@Yebo Patreon opened around 9th Feb 2020 - so any funds there are not in the Association until 26th January 2021
Sorry I cannot make sense of what this says.
If you became a patron before the Association was formed on 26th Jan 2021 then those funds went directly to SJ to put towards the renovation.
For some reason (tax?) she decided to form the Association. There after all patrons became members of the Association. Let's be precise. The exact wording is:
'Membership of the nonprofit Château de Lalande Association, dedicated to renovating the Château. You'll be helping to restore a beautiful 16th century French Château.'
The patron's legal status changed. As members of the Association, there are legal safeguards.
A) Funds would have to be utilised solely for the purpose of renovating and restoring the Château.
B) Members have powers to elect the officers of the Association.
C) Members have a direct say, through the AGM, on the budget ie how the money is spent. In this case it would be the power to say no English garden until the heating is done etc.
The Association is obligated by law to hold an AGM at which ALL members must be invited to attend.
It is at the AGM that the officers of the Association must present the accounts and the next year's budget to be approved by the members.
This has not happened apparently. Instead, without discussing it with the Members, the existing officers under the leadership of IJ as the Principle Officer, have done away with the patreon members and downgraded them from members to benefactors and sponsors thereby removing their rights.
Ideally, as this is occurring under French laws, it would be more convenient and cheaper to have this looked at by a French lawyer rather than me having mine, in the City of London, consulting their French Office at my expense.
It appears that the downgrade was made after the period in which the official AGM should have been held. In which case, I think, that an argument may be made that the Association has contravened French law.
I suspect that I joined after the change was made. However if the intention is to stop the grifting I believe there may be enough information here to do that.
I'm curious, I know all Tattlers would like to see SJ's monetary activities looked into but can I ask why you have such a personal interest with a legal team already invested into investigations?
Sure, I sued someone in a massive multi jurisdictional case that spanned two continents and three countries. We settled out of court and the lawyers made a ton of money out of it. I naturally had to work very closely with the legal team. So I have some experience. Other than that I'd rather not say.