashville/Germany/Holland.

How could I organise to bring them over???…Because all the famous artists were already booked and the promotion campaign was already started too. So logical there was no money left in the foundation to pay the costs for Mandyleigh and Gary to fly them over to Holland. I really believed in Mandyleigh Storm and also thought it could be a good way to promote myself and my music too. We were already writing stuff together. So the best way for both of us to get some attention, and a lot of promotion was to perform "live" in Almelo on stage.

During that time she was waiting to reach the 50K on SAB so me and Dennis bought a lot of Mandyleigh parts to get her out of the "waiting for 50K stress"

And also to promote AmN and try to get as many SAB people there as possible. Possibly also to prove something to JohanV, who you had issues with on the forum. The 50k would probably have been reached the next night. Mandyleigh was not `stressed` about the waiting. She knew it would come, it was only a matter of time.

Then I came up with the idea to find some extra sponsors in the SAB believers/community and I put an open request for the A.m.N. foundation for finding some 'sponsors' to raise money to bring over Mandyleigh and Gary from Australia to Holland.

I immediately transferred 200,- euros to the bank account of the A.m.N. foundation to get things started. I also made a special page on the A.m.N. website …so that the sponsored money was public for everyone.

Everybody like Mawa, Li, Pat, Dennis etc etc. were responding enthusiastic, and started spontanious transferring money too the A.m.N. banc account . During that time we didn't know that SAB was organising that Paradiso Celebration party as well. We heard it after our sponsor action was already began. Exactly one week later! When we knew that a bit sooner their wouldn't be the need of a sponsorship! SAB participated also in A.m.N. by putting a banner on their website.

It wasn`t one week. It was on the same time (within a day or two), that we were emailing Johan V to see if indeed Mandyleigh would be invited to the Sellabration. At the time he was saying that there was a possibility, and that he would let us know in about a week from then. We were asking Johan because if this were the case then the sponsorship would not have been needed for one flight ticket (Mandyleighs), or one train ticket. We kept telling Casper this and to hold his horses concerning trying to get sponsorship for 2 flight tickets and 2 train tickets. We were right as only a day later, Mandyleigh was invited to the Sellabration concert. Apart from Gary finding very cheap flight tickets, it was much less for the sponsorship to raise.

We first asked all the believers the amount of 5,000 euros to fly the family Storm over from Australia and to pay for the accommodations and other expenses etc. for a two weeks stay in Holland. The first plan was that Mandyleigh and Gary would visit Holland for +- two weeks as you all probably remember.

The A.m.N. festival was on Aug. 10/11 so we first planned that the Storm family would be in Holland from approximately the third of Aug. till the 15/16 Aug. But that changed, because of the SAB Paradiso gig on the 16e Aug.

The sponsor action was running fine and because of the SAB Paradiso gig, we changed the needed amount in 3,300 euro for a whole month stay in Holland. SAB was paying one flight ticket for Mandyleigh only. The amount 5,000 euro was not needed anymore. Me and Dennis also managed to talk with the bungalow park owner. So that both could use that bungalow for the same price of 900,- euros for a whole month. So the owner sponsored about 900,- euros as well. Everybody happy!

Let me be clear on this…Mandyleigh & Gary didn't ask for a nice villa but we all thought that they should have a nice private place for themselves after all the hard work they did on SAB reaching the 50K etc. It should been a kind of extra surprise.

Fair enough in principle and a nice thought, but as we said to you when you first raised this possibility, we thought it would be better not to have the bungalow, especially from the first day. You and Mandyleigh would be busy organising and rehearsing and be spending alot of time together so it made little sense to be somewhere else at night (and have you drive alot more) when you had to do so much preparation together. Maybe after Paradiso it would have been an option, but that is something that could have been explored (and maybe even found somewhere cheaper for 2 weeks) while we were there. This is another example of you not giving anyone a choice.... you just doing what you wanted. We felt indebted to you so didn't want to argue with you too much about something when we hadn't even arrived yet. As it was, we never stayed in the Bungalow, due to going to London, and then staying at Lydia's and Pieps'. That wasn't your fault of course, but it's something we thought might be a possibility. We were there to meet believers all over Holland, which meant probably staying with them too. That is why we didn't want you to pay for a bungalow apart from the fact of us not needing anything too flash. You should have listened to us and given us the choice as to what to do with that 900 Euro's. Even if we had spent more on some other accomodation, then it would have been our fault. As it is, that 900 Euro's would have been better spent elsewhere. At least Thom Bresh and Buster got to use it for 4 nights.

Did you get a partial refund on the bungalow, as no-one had been staying in it (except those two guys for 4 nights)? Marie Claire was talking to us as if it wasn't available anymore when we thought we might go back there for the last two nights. And when we asked you on the day we all went to see the producer (Dick) that we would like to stay in the bungalow that one night, you definitely didn't want us to.... because it was no longer available? You said you would be very angry. Why would you have been `very angry`? Had you cancelled the last two weeks there while we were away in London, as you knew we wouldn't be using it? That would have been a wise thing to do, but if you got any money back then you should pay it back to the sponsors.

We didn't manage to receive the total amount of 3,300 euro as you all know. The total sponsored amount reached was 2,500 euros…so there was a shortage of 800 euros.

I said that we would cover for the extra A.m.N. costs like:

2 days free tickets, after party's food & drinks etc. for the believers. Also my personal extra expenses needed for their stay in Holland.

And I think we kept our promises (explanation and details later)

Incorrect. You said that AmN would cover any shortfall between what was sponsored, and the target of 3300. You didn't specify what that money would be used for, so naturally everyone assumed AmN would honour it's pledge and the money be used by us to pay OUR expenses, not anyone else's.... and that it would be OUR choice what to use that money on. Don't forget that Mandyleigh also didn't ask for or get paid for any performances, at any time, whereas all your other artists did get paid quite alot. We were there when Thom Bresh counted out his money. Note by note.

It makes me feel a bit angry and sad after everything we did for the Storms.

That's why I feel it necessary to explain and to tell my opinion/thoughts about this crazy escalating matter/subject.

I don't know why you say it is crazy or escalating. We hadn't had a reply from you. You said you wouldn't reply. We hadn't sent any other email to you. Has anyone else been asking you the same questions as us?

1. What did we do with the money 2,500,- euro

• Transferred 1145,- euros to Mandyleigh and Gary in Australia for buying a flight ticket
• Urgent/speed banking transfer costs 34,95 euro

We never asked for a speedy transfer. But we thanked you for the quick transfer.

Rest money 220 euros

Personal NOTE

The exact flight ticket and train ( Australia Frankfurt Almelo) costs for Gary were 1419,59 AUS DOLLAR (flight)

That's in EUROS 860,41 euro (I've got copy's)

Train from Frankfurt return ticket, 2 travellers 2nd class, Frankfurth Flugh. –Almelo 151,95 euro Note….Shouldn't SAB pay for Mandyleigh (they paid her travel costs because she had a SAB gig in Amsterdam) ????

The sponsors paid for her train costs as well.

No, SAB paid for Mandyleigh`s flight and train ticket.

Total costs for Gary and Mandyleigh 860,41 euro plus ½ times 151,95 = total 936 euro

So they had extra pocket money because; 200,- (Kezza/Overseer)

Total Storm pocket money 1345,- minus 936 euro = 409 euros. Extra personal spending money for Gary and Mandyleigh

The rest sponsored money was 220 euro and the shortage was about 800,- euros… so total 1000,- (should have bin 409 euros less but yeah its fair that Mandyleigh and Gary had some pocket money)

To be honest that is all confusing to us. I think you're trying to somehow excuse the fact that you said there was no money left..... now you say there was when pressed about it (money YOU decided how it would be spent) .... and are trying somehow now to baffle us with calculations on irrelevant matters. Yes we did have some money from Kezza and Overseer from here before we left. If you must know, we bought the earrings and pendant that Mandyleigh was wearing to Sellabration at the airport in Perth before we left. We also had to have SOME Euro's for when we arrived in Germany. I know we spent some of that money on food at Frankfurt airport and also for on the trains, but it really doesn't matter what any money was spent on by us.... it was our decision. As parents we take responsibiliy for ourselves, our lives and our childrens lives IF we were to get ourselves into debt. You are trying to justify keeping money back from us because we already had some money to spend????? That's crazy.

What did A.m.N. and I did with the 220,- euros

The expences and extra costs below and some personal costs are paid by myself, the foundation A.m.N. , and 220,- rest money by the sponsors. I think you all can imagine the amount (more than 1000,-)

1. A.m.N . paid the after party's for her believers in the Shamrock. Fingerfood & drinks

Not part of the reason the sponsors contributed. It was not ever mentioned by you that this is what the sponsorship money would be spent on, and was not your decision to use any of the sponsorship money in this way. You are also trying to say this was just for the believers. Incorrect. The after-parties were for all the artists and their friends, sound engineers and anyone else who could walk up the stairs. iirc, the sponsors were invited by you to be there if they contributed 100 Euro's or more to the fund. Not sure if you changed any plans of this after this. We'll let the believers involved take you up further on this blatant stretching of the truth.

2. A.m.N . paid the welcome drinks in the theatre hotel

Not part of the reason the sponsors contributed. It was not ever mentioned by you that this is what the sponsorship money would be spent on, and was not your decision to use any of the sponsorship money in this way.

3. A.m.N . paid a percentage of the A.m.N. tickets for Mandyleighs believers.(40% each ticket was for the Theaterhotel)

Not part of the reason the sponsors contributed. It was not ever mentioned by you that this is what the sponsorship money would be spent on, and was not your decision to use any of the sponsorship money in this way.

4. We paid Mandyleigh's diners and the diners for Gary during the A.m.N. weekend in the Theater hotel and the Shamrock.

Not part of the reason the sponsors contributed. It was not ever mentioned by you that this is what the sponsorship money would be spent on, and was not your decision to use any of the sponsorship money in this way. We didn't know about this until the night, when you said all the artists got their dinners. You didn't say it would have come out of the sponsorship money. If you had, we would have eaten elsewhere. That's 2 meals each btw... maybe 3, as Mandyleigh may not have eaten on one of the nights (she normally doesn't eat much or drink anything other that water or diet-coke before singing).

5. I paid all the breakfasts lunches and evening diners and drinks during their stay in Holland in our house.

Not part of the reason the sponsors contributed. It was not ever mentioned by you that this is what the sponsorship money would be spent on, and was not your decision to use any of the sponsorship money in this way. You paid for them, apart from the food we bought at Albert Heign (which included our breakfast cereals which we did eat some of during our stay with you), and you also gave a a couple of these things when you packed up a food bag for Thom and Buster to use whilst they stayed in the bungalow) ... about 35 Euro's, of which I also made dinner for you one night, and the Chinese takeaway we paid 10 Euro's towards (which Buster and Thom ate as well, but never contributed to). We did offer you some money for the food btw, and even wanted to take you out to dinner at the Wok Centre on the last night we were at your place, but you said no. While we were there we helped clean up after each meal, and even did alot of the dishes when the dishwasher broke. All this is still beside the point though of money we were not given the chance to use.

Can you remember the 2nd dispute Casper when you asked us why we hadn't done the dishes that morning (as if we never had)? You obviously didn`t open your eyes and take notice. Did you do any? You only did it that morning with whatever mess that Sylvia had left after her breakfast. We slept in that morning and when we came down saw this mess at about the same time as you. You were angry that we hadn't cleaned up the dishes (after all the dishes we had done in the days before, while you just sat and watched us and Sylvia do them).... I guess you thought that we had made the mess. That was very childish and unfair of you.

6. I paid all the car petrol 780 km for driving to Doetinchem, Enschede, Hengelo, Amsterdam, Hengelo and several small trips (visiting producers/radio etc.)

We insisted on offering you petrol money. You refused. It was a major task for you to actually get in touch with 2 producers anyway (1 of which Lydia was kind enough to take us to). You only called them (after breaking many promises to do so) after Gary said we would ask Johan V to organise some producers to meet instead of you. You weren`t really wanting to go and we didn`t want to make you go, so this was also one reason we were trying to insist on paying for petrol. Instead we bought you coffees, as at least that was something you did accept from us.

The trip to the radio station was just to go there with you as it was interesting. It was your interview. You invited us. It wasn't planned that the presenter would interview Mandyleigh... that was his decision.

Not part of the reason the sponsors contributed. It was not ever mentioned by you that this is what the sponsorship money would be spent on, and was not your decision to use any of the sponsorship money in this way.

7. Maaike (her backing vocalist) paid 2 times the train tickets from Enschede to Wierden to rehears and to accompany her in Amsterdam.

Maaike came to Almelo to see you on the one occasion that they rehearsed (after she rehearsed with you on the cover songs). That was the only time they rehearsed together, as Maaike took the cd of Mandyleigh away to rehearse. Mandyleigh respects Maaike as a singer and as a person, and thought it would be great for her (and Caya) to be on stage in Amsterdam. We wanted to pay for any train tickets to Amsterdam, and you accepted. Then you went by car instead, and we offered to pay for the petrol and tram. You refused.

Not part of the reason the sponsors contributed. It was not ever mentioned by you that this is what the sponsorship money would be spent on, and was not your decision to use any of the sponsorship money in this way.

8. Maaike and I paid all the costs in Amsterdam like Tram, parking, nighttaxi to accompany Mandyleigh in Paradiso

Like we said above, we offered to pay for any costs to this event. You refused. You said you had free parking anyway on the outskirts of Amsterdam, which is why you took the tram in. It was alot of exposure for Caya, and alot of pain, headaches and senseless arguments you had with us before you eventually said you would go. Originally, you were going to perform as the guitarist for all three songs. You said yes. Then, you chuck a wobbly (have a tantrum) about that, saying you won't play with them as you would feel stupid being an extra guitarist (you didn't listen, you were going to be the main guitarist). So we had to look stupid to Johan and Annette when we told them you would only be doing Grey, on your own. Then, a couple of days before we were due to leave for Amsterdam, you have another tantrum and say you don't want to go to Paradiso just for one song. I guess you expected Mandyleigh to do what you wanted to do and play all three of the songs you wrote together, acoustically, and when she didn't want to, you got upset and didn't want to play. We weren't sure you would even show up. You complained Mandyleigh was changing things and this upset you, but the only thing Mandyleigh changed was to go and see Mick in London. You were the one changing everything else and getting upset over things that hadn't changed at all. It's shocking how you behaved on those few occasions... at least you apologised once you had talked with Gary.

Not part of the reason the sponsors contributed. It was not ever mentioned by you that this is what the sponsorship money would be spent on, and was not your decision to use any of the sponsorship money in this way.

9. Give her a mobile phone with money on it

We thrust 10 Euro's at you and Sylvia before we left on the train on our final day with you, but you refused to take it. Sylvia bluntly refused to take it.

Not part of the reason the sponsors contributed. It was not ever mentioned by you that this is what the sponsorship money would be spent on, and was not your decision to use any of the sponsorship money in this way.

10. etc .

Not part of the reason the sponsors contributed. It was not ever mentioned by you that this is what the sponsorship money would be spent on, and was not your decision to use any of the sponsorship money in this way.

Small note

Mandyleigh and Gary offered once to pay me for petrol/phone but I refused to take any money from them as promised. However they paid me once 2 beers and 2 coffee and ½ Chinese dinner and paid once for grocery's…amount 35 euros during their whole stay. She brought this forward in her accusing mail so I better mention it.

Well, actually it was 35 Euro's just for the groceries we bought the house at Albert Heijn. 10 Euro's for the Chinese. We spent more on beers and coffees than that, but it is really beside the point again. We spent the money we had transferred from our bank account into yours, on OUR choices, and we liked to buy you drinks to show you our appreciation for what you did do. The issue here (and has always been) that you deceived us by saying that the money was all spent on accomodation and travel, whereas in reality there should have been 220 - 800 Euro's still left for expenses (like buying you drinks).

I also like everybody to know all the extra efforts me and Sylvia (my girlfriend) did without asking anything just to be kind and helpful. Just call it simple Dutch hospitality and friendship. Al the things below we didn't calculate

Which we appreciate and thanked you for countless times. Sylvia especially is an extremely nice person and hostess. The issue is about the money you did not give us, and which you say you spent on things that were not our choice and had nothing to do with us. All of this extra text in this (and the other) emails is just you trying to shift the attention away from this particular issue, which comes down to your honesty on the sponsorship money.

1. Organising their believers sponsorship on SAB

Thank-you for suggesting it, and getting everyone to put their sponshorship money into the AmN foundation bank account. Not part of the reason the sponsors contributed. It was not ever mentioned by you that this is what the sponsorship money would be spent on, and was not your decision to use any of the sponsorship money in this way.

2. Did a whole lot of PR for them as well and wrote press releases (radio/television/papers/ internet/website) Gary also helped with the A.m.N. website.

I did ALOT of work to try and fix up that awful site as best I could (within the constraints of the system). Work that would normally cost thousands, but I never once hinted or asked for any money for it. I was just happy to do it and try to help AmN be as successful as possible. I also designed the schedules to be printed, and spent a few hours on the friday afternoon distributing the Wok Centre and AmN flyers around town. Myself, Lidewy and Martin also helped you with the press releases.

Not part of the reason the sponsors contributed. It was not ever mentioned by you that this is what the sponsorship money would be spent on, and was not your decision to use any of the sponsorship money in this way.

3. I had income losses because of their stay in Holland (didn't work after the A.m.N. festival just to be there for them and I tried to be of any help ore assistance)

Oh please. This is just a super-blatant lie. Sorry, but you still had a fair bit of cleaning up to do after AmN and was working on that, as well as baby-sitting Thom Bresh and Buster B. Jones. We hardly saw you before we left for Amsterdam on the Wednesday. What a crap excuse. The week after, when we were with Lydia, you had organised to rest and relax. We didn't take you away from any work you had done or had to do, at ANY time.

Not part of the reason the sponsors contributed. It was not ever mentioned by you that this is what the sponsorship money would be spent on, and was not your decision to use any of the sponsorship money in this way.

4. Rehearsed her repertoire and some new stuff

Of the many cover songs you asked Mandyleigh to learn while she was in Australia (which she spent weeks away from her family learning every night after I came home from work... so I could look after the girls while she sang), you played exactly.... none, at AmN. What new stuff???

Anyway, this point is still nothing to do with the money you with-held.

5. Finding the right musicians for her future album

How do you know what the right musicians are? How do we know? That is mostly up to the producer, not you, or even Mandyleigh. You suggested some musicians you knew, that Mandyleigh would take into consideration. At this point Mandyleigh was still thinking you would be the guitarist for the album, until she realised that you don't listen to the artists wishes regarding how her own songs sound. You really are grabbing at straws here.

6. Made appointments with producers and studios

You said you would do this and arrange appointments while we were in Australia. You hadn't. You said you would arrange them for the week after Paradiso, and that we would travel from Lydia's on any day necesssary. You didn't. You said you would after Mandyleigh and I spoke to you on the phone... you promised you would, so that there would be producers to meet after we returned from the UK. I (Gary) asked you about this on the day I had to come and get our passports. You hadn't contacted anyone and said you wouldn't until Mandyleigh had come back from the UK and after it was sure she wasn't going to record in the UK. After alot of discussion and practically begging you, so that Mandyleigh had more options, you only relented after I said Johan V would have to organise some producers to meet with then in Holland if you didn't. I only let you still do it because we felt we owed it to you to keep our word, that you could contact the producers to meet. We should really have just not worried about your feelings and asked Johan anyway. You are a very difficult person to deal with sometimes, when nothing had to be difficult.

Not part of the reason the sponsors contributed. It was not ever mentioned by you that this is what the sponsorship money would be spent on, and was not your decision to use any of the sponsorship money in this way.

7. Visiting producers

One producer that we had agreed upon. The other producer you decided would be a good idea to see on the way back to Almelo (as he is in Enschede). We offered you petrol money.

Not part of the reason the sponsors contributed. It was not ever mentioned by you that this is what the sponsorship money would be spent on, and was not your decision to use any of the sponsorship money in this way.

8. Recorded and copied an acoustic CD for her believers

A good idea on your part and one that Mandyleigh totally agreed with. We paid for all the blank cd's though, remember. Not part of the reason the sponsors contributed. It was not ever mentioned by you that this is what the sponsorship money would be spent on, and was not your decision to use any of the sponsorship money in this way.

9. Making special believers badges

REALLY clutching at weak excuses here. Badges were assembled for all the musicians, engineers, VIP's and believers who had access to the after parties. You, Sylvia and Mandyleigh all assembled those badges. You had no costs associated with those badges, as they were printed by an AmN sponsor for free.

Not part of the reason the sponsors contributed. It was not ever mentioned by you that this is what the sponsorship money would be spent on, and was not your decision to use any of the sponsorship money in this way.

10. Paid an welcomes evening out for Gary and Mandy in the Shamrock

Not part of the reason the sponsors contributed. It was not ever mentioned by you that this is what the sponsorship money would be spent on, and was not your decision to use any of the sponsorship money in this way. I (Gary) don't actually remember this very well. I know we went for drinks, which we all bought for each other. You make it sound like you laid on an extravaganza for us, rather than a couple of waters and diet cokes or iced tea's. Just for everyone's information, I (Gary) don't drink (just the occasional girly vodka-lemon thing like a Bacardi Breezer). Mandyleigh hardly drinks either... a Bailey's or wine very rarely.

11. Accompany her in Amsterdam

As mentioned before, this was VERY hard to achieve.

Not part of the reason the sponsors contributed. It was not ever mentioned by you that this is what the sponsorship money would be spent on, and was not your decision to use any of the sponsorship money in this way.

12. Sylvia did the shopping's, making breakfasts and cooking dinners and washing clothes etc.

Which we appreciated. Sylvia is a great person and a great cook. Mandyleigh did also do some of the clothes washing/drying as well btw, after Sylvia had explained how to use that machine and at what times. I even did it myself once.

Not part of the reason the sponsors contributed. It was not ever mentioned by you that this is what the sponsorship money would be spent on, and was not your decision to use any of the sponsorship money in this way.

13. Willing to play guitar on her album for nothing, find good musicians/producers/studio and arrange her accommodations for free during the whole recording process. (not anymore!!!)

The whole reason we were to stay for the month was to pre-produce and rehearse some of the album with you, if you had been the right guitarist (which we thought you would have been). You didn't turn out to be the right person after you didn't listen, tried to control all the musical aspects and were difficult for no reason on some occasions.

How could you know what accommodation would be necessary when a producer hadn't even been chosen? Do you mean your fantastic suggestion to put a lone woman on her own for a month, in a caravan? Very safe and secure.

Not part of the reason the sponsors contributed. It was not ever mentioned by you that this is what the sponsorship money would be spent on, and was not your decision to use any of the sponsorship money in this way.

14. Bought a special webcam and installed Skype so that they could speak with her children in Australia

We offered to pay for that if you remember, on the day you bought it. You said no, as you needed to have one for yourself too (as you already had one which you said didn't work). We did bring over a pair of communication headphones (with mic attached) for you as well, just like we said we would when we were in Australia. If the camera wasn't of any use to you, then yes, this would be something we should and would have paid for, out of the sponsorship money you didn't give us. It's VERY expensive to install Skype (a free program), I know, especially as I (Gary) installed it for you.

Etc etc.

Mandyleigh wrote me that some of you believers had some doubts about the money …I hope I brought some light in the dark.

Actually, we think you are just trying to create more smoke and darken things up so much that people either miss, or forget that in essence, you didn't give us the remainder of the sponsorship money (which you said was all gone when we arrived but now admit it wasn't....). Basically, you have been caught out as a liar, or at the very least, someone who has made a mistake and won't take responsibility for it. We hope you can rectify your mistake and return the missing money.

She also said that they are in money problems because of her visit in Holland. I hope you won't mind my reaction on this.

1. They had 409,- euro pocket money sponsored by de believers and maybe some extra from SAB

We had a very little, as I mentioned before. Does that mean you have the right to with-hold the rest of it from us? SAB gave us no money. In fact, they paid for our plane tickets to London and a night in a hotel there, when really they should have only paid for Mandyleigh, if they really wanted to.

2. They would have, living costs in Australia for food/drinks/grocery's etc. as well. We paid all those costs in Holland

True, which is why we offered you some money, bought groceries, made dinner and wanted to take you out.... even though all of what we did pay or offer was out of our own bank account, not from any of the money you with-held. We were also only with you for about half the time of our stay in Holland (exactly 14 nights).

3. They could have saved train money for example to drive with me and Maaike to Amsterdam Paradiso on Thursday

You have a very short memory Casper. We had to go to Amsterdam on the Wednesday, as per Sellaband's arrangements. Mandyleigh had to get ready the next day for rehearsal (1pm) and sound-check. You got there during sound-check. So if we had left with you Mandyleigh would have missed rerhearsal with the band, AND been very tired, just before performing. Mandyleigh's main reason for coming to Holland was to meet as many believers as possible, and spend quality time with them. Some believers were in Amsterdam on the Wednesday.

4. Their own choice was to visit dearest Lydia and to stay with her for several days. That was an extra night Hotel in Amsterdam.

Yes, it was our choice. Lydia was staying in Amsterdam a day longer than we thought. So, we could either have:

5. It was their own choice to go to England for several days

Mandyleigh and I went to meet a producer who she was invited to meet. She also met Adam Sieff. This was wonderful to be able to let her have more choice and options of whom she wanted to work with and where...

SAB (as we said) kindly paid for the one nights accommodation in london, and our flight tickets. It was important for us to see (in particular), one of Mandyleighs family members, her Uncle of 81 years. His wife had passed away and he is still in a bad way.

We were happy with the choice of staying in England to see him, and a very dear friend of Mandyleighs. We willingly paid for this opportunity to see someone Mandyleigh may never have the chance to see again. It has nothing to do with the sponsors money you with-held.

6. It was their own choice to buy all kind of stuff and make extra costs (food/drinks/transport/accommodations/souvenirs etc.)

It certainly was and we wouldn`t have had it any other way. As it is, we hardly spent anything on souvenirs while we were in Holland, as even though we couldn't afford it, we wanted to get some key-rings and fridge magnets for the family in Australia. If we had enough money, we would have bought them some decent presents to let them know how much we appreciated their help and support, and looking after our girls while we were away.

If you are talking about the presents Mandyleigh brought over from Australia for you, Sylvia, and most of the believers/friends she thought she would meet.... then they were bought with OUR money, a month before we came over. Yourself and Sylvia probably got the nicest and most expensive presents of all.

7. Extra 20 kilo luggage send by post to Australia

As it was said by Mandyleigh, it was none of your business, but if you must know the postage was for 16 kilos. :) It cost 54 Euro's (from our bank account, not the sponsors money you still have).

When they are any money troubles at this moment they cannot blame it on me or A.m.N. cause we paid for almost everything .

This isn't about what you, we, or the postman paid for. It's about the money you with-held, and still with-hold. Why are you trying to justify theft?

Accommodations for one month, Food, drinks, phone, transportation etc. etc.

As mentioned before, we also either did pay for food etc, or offered to. We did actually pay you money for the landline phone for the 3c a minute calls to the international phone-card number, 25 blank cd's (which really we shouldn't have as it was also promotion for Caya), and something else we can't remember atm. We gave you nearly 50 Euro's the day we left for Amsterdam.

I also think that Lydia has paid for their stay in her home and for the transport back to Almelo.

Yes, and to be honest it's none of your business what other people decide to do (or not do). We also tried to 'get Lydia back' in our own limited ways (a dinner here, a coffee there), and there will be alot more to come for Lydia when we are able to. Lydia is a geniunely lovely person. We were actually going to take the train back to Almelo but Lydia had a reason to go half-way to Almelo herself, which is again, none of your business.

And maybe Pieps for the meals etc. in the town Groningen. SAB paid the trip to Groningen.

First, Pieps is another genuine person who was looking forward to having us there, and vice-versa. SAB didn't pay for our train ticket to Groningen, it was Johan from Radius. We would never have asked for the train fares to Groningen if we had actually had the money you still held back to us. We told them at Sellabration that we may not be able to go as we couldn't really afford it. As it was, we went (thanks to Johan and his excellent band Radius... who are very nice people... believe!), and really enjoyed the night.

Another believer brought them to Arnhem the same night.

We didn't know about that until we were told. We think Pieps organised it. That believer kindly took us back to his house in Arnhem, as the final train we were due to catch the next morning (just after 9am) was from Arnhem to Frankfurt. It had been planned for us to be taken to Deventer train station and catch the train from there to Arnhem, change for Frankfurt. What has all this to do with the money you took?

So how its possible that they are in dept???? Everything was totally free… during the time their were guests in our house in Holland. Its their own fault and not mine ore A.m.N

We would have had to transfer money over anyway, but it would have been alot less if you had told the truth and given the rest of the sponsorship money over, instead of keeping it to pay YOUR bills. You 've already admitted to misleading us or at least making a mistake. So fix it. Refund the remaining money to the believers. We are not accusing you of doing anything else. Any other issues we may have with you are not important. The missing money is important.

Sorry… but I and Sylvia and some other disappointed people really start to believe that they are trying to find some 'extra money' from us believers for feeling "pity" for them. They accuse me of their money problems and I will not play along in this game.

Where is the missing money Casper? Refund it to the believers. Not to us.

I'm finished with this Mandyleigh chapter. I'm angry at myself for investing so much time and money in her.

Most of what you did, we think was for your own promotion. For you and AmN. What you need to do now is to try and fix what you have admitted to doing.... there are at least 220 Euro's that you need to distribute amongst the sponsors.

I will not react anymore on their other stupid accusations because I totally disagree. I've left them totally free in every decision ore whatever considering choices/studios/producers/trips/musicians. I just tried to give some advise when they asked me for it.

You were very controlling when it came to the music, Casper. When Mandyleigh didn't agree with you, you would just ignore her and do it your own way, or get upset and not want to do anything. It was hard to talk to you because you wouldn't listen. Or you would listen but you wouldn't 'hear'. You just did what you wanted to do.

And yeah we had one small disagreement about her repertoire and me playing only one song in Amsterdam Paradiso. Me and my girlfriend have sometimes a discussion too. That's normal I think. I just didn't like the idea to go to Amsterdam Paradiso just to play 1 old song while there was a whole band to accompany her. I just made the suggestion that it would be wise to do some new stuff as well.

There were three main disputes.

Whatever her future choices may be …I will not be part of it.

Interesting that you send this email after Mandyleigh announces she will be recording in the UK. Anyway, as you know, Mandyleigh feels you are very difficult to work with, as you try to control all the music.

You had better be honest with the cd-single ("I'm Not Crying") that Bo is going to release (with Mandyleigh's lyrics). We will be asking Johan and Sellaband to keep an eye on this for us.

We kept al our promises to you believers and the Storms.

Why do you keep repeating yourself Casper? Does any of the above (whatever you believe) explain the fact that you told us all the sponsorship money was gone, when it wasn't? Your maths do not add up, and now you are trying to divert attention from that.

Give the remainder of the sponsorship money back to the sponsors. Now.

********************************************************************