On August 31st Alec Holowka died. It is believed this vulnerable and mentally ill man took his own life after allegations of abuse were made about him on Twitter and Instagram by ‘game’ ‘developer’ Zoe Quinn, causing him to be dismissed from his job and targeted by a mob of Twitter vigilantes. The unproven accusations against him have been given enough oxygen – this article is the first in a series forensically analysing Quinn’s allegations, her unintentional and damning admissions and the wrongdoing of those reporters who irresponsibly reported on the matter. I begin with Engadget / Verizon’s Jess Conditt and her editor Dana Wollman. Credit is also due to Verizon Media CEO Guru Gowrappan and his boss Verizon Inc CEO Hans Vestberg. In my view Jess Conditt and Dana Wollman, whilst legally innocent of murder, are morally guilty of his death. They are abusers who contributed to the vigilante mob that drove him to his death, whilst Vestberg and Gowrappan have yet to take action to condemn them.

I am a UK law blogger who has passed the solicitor’s (attorney’s) exams called the LL.M LPC. I have not sought to practice as a lawyer, my day job being Director of an IT company, but I have nearly 10 years experience helping people in court, only ever pro-bono as a McKenzie Friend. In the reported case Re TL EWCOP 1 [2017] I was praised by Mr Justice Baker for my work in a case in which a man known as PL had been exonerated of abuse, a restraining order lifted and had contact reinstated with his disabled daughter. Recently I helped former MP John Hemming win two libel cases and in a third he has obtained a substantial costs order against a woman called Esther Baker who wrongly accused him of cult rape. The costs order and resulting bankruptcy petition against Baker are here. I know a lot about challenging false allegations.

It is well known that Zoe Quinn was accused of sexual impropriety by her former boyfriend Eron Gjoni here (archive) and of sexual harassment by Wolf Wozniak (archive). Gjoni accused her of obtaining his consent to unprotected sex by deceitfully claiming she was faithful to him. Wozniak accused her of ‘harassment’ although to be fair his allegations are regrettably unparticularised. One thing I hate more than people who take their accusations to social media and not the authorities is people who make vague allegations without details that can be proven or falsified.

After Holowka’s death Quinn has deleted her allegations against him and deactivated her Twitter account. However, Quinn’s Twitter allegations have been collected in this archive whilst her Instagram allegations have been collected here. A point that leapt out at me from Quinn’s allegations that has not been picked up elsewhere is that if we believe her evidence there are at least two more men, unconnected men, who have made allegations against her of sexual wrongdoing. Four unconnected accusers is a sign there is likely something to these allegations.

In this Instagram image Quinn identified a man with whom she had a sexual encounter. She frames it as assault but admits that he also accused her, contemporaneously not years later on social media, of making false allegations. We will call him QaA (Quinn accuser ‘A’). If we accept her account that he exists, he is the third unconnected male to make allegations of abuse against Quinn.

Quinn goes on to describe a lurid horror movie scenario. Recovering from the alleged sexual assault by her third male accused, she travelled to stay with Alec Holowka at his home in Winnipeg, Canada. She claims he imprisoned her (a crime), assaulted her by penetration (a sex crime) and engaged in controlling or coercive behaviour and emotional abuse, which has recently been made a crime here in the UK (archive). Quinn accused Holowka of inserting his fingers into her (meaning either her vagina, anus or both) and marching her around like a puppet.

These are not minor crimes and at least two of these were serious crimes in Canada at the time. If this was true, he would have been facing years in prison. Zoe however did not go to the police or authorities at the time – just social media nearly 10 years later. However, on her evidence Alec did make contemporary complaints that he was suicidal due to her, ‘being such a bitch’ (emotional abuse) and complain about her to, ‘industry legends’ and ‘important industry events’. Apparently those complaints were upheld and she was ‘blacklisted’. Alec is therefore her fourth unconnected male contemporary accuser.

Of course others, including his employers, claim to have corroboration of Holowka’s behaviour (archive). I found these statements extremely disturbing due to their self-evidently misleading content. Take Scott Benson’s reported remarks that, “enough of the allegations are extremely plausible and just about all of it we’ve corroborated with other sources”. ORLY Scott? Reeeaaallllyy? How can you have corroboration he imprisoned or sexually assaulted Quinn when on her version of events no one else was there? They might have seen him have meltdowns or behave inappropriately to others, but being mentally ill or prone to unreasonable rage due to mental illness is not corroboration of alleged false imprisonment and sexual assault when the victim confirms there were no witnesses.

In the UK there are laws against Disability Discrimination (under the Equality Act 2010). Employers and business partners also usually owe duties in confidence and under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which has been incorporated into UK law and is staying even if we leave the EU. Statements about employees must not be negligent (See the case of McKie v Swindon College [2011] EWHC 469 (QB)). The US has equivalent laws, for example the Americans with Disabilities Act and so does Canada. If he had lived, perhaps Alec could have sued. Who will do business with Benson now after his disturbing and wrongful treatment of this vulnerable co-worker?

In fact assuming guilt of wrongdoing due to unconnected behaviour arising from mental disability is unlawful discrimination.

The same goes for statements by Holowka’s sister, “[…] I will not pretend that he was not also responsible for causing harm […]”. This statement was taken by desperate media as corroboration, but is no such thing. It is neither particularised nor could she be a witness to the alleged sexual assault because the alleged victim confirms no one else was there. It can only refer to his meltdowns and inappropriate behaviour – a world away from horror movie sexual assault.

Finally, we have the timing of Quinn’s allegations which came as she faces scrutiny for a wildly overdue Kickstarter for her game “Kickstarted in the Butt: A Chuck Tingle Adventure” (archive). After Quinn’s life was supposedly ruined by GamerGate (a consumer campaign for better ethics in gaming journalism), favourable coverage from the media helped her obtain over $85,000 in funding for a vastly more ambitious game – basically a choose your own adventure with full motion video of studly men, albeit without any actual explicit pornography. The Kickstarter page promised release in early 2017. It is now 2019, there has been no release and the last update was posted by Zoe on August 30 2018, over a year ago.

Quinn has given no clear account of what happened to the money. Some backers suspect fraud, others mismanagement.

Quinn is best known for Depression Quest, a game fêted by a small number of media outlets. Depression Quest is a very basic and short text adventure following the life of a person suffering from depression. Whilst some reviewers wrote highly of it, others found it condescending and discriminatory. This site, MHN gave it 27% describing it as ‘condescending’ and ‘stereotyping’. No one claimed it was technically anything other than very basic. Her attempt at the more complex game she presented to backers on Kickstarter was at best a very ambitious step up.

As the one year anniversary of the last Kickstarter update approached in August 2019 and Quinn came under more pressure from backers and media, she made her allegations against Holowka. Why then? Cynics suspect it was a distraction intended to elicit further sycophantic media coverage and deflect attention.

At first, it certainly succeeded and this is where we come to the role of Jess Conditt, her editor Dana Wollman and Engadget (a Verizon owned publication). They covered Quinn’s allegations as uncritical cheerleaders (archive) and what Conditt wrote was deeply disturbing. Had Alec lived, he might even have been able to sue for libel.

In both the UK and US, contemporary reporting of public disputes is protected from libel claims provided both sides are covered fairly. In the UK, this is enshrined in law as ‘Responsible Publication in the Public Interest’ under S4 Defamation Act 2013. The law is intended to make UK law a bit more like US libel law under the 1st Amendment. However, to attract the defence the reporting has to be impartial and fair.

Jess Conditt’s piece was about Holowka and other men accused on social media that week. To the extent it touched on Alec Holowka, her piece was mindless cheerleading for Quinn. Absent was comment on Quinn’s financial problems and the allegations about her Kickstarter. Absent was comment about her two previous accusers Gjoni and Wozniak. This was no different from Polygon nor Kotaku. What was different was the total lack of even the pretence of objectivity from Conditt. She wrote,

“[…] people believe these stories. They believe these women, non-binary folks and their allies. This is a fantastic thing […]”

“[…] The video game floodgates have burst. Women and non-binary people are telling their truths. Their stories are being corroborated and disseminated across Games Twitter, and they’re being met with open minds and sympathy […]”

“[…] Now, amid chilling stories of abuse, the people at the heart of this week’s movement are expressing their gratitude, shock and relief on Twitter […]”

“[…] This week’s reckoning doesn’t rid the video game ecosystem of every predatory, power-hungry person, but it’s a start […]”

It reads like a celebration of Holowka’s sacking. The piece was written before Holowka died but by leaving it up now he has taken his own life, it could now be read as a celebration of Holowka’s death, “[…] it’s a start […]”.

In fact, without knowing more, a simple and forensic lawyerly read of Quinn’s allegations and the public comments by his employers reveals that the situation with Quinn and Alec was far from clear, even without the other allegations against her. Despite the arrogant statements by some online that the allegations were proven or corroborated, that cannot be the case. I took the view that had he lived in the UK Alec would have had valid claims to bring lawsuits for –

• defamation
• disability discrimination contrary to the Equality Act 2010 (conflating his alleged guilt of bad behaviour due to mental ill health with guilt of the sexual assault with no witnesses but Quinn)
• breach of confidence
• breach of the General Data Protection regulation

Some of these claims would have been against the employers who fired him, others against Quinn and her journalist buddies. I suspect that US and Canadian law would provide equivalent remedies for several of these. Tragically Alec is dead and cannot exonerate himself, but we can. In doing so we can help prevent another tragedy like this from ever happening again and ensure those responsible are held accountable.

Very few things have ever made me so angry as this case. I would never and will never advocate unlawful activity or vigilante violence, but if I woke up one day to read that someone had taken the law into their own hands and smashed Jess Conditt’s head like an egg, there would be a small part of me that would feel it was justice. If Hans Vestberg or his family came to harm, I would condemn it but part of me would understand. Just to be clear I urge readers not to let their justified rage at Alec’s death make them take the law into their own hands – no sense in more senseless waste of life – but I do understand the urge even if I condemn those who go too far on Twitter and elsewhere.

I singled out Engadget because Jess Conditt, presumably authorised by her editor Dana Wollman, was one of the worst offenders. They talk about, “women and marginalized people” but here they have empowered a vicious mob to go after a man over uncorroborated allegations from a woman facing at least 5 separate allegations of sexual misconduct or dishonesty from unconnected accusers. I cannot imagine the distress Holowka must have felt due to their abuse (and Conditt and Wollman are abusers). Morally, they have his blood on their hands. It does not matter if he ever read their article – for it undoubtedly fuelled the online mob of vilification it is known that he did see. The mob that hounded him to his death.

Engadget however does not exist in isolation. It is owned by Verizon Media, which is in turn owned by Verizon Communications Inc. The companies have shareholders, board members and advertisers. The CEO of Verizon Media is Guru Gowrappen. The CEO of the parent company is Hans Vestberg. They have families, neighbours and social circles and they can be held accountable.

Engadget should ensure that the abusers Jess Conditt and Dana Wollman are fired and blacklisted – after all that is what they did to their victim Alec Holowka. Any potential employer seeking a reference should be told what they have done. Verizon should hang their heads in shame and produce a balance piece about Zoe Quinn’s many male accusers and her Kickstarter, about the missing $85,000. Hans Vestberg and Guru Gowrappan should publicly apologise and set out how they will ensure their companies never repeat the tragedy. They likely had no knowledge of this article until after the death, but now they are under a moral duty to make it right. Until then Holowka’s blood rests on their faces.

What can readers do? Well firstly they can express their disgust and (courteously) demand justice and restitution to @JessConditt, @DanaWollman, @GuruGK and @HansVestberg on Twitter. They can send polite emails to jessconditt@gmail.com, dwollman@gmail.com, gkguru@gmail.com and hans.vestberg@verizon.com. It is important to be polite and do nothing unlawful no matter how robust the criticism that is warranted.

Readers can go to the Engadget website, identify firms which are advertising their and complain to their PR departments and CEOs. They can contact major investment companies with shares in Verizon and write (by email or ideally by post) to board members of the Verizon parent company who are all named and pictured here. The smell of blood is a rapid way indeed to get the attention of company directors.

I strongly believe that Guru Gowrappan and Hans Vestberg can still show leadership. Perhaps they will. If Conditt and Wollman were escorted from the building and Engadget properly scrutinised Quinn I for one would praise Verizon to the high heavens. That will only happen however if readers make their feelings clear. Drop Vestberg and Gowrappan polite emails and let them know how you feel.

A final option is to involve your elected representatives. For example, here in the United Kingdom you can ask your Member of Parliament to put forward a petition. False allegations are in the news at the moment due to the Carl Beech trial (archive). This has led to calls for anonymity for those accused of sex crime until conviction, backed by criminal sanctions. It would be ironic if the vile conduct of Jess Conditt, Dana Wollman and Verizon led to greater rights for those accused of sex crime. It would honour Alec’s memory.

Large companies, their staff and their leadership can be held accountable and together we can find justice for Alec.

A near-final draft of this article was put to Hans Vestberg, Guru Gowrappan, Dana Wollman and Jess Conditt. The emails were read many time. No denials were received and the subjects, including the wealthy CEO of Verizon, did not object to the content nor deny the allegations.