Open letter to Patrick Franssen, founder and (illegal) CEO of The Green Lion.
Dear Patrick,
Once you mentioned that in your life you never had had and never had needed a lawyer. That leaves me with two options: Either you were lying (as usual), or so far nobody has dared to stand up against you. And with all the shouting, threats, intimidation and power gestures I had to go through, I would understand why.
But people would have had reason enough to stand up against you. Given what you have done to them and their lives.
First thing that comes to my mind is all the shouting. How often have I seen colleagues come back in tears after meetings with you, often unable to work for hours. How much have we all feared your presence. Seeing your car in the driveway was enough to get our heartbeat up in fear and in the moments when your yells flooded the compound, we all remembered why.
Or the hundreds of thousands of Euros in taxes you managed to evade (illegally). Think of how many schools that could have helped to fund. The roads it could have helped to pave. As the founder of a “social” company you do see that, right?
Or the times when you have actively helped in covering up sexual harassment conducted on young customers by your staff.
Or the young girl you attempted to fornicate with – 40 years younger than you and younger than your children – while your wife was out for the night and your mistress pretended to her peers to be married to you so society wouldn’t condemn your illegitimate son. You know this girl had fatherly feelings for you and trusted you. But you promised her money, gave her alcohol and kissed and grabbed her. And instead of showing any signs of remorse, all you said when I confronted you was “I was fond of her”.
Are you aware of the psychological damage you caused by breaking her trust? Is shouting and fornicating with children really the legacy you want to leave behind? The one thing that you want the world to remember you for? The thing you want people to think of first when the hear “The Green Lion”?
As you well know, after 2 years and 4 months in court and another 2 months during which you considered appealing the decision I won a landmark lawsuit against you. After receiving plenty of legal, financial and personal threats, attempting to stop me from going through. And you know what I enjoy most about it? Its not the money I won, even though it was a lot.
Throughout the years, you have learned that you can treat people whatever way you like. Bend the law as you see fit, take (or grab) what/whom you want. Treat staff like they are your property. You learned that you can get away with it. And you have built up a world view where all of this is right, and instead you are the victim if somebody disagrees with your ways. This ends today. Because what I enjoy most about my victory in court is that I was able to be part of a teachable moment. That I was able to be the one person that you could not get past. The one person who ever managed to show you your limits. This is a great honour for me.
Lastly, I need to thank you. Lying to me, your staff, your business partners, your wife, your mistress or your kids is easy. But lying to the labour department, to the police and to court takes guts – and constitutes a criminal action. Seeing that pretty much your entire defense in court was based on lies was amazing. And as all court documents are now becoming public record, these lies are publicly visible forever. And I can debunk them one by one. You could have done me and the world no greater favor.
You know what will also go on public record? My bank statements of the 5 years I worked with you. I had to hand them in as proof I worked with you all these years as you refused to sign any kind of document stating the same. And these statements will make it publicly visible how you paid me below the legal minimum wage for the first years in a time when you kept me engaged by making big promises. And they show how later on you paid me from a variety of different personal accounts through which you funneled your laundered money. All of this will be on record for authorities to follow up on.
Speaking of consequences, it’s been 2 months since the court decision. The deadline for filing an appeal has passed, which I interpret as you accepting that you were wrong and got caught. Yet I have not received the money you owe me, as decided by the court. It’s not like I’m surprised. You have made sufficiently clear that following the law or public authorities is not quite your thing. Just be aware that your actions (or lack thereof) leave me no other choice than to reposess your land. My lawyers are right now taking the necessary steps to seize it. Please inform your partners and participants that the travel season is over and Thailand programs are closing.
But maybe it’s not as bad. Let’s say – hypothetically – you bought the land in Hua Hin from laundered money. In that case it would be owned by you personally, not by the company. I could therefore not seize it. And you could confirm to your partner travel agencies that Thailand programs are unaffected by my lawsuit and keep running without interruption.
Looking forward I don’t think The Green Lion can have a future with you being the main decision maker, even living on company grounds. Accommodating thousands of young girls every year in your target age range just meters from you, literally door to door. Where you can see them sunbathing or swimming in the pool from your very living room. To limit the damage you have done to The Green Lion, I propose:
- You immediately leave management of The Green Lion. (Aren’t you working there illegally anyway? Oh right, you are.)
- You communicate to all travel agent partners of The Green Lion that you will no longer be part of The Green Lion, effective immediately
- You sign a legally binding document that you will get no closer than 500 meters to The Green Lion’s property and participant accommodation in Hua Hin.
- You apologize to your victims
- You refund me for all the expenses I had in the course of sueing you. See it as a chance to make up for the psychological pressure you put me under and the impact it had on my wellbeing
Remember how you used to tell me “Do good and good will happen”? I followed your advice. Guess it worked.
Wishing you a good day
The Green Lion Diaries 