The Puppeteer

ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS PAY WHAT YOU OWE!!!

2009-11-06T18:00:00.002-07:00

Nicholas Zaldastani, you caused serious problems for a couple of employees that had some very serious illnesses because you stopped paying the insurance premiums and never told anyone. They kept going to the doctor because it could have been life threatening if they didn't get the treatment they needed. Now because of your actions they are so far under that they could be used as poster children for President Obama's insurance changes. Nicholas Zaldastani, for nearly a year you have been ignoring the employees you had at FatCat Animation. The ones you told to keep the faith, keep working for you because investors don't lend money if a studio is empty and they can't see any progress in the product they invested in. What happened to the integrity that you preached about, the loyalty you asked for and received, despite the many paydays without checks or more the norm of decreased wages. You asked us for that and in return you would get the money owed to us. You owned FatCat Animation, Crocpond and CNW Entertainment. But for some reason you threw the employees of FatCat Animation under the bus, then had more buses run over them. Haven't you figured out that all you need to do is pay the employees the money you owe them and that will settle things? Or are you more interested in just turning your back and keeping whatever money you got during that time for yourself? All you need to do is pay what you owe in back wages to the employees. This won't go away Nicholas Zaldastani if you are intent on screwing your employees, for the word will get out about you and how you do things. All you need to do is pay what you owe in back wages to the employees. Simple isn't it? But I guess you don't like simplicity. All you need to do is pay what you owe in back wages to your employees.

Nicholas Zaldastani-the I.R.S.-Crocpond/CNW Entertainment (click on Putteteer at top)

2009-10-23T07:37:00.009-07:00

Ever since 2006 when FatCat Animation began to have payroll problems and Nicholas's employees where not paid for many paydays, Nicholas told his employees in meetings face to face that all monies owed to them were on the books and the IRS could see what what owed to each employee. Any investor current and future that looked at the books were also able to see the debt. Nicholas, the CEO of FatCat Animation, LLC and of Crocpond and CNW Entertainment was in control of all monies for all Companies. Nicholas was asked by the employees in meetings with him what what was happening to the amount that kept being added when he missed a payday, was given only half pay or a decreased of pay. Nicholas Zaldastani told the employees, again face to face, that all that was owed was being kept and every investor, both new and current, as well as the IRS could see what was owed to each employee of FatCat Animation. That is why he was trying so hard to get money to repay the employees so that he could get that debt off the books. Even when the IRS did come to the FatCat Studio to talk with Nicholas we were informed that the IRS was able to see what was owed and that when we were paid the back pay the taxes for that amount would be deducted. For 2 years this information about amounts owed and the IRS's ability to see those amounts was repeated over and over. A new controller was hired in the San Francisco office she was asked about the amounts that were owed to all employees and she stated that no such information was on the books of FatCat, Crocpond or CNW Entertainment. Yet all this time investors have been handing over monies to Nicholas but from his hands little to no money was given to the employees at FatCat. When Nicholas Zaldastani did manage to get the occasional payroll he would tell us that he managed to "... get a quick loan with high interest and the next amount that came in from investors would have to go to pay that very short term loan." Yet he was able to put more than $70,000.00 into a sponsorship for Kristi Yamaguchi to advertise Crocpond. Well in retrospect from that day in November 2008 that the FatCat Studio doors had to close because of non-payment of rent (oh shades of ASML) the employees learned the hard way that Nicholas was not forthcoming in his statements about monies owed and the IRS having the ability to see what is owed. And for that matter neither were the investors able to see that amount. And your promise to pay back all the money owed????? You have never contacted any employee, and since the studio closed, no product is being produced and you ARE STILL GETTING INVESTORS TO HAND OVER MONEY TO YOU???? Shades of Bernie Madoff, and more power to you having the ability to keep the money flowing for you, though not for others. But rest-a-sured, as the sun comes up this will eventually come back to you and like Bernie you will be well know in your peer and investor groups. What goes around comes around. SO INVESTORS BE WISE AND ASK TO SEE ALL BOOKS AND PAPERS OF FATCAT ANIMATION, CROCPOND AND CNW ENTERTAINMENT AND CHECK THE IRS AND ARIZONA TAXE SITES. ALSO CHECK FOR LEANS ON FATCAT ANIMATION, AGAIN YOU WILL FIND THOSE AS WELL. (information on where to find the leans in an earlier post) Integrity???????? Talks the talk.......but the walk.....???

Nicholas, are you trying to ignore your employees??? (click on puppeteer at top)

2009-09-07T13:30:00.004-07:00

Nicholas Zaldastani, CEO of FatCat Animation, LLC with employees of about 41, it has been a long time since we have heard anything from you. Almost a year and no contact from you dispite your promise to keep in contact and keep us informed of how you are doing to get the investors and pay us what you owe. Where is your integrity regarding all those employees? Remember the ones you kept telling that you are working hard to get money to pay all those back wages!!! You gave us your promise. Then you spent over $70 thousand to sponsor a major event in Phoenix but not pay your employees. Are you still trying as hard as you did when we were all employed by your company, but even that is doubtful you were trying ? Whom have you been in contact with? Remember you words to your employees that all they had to do was call or email and you would answer and give them updates and answers. Well I guess your selective amnesia has blocked those promises. People have lost their houses, income, been put into extreme hardships because they listened to you and gave you the benefit of the doubt. And there was tremendous doubt. You even made it hard for some to get unemployment because you didn't pay the State of Arizona the taxes FatCat Animation owed. Now do understand, you are the CEO of FatCat Animation, LLC. YOU are, well were, the one that all employee pay, bill payments and supplies was released through. YOU gave the money to FatCat to pay your employees and YOU made payments directly to the State of Arizona and the Landlords through YOUR controller (not located in the FatCat Studio) so you are defiantly where the buck stops. Nicholas Zaldastani and integrity are not by any stretch of the imagination synonyms. In fact the are complete opposites. Are you hoping that the employees will forget about the tens of thousands that YOU owe them?? How did the word integrity and your name get stuck together? Do inquiring minds REALLY want to know and do they CARE??? It appears that you DO NOT CARE AT ALL!!!

Why doesn't Crocpond/CNW Entertainment mention FatCat Animation, LLC

2009-08-11T21:28:00.009-07:00

Have you noticed that whenever Nicholas Zaldastani talks about his company and makes a statement to any news media that listens to him and quotes him (see article from Reuters further on in this post), he never includes one of his companies FatCat Animation, LLC. Yet it was FatCat Animation and all the employees that illustrated and produced Rindin the Puffer and Dex's Gym. It was FatCat Animation that won awards at many animation festivals for 2D animation under the leadership of Len Simon Directing Animator and James Stoyanof the GM of FatCat Animation. It was FatCat Animation that was known and talked about in the industry for the quality of work and bringing to life the Ideals that Roger Anthony's characters espoused. It was the people at FatCat Animation that showed integrity and loyalty and a belief in what they were doing that made Integrity a part of the FatCat model. Not when Nicholas Zaldastani so easily regurgitated the words "integrity and loyalty" to the employees of FatCat Animation. And he would mouth those words to the media and others, which included some of the businesses that Crocpond and CNW Enterprises would sponsor. Why was it more important to sponsor others than to pay your employees and pay for their Medical Insurance? Here is a great example of what Nicholas would say, but not practice. This is a part of the Reuters article for the Kristi Yamaguchi Friends and Family Ice Show held in Phoenix, Arizona. Notice that FatCat Animation is not mentioned till the last paragraph and then it is not even mentioned that the film was produced there and the tour that Kristi Yamaguchi and her family took was at the FatCat studio. The money for the sponsorship, more than 70K, was given even though the FatCat crew had not been paid for weeks before or after the event, but each employee was given $100 that weekend when Nicholas came to promote "CrocPond" but did not mention FatCat Animation at all. And there were other pay periods missed even before the July 24th date of the Reuter's article. Some of the crew of FatCat Animation were expected to man the CrocPond sponsorship table at the event, of course with no pay and Nicholas couldn't understand why his employees at FatCat Animation were not excited to help. Gee Nicholas, after all you did give them $100 and that should have made them see that you oozed "Integrity and concern for others." (See a prior post about this) So here is part of the Reuter's article, you can read the whole article just by googling Nicholas Zaldastani. "Crocodiles not Waterlilies Entertainment's CrocPond Transmedia Brand Joins Kristi Yamaguchi's Annual Friends and Family Ice Show SAN FRANCISCO, July 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Crocodiles not Waterlilies Entertainment, LLC, a San Francisco based entertainment company with meaningful content, announced that its CrocPond (TM) brand is locally supporting the Kristi Yamaguchi's Friends and Family ice show slated for October 12 in Phoenix, AZ at the US Airways Center. The show will include very special guest performances by The Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato, and Jordan Pruitt and will be nationally televised on NBC-TV at a date to be announced. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080724/AQTH057LOGO-a) (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080724/AQTH057LOGO-b) "When great family brands come together that are 10 out of 10 in our book, it is amazing the cumulative and exponential power they can all bring to a special event like this one," said Nicholas Zaldastani, CEO of CNW Entertainment, which includes CrocPond. "It will be great for everybody to see. How often do you see brands with integrity, concern for other people, and wholesome family entertainment come together for an event like this?" Crocodiles not Waterlilies Entertainment is building CrocPond into one of the world's most trusted family brands and communities. The Company's mission is to engage families by providing a unique suite of transmedia products that embody Entertainment, Inspiration, and Social Interaction so that children and families can live with more courage, confidence, and hope to fulfill their personal potentials..." Nicholas, intergity and concern for others??? Obviously not for your employees at FatCat Animation, so whom where those qualities geared towards? CrocPond and CNW Entertainment personnel? And how many of them are left that follow you now?

CNW Entertainment-where is you team going???

2009-07-22T08:12:00.003-07:00

CNW Entertainment has made another big change to their website and the "Team" as of the week of July 13, 2009. The team is no longer displayed. Does that mean that others left you? What about Roger Anthony? He is the one that came up with all the Intellectual Property over the past many years regarding the characters of Crocpond. And Randy and Susan, are they still there? CNW is the sponsor of a number of entities so does that mean you are donating money to them instead of to employees of FatCat Animation (no longer in existence) who helped to get you the name recognition? You are a sponsor of "The Human Society of the United States" so that usually means donating money. So it is more important to you to give money to others but not to help your employees survive. On the CNW site it talks about the characters and the meaning of each one that is suppose to teach young ones great traits. Rompa is the "Brand Charater" and is "...suppose to inspire courage, confidence and hope as a teenager." He is "...humble, optimistic by nature and always concerned about the well being of others. His choices are based on what is best for the whole rather than on selfish motives." Well Nicholas Zaldastani, since you are the head of CNW Entertainment and the now defunct FatCat Animation you seemed to be displaying these traits to the outside world and therefor would be the Rompa of the group. But instead it seems that you had reverted to the true nature of the Croc....stealthy, cunning, do what is needed to survive and devourer what you need to keep existing, not for the betterment of the group (FatCat Animation employees in this case) but for Nicholas. Did you use the stealth method to your advantage by being the one in control of all monies for both companies and releasing only what you want others to see? Do you do the same things with your investors? Do you show them the books for both companies of FatCat Animation and CNW? Is the amount that is owed to each employee that had not been paid to them since the summer of 2007 on the books? Is the lien from the State of Arizona showing non payment of unemployment listed? Is the non payment to the Health Insurance company of Smith Administrators for the employees that was not paid showing AND is the amount owed to both of the previous studio sites that you didn't pay showing? WERE YOU DISPLAYING THE STATED CHARACTERISTICS OF ROMPA OF MAKING CHOICES ON WHAT IS BEST FOR THE GROUP NOT THE INDIVIDUAL???? Or is it more of the old adage that you follow: DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO!!!! Do inquiring minds really want to know?

CNW Entertainment finally gets their advertising right!!!

2009-07-01T18:47:00.007-07:00

CNW Entertainment is now correctly showing their "TEAM" of supporting personnel. It only took nearly a year to get it right. As of July 1, 2009, they are now correct. They have been falsely telling the world that the Directing Animator of FatCat Animation was part of it's team. Len Simon had left CNW Entertainment almost a year ago in August of 2008. The General Manager, James Stoyanof, was no longer a part of CNW Entertainment after he and the employees were kicked out of the studio for non-payment of rent just before Thanksgiving in November 2008. Remember that all employee pay, bills that included rent, supplies and insurance premiums was authorized and paid by Nicholas Zaldastani. It took almost one year to get it right for Len Simon and 7 months for James Stoyanof. .......So since you no longer have a team to do your animation and all the art work is still in the studio and you can't get to all that work for Dex and Baby Sitting Bulper unless you pay all back rent, what are you selling???????? INTEGRITY, there is that word again, but it seems so misplaced!!

Nicholas Zaldastani - teaching children integrity? (click on puppeteer at top)

2009-06-25T19:56:00.005-07:00

Nicholas Zaldastani, CEO of CNW Entertainment and Fatcat Animation, LLC was in control of all money for both companies. Nothing was paid out unless it was paid from Nicholas Zaldastani through CNW Entertainment. As mentioned in a prior blog there are some employees of FatCat Animation that are not able to get unemployment compensation. To find out why do the following: go to "www.maricopa.gov", then on the left side of the page click on "recorded docs" then in the business part of the next page type in FatCat Animation. You will notice that you won't even have to finish typing the name, it will show up. There are two entries. One for the State of Arizona Department of Economic Security on a lien filed for non payment of State Taxes and unemployment by FatCat Animation. The lien lists all dates of none payment. The second one is in the old studio that was just up the road from the one that the doors were closed on the employees. This was at the A.S.M.L. business site and is for non payment of rent. It was heard that the management of A.S.M.L. tried to contact Nicholas Zaldastani many times but he did not return their calls. So to surmise, if Nicholas Zaldastani did not return calls to the State of Arizona and pay business taxes, nor call the landlord of the studio at A.S.M.L., then it is no surprise that he would not return any calls and emails to his employees about loss of insurance or wages. So where does the part about "Integrety" come from when you Google and Yahoo his name and read the articles? There seems to be a massive disconnect, or am I missing something?

part3 Nicholas Zaldastani

2009-06-24T17:16:00.009-07:00

Nicholas Zaldastani (click on photo)...where did all that money for the Kristi Yamaguchi sponsorship come from but no payrole for your employees at FatCat Animation or for rent and health care coverage??

part2 Nicholas Zaldastani-sponsor

2009-06-24T17:04:00.008-07:00

On the Friday before the tour, Nicholas Zaldastani gave each employee $100.00, nothing more. Nicholas Zaldastani, however, did spend over $70, 000.00 to be a sponsor for Kristi Yamaguchi. At the end of the tour for Kristi Yamaguchi on Saturday Nicholas Zaldastani brought all employees into the conference room and gave them a pep talk. The gist was that things are looking good and we are getting close to the funding needed. The investors that were there on that Saturday were very excited and serious about funding. No funding for the studio was given as a result of that sponsorship that we knew of. The employees still didn't have health insurance and creditors were contacting them at the studio for payment. Doctors bills were not paid by Smith Administrators because CNW Entertainent did not pay the premiums for the employees. There were many times when the employees spent what little they had of their own money to purchase supplies to keep working. Still Nicholas Zaldastani kept telling the employees to hang on in meeting that he held. In November of 2008 the doors to FatCat Animation had to close because the owners of the building told us that we could no longer work there till past rent was paid up. This information did not come from Nicholas but from the building owners.

part1 The man pulling all the strings

2009-06-24T16:32:00.009-07:00

Nicholas Zaldastani, Head of FatCat Animation and CEO of CNW Entertainment was in complete charge of all monies and finances for FatCat Animation, LLC. All bills, employee wages, supplies, rent, health insurance, etc. had to be approved and paid from his office in San Francisco, Ca. Since about the beginning or 2007 all employees were on a reduced wage. Nicholas Zaldastani promised the employees that all back pay would be repaid when investment money was secured. Nicholas Zaldastani also informed his employees that all back pay was being kept track of and was listed so that any investors and the I.R.S. could see what was owed to the employees. This never happened and the employees and possible investors were never informed. When employees asked for the latest update on what was owed them they were told that information could not be given at that time. For awhile things were continuing to move along, investors were brought in to look at the FatCat Animation Studio and Rindin the Puffer was completed by the employees of FatCat Animation. Rindin also won many awards for the animation and story. Nicholas Zaldastani then started to miss paychecks in August of 2009. At times he would give money for half a paycheck. He asked to change pay periods from weekly to bi-weekly and still continued to miss paying employees. Nicholas Zaldastani began to miss payments for FatCat's employees health insurance but never informed anyone that was occurring. The employees only found out when one went for a doctors appointment and was told that Smith Administrators ( our health insurance carrier) was not covering any visits and to contact Nicholas Zaldastani. Nicholas was contacted by employees he did not return any calls or emails. There were times when Nicholas Zaldastani would fly from San Francisco to Arizona and talk with the employees and promise that things would improve but that the employees needed to keep working so that investors could see there was work being done, not just an empty shell of an office. Then in September of 2009 the employees were informed that they and FatCat Animation, or as it was later discovered, CNW Entertainment was going to sponsor Kristi Yamagushi's yearly ice skating show for families. Despite the fact that Nicholas had not paid the employees for weeks before the event in October of 2009, Nicholas expected the employees to be in the FatCat Animation Studio for the Saturday when Kristi and her family and some possible investors came through. He also expected the employees to man the CNW Entertainment table at the U.S. Airways Arena on Sunday. Since the employees had not been paid for such a long time they were not very enthused about being made to get the sponsors table ready and to be the cheerful face of CNW Entertainment to the public. Nicholas Zaldastani could not understand why they were not willing to help out. Cont.