“Lucky 13”
April 4, 2020
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In many cultures, the number 13 is known for bringing bad luck. As a way to combat that negative association, if assigned the number 13 in a race, many cyclists will pin the number upside down on their jersey. Through this simple tradition of turning the number upside down, cyclists have transformed what most view as a sign of bad luck into the opposite, and that is how the number 13 in cycling has become known as "Lucky 13."
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​As a tribute to the cycling community Sam loves so much, and in the spirit of hopefully turning a lot of bad luck upside down, we've named this thirteenth chapter "Lucky 13."
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Since publishing the last chapter, Sam has been fighting the legal battle of his life to try and bring his son Brady back home. Though we cannot go into detail right now about all that has occurred over the course of the past year, suffice it to say we are still waiting for our day in court. In some ways many things have happened, but in the most important of ways, nearly nothing has happened as we still have not had a substantive hearing, which means we still have not had our day in court. And now, with the outbreak of COVID-19 and the world being on virtual lockdown, we do not know when we will have that day in court. Meanwhile, Brady is in the home of none other than the chief alienator, the old man.
When we published the last chapter, more than a year ago, we had already lost more than 2 years with Brady because of the old man and his lies. We were looking at trying to bring Brady home for what would be the last two years he would have at home with us before turning 18. We have now lost 1 of those 2 years, during which we’ve seen Brady in less than a handful of times and never for more than a couple of hours, and we still do not have a date for the hearing that would give us the chance to bring him home.
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As we wait a little less than patiently to find out when we will finally have our hearing (it was most recently reset to March 23, 2020, but then cancelled at the last minute due to COVID-19 concerns), we have tried to find ways to hold on to some semblance of hope. One significant way Sam finds hope is by connecting with people all over the world who have in some way related to our story through our Facebook cause page. (Thankfully we have that channel of communication still available to us, given that at one point the old man tried to take that away from us also—see Chapter 11.)
There is still a part of the story we can tell in more detail, however. And it relates to a question we have heard way too many times, asked in a variety of ways. That question is why does the old man hate Sam so much? Put another way, why would a man’s own father go to such lengths to destroy him by taking his only son away from him and never speaking to him again? In previous chapters we explored some of the background of the relationship between Sam and the old man to help give context and answers to these questions. We even shared that Sam filed a complaint with the United States Security and Exchange Commission against the old man, reporting him for illegal pump and dump schemes the old man orchestrated beginning in at least as early as 2007.
What we have not yet shared, however, is the actual report. To protect the innocent (ourselves) we have redacted names, addresses, and other identifying information where appropriate and replaced real names with fictional names, just as we’ve done throughout the chapters of our otherwise true story. We also do not include the 60 exhibits that accompanied the report submitted to the SEC as they are too voluminous and we do not have the resources to redact all of that evidence sufficiently to adequately protect ourselves. Other than those changes, this is the actual complaint Sam submitted to the SEC. The report not only describes in great detail a variety of illegal activities the old man was engaged in and the nefarious characters he associated with, but also helps show just how much the old man’s favorite son, “Randy,” is following in the old man’s footsteps.
Most importantly, the report gives life to some of the old man’s most heavily guarded secrets. And these secrets are part of what have fueled the old man to go to the lengths he has gone to silence his own son, Sam.
We’ve seen the look on people’s faces when we try to explain in a matter of a few seconds why the old man is as hateful as he is towards Sam, and we know how difficult it is to believe that a parent can be so cruel to his own child. Knowing more about exactly what the old man has been guarding helps one understand what has been driving this particular narcissist. We are not saying that such understanding justifies his behavior or makes it in any way relatable to a normal healthy person—it just provides more of the picture of what has really been going on here.
And, because it is impossible to fully explain this part of the story within a matter of a few minutes, we thought it best to let readers take the time to read for themselves some of these secrets in detail.
Click here for the redacted version of the report:
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