MY $14 MILLION BILL TO CBS NEWS

In my 20 January 2016 letter to CBS News president David Rhodes I asked again CBS News pay me for my final expense reports dated 21 January 1987.  I offered to accept the $14,459.11 CBS News owes me in those reports and would waive any late fees and interest.  CBS replied it would not pay because the expense reports were being submitted some 30 years too late.  That is not true, of course, as the expense reports are dated January 1987 and that is when CBS News got them.

I gave Mr. Rhodes 30 days after receipt of my 20 January 2016 letter to pay.  After CBS declined, claiming the 30-years late submission, I wrote a second demand letter, dated 8 March 2016, pointing out that I could document CBS News received the expense reports nearly three decades ago, and waited.  I warned Mr. Rhodes in both letters CBS News indebtedness to me would substantially increase if I added late fees and interest.

Finally, in a letter and invoice dated 16 May 2016 I billed CBS News for $14,223,331.59, interest at 12% annual billed monthly at 1% plus a 1% monthly late fee.  Interest and late fees charged over 29 years, from 1 May 1987 to 1 May 2016.  I advised Mr. Rhodes the interest and late fees would continue until CBS News fulfilled its financial obligation to me, including all accrued interest and late fees.    #CBSNews

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Background on Steve Patten versus CBS

“Foreign Correspondent” co-author Steve Patten is the editor for Lee & Grant International, a subsidiary of Lee & Grant Company.  The foreign correspondent of this book, he formerly reported for CBS News in wars around the world, in the Far East, the Middle East, and in Central America.  He and his business partner, Pattie Mosure, currently report for Lee & Grant International on the War on Terror.  Pattie and Steve are the co-owners of Lee & Grant.  

He was a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam War and spent years as a CBS News reporter searching for American POWs and MIAs from the war while stationed in Bangkok, Thailand.  Much of “Foreign Correspondent” describes his efforts as well as the efforts of the     U. S. Government and others trying to locate lost Americans from the war.

  

After CBS News selected him to be correspondent in Beirut, Steve was preparing to leave for his new assignment in Lebanon when the CBS News foreign editor told him on the telephone:  “The word on the streets of Beirut is you’re dirty.”  The management of CBS News was accusing him of being an undercover agent for the Central Intelligence Agency!!

 

He vehemently denied the charge and demanded CBS tell him where it got this information, which it refused to do.  CBS News eventually fired Steve after he continued to insist it reveal its secret sources of information, giving him a one-day notice of termination and sent him back from his post in Seoul, South Korea with a one-way ticket to the U.S. and a one-month’s severance.  CBS News delayed for over a year before paying the one-month’s severance and refused to honor his final expense reports as a reporter for CBS.

Steve pursued his demands that CBS reveal its secret sources for its CIA charges against him after his firing and went first to CBS News management and then CBS Inc.  He confronted the president and chief executive officer of CBS and the CBS corporate board at corporate shareholder meetings.  He launched a letter campaign addressed to CBS officials and passed out leaflets in front of the CBS News building and at the CBS corporate headquarters. 

CBS never revealed its secret sources.

Recently, Steve sent a written demand to the president of CBS News that CBS pay him for the final expense reports that were dated 21 January 1987 and amounting to $14,459.11.  He offered to accept this amount, without any late fees or interest, if CBS paid within 30 days.  CBS replied it would not pay.

Steve sent CBS News a bill May 16^th, 2016 including the original expense report monies due plus late fees and interest for 29 years, for $14,223,331.59.

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