The Synchronized Smear Campaign: Exposing a Coordinated Civil Conspiracy

When bad-faith actors attempt to destroy a reputation built over four decades of martial arts instruction and verified public service, they rarely operate alone. They work in packs, hiding behind screens, relying on coordinated timing, and feeding off one another’s malicious energy.

On a single day, just hours apart, three individuals, Bret Gordon, his instructor Steven Hatfield, and Daniel Duplantis, launched a coordinated strike across multiple platforms to defame my character and undermine my standing in the martial arts community. 

This was a synchronized campaign designed to inflict maximum professional and personal damage. The mechanics of this multi-pronged attack relied on deliberate coordination, malicious libel, and shared assets across different channels:

• The Dissemination of Expunged Records: An illegally obtained, 30-year-old expunged record—showing charges that were dropped and completely dismissed was disseminated via email under the subject line "Criminal record of conviction Barron Shepherd." This malicious libel was distributed directly to Gordon’s instructor, Steven Hatfield, his legal counsel, his black belt students, and sent to the NKJF by Duplantis. I now hold the email that was sent to every single member of Gordon’s circle.
• The Direct Libel (Gordon): Bret Gordon posted directly to his personal Facebook page, falsely alleging that I was a "convicted felon.”
• The Organizational Attack (Duplantis): Daniel Duplantis made direct phone calls and transmitted these false "convicted felon" claims and emails directly to a national martial arts governing body (the NKJF) in a malicious attempt to destroy my credentials and professional relationships.
• The Shared Asset & Coordinated Amplification (Hatfield): Simultaneously, Gordon’s instructor, Steven Hatfield, joined the attack. Proving beyond doubt that this was a planned, joint effort, both Hatfield and Gordon used the exact same screenshot of a post containing my picture in their Facebook posts. While Hatfield avoided using the word "criminal" outright, he published this coordinated attack referring to me as a "clown show" ("Every Clown Deserves a Circus"). Worse, statements have been documented where Hatfield leveled physical threats, declaring that someone—meaning me—was going to get hurt.

Under Florida civil law, a conspiracy requires a "meeting of the minds" to carry out an unlawful act. When three closely aligned individuals target the exact same person on the exact same day and when they circulate the same libelous subject lines, contact the same governing body that Hatfield and Gordon had just been booted out of, and deploy the exact same screenshots containing my image the law does not view it as random chance or a coincidence. It views it as undeniable proof of joint orchestration and shared campaign assets.

Hatfield labeling me a "clown" using the identical screenshot Gordon deployed, was a strategic, synchronized attempt to amplify a smear campaign. Hatfield’s post served as public cover and coordination for the libel that his circle was pushing behind the scenes.

They executed this strike believing that operating across different mediums social media posts, private emails, and phone calls, would shield them from collective liability.

They were wrong.

Under the doctrine of civil conspiracy, when individuals act in concert to commit tortious acts, joint liability attaches. Every participant becomes legally answerable for the harm caused by the entire group.

Duplantis has already faced a formal military action for his misconduct and my civil action is forthcoming. Gordon and Hatfield’s flagship legal assault has collapsed into a permanent Dismissal With Prejudice accompanied by bad-faith court sanctions (§ 57.105). And the evidentiary trail, from identical shared digital assets and forwarded email records to matching timestamps, is fully documented.

The complete, undeniable proof of their conspiracy has been handed to me by someone looking to escape legal action by pointing fingers at others. NO apology or any amount of finger pointing is going to work..... EVERY single person involved will answer for it in a court of law. 

FORMAL STATEMENT OF EVIDENTIARY ACTION AND INTENT TO SUE

Bret Gordon directed and orchestrated a bad-faith campaign aimed at defaming the legacy of my late martial arts instructor. This campaign culminated in a fraudulent, directed telephone interaction targeted at my late instructor’s surviving widow, a full decade after his passing.

Following public disclosures that exposed individuals for fabricating training credentials and false affiliations with my late instructor, Gordon upset over being made to print a correction about my instructor, directed a long-time female student and black belt of Trio Martial Arts to execute a targeted phone call to the widow of my instructor. 

During this call, the individual utilized a false identity, fraudulently introducing herself as a young family member searching for her "grandpa." This deliberate misrepresentation was executed solely to extract information, harass the grieving widow, and undermine my instructor's legacy, simply because he was my instructor. 

The originating telephone number and digital logs have been definitively identified. Formal statements have been executed, corroborating the timeline, the intent, and the exact sequence of events surrounding the call. The evidence conclusively links the direction, instruction, and execution of this fraudulent act directly from Bret Gordon to his proxy.

Legal Consequences and Impending Civil Action

The individual who placed this call remains actively associated with Bret Gordon and Trio Martial Arts. Sworn statements and corroborative evidence directly tie this individual to both direct participation and indirect co-conspiracy in Gordon’s multi-year harassment campaign. By executing this directive, this individual abandoned any legal immunity, tying herself directly to tortious misrepresentation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and civil conspiracy.

Every individual involved in this incident, including the female black belt who executed the call, has been placed directly in the crosshairs of actionable litigation. For their involvement, this individual will be named as a primary co-defendant and sued to the fullest extent of the law, without exception. Anyone either directly or indirectly involved with the many attempts to attack and discredit me and those affiliated with me, over the years in any form will indeed be sued to the furthest extent that civil litigation allows. 

Bret Gordon Scapegoated His Own Inner Circle

For years, Bret Gordon orchestrated a relentless campaign to destroy my reputation, he wrote lies regarding my back ground in an attempt to smear and maliciously defame me and this culminated last summer with an illegally obtained, 30-year-old expunged record, showing charges that were dropped and dismissed and were disseminated via email with the subject line "Criminal record of conviction Barron Shepherd." 

This malicious libel was distributed directly to Gordon’s instructor, legal counsel, black belt students, and martial arts organizations. I now hold the email that was sent to every single one of Gordon’s circle. Let me be clear I am coming after EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!

Gordon has already claimed he had zero involvement in these attacks and that those around him had acted entirely on their own initiative to commit crimes and launch smear campaigns, because I am "famous" as he put it. 

Gordon will not escape liability and he guaranteed that his own inner circle will face direct civil litigation, subpoenaed depositions, and individual asset execution for defamation per se and civil conspiracy. 

No amount of claiming you had nothing to do with it is going to help. No amount of claiming you are no longer involved with Bet Gordon will work. I do not care what states any of you live in. I do not and will not care that you have families. If you try and hide assets with your spouses or family members, I will go after them too. 

Statement of Formal Action

On January 1, 2026, initial formal actions were instituted in direct response to deliberate attempts to defame, misrepresent, and damage my professional credentials and standing within the Judo and martial arts community.

Fabricated claims were disseminated with the clear intent to inflict maximum harm and conceal underlying fraudulent conduct.

As part of a structured and methodical strategy, all remaining actions, formal filings, and legal recourse measures will be officially initiated on January 1, 2027. All supporting documentation, historical evidence, and official records remain fully preserved to ensure complete accountability is enforced through the proper channels - extending to all parties whether directly or indirectly involved.

CENTRAL FLORIDA MULTIPLE "8th DEGREE GRANDMASTER" DEMOLISHED BY.....BITCH SLAPS?

Some local martial arts enthusiasts are still processing the unraveling of a self-proclaimed combat vision, after a known and court-documented Central Florida rank fraud was publicly reduced to total submission inside his own training facility......not by complex martial arts mechanics, but by an uncounted deluge of open-handed bitch slaps.

For years, the core of his sales pitch relied on grandiose boasts about what he could supposedly pull off on the mats, endless claims of elite leverage, high-level grappling setups, and lethal close-quarters dominance and being all about them streets. That delusion came to an abrupt halt.

The most devastating part of the defeat was that the illusion wasn't shattered by another high-ranking master, a world-class practitioner, or a seasoned black belt. It was brought down by someone who wasn't even a black belt, using zero complex martial arts skills. 

The 8th dan grandmaster fraudster was bitch slapped from one end of his tiny dojo to the other. 

No martial art techniques where exhibited or basic self defense moves, just a fat fucking wannabe, would couldnt successfully avoid getting bitch slapped....repeatedly. 

"Lost Count After Twenty"

The incident unfolded when a visitor, holding a pre -signed waiver the school instructor sent him, entered the school to address ongoing local disputes. 

After running his mouth again online. And fuming after being called a liar and a fraud. The fake fraud sent a presigned waiver to the guy calling him a fake. The hope was it would scare him off and deter him from actually showing up. 

Well it didnt work and the central Florida area fake was taken up on his challenge. 

What was expected to be a demonstration of high-level self-defense by the facility's founder instead devolved into a comedy of errors for the self-appointed grandmaster. 

"He spent years telling everyone about his lethal capabilities and high-degree rankings," noted one spectator who wished to remain anonymous. "But when actual physical pressure started, none of those fake degrees helped him. The guy didn't even use a throw, a joint lock, or a strike, he just walked in and began slapping him open-handed across the face. People in the back literally lost count after twenty."

Witnesses described that the multi-degree practitioner offered zero defense. 

I am sure his two black belt students sat silently stunned as their so called grand master instructor was left face down on the mats helpless to ward off  the multiple bitch slaps. 

When a self-proclaimed "grandmaster" gets utterly dismantled on his own mats by a non-black belt throwing basic open-handed slaps, offering zero defense and ending up crying for law enforcement despite making everyone sign facility waivers, the jig is up.

Ask yourself: If your instructor cannot stop a bitch slap, what exactly have you been paying to learn?

When an instructor's authority vanishes, the credibility of everyone under him goes down with the ship. Every rank, diploma, or certification issued under a figurehead whose own 8th-degree black belts and titles have been debunked is dead on arrival. The doors are closed, the court has spoken, and the mats don't lie. 

Untie your belt, pack your bag, and don't look back. Your ranks mean nothing. 

Try walking into a legitimate Judo, BJJ, or traditional martial arts academy anywhere in Florida or across the country with a belt signed by a court-documented fraud. You won't be respected, you'll be tested, then pitied, and then told to put on a white belt or you wont be allowed to train. 

Hanging on to fake ranks is pathetic; staying around is projecting that you are part of the fraud that he is now on the hook for court costs for. 

There is no appeal, that is what dismissed with Prejudice means.

The regional grappling and combat sports community is tightly knit. Continuing to tie your name to a fraud who panicked, hid behind facility waivers, and then cried for someone to call 911 in a challenge he initiated, marks you as an active participant in his con.

If You Can't Stop a Slap, What Are You Teaching?

The incident exposes a glaring question for anyone who ever paid for instruction at the facility: If a self-proclaimed 8th-degree black belt cannot defend himself against basic, open-handed slaps from someone who isn't even a black belt, what value do his mat boasts actually hold?

Real martial arts instruction is built on functional, pressure-tested mechanics. When a practitioner's defensive capability completely vanishes the moment a non-black belt throws a simple wide arcing bitch slap, it proves that years of online titles, self-issued belts, and gym stories were nothing more than pure fantasy.

From "Lethal Combatant" to Calling 911

The ultimate irony came immediately after the physical encounter ended. Despite operating a martial arts facility and requiring standard liability waivers on the mat, the self-proclaimed grandmaster completely abandoned his warrior persona.

Rather than addressing the defeat like a martial artist, he tried to play the victim and begged his wife to call the police, claiming he was the victim of an "unprovoked attack."

His Paper and Rank mill belts and Delusional claims of Chi Power Couldn’t even  Stop Bitch Slaps

The embarrassing physical spectacle comes on the heels of the same individual's complete legal and organizational collapse in Central Florida courts. Having already been exposed in official judicial records for bad-faith filings and rank fabrication, the open-handed sissy thrashing on his own mats served as the final, practical reality check to years of paper posturing. 

So the proof of what he can do on the mats is truth and apparently our central Florida area fraud cant do shit on the mats. 

The No-Mercy Standard: Why the Fallout from a Central Florida Fraud's Dismissed with Prejudice case is Far from Over

For years, a cabal of online provocateurs, paper-rank merchants, and enablers in Central Florida operated under a dangerous assumption: that they could wage campaigns of defamation, attempt to destroy legitimate martial arts careers, and manipulate organizational structures without facing real-world consequences.

That period of immunity is officially over. 

While the ringleader, a self-proclaimed grandmaster who didn't even prove a kyu rank in court and whose court filings ended in with Dismissal with Prejudice, a stark reality should be setting in for his network.

The public collapse of their leader's case was only Phase One.

Phase Two is about cold, calculating, and complete legal accountability for every single individual who enabled, participated in or funded his campaign.

Total Accountability for the Network That Tried to Destroy a Livelihood

For years, the ringleader of this Central Florida rank-fraud operation hid behind noisy threats, rubber-stamped papers, and frivolous lawsuits. But he didn't operate in a vacuum. He was backed, insulated, and enabled by a surrounding network, assistant black belts, inner-circle instructors, legal mouthpieces, and passive bystanders who watched him try to ruin a legitimate martial artist's life and chose to profit from it, support it, or remain silent.

Now that the ringleader’s manufactured persona has completely collapsed, shattered by video evidence on his own mats, a judge's Dismissal with Prejudice, and international bans from Korean federations, the focus of accountability has shifted.

The ringleader is a broken fraud with no assets left to seize. The rest of his network, however, is fully exposed.

1. No Safe Harbors: Why Assistant Black Belts and Instructors Are Liable

In the mind of a subordinate instructor, there is a dangerous, foolish myth: "I was just following my head instructor. I just taught class. I wasn't the one making the posts."

Under civil law and common-law torts, that defense is entirely worthless.

When assistant black belts stand on the canvas under a known fraud, help market a fraudulent dojo, and actively participate in or validate campaigns to defame a legitimate instructor, they become co-conspirators in civil torts.

They helped build the platform used to launch attacks on an legitimate instructor's livelihood, reputation, and business. They didn't care if their actions ruined a legitimate family's income and as a result, their own livelihoods, assets, and professional standings are now in the legal crosshairs.

2. The Legal Counsel and the Enablers

Attorneys and formal representatives are not immune from the fallout of a bad-faith campaign.

When a legal representative files suit based on knowingly fabricated claims, assists in weaponizing the court system to silence whistleblowers, and uses legal filings to advance defamation, they cross the line from representation to active participation in malicious prosecution and abuse of process.

The fact that the court handed down a ruling with prejudice and ordered the plaintiff side to cover court costs was the judicial system's opening salvo. The incoming civil litigation will ensure that every legal actor, associate, and co-plaintiff who lent their name to this campaign faces direct, personal, and maximum financial liability.

3. The Bystanders: The Cost of Idly Watching Malice

Perhaps the most delusional confident group in this entire saga were those who "just stood idly by."

These are the individuals who knew the ranks were fake, knew the defamation was taking place, saw the attempt to run to high-level instructors to illegally strip a real black belt's credentials, and chose to sit back, say nothing, and benefit from the ecosystem.

In a coordinated campaign to destroy a professional reputation, active silence and passive enablement create exposure. When you hold positions of authority, wear senior ranks, or operate within an organization and choose to look the other way while a malicious attack is launched against a legitimate instructor, you forfeit any right to claim neutrality when the legal hammers start falling.

The Zero-Mercy Principle

When a group attempts to destroy a man’s reputation, falsely label him a felon, run behind his back to strip his hard-earned ranks, and bankrupt him through bad-faith court cases, they set the rules of engagement.

They explicitly decided that destroying a livelihood was acceptable gameplay.

1. The Asymmetric Target List: Assets Over Empty Pockets

In civil litigation and legal accountability, strategy dictates focus.

The ringleader, will unfortunately escape the primary financial crosshairs for one simple, unvarnished reason: he doesn't have a pot to piss in, nor a window to throw it out of.

Pursuing a broke fraud for monetary damages yields paper judgments against an empty bank account. Unlike their leader, the rest of his inner circle possesses real-world assets: steady income streams, real estate, professional standing, and financial equity. 

Not one of you will be able to hide behind a claim that you "didn't know".

In civil litigation involving business interference, defamation, or conspiracy, defendants cannot claim "willful blindness."

Duty of Due Diligence: Adults, especially those acting as martial arts instructors, business associates, or legal representatives, have a legal and professional duty to verify facts before repeating claims, filing lawsuits, or helping market a product/service.

Constructive Knowledge: If the information exposing the lies, false credentials, or bad-faith nature of the operation was readily available—or if basic common sense and mat experience should have alerted them—the court treats them as having full knowledge.

Claiming "I just took his word for it" in court is an admission of negligence, not an absolution of liability.

2. The First Target: Duplantis in the Legal Crosshairs

The legal offensive begins with Duplantis, he is first in line to be sued.

For those who thought they could participate in targeted defamation campaigns, attempt to orchestrate the stripping of legitimate ranks, fabricate criminal claims, and abuse institutional frameworks sharing illegally obtained documents without personal exposure, the upcoming court filings will serve as a brutal reality check. 

When you participate in a coordinated attempt to slander a legitimate practitioner, destroy a business, and attack an instructor's background, you incur joint and several liability. Filing official complaints against Duplantis through military and professional channels was simply establishing the factual baseline.

The forthcoming civil litigation will ensure that every single malicious statement, backroom maneuver, and false claim carries a direct, inescapable financial price. 

3. Why No Quarter Will Be Given

When people ask why there will be zero leniency, the answer lies in the sheer malice of what these people attempted to execute and or watched happen:

They Targeted Livelihoods: This wasn't an online debate over martial arts technique; it was an active attempt to ruin legitimate schools, defame a business owner, and falsely accuse an innocent and legit instructor of serious crimes.

They Sought Hostile Takeovers: Bret Gordon actively ran to high-level instructors behind the scenes begging them to strip a legitimate black belt rank from a real practitioner while simultaneously asking to have black belt ranks handed to him.

They Weaponized the Courts: They launched bad-faith suits expecting their victims to fold under legal costs—a tactic that backfired when judges threw out their claims with prejudice and forced them to pay court costs.

For the cohorts who lent their names, their credentials, their rank applications, and their active participation to his campaign: YOU ARE GOING TO SEE ME IN COURT AND YOU WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE.

There will be no leniency. There will be no backroom settlements. Every single individual who participated, assisted, or stood idly by is being targeted for the absolute legal maximum. Expecting me to show restraint, grant quarter  or have mercy on any of you…… is a total fantasy. 

#duplaintisyoungbloodmckinleypedattapalaskyacouin #nomercy #maximumfinancialaccountability

To Daniel Duplantis

Daniel Duplantis thought he could operate under the delusion that he could weaponize phone calls and emails to launch a malicious smear campaign against my 40-years as an instructor and coach in the martial arts, hide behind the coattails of an unverified "grandmaster," and simply walk away.

Let me address Duplantis directly, with zero filter and absolute finality: 

If you were standing face-to-face with me right now, I would beat your mother fucking ass for what you did. You did not know me or have ever had any communication with me. ABSOLUTELY NONE! Yet you chose to attack me and try to destroy my reputation and livelihood. 

I am taking you to civil court and suing you for the absolute maximum. There is no ducking it, no running, and no escaping. 

This is the last public comment I will make on this matter and I want there to be no misunderstanding....

You, Duplantis, executed the attack! You chose to participate in purposefully malicious, slanderous, and defamatory attacks with full intent. You picked up the phone, you drafted the emails, and you chose to disseminate unverified lies to cause maximum professional and personal damage. 

If your defense is to claim you didn't know what you had when you passed it along. In court, claiming you didn't verify your facts isn't a defense… it is a direct admission of a reckless disregard for the truth. 

Nothing about my back ground was a lie...cant say the same for your instructor. 

If your defense is going be that your attempted attack did me no damage or harm to me, because my reputation withstood your garbage. It doesn't protect you legally from being sued. 

Under the law, a failed attempt to destroy a man’s name does not erase the malice of the execution. The intent was established the moment you made those phone calls and sent those emails, and you will be held fully liable for every single shred of that malice.

You acted as an execution proxy to feed lies to the NKJF and its leaders and members, i.e. the fucking public! You even used your status in the military to do it. Well, that status is gone. The USAF-IG complaint with the evidence I submitted was already carried against you earlier this year, meaning the military has already substantiated the foundational misconduct of your actions. 

That was the least of your worries. 

Let me assure you, I am not done! 

It was explained to me directly what you did do and that the remaining things regarding the defamation was a civil matter and I should seek out an attorney. I followed the advice in the emailed response and did just that! 

Now, the civilian courts are going to handle the financial and legal restitution.

If youre going to try some bluff and bluster stating like you did in an email to Ed Mathna "that JAG attorneys are waiting for any action i take".....You can BS others with that statement but not me! 

JAG does not defend service members in civilian civil lawsuits! Under military regulations and federal law, JAG attorneys are strictly prohibited from representing or defending service members in civilian civil litigation. 

You never once knew who you were fucking with. Knew zero about me. You are going to find out though. 

Make no mistake about my intentions. I do not care that your life, career, security clearance, and livelihood may aleady be in shambles. Every single effort was made by you to ruin mine, and I will show the exact same consideration in return.