Rick Olney is a comics producer, comics convention organizer, and comics con-artist. I haven’t heard of this guy until today, but he’s been up to no good since the mid-2000s by not paying artists for their work or for making appearances, including big names as the dearly departed [I don't know why I thought that] Chuck Dixon and Gail Simone, and then threatens anyone who DARE speak out for what he did to them! You can read more about him here (2009) and here (2006) and witness his assholery in the comments on both links (he’s “orcafresh” in the Gail Simone Forum thread on CBR)! Oh and Sep pointed out to me that he was featured here in 2007! i.e. He implied that “Gail Simone” (quotation marks Olney’s, not mine) slept her way into the industry. Seriously.

( Some people like to dig their own grave. A few will not stop until they reach China. )
( ETA 1, 2, and 3 )
ETA5: wankismyfandom has pointed out that we've been spotted. Let's give him a round of unenthusiastic golf claps!

I have three close friends inside this hobby and business of comics, as well as outside the realm of imagination mediums for each other of them!

HE HAS THREE FRIENDS. THREE. THAT'S MORE THAN ONE AND TWO. IT IS ONE PLUS TWO!

(And WHY HELLO THAR, GAIL SIMONE FORUM! :D)

ETA5: It's official. Lucasfilm is sending Rick Olney a Cease and Desist. He is to return both the remaining maps and any monies (haha- Rick's fave word) that he collected back to me. Shazam. All the maps must be accounted for and any missing from the number I sent shall be paid for. - Matt Busch

There is no way I can possibly do justice to this one in a single post. But it's a start.

There's a guy called Ric(k)(?) Olney. He runs conventions and owns something called Tightlip Entertainment, a comic book company. He has a bad habit of not paying people. Ever. People in the comics industry have been comparing notes and as best as anyone can tell, nobody who did any work for him has ever received what they were owed.

So Gail Simone, who went to one of his conventions and was never fully reimbursed, starts a thread on her message board on Comic Book Resources about Olney's various deceptions, and people who have been cheated or encountered the Rickster share their experiences. He's apparently a serial liar and prone to flameouts on message boards and in public. And Gail's thread proves no exception, as "orcafresh" shows up and proceeds to threaten talent for breaking imaginary NDAs, spew insults and vitriol and get dogpiled by an all-star cast of comic book professionals. Eventually Gail has to ban him- the first time she's banned anyone from her board EVER- just to keep him from going back and deleting all his posts.

Highlights include implying Gail slept her way into the industry, belittling the people who work in the industry he claims to work in, mocking people for their weight when he himself has been kindly described as "portly" (note also the homophobia), making obtuse threats, mangling pop culture references, and slowly degenerating into image posts and word salad.

On the bright side, you have pros like Mark Waid, Kurt Busiek, Scott Shaw!, Gail Simone herself and others stepping up to make the case against Olney, and to try and find ways to compensate the people who are still owed money by him.

Other places are reporting on this as well, and the increasingly awesome Mr. Waid has encouraged folks to get the word out.

Oh, and the reason he keeps putting Gail Simone's name in quotes is because it's a pen name. That's apparently somehow egregious.

(I posted on the original thread but won't anymore.)

ETA: To clarify, Simone hasn't really banned Olney, only "Orcafresh". He's free to come back with whatever alias he chooses, but he can't log on under his old SN because then he'd be able to delete his old posts. So she's still technically "banless".

ETA 2: "TLE is no longer in business. As of 1/11/07."