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GOOGLE DOC WITH PROOF AND DETAILS OF SOLD PRODUCTS / BOUGHT PRODUCTS!

I'm tired of CJ not paying his staff/ex-staff the money they are due. Some of them haven't been paid nearly a month.

This man has made a total profit of $4,918.09 so far from as early as July 17th (based off of his oldest post) till now after selling a total of 96 products (each priced differently). He potentially has made more money because his LSJ Farms account says it sold 125 items.

CJ has spent a total of $8,359.39 on eggs, not just quails, an incubator, and a bird net. This number is based off the feedbacks he left on his purchases so keep in mind this might not even be the total amount of money he has spent.

He also has an Amazon account called LSJ Farm Store. Manufactured by LSJ Exotic Quail Farms.

Though, weirdly has "Santae Entertainment LLC" as the Business Name in Seller's Info. He only has one product he's selling on there.

I guess I shouldn't be too surprised since this is how he decided to label his business.

So... I wonder where the cash shop, kickstarter and the BMaC money went towards...

I'm not able to post doxxing proof at this time, I'm waiting for the person whose information was leaked to send me what they'd like redacted and what they're fine with. If you check the reblogs for the doxxing post, you can see confirmation from santaesecrets that they recieved the same information, and even santaesecretsrevealed, a pro-santae blog, recieved an ask with the information. They posted a screenshot.

The person whose information was leaked was formerly close to CJ, and from what I've gathered, had previously told him their legal name and personal information. CJ is the only person with this information, and the only person with a motive to threaten blackmail.

Myself and another salt blog have received asks containing an ex-staff member's full name, address, court records, phone number, and the name of a family member (along with a potential threat to said family member.) These asks stated, "Your identity will be exposed if this doesn't stop."

This person was formerly close to CJ and Ember and had shared this information with them previously.

CJ/Chaz or Ember are doxxing an unrelated party because they think the person might be behind a salt blog or informing one. Doxxing is a crime in many places.

Cloudmin again! My source is back with part 2 to the previous post. As I said before, I’ve vetted this person and confirmed their identity and connection to Santae. They wrote and formatted this post - I’ve only added the foreword and the images from the links (and a couple Discord screenshots at the end.)

Thank you. 💙

Part 1

Hello, Cloudmin here! The post below was written by somebody who has verified themself to me privately as being a source close to Santae, and has made some shocking claims. They’ve shared lots of information, accompanied with screenshots that I’ve examined closely, concerning CJ, Ember, and other Santae staff.

They have confirmed that CJ and Ken, former owner of defunct petsite Lurapets, are one and the same. Due to privacy and identity concerns I can’t post that particular screenshot, but it seems entirely real. 

This is part 1 of a multi-post series. I look forward to hearing what CJ, or “Ken”, has to say about these claims. Thank you. 💙

———-

Submitted by Anonymous. Full Google Document Link HERE.

The purpose of this post aims to expose the alleged connection between Santae and LuraPets, a defunct petsite with history of mistreating and scamming its artists, through a comprehensive complication of archived images, links, and sources. The claim is based on Santae and LuraPets sharing similarities that include: identical art assets, similar patterns of staff mistreatment,etc.

What is Lurapets?

LuraPets was a browser based petsite game with similarities to Neopets that was live during roughly 2008-2011~. Not everything is known about LuraPets, as it seems to have been rebranded and/or have changed ownership at least once (purchased by Powerpets in 2011), and details about this are fuzzy. LuraPets changed to LuraVerse starting around 2011. During its lifespan, LuraPets received many claims of harassment, bullying, art theft, underpaying or not paying entirely its artists, mistreatment, and unprofessional behavior from the owner, from alleged artists that worked for the site. Lurapets Internet Archive | Lurapets Wiki Artist Statement 1 and Source: https://www.deviantart.com/sambees/journal/The-Lurapets-Scam-234005809

Artist Statement 2 and Source: This statement comes from this source: https://www.deviantart.com/coacoapup/journal/Lurapets-have-you-heard-234213650

Artist Statement 3 and Source: https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/201267.html

More sources and commentary can be found at the bottom of this post.

Why is this relevant to Santae?

Santae has already received various concerns and allegations over their treatment and payment of their artists, as did LuraPets during its time. Exposed Pay Rates | Santae Artist Allegation Source With Santae currently in development and receiving over $70,000 from Kickstarter donations, and support from other websites like Buy Me A Coffee, and their own in game store, their connection and involvement with LuraPets, given its massive reputation for scamming and mistreating artists, is concerning, and calls into question the transparency, legitimacy and morality of Santae, its management and its assets, and where its received development donations are going. Santae is not open about their alleged connection and involvement with LuraPets- why? Is it because LuraPets has a massive history of scams, mistreatment, and art theft behind it? The community behind Santae, especially its supporters paying real money for the site’s development, should absolutely know about this information, and hiding this information, as Santae has done, I feel is a disservice to the community, and is dishonest. These concerns bring into question where the money, donations, and general support for Santae, especially during its development and crowdfunding stage, is going, why so much of Santae’s art is directly copied from, or very similar to, art from a petsite known for scamming and mistreating its artists, and why Santae seems so unwilling to admit any of this in any form- with “toxic positivity” or “enforced positivity”, banning or silencing users with comments, questions, or criticisms that aren’t liked by CJ, the owner of Santae, seemingly a common staple in the way Santae is operated. Several users have already been removed from Santae completely, for comments, questions, or criticisms of how the site is run. Their accounts have been shut down without any prior warning or communication, and one was even told, “we hope to see you again someday with a more open mind”, with other passive aggressive or unhelpful comments received from the Santae staff when trying to communicate with the staff about their bans. With how restricted communication is on Santae’s official website and discord server, I feel it is important that this information is accessible online.

Connecting Lurapets and Santae:

Art Asset Copies + Similarities

LuraPets was sold to Powepets around October 2011, while Santae began development shortly after in 2012. CJ, in 2024, claims that Santae has been in development for 12 years:

There are no mentions of LuraPets, or Santae’s involvement and connection with them, anywhere visible on the website, or the discord server. When asked by a user on discord about art from another petsite that is identical to art on Santae, CJ responded with the following:

If every art piece on Santae has been commissioned by him, then what are art assets from other websites doing on Santae? Link to screenshots containing Lurapets items located here: http://lurapets.last-memories.com/gallery/begin/0

*The Human Avatar is not the same asset, but hold some similarities. The reader is welcome to come to their own conclusion on these comparisons.

There are many other examples like this- with either very similar art assets to LuraPets’ art or artstyle, or even art assets directly copied from LuraPets. While stylistic differences are not inherently suspicious, as many games will have art from various artists and various points in time, CJ, and Santae as a whole, fail to mention their alleged connection and involvement with LuraPets, a site well known for mistreating and scamming its artists.

See the sources page above for links to more LuraPets art and come to your own conclusion. There are many parallels between both sites: in both art, artstyle, and features. I personally feel this proof is undeniable at this stage, as many art assets are a direct copy from LuraPets, or otherwise are very similar.

Hopefully, this post, along with other posts from other users, are enough to reasonably support an alleged connection and involvement between Santae and LuraPets. Feel free to do your own research, come to your own conclusions, and feel free to share this doc with others if you want.

I, personally, as someone who was interested in Santae as a user, would like an explanation from CJ himself as to why and how Santae has an alleged involvement and connection to LuraPets, why Santae has many art assets directly taken from LuraPets, and why this information has been well hidden from users. 

This information, paired with the other claims and allegations made about Santae, such as mistreatment of artists, underpayment of artists, and restrictive moderation on discussions and users on the site and the discord, have left me very concerned about the site, its past, and its future direction.

CJ And Ken

There is no definitive proof that Ken, the owner of LuraPets, is the same person as CJ, but there are notable parallels and similarities between them and their petsites. Although the exact details of their connection remain unclear, there is likely some involvement between both sites.

Both of them own(ed) a browser based petsite game with inspiration drawn from Neopets,

Both of them owned games which have many similarities in features, art, and artstyle,

 Both of them also have concerns/accusations of underpaying artists, and mistreating artists working for their respective sites

Explore Additional Sources

All information in this post is sourced from publicly available information. 

Some links and sources have partially been lost to time, as some links and sources date back to 2008-2012.

Some of the links also have many comments in the comments section about LuraPets and its owner, from other users and artists involved with the petsite.

Other Statements

There are many other statements from artists who allegedly worked for LuraPets. There seems to be a general consensus on LuraPets and Ken from the various artists who claimed to work for the site, as well as from the various users of the site, with many statements endorsing, overlapping and agreeing with other statements.

There are also many comments in the replies section, on the artist statements, which may be of use to anyone seeking more information about Ken and LuraPets.

Here are some excerpts from the other statements, I encourage you to read them fully if you would like more information.

There are also many other concerns about Santae’s art, management/moderation, and treatment of their artists. I encourage reading these posts on Tumblr, about Santae’s art, artist payments, and management/moderation, here:

Artist Statement #1

This statement comes from this source: https://www.deviantart.com/sambees/journal/The-Lurapets-Scam-234005809 

While the source may be old and partially lost to time, I highly recommend reading it, as it is the most cited statement for information about LuraPets’s scams and mistreatment of artists, and gives a solid overview of some of the issues that artists experienced while working for the site.

In the statement, the artist claims that Ken, the owner of LuraPets:

Did not pay them for all of their completed work,

Withheld payment for their completed work,

Spread lies and misinformation about this artist,

Stole art from this artist, and then asked other artists to copy the art,

Stole art from other artists (and then asked other artists to copy/redo their work),

Artist Statement #2

This statement comes from this source: https://www.deviantart.com/coacoapup/journal/Lurapets-have-you-heard-234213650

This is a short statement which is also partially lost to time, but nonetheless is worth reading, and it compounds upon other statements from artists who allegedly also worked for LuraPets.

In the statement, the artist claims that Ken, the owner of LuraPets:

Lied about paying artists when they were not paid,

Harassed, or pushed, the artist into being an artist for LuraPets,

Is a scumbag (womp)

Artist Statement #3

This statement comes from this source: https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/201267.html

This statement explores the payment rates of LuraPets for artists, which draws parallels with the allegedly low payment rates for artists on Santae.

Various claims state that LuraPets paid as little as $0.50-1.00 per item for their artists.

Sources On Allegations Against Santae And LuraPets

Santae Tumblr Blog Post regarding low pay rates on Santae for artists: https://www.tumblr.com/santaesecrets/761713354198908928/user-banned-after-acquiring-updated-artist-rates 

Santae Tumblr Blog Post regarding pay rates for Santae artists: https://www.tumblr.com/santaesecrets/762085721675857920/santae-artist-rates?source=share 

Santae Tumblr Blog Post regarding other information and proof about their connection with LuraPets, and another petsite: https://www.tumblr.com/santaesecrets/762084216676745216/lurapets-santae?source=share 

Other accusations and claims about Santae can be found on the Tumblr blogs @santaespeaks, and @santaesecrets, however not all accusations and claims made there may be accurate or backed up with proof or sources, so please keep this in mind.

Other posts w proof about Santae: WIP

Artist Statement #1 against LuraPets, which details their negative experience with working for the site: https://www.deviantart.com/sambees/journal/The-Lurapets-Scam-234005809 

Artist Statement #2 against LuraPets, which details their negative experience with working for the site: https://www.deviantart.com/coacoapup/journal/Lurapets-have-you-heard-234213650

Artist Statement #3 against LuraPets, which details their negative experience with working for the site: https://artists-beware.livejournal.com/201267.html

Artist Statement #4 against LuraPets, which details their negative experience with working for the site: (scroll down to description) https://www.deviantart.com/kiyi-chan/art/lurapets-what-was-rejected-163419792 

Artist Statement #5 against LuraPets, which details their negative experience with working for the site: (scroll down to description) https://www.deviantart.com/shiralai/art/Lurapets-Dump-181327129

Sources About LuraPets And Its Art

Internet Archive, a view into LuraPets as it existed in 2008-2011-12~: https://web.archive.org/web/20240000000000*/lurapets.com

LuraPets Wiki, which shows some info about LuraPets: http://lurapetshelp.wikidot.com/start

LuraPets’ Art, shows a lot of art from LuraPets, many of which are similar or copied into Santae:  http://lurapets.last-memories.com/gallery/begin/0 (most referenced)

LuraPets’ Art, shows art from LuraPets, some of which are very similar or are directly copied into Santae: https://www.deviantart.com/kata/art/Lurapets-Human-Avatar-Items-166380499,

https://www.deviantart.com/cryptic-alchemist/art/Lurapets-Items-164093902

https://www.deviantart.com/cryptic-alchemist/art/Lurapets-Human-Avatar-Layers-164093775

https://www.deviantart.com/kata/art/Lurapets-Art-Stash-1-159703480

https://www.deviantart.com/cryptic-alchemist/art/Lurapets-Game-Graphics-163979945

https://www.deviantart.com/xxforeverjadedxx/art/Old-Clothing-Drawn-for-a-VPS-213330078

https://www.deviantart.com/xxforeverjadedxx/art/Pet-Site-Item-Dump-182050478

This post was submitted by Anonymous. Thank you for the fantastic information:

Hello! just wanted to send in a message regarding artist pay. this post: https://www.tumblr.com/santaesecrets/761713354198908928/user-banned-after-acquiring-updated-artist-rates?source=share

not sure why Sky left out the entire price range? she could just have been referring to the price of Items alone (minimals, food, books, items like that).

I'll start with this: Discussion of Wages is a Federally Protected right in the United States, where CJ and Santae Entertainment LLC is based, please look at this link here for your rights regarding Wage Discussion. https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/rights-we-protect/your-rights/your-rights-to-discuss-wages

Now that that's out of the way: That doesn't encompass the entire range of Artist pay.

Naturally, for starters, the price of items is not the price of NPC's, Pets, Graphic Art (avatars, icons, site header, etc), Map/Scenery Art.

but, most notable of all. It doesn't include the Human Avatar art (the clothing, companions and such drawn on the Human Avatars directly, this does not include the Item Art of the Human Avatar Items).

Items: Regular Items are 6 USD flat. There is no price range on visual complexity. Animated Items are 8 USD Basic Recolors (so, just using the fill tool to color layers that already exist, very easy) are 0.50 USD each Complex Recolors (adding new information to an existing item) are 2 USD

NPC art is 30 USD New Pet art is 30 USD Existing Pet Revamps (redrawing an old pet) is 20 USD Pet Basic Recolor is 2 USD "Elaborate Recolor(line edits)" is 3 to 5 USD Animated Forum Avatars - 4 USD Pixel Icons - 3 USD Animated Pixel Icon - 5 USD Pixel Icon Recolor - 0.50 USD Site Header - 6 USD Regular Site Banner/Graphic - 4 USD Animated Site Banner/Graphic - 6 USD Site Banner Recolor - 1 USD Social Media Graphic - 5 to 10 USD UI Page Design - 8 USD

Harvest Locations, 70 USD Explore Map - 100 USD Scenery - 30 to 50 USD Header Image - 80 USD Header Seasonal Alts - 25 USD

And, finally. Human Avatar Art (this is the art drawn directly on the human avatars), I'll type this out for those using a screenreader, but i did include the image we artists are given to reference, with some blurs and mosaic to the depicted items for NDA reasons:

Small Accessories (earrings/necklace), and Eyes: 2 to 4 USD Facial Features: 1 to 2 USD Hair: 5 to 8 USD Belts and Sashes, Shoes, Gauntlets, Leggings, Pants, Shorts, Small Wings, Small Head Wearables, Hair Accessories: 4 to 6 USD Shirts: 4 to 8 USD Large Acessories, Cloaks, Robes, Dresses: 6 to 8 USD Skins, and Large Wings: 8 to 12 USD Large Head Wearables: 8 to 10 USD Special Clothing and Armor: 12 to 15 USD Backgrounds: 30 USD Foreground: 6 to 8 USD Please keep in mind, the earlier mention of Animated items includes, hand drawn, frame by frame animation.

And, every single step of the process gets sent in for approval. Your sketch, your Lines, Color, and Shading If Artists were able to finish these items in less than an hour, the pricing still wouldn't be great, the Pet Site Community as a whole undervalues art. But, each item will take at least 1 day, if not longer to finish, requested to be drawn in batches of 5. Typically, you may see an artist finish 5 items a Week. If an Artist was to draw 5 shirts for the site, they will get, not including the Item Art, 20 dollars. As there has been times where the artist who draws the clothing on the Human Avatar doesn't end up drawing the Item. Please bear this in mind when you think about those 150 to 500 dollar price tags on the Kickstarter for designing items. 150 dollars for Hair, when the artist will get 5. 200 dollars for a single clothing item, when the range the artist will receive will be 2 to 8 USD. I emplore the staff to make the pay of all staff members 100 per cent transparent to the users, including Artist pay, Admin, Programmer, Mods, and etc. Real life money or SanCash.