Acclaimed fantasy author Peter S. Beagle has filed a lawsuit against his former business manager Connor Cochran and Mr. Cochran’s associated businesses for fraud, defamation, elder abuse, and breach of contract, among other charges. Peter trusted Mr. Cochran – who systematically used that trust to appropriate Peter’s life’s work for himself and destroy Peter’s reputation for his own personal gain.
Peter recently had a complete neuropsychological evaluation done at Mr. Cochran’s insistence, which included more than a dozen tests of memory and cognitive function in addition to a clinical interview. The licensed clinical psychologist concluded that Peter’s verbal memory scores were excellent and that his IQ score was in the 91st percentile for his age group. Peter received a second opinion from another licensed doctor, this one a neurologist, who reached the same conclusion: Peter is fully competent. This information is available to the public, including a copy of the neurologist’s statement, through the complaint.
Meanwhile, Peter continues to write daily. Stories, novellas, and other works are on the way, and his recent obituary of Christopher Lee, which is replete with his personal memories and anecdotes over the past thirty years, was published in Vanity Fair in June.
Peter does not control his social media. Conversely, Mr. Cochran has an active voice online, which puts Peter at a bit of a disadvantage in the social media environment. Moving forward, Peter requests that The Last Unicorn Facebook fan page be used solely for appreciation of the book and movie and a place for all lovers of fantasy to connect, interact, and dream. The lawsuit need not be a concern of the fans, so we are asking for it to please be taken off the page.
Peter greatly appreciates the outpouring of love and support from his friends and fans worldwide.
The journey continues…
You can read Peter’s entire Complaint here.
Peter Beagle on this site
To all the kind people who have responded to the Support Peter Beagle website. This is definitely me, and no avatar of Connor Cochran. I fully understand your anxiety – heaven knows, at this point I share it myself, on a never-ending and exhausting basis – but I can assure you in grateful honesty that your donations are going only toward legal costs (not fees), which mount up by the moment. Please accept my thanks, and feel free to contact me if you’re in any further doubt concerning the genuineness of this website. We’ll yet get through this mess together.