tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19073230578851950992024-03-12T21:36:17.534-07:00WWW.XYIENCESUCKS.COMThe corrupt history of Xyience, Inc. and the Enron of MMA scandal.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger100125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907323057885195099.post-26408826738186541662023-01-08T14:28:00.009-08:002023-01-10T21:36:39.512-08:00Wife Slapping: UFC President Dana White's Public Spat With Anne Stella White Reveals Chilling Connection to Organized Crime<p> By: Rich Bergeron</p><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-tJHV4Rp8lk5z2p5lOynkHS2UvABK-nCLBkh8d7KhW0G7tt0OulsH41DltM2wwnTGwrFvgB98TVKKB73nY_KBUnNsCoSPPK32SOEEe-P9E2MRgg_GWA7yFJHycKVridMU5ekvVAgChkf79hE7IeLXLXXRroLUUZgZ055DMhg6XUmctc89z6iC2WZj/s1200/Lorenzo-Fertitta-Teressa-Fertitta-Anne-White-and-Dana-White-left-to-right.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-tJHV4Rp8lk5z2p5lOynkHS2UvABK-nCLBkh8d7KhW0G7tt0OulsH41DltM2wwnTGwrFvgB98TVKKB73nY_KBUnNsCoSPPK32SOEEe-P9E2MRgg_GWA7yFJHycKVridMU5ekvVAgChkf79hE7IeLXLXXRroLUUZgZ055DMhg6XUmctc89z6iC2WZj/w400-h209/Lorenzo-Fertitta-Teressa-Fertitta-Anne-White-and-Dana-White-left-to-right.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From Left to Right: Teresa Fertitta, Lorenzo Fertitta, Anne Stella White and Dana White</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>"Aren't you afraid you're gonna get whacked?" </b></h3><div><b><br /></b></div><p> This is a question I used to get asked all the time. Most people who found out what I was doing with this site thought that prospect was a natural occupational hazard of covering the Fertittas and their involvement in intentionally bankrupting Xyience. </p><p> The reality was I never got a single threatening phone call and never felt like there was a real target on my back. However, I did always take precautions to make sure the Fertittas would never find out where I lived when I was stuck in Las Vegas for two years fighting their attempts to profit off their destruction of Xyience. This involved some creative evasive measures. Exiting the courthouse and getting home without a tail each time I appeared against them was an adventure in itself. </p><p> Why was I so confident nothing horrible would happen to me? The regulated nature of the casino industry requires near spotless records to be maintained by all license applicants and license holders. The Fertittas would not risk injuring me or killing me and having it even appear to be linked to them. Their empire would be at stake if they gave my reports credence by making me disappear. If they maintained any obvious illicit relationships with anyone connected to organized crime, they could lose their casino licenses. So, even the most inconsequential ties to "the Mob" would have to be kept very close to their vests and top secret to avoid the appearance of impropriety.</p><p> So, what does any of this have to do with Dana White and his wife getting in a slap fighting spat in Mexico while drunk and emotional? Bear with me. It's a fairly long story that starts with a yearbook photo I acquired of Anne Stella from when she was at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas:</p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/530861874798853260/" rel="nofollow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="557" data-original-width="447" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwW_ILzpnFjVcuxuLHrNmD7iap3P6IXRqQWW1za-iTW1MA7999ZXzTNQA8sg-lRK_nLJbXXo5vqXpOfdAkwJw5Re-oPAGmoVORj5_FNGE65blsyvJ0rbNPtfsages41Gv7KKL9z_bRaF9x8TT7RejTZpxHHJ2gS18JosNshjkySAWHap9lh_8RvT7n/s320/annestella.jpg" width="257" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p> The photo above links to my Pinterest account where I also have pictures of Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta from their common years at Bishop Gorman. All these years after I connected with a Bishop Gorman classmate who sent me these pictures, the story has finally come full circle. </p><p> <a href="https://www.suggest.com/dana-white-wife/189326/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Bishop Gorman nexus</a> perhaps explains everything about the way the UFC operates as a business today. It is so much more relevant now than it was back then, because I have made a new discovery from <a href="https://www.blogtalkradio.com/fightnewsunlimited/2015/01/30/june-white-joins-the-fnu-combat-sports-show" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">a 7-year-old interview I conducted with June White</a>, Dana White's mother (Starting at the 1:11 mark). June and I covered a very wide range of topics, but a recent review of that audio (start at the 1 hour and 50 minute mark) uncovered a crucial detail I neglected to follow up on until this past week. It relates directly to who Anne Stella White really is and reveals a perfectly good reason why all <a href="https://www.mmamania.com/2022/3/28/23000415/im-shocked-supreme-court-backs-ufc-boss-dana-white-sex-tape-extortion-scandal-mma" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the alleged affairs Dana White's been implicated in</a> never resulted in a divorce. It's not just because they've known each other since they were 12. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTNFeZNsiV5VnLNVSX0jR5EQDgdwH2Dz4CjxQXTKFqvqPqGKtX5x_sXxk1cNn9XY-EPBJVUbl0rquEnHJAqU4s5tMGvGuJW2ZiQrhM-jZDc9YeWPOqcDXSZoMU_9ZQsBi15iNtuHeNuJfa4hib1VwQM7a_SEjC2VJtqwq4PO1X59_Pprtryfy4nHgx/s310/junewhite.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="163" data-original-width="310" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTNFeZNsiV5VnLNVSX0jR5EQDgdwH2Dz4CjxQXTKFqvqPqGKtX5x_sXxk1cNn9XY-EPBJVUbl0rquEnHJAqU4s5tMGvGuJW2ZiQrhM-jZDc9YeWPOqcDXSZoMU_9ZQsBi15iNtuHeNuJfa4hib1VwQM7a_SEjC2VJtqwq4PO1X59_Pprtryfy4nHgx/s1600/junewhite.jpg" width="310" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">June White (L) and her son Dana White (R)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><h3><b>The Real Anne Stella White Story and Why We Don't Know It Already</b></h3><div><b><br /></b></div><p> <a href="https://www.sportsmanor.com/ufc-news-dana-white-slept-with-wifes-sister-slapping-incident-exposes-ufc-boss-dark-secret/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The news media scrambling for dirt on Anne keeps harping on racy details of her "joke" of a marriage to Dana that June White reported when promoting her tell all book on her son</a>. June also claimed Anne gave Dana a severe black eye on their honeymoon. These writers relaying Dana's mother's commentary have some of the "family" drama pegged, but they have absolutely no clue about the most secret back story Anne Stella has. If even the sports media had any idea of what I know about Anne, would they even try to cover it? It appears ESPN reporters have been effectively muzzled already on "the slap heard around the world:"</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpAHR_AT4p058QU7jyZl9B89R5WEMsofvL5ZRIg8i-UjWXTn9sK1D8R4Tdt5kMVYf1khNRbJurt8ZST9LIMPu60P3czNCPU2ILHI81wN1J_MPg4TcsKCTRzPeZEhVhwbnJGCkkwf9zT8oMRZlPdUay-X5MOSDB79dXgbgY558i79_HXDE-6curlbin/s720/FB_IMG_1673040768646.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpAHR_AT4p058QU7jyZl9B89R5WEMsofvL5ZRIg8i-UjWXTn9sK1D8R4Tdt5kMVYf1khNRbJurt8ZST9LIMPu60P3czNCPU2ILHI81wN1J_MPg4TcsKCTRzPeZEhVhwbnJGCkkwf9zT8oMRZlPdUay-X5MOSDB79dXgbgY558i79_HXDE-6curlbin/s320/FB_IMG_1673040768646.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div> I specifically discussed the concept of "UFC nut-huggers" with Dana White's mother. If you're not familiar with the term, it refers to people who will never utter a bad word about the premiere MMA organization. On top of that, some of them are actually paid to post all kinds of complimentary stuff on social media about Dana, UFC business, UFC fighters and UFC events. I'm not talking about just publicists, either. Some paid posters are even encouraged to verbally squabble with doubters and detractors of the organization. I saw it firsthand while posting links to content here at Sherdog and on other mixed martial arts forums. <a href="https://www.nhd.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/Opinions/15/15NH176.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">June White successfully sued over one particular woman linked to her son who trolled her viciously online after June's book went public</a>. June even informed me that my book on representing yourself in court helped her out in some key areas. <div><br /></div><div> So it did not surprise me one bit when Dana White's most recent scandal had more people defending him than demanding his resignation. He even had loyal UFC fighters standing up for their boss. </div><div><br /></div><div> "She hit him first" was the most common refrain. She threatened the reign of their king, so the spin had to be that this was all her fault. It's as if these fighters, fans and devoted UFC media only watched the first part of the video where Anne slapped Dana and Dana slapped her back once. I don't think most of these "nut-huggers" bothered to acknowledge the second and third slap from Dana. It appeared something was thrown at Dana's head to ultimately stop his continued assault after that. Much of the final moments were blurred by darkness and the entire violent scene blending into the crowd. </div><div><br /></div><div> You know what else is in the dark? Anne Stella's background. Here are a couple of articles that claim to tell you everything you might want to know about the wife of "The Baldfather:"</div><div><br /></div><div> <a href="https://www.sportsmanor.com/ufc-news-who-is-ufc-president-dana-whites-wife-anne-stella-white/">Who Is UFC President Dana White’s Wife, Anne Stella White? - Sportsmanor</a></div><div><br /></div><div> <a href="https://www.essentiallysports.com/ufc-mma-news-everything-you-need-to-know-about-dana-whites-wife-anne-stella-white/">Everything You Need to Know About Dana White’s Wife Anne Stella White - EssentiallySports</a></div><div><br /></div><div> It appears that there are a lot of unknowns about Anne and her family. She's kept her past top secret and avoids the public eye like the plague. June White knew the real reason why she had to do that. She told me 7 years ago that Dana's father-in-law was connected to the Chicago mob. For some reason I never followed up on that tip until a week ago when the Mexican slap-off became a viral story.</div><div><br /></div><div><h3><b>Married to the Mob </b></h3></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div> Anne Stella's father was not just any old mafioso. Much like the Station Casinos founder Frank Fertitta Junior (Frank III and Lorenzo's dad), <a href="https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/lvrj/name/robert-stella-obituary?id=7476509" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Robert Frank Stella</a>, now deceased, <a href="https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/news-columns/jane-ann-morrison/author-now-believes-judge-didnt-leak-info-to-mob/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">was reportedly involved in a massive skimming operation connected to certain casinos in Las Vegas</a>. Historical accounts and FBI evidence show "Bobby Stella" was quite literally a "bag man" who managed the Stardust Casino and often carried out the skimmed cash in a paper grocery bag. </div><div><br /></div><div> This passage from <a href="https://erenow.net/biographies/the-outfit-the-role-of-chicagos-underworld/15.php" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">a lengthy article</a> explains the Stardust skim from an insider perspective:</div><div><br /></div><div> "<span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 0.9rem;"><i>Johnny Rosselli later named other Stardust “supervisors” brought in for good measure: “[Sam Giancana] sent Al Sachs and Bobby Stella to help [Drew]. Dalitz’s got Yale Cohen to watch his end. But Sam’s got a sleeper in there, Phil Ponti, a made guy from Chicago. A real sharp operator.”</i></span></div><div><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 0.9rem;"><i><br /></i></span></div><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 0.9rem; margin-bottom: 0.7rem; margin-top: 0px;"><i> When the Stardust finally opened for business on July 2, 1958, it proved well worth the effort. After the grand opening, attended by guests of honor then senator and future president Lyndon Baines Johnson and his trusty sidekick Bobby Baker, the money began arriving in Chicago almost faster than it could be counted. “They’re skimming the shit out of that joint,” Rosselli later told Fratianno. “You have no idea how much cash goes through that counting room every day. You, your family, your uncles and cousins, all your relatives could live the rest of their lives in luxury with just what they pull out of there in a month. Jimmy, I’ve never seen so much money.” Coming from a man who had lived through the phenomenal profits of the bootlegging era, this speaks volumes about the lure of Las Vegas.</i></p><div><br /></div><div> The last part of that snippet above is ironic considering the fact that the Fertitta brothers lived their entire lives in luxury thanks to their father's casino industry legacy. It's certain that Frank Fertitta Junior did not just cross paths a few times over the years with Bobby Stella. Fertitta and Stella were intimately involved in the casino skimming efforts popularized in the movie "Casino" starring Robert Deniro and Joe Pesci. Fertitta's Wikipedia page explains: </div><div><br /></div><div> "...<span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">he [Fertitta] worked as a dealer, pit boss, baccarat manager and general manager at properties including the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stardust_Resort_and_Casino" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Stardust Resort and Casino">Stardust</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">; Tropicana, </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circus_Circus_Las_Vegas" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Circus Circus Las Vegas">Circus Circus</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">, </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahara_Las_Vegas" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Sahara Las Vegas">Sahara</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> and the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fremont_Hotel_and_Casino" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Fremont Hotel and Casino">Fremont</a><span face="sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;"> in downtown Las Vegas."</span> </div><div><p> Again, <a href="https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/lvrj/name/frank-fertitta-obituary?id=25732473" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">an obituary</a> tells the hidden story behind the very close relationship between the Stella and Fertitta families. The "Memories and Condolences" section of Frank Junior's "Legacy" page contains the following entry left by Robert and Roberta Stella:</p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #404f57; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 18px;"> "</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 18px;">Our thoughts and prayers are with Mrs. Fertitta and her devoted family always. You are all very special to us."</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></p><h3><b>Mafia Mentality Permeates Dana White's UFC Management Style</b></h3><div><b><br /></b></div><p style="text-align: left;"> Restrictive contracts, rewarding extreme employee loyalty and routine intimidation tactics utilized by Dana White over the years in his role as UFC President now make so much more sense. They call him "the boss" for a reason. You have to "put on a show" to make it in the UFC long term. In other words, as a mob boss would say, "You've gotta be a good earner." You have to be the kind of fighter that puts eyeballs on the brand and asses in the seats if you want to get Dana's admiration and a good return on your investment in training. </p><p style="text-align: left;"> Organized crime has always been hovering in the background for the entirety of White's reign over what is widely considered the most powerful mixed martial arts league on the planet. It makes the <a href="https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/lists/ufc-betting-scandal-james-krause-investigations-what-we-know" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">James Krause betting scandal</a> seem tame now in comparison. I interviewed Krause in 2016 for a now-defunct podcast. He was one of the few outspoken fighters involved in the UFC, but only because he always knew he had to diversify his income. </p><p style="text-align: left;"> Another fighter who graced the Octagon more than a few times <a href="https://www.blogtalkradio.com/fightnewsunlimited/2010/12/10/fight-news-unlimited-combat-sports-show" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">joined our podcast back in 2010</a>. It was just before what turned out to be his last fight in the UFC, which he lost by knockout to Brad Tavares. "The New York Badass" <a href="https://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Phil-Baroni-278" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Phil Baroni</a> was involved in an even more horrific domestic violence incident in Mexico recently. Baroni <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/phil-baroni-arrested-allegedly-killing-girlfriend-former-ufc-fighter-mexico/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">allegedly murdered his girlfriend</a> after she confessed to cheating on him with another man. </p><p style="text-align: left;"> Baroni, known for his abrasive attitude and balls to the wall fighting style, was on his absolute best behavior during our chat. I asked him one last question about Dana White's rule over the UFC when we talked back then." It's his money, it's his show and he's the boss," Baroni said. </p><p style="text-align: left;">Listen to his answers to my last two questions for Baroni by following the link below. </p><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.blogtalkradio.com/fightnewsunlimited/2023/01/08/phil-baroni-commentary-on-dana-white-and-fighting-in-the-ufc">Phil Baroni Commentary on Dana White and Fighting in the UFC 01/08 by Fight News Unlimited | Sports (blogtalkradio.com)</a></p><p style="text-align: left;"> We also can't neglect to mention the double standard involved in the "slap heard around the world." The "do as I say not as I do" mantra fits the scenario perfectly. White has thrown people out of the UFC for getting wrapped up in incidents of domestic violence. Yet, his own example of the same behavior is treated much differently. There has been no formal punishment at all despite White admitting publicly he has no excuse for his actions. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2023/01/952b7-16728651877956-1920.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="680" height="400" src="https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2023/01/952b7-16728651877956-1920.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p> There's no doubt in my mind that this debacle is something Dana White will effortlessly bounce back from. The organizational underboss has all the job security a guy could want due to his popularity and pull. However, things might have been drastically different if his father-in-law was still alive when Dana slapped Bobby Stella's beloved daughter down in a drunken rage. Who knows what Anne's dear old dad would have done in this situation if he was still walking among us. I imagine the penance Dana would have to pay in that case would have been much harsher. Instead, look for this news story to drop off the radar and fade into oblivion while Dana continues with "<a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1101236-business-as-usual-10-major-events-in-the-year-since-zuffa-bought-strikeforce" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">business as usual</a>." </p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907323057885195099.post-4665509865607594972020-02-17T13:40:00.000-08:002020-02-19T06:43:28.291-08:00Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta Face Their Worst Nightmare as the Culinary Union Takes Center Stage in National Democratic Primary Picture<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
By: Rich Bergeron<br />
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This Saturday Nevada will caucus to determine how many delegates will go to which candidates running as Democrats in the 2020 race for the White House. The most significant political force to weigh in on who should get the ultimate nod on this special day for national politics will be Local 226, <a href="https://www.culinaryunion226.org/">The Culinary Union</a>.<br />
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This reality is much to the chagrin of a common enemy I share with this particular union, Billionaire Brothers and Sophisticated Scam Artists Lorenzo Fertitta and Frank Fertitta III. Suddenly the blackjack tables are turned in Las Vegas. It used to be the Fertittas wielding power over the union, refusing to acknowledge stringent efforts to unionize their casino chain. Station Casinos, AKA Red Rock Resorts is now losing the fight. The Culinary crew is infiltrating <a href="https://www.casino.org/news/culinary-union-declares-victory-after-station-casinos-loses-court-appeal-on-green-valley-ranch-recognition/" target="_blank">one Station establishment after another</a>.<br />
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The Palms Casino, the latest acquisition for Station Casinos, is one of the last bastions of union resistance. The Fertittas already sunk hundreds of millions of dollars into upgrading this casino, and <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/glitch-gop-tax-law-gop-megadonors_n_5d0ab554e4b06ad4d25ac2ff" target="_blank">the culinary union fight actually resulted in the threat of financial kickbacks from the government getting jammed up by congressional democrats</a>. Prior to the vote this Saturday, <a href="https://www.casino.org/news/democratic-candidates-likely-to-join-picket-at-the-palms-before-nevada-presidential-caucus/">some democratic candidates for president may actually even join the picket line</a> at The Palms and herald the Culinary Union effort to grab another piece of the Fertitta casino empire's pie. <br />
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This is a nasty fight, one that countless union dues have gone toward waging relentlessly over the years since I began investigating the Fertittas for their shady involvement in the Xyience scandal. I've actually personally been interviewed at length by Culinary Union researchers on multiple occasions. Much of the information they put on their anti-Fertitta Web-sites originated with my reporting here and simply expanded on that work. At one point this fight was so fierce that the union resorted to what I saw as a sick and twisted campaign to make fighters in the UFC (also owned by the Fertittas at the time) believe that this same union would step up and stand up for their rights to fair treatment, too. The culinary union put up a Web-site pointing to a potential effort to organize fighters but never really bothered to make any legitimate foray into that realm. It was a bluff <a href="http://www.rantsports.com/mma/2013/08/17/big-labor-vs-the-baldfather-culinary-ufc-fight-is-an-mma-soap-opera/">I personally blasted in an article on Rant Sports</a>.<br />
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Now that the Fertittas are out of the fighting business altogether, I can look at this union a bit more objectively and perhaps forgive them for biting off more than they could chew years ago. After all, their people <a href="https://www.google.com/search?biw=800&bih=554&sxsrf=ACYBGNT3EmT8AEw8hcE-omCmA-J6Dr4TgQ%3A1581968422510&ei=JuxKXvLVHqeb_QaIobeQCg&q=culinary+union%2C+nevada%2C+Fertitta&oq=culinary+union%2C+nevada%2C+Fertitta&gs_l=psy-ab.12...0.0..1715...0.0..0.0.0.......0......gws-wiz.bgDy_IbNK_A&ved=0ahUKEwjygPrOq9nnAhWnTd8KHYjQDaI4ChDh1QMICw">definitely picked up where I left off with exposing these spoon-fed crooks</a> moonlighting as successful self-made men.<br />
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If you wonder just how much this feud is hurting the brothers and their casino investors, consider the moves they've made recently to pump up the stock with personal investments from family trusts and the suggested <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/station-casinos-llc-announces-pricing-of-senior-notes-offering-300993096.html" target="_blank">selling of senior notes</a> to raise $750 million. <a href="https://www.reviewjournal.com/business/business-columns/real-estate-insider/station-casinos-looking-to-sell-land-in-southern-nevada-1953649/">They are even shopping around property they own to pay down some of the massive debt they've incurred.</a> The fact that this company once again left the veil of private ownership and became a public entity did not stop the managing interests from tainting the brand with their financial tricks. <br />
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The Palms project alone comes in at an expense of nearly $1 billion if the cost of the purchase is included. This gamble will really have to pay off, and they will have to pinch every penny moving forward to survive an ongoing battle like this with the likes of the Culinary Union. Only the infusion of their own personal capital staved off a completely negative trend in the Red Rock Resorts stock <a href="https://www.casino.org/news/red-rock-resorts-lags-rivals-gets-tepid-response-from-analyst/" target="_blank">that saw more investors losing shares than acquiring them last year</a>. That money was not even really all that important to the Fertitta brothers themselves. It was more like a raiding of the piggy bank where they keep the future inheritance their children will enjoy someday. All of the funds came from trusts, not really out of the personal coffers they covet and hide in multiple business entities like "<a href="https://www.culinaryunion226.org/news/press/culinary-union-announces-due-diligence-resource-for-prospective-partners-of-fertitta-capital" target="_blank">Fertitta Capital</a>" and "Fertitta Enterprises."<br />
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The Culinary Union is in this for keeps, and now they are clearly at a tipping point ahead of this caucus. There is no doubt the Fertittas and their friends will be flooding Donald Trump and the rest of his party representatives with donations to stave off a Democrat takeover after the 2020 general election. If the United States decides to elect a Democrat as president, the Fertittas will likely get out of the casino business as fast as they possibly can. The union takeover will be all but inevitable.<br />
<br />
Already the pressure is becoming unbearable as there is no stone left unturned in the fight to expose the Fertittas as frauds. At one point Station Casinos was voted by workers as one of the best places to work in Nevada, but these days Culinary folks are alleging that the chain is an unsafe working environment that <a href="https://calvinayre.com/2019/10/31/casino/osha-could-have-its-hands-full-with-stations-casinos/" target="_blank">OSHA should investigate</a>. It's hard not to look back at this very moment on the tumultuous bankruptcy the chain escaped virtually unscathed. Billions of dollars in debt were erased. <a href="https://fortune.com/longform/palms-las-vegas-hotel-casino-renovation/" target="_blank">The amount of money spent on "going big" with The Palms may come back to haunt the company</a>. This is especially true since there is such a focus on art involved in the $690 million overhaul. The Fertittas have not had the best luck in the art world. Frank Fertitta III once bought what was later determined to be a fake Mark Rothko painting. He paid a whopping $7.2 million for the con in the classic case of a swindler who got a taste of his own medicine. <a href="https://casetext.com/case/fertitta-v-knoedler-gallery" target="_blank">Lawsuits helped him recover the money he lost</a>, but it was still an indicator of how the brothers often spend their income recklessly and don't use the best judgment in business decisions.<br />
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It is no surprise then that there are <a href="https://vitalvegas.com/our-five-juiciest-unconfirmed-las-vegas-rumors/" target="_blank">rumors that the Fertittas want a way out of the casino business, and they may choose the path of a complete sell-off</a>. Only a few properties would remain under their control in that scenario, namely The Palms and Palace Station. It would also take a monumental effort to do this kind of transaction under public ownership if it doesn't represent an instant and significant benefit for all current investors.<br />
<br />
There is also still tremendous buzz about the Fertitta brothers being interested in owning an NFL team, which would likely depend on a major sale like what I described above. Still, I would not offer any odds on that prospect unless they ingratiate themselves with a more wholesome group of partners to make the deal. As is, they are barely suitable to be given a gaming license in any state. Their connection to various cases of corruption, scandal, fraud and abuse of the bankruptcy laws is telling. They cannot run from their history, <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/investigations/ct-waukegan-casino-bids-problems-20200211-2qp3yfpccbarddcilkyasuxozy-story.html" target="_blank">as this recent Chicago Tribune article explains</a>. The National Football League would be wise to keep them far away from any team ownership position.<br />
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As for this weekend's caucus efforts, look for the Culinary Union to take advantage of the spotlight that will be on Las Vegas and Station Casinos on Saturday. Regardless of whether or not the Democrats have any chance to unseat Trump, the Culinary Union will continue to fight for better treatment of their workers. Their momentum is palpable, and their influencing power is potent. For once in their lives, it may actually be time for the Fertitta brothers to play nice and surrender in this war of attrition. They will only hurt themselves and their investors in the long run if they keep butting heads with this growing political force. Financial losses can be recovered, but reputational damage is typically more permanent.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907323057885195099.post-31999864738767899442016-07-08T22:02:00.000-07:002019-06-28T10:52:24.285-07:00Corporate Raiders of Las Vegas Launching Campaign to Move Oakland Raiders to Sin City; Fertittas Making Slick Moves to Liquidate Assets for NFL Team Purchase <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
By: Rich Bergeron<br />
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As a passionate NFL fan who happens to also have unique insight into the number one mixed martial arts organization on the planet, I'd like this article serve as a formal warning to the National Football League...<br />
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The Fertittas owning the Oakland Raiders or having anything to do with that storied franchise, or any other NFL team with such a solid football history will forever taint your organization. To put it bluntly: the brothers Fertitta are bad news, period.<br />
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It is a wonder to me that the Fertitta brothers (now through Red Rock Resorts) can still legally hold and profit off a gaming license in the state of Nevada in light of their own <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20121018190622/http:/bleacherreport.com/articles/119377-the-real-story-behind-the-ufcs-royal-family">HISTORY</a>. Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta III are not now, and they never will be... real "team" players. Here are three reasons why:<br />
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1.) They are always paying themselves first in every business deal they design, and they will do whatever it takes to create vast wealth off of shady and ruthless business practices. <br />
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2.) They have a documented history of abusing the bankruptcy courts to benefit themselves off the backs of hundreds of innocent investors.<br />
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3.) The Fertitta ownership of the UFC is a prime example of why they would be the worst possible owners of an NFL team the league could even imagine. UFC fighters are often saddled with egregious contracts that are riddled with complicated performance clauses and other nuances that make it very difficult for them to maximize their earning potential. <br />
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These slick Vegas casino baron brothers might be <a href="http://www.silverandblackpride.com/2016/7/7/12125670/new-stadium-site-becomes-leading-site-for-possible-raiders-stadium">making stadium plans</a> after collecting a boatload of liquid assets through their <a href="http://writingfortruth.blogspot.com/2016/02/ip-no-station-casinos-aka-red-rock.html">IPO of Station Casinos</a>, but they are far from suitable owners for a major sports franchise in the NFL.<br />
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In their case, NFL ought to stand for "<b><u>No Frank and Lorenzo</u></b>."<br />
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The Oakland Raiders would be a great fit in Las Vegas, don't get me wrong. I'd love to see that city with an official NFL team, and it would generate local and international interest. I lived in Las Vegas for about two years (thanks in part to the Fertittas and their lawyers), and the city needs something like a big NFL stadium to stimulate the local economy and bring a different demographic to the area to enjoy something other than gambling and showgirls.<br />
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The main problem here with the proposed move is the movers. There are plenty of other fair players and sports enthusiasts based in Las Vegas who would be better ambassadors for the sport of football. NFL officials, please beware of these evil-minded brothers who wield an iron fist over the sport of mixed martial arts as it is. Even if they divest themselves from their casinos and the UFC, bringing them onboard the big NFL ownership bus means bringing their whole ugly past with them. It sends a bad message to honest people everywhere...nice guys finish last and greed is great.<br />
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The prior business moves and absolute disregard for the people they built their fortunes off the backs of is proof enough of the Fertitta brothers being unfit for NFL ownership. If there is any way to prevent any sale of an NFL team to this brotherhood, NFL officials should take that course of action and seek other investors who are unrelated to the Fertittas and their ugly shadow cast by a history of family corruption and financial scheming. The Oakland Raiders may need a figurative Hail Mary to stay alive in the league, but involving the Fertittas in their franchise as financial backers is like inviting the devil himself to be part of the ownership group. The Oakland Raiders can choose from a multitude of "lesser evils" in Sin City to build the franchise on a new frontier.<br />
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As an NFL fan who appreciates the growth of the sport amidst so many challenges like the concussion situation and the criminal tendencies exhibited by so many players in the league, I look at Fertitta ownership of an NFL team as a stain on the sport it will never be able to erase. I consider Fertitta ownership of an NFL team to be a crime against the sport itself.<br />
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I sincerely hope the National Football League engages in a due dilligence investigation into the past business dealings of the Fertitta Brothers before they hand Lorenzo and Frank the keys to Raiders Kingdom. Their civil litigation history alone is enough to raise plenty of concerns as to their ability to fairly manage such an undertaking without resorting to their familiar MO of scheming and scamming to line their own pockets. The NFL is rife with enough scandal without the shade these two brothers bring to the collective bargaining table.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907323057885195099.post-57862527152675893992016-02-26T22:28:00.000-08:002020-04-23T11:21:05.601-07:00IP NO: Station Casinos, AKA Red Rock Resorts (RRR) Not Worth The Investment<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
By: Rich Bergeron<br />
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<b><u>LOOKING OUT FOR NUMBER ONE</u></b><br />
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Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta were set to make out like bandits, raiding their cash cow corporation once again for a massive amount of funds with a single scheme. The "Red Rock Resorts" IPO was the talk of <a href="http://www.reviewjournal.com/business/casinos-gaming/station-casinos-announces-plans-initial-public-offering" target="_blank">the town</a> and <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-27/fertitta-brothers-said-to-weigh-share-sale-for-station-casinos" target="_blank">Wall Street</a> for a little while, but the brothers <a href="http://www.mmamania.com/2016/1/29/10868848/ipo-on-hold-as-ufc-executives-lorenzo-frank-fertitta-await-hefty-460-million-payday-mma" target="_blank">pulled back at the last second</a> after feeling the shellshock of heavy market losses in late January.<br />
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Anyone who might be thinking about investing in this latest Fertitta financial scheme should also pull back.<br />
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This IPO debacle is par for <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20121018190622/http:/bleacherreport.com/articles/119377-the-real-story-behind-the-ufcs-royal-family" target="_blank">the Fertitta course</a>. If you know the real history of the Fertitta family, you know these folks are the type of people who ruthlessly screw over other people to make all their money. From the card tables to the boardroom, the Fertitta brothers have a knack for separating honest people from their savings and fortunes.<br />
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The only "offering" the public really gets in buying Red Rock Resorts stock is an offer to help the Fertitta brothers set themselves and their kids up with more voluminous, ridiculous, ludicrous wealth. And at the end of the day, the Fertittas will still run the whole Station Casinos show. And when the Fertittas run the show, history proves that they <b><i><u>always</u></i></b> pay themselves first.<br />
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According to <a href="http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2016/1/19/10789200/frank-lorenzo-fertitta-take-red-rock-resorts-public-ipo-ufc-news">BloodyElbow.com</a>, the main beneficiaries of a Red Rock Resorts IPO would be two generations of the Fertitta family:<br />
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<b><i>"...<span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: "mercury ssm a" , "mercury ssm b" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">all net proceeds will go towards reorganizing the corporate structure, including an acquisition of Fertitta Entertainment LLC. It's expected that Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta will each take home $112.5 million while trusts for their six children will receive $53 million. Additional stock sales included in the IPO could net the brothers even more."</span></i></b><br />
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Obviously, I have my own reasons for not trusting the Fertittas. They spent an awful lot of money on lawyers trying to prove they had nothing to do with <a href="http://www.unlimitedfightnews.com/xyiencewow.htm">the bogus $25 million suit against me</a> that I successfully defeated over the course of six years of representing myself in their home courts. Yet, at the same time, the injunctions secured against me prevented me from writing the truth at the beginning of that case. That <a href="http://www.fightopinion.com/2009/12/30/scandals-in-mma-and-dont-forget-about-xyience/">allowed the Fertittas to take Xyience out from under all the honest investors in the company who thought the Fertittas would help the company and set them all up for life once the long-awaited Xyience IPO came around</a>.<br />
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Instead of the Fertittas doing the right thing, they used fall guys to take care of themselves and stole Xyience with what the bankruptcy trustee called a "loan to own" scheme. The casino barons simply pumped a little money into their shady acquisition, sat on their stolen nest egg for a few years, and <a href="http://www.bevnet.com/news/2014/big-red-acquires-xyience">sold the whole operation off to a Texas company for way more than it was worth</a>.<br />
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<b><u>BUYER BEWARE</u></b><br />
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Wall Street regulators and speculators would also be naive to forget that Station Casinos went public before, only to find a way to allegedly underbid shareholders in reclaiming the brand as a private corporation a few years later. This is not to mention all the other small maneuvers and manipulations pulled off by these casino barons to line their own pockets and take care of their friends and family.<br />
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Dig just beneath the surface of the amusement park the Fertittas built over the bodies of their financial kills, and you will find enough skeletons to fill a cemetery. Rather than physical bodies that an "old school" mobster might leave, these new school gangsters leave broken hopes and dreams, other people paying their tabs and countless fighters on the UFC roster who are constantly and consistently underpaid and under-appreciated if they fail to "put on a show." Even banks end up feeling screwed over after agreeing to do business with these brothers and their associates.<br />
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The Fertittas and Station Casinos have a lengthy history of being involved in deals that allegedly favor them (and their friends and relatives) only to degrade and devalue their distant or direct partners at the same time. To call them duplicitous is too nice in this context, and to call them devious is also too much of a compliment. Yet, throughout the patterns of their business transactions, they seem to leave a ton of people on the other end feeling cheated, right down to the casino patrons who get comped by management just so they can lose their life savings trying to win back what's already lost. "The house always wins" is a concept that is well known and fabulously executed in the Fertitta family business acumen. Just take a gander at their litigation history:<br />
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<a href="http://lasvegassun.com/news/2003/jul/01/station-faces-lawsuit-over-sale/">Lawsuit over 2001 "sweetheart deal"</a> (Station Casinos made $1.7 million on sale to former executive and family friend Blake Sartini):<br />
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<i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: 14.4px; line-height: 20.16px;">"Station Casinos failed to negotiate the sale of Southwest Gaming to [Blake] Sartini at arm's length, according to the suit. The company also failed to appoint a committee of independent directors to negotiate the deal or retain a financial valuation expert to determine whether the terms of the sale were fair to the company, the suit said. The board also failed to seek independent, third-party bidders for Southwest Gaming or otherwise shop around the company for the highest possible price, it said."</span> </i><br />
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Back in 1998, <a href="http://lasvegassun.com/news/1998/aug/20/shareholder-sues-station-casinos-over-merger-break/">investors accused Station Casinos principals of wasting company assets</a> by paying a $54 million "breakup fee" to Crescent Real Estate Equities. Crescent, owned by billionaire Richard Rainwater, initially agreed to pay $1.7 billion to acquire the locals casino chain, but the deal went sour. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1998/08/08/business/company-news-crescent-real-estate-halts-station-casinos-bid.html">The resulting fallout culminated with a federal lawsuit</a>. Instead of getting roughly $18 per share in a buyout by Crescent, Station Casinos investors obviously felt shafted in having to foot the bill for another Fertitta family financial flop.<br />
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Station Casinos ended their first stint as a publicly traded company with a $5.77 billion buyout in 2007, <a href="http://unlimitedfightnews.com/wordpress/fertitta-enterprises-the-fertitta-brothers-pride-zuffa-and-xyience-inside-the-pattern-of-fraud/">which resulted in another slew of investor lawsuits</a>. A few years, and around $6.5 billion in debt accumulation followed before the Fertittas put the chain through <a href="http://www.workerstation.org/files/StationBankruptcyReport_FINAL.pdf">a very favorable bankruptcy process</a>. As Donald Trump admitted to doing during his recent presidential run, the Fertittas "took advantage of the laws" in buying the bulk of the company's assets back on the other side of the bankruptcy (with the help of Deutsche Bank) for pennies on the dollar (<a href="http://www.reviewjournal.com/business/fertittas-bid-seen-highest-station-casinos">$772 million</a>).<br />
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The bankruptcy process victimized a long list of people (<a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/investigations/headlines/20120512-texas-teachers-pension-fund-invests-in-casinos-loses-99-million.ece?nclick_check=1">including a Texas Teachers' Pension Fund</a>) who put money on the prospect of the Fertitta brothers building the brand into a bigger entity than their founding father Frank Junior could have ever imagined. Bondholders left in the cold by the massive bankruptcy filing sued, looking back at that 2007 leveraged buyout as the beginning of the end for the company. They filed their claims before the bankruptcy became imminent:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: 14.4px; line-height: 20.16px;"><a href="http://lasvegassun.com/news/2009/feb/13/station-casinos-sued-over-reorganization-plan/">"The ... defendants are not acting gentlemanly,’’ the lawsuit charges. The suit alleges: "The exchange offers unfairly, disloyally and without bondholders’ consent, deny plaintiff and the entire class of similarly situated bondholders the ability to take advantage of the bond tender offers. Plaintiffs’ bond holdings will be subordinated to the newly issued bonds and, as a result, will likely be rendered worthless as the specter of Station Casinos’ insolvency approaches.’’</a></span><br />
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According to bankruptcy paperwork, the bondholders also made serious accusations that the Fertittas and their partners engaged in insider dealing with the buyout in 2007:<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: 16px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: 16px;"><a href="http://www.reviewjournal.com/business/bondholders-object-motions">The buyout cost Station Casinos $4.17 billion in costs to purchase stock and incur new debt of $1.6 billion.</a></span><br />
<a href="http://www.reviewjournal.com/business/bondholders-object-motions"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: 16px;">The filing says the buyout provided approximately $500 million in payments for insiders, nearly $300 million of which went to the Fertittas, including Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Frank Fertitta III and brother and Vice Chairman Lorenzo Fertitta. The insiders' ownership stake rose to 25 percent.</span> </a><br />
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The Xyience bankruptcy suspiciously went down under "Fertitta Enterprises" ownership just before Station Casinos officially declared bankruptcy. It appeared like the Fertittas were testing the waters by casually steering a canoe down the bankruptcy river first, waving on the giant paddleboat to follow.<br />
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At some point it seems like this family figured out that making money off their various schemes required having really great lawyers on hand to fight inevitable lawsuits, get around business and financing laws, and avoid the loss of their gaming licenses. After all, associations with criminals or criminal enterprises are supposed to disqualify certain individuals from even being involved in gaming:<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">Nevada Revised Statutes NRS463.0129 state: “The continued growth and success of gaming is dependent upon public confidence and trust…that gaming is free from criminal and corruptive elements.”</span><br />
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It's hard to believe these brothers could ever be involved in gaming when you consider their involvement in the USA Capital scandal. The former President and COO of that company earned <a href="http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/apr/09/ex-usa-capital-exec-gets-12-years-must-repay-869-m/">a 12-year prison sentence</a> for fraud perpetrated there. Some of that fraudulent activity allowed the Fertittas to benefit directly through shady loan schemes providing millions in capital to Fertitta Enterprises. Fertitta Enterprises GM Bill Bullard was a gung-ho, pit-boss-type of mover and shaker for USA Capital before Joseph Milanowski's fraud brought the company crashing down. </div>
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<a href="http://www.reviewjournal.com/business/usa-capital-investors-blame-courts">According to the Las Vegas Review Journal:</a> "The Fertitta family, founder of Station Casinos in Las Vegas, had $17 million invested in USA Capital and got it all back when one of their attorneys was on the oversight committee...The attorney then resigned from the committee." One scheme Bullard orchestrated prompted lawyers to draw up a diagram to explain it:</div>
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<img border="0" height="379" src="https://www.wehatelocals.info/diagramoffraud.gif" width="650" /></div>
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Bullard was even audacious enough to address company investors and tell them: "The longer this thing goes on (in bankruptcy court), the more the attorneys are going to get paid." </div>
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<br /></div>
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Deutsche Bank, one of the main partners in the current Station Casinos conglomerate, is also facing recent scrutiny for alleged illegal dealings. The bank agreed last year to pay more than $2 billion in penalties to US and British authorities after admitting to rigging global interest rates. Deutsche Bank is also the subject of two ongoing criminal investigations in the United States. The bank is also facing allegations of supporting the money laundering activities of Russian clients.</div>
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On top of all this, the Fertittas willfully supported the violation of federal gaming laws by allowing "Full Tilt Poker" to advertise in association with UFC events. These in-cage and on-screen plugs obviously sent more customers to a Web-site that was not only shut down for operating illegally in the United States, but it was also later <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2012/07/02/news/companies/poker-ponzi/">determined to be a Ponzi Scheme</a>. The Fertittas, who also pursued online gambling through legal channels in the wake of the poker site crackdown, obviously should have known Full Tilt was always operating outside of federal gambling laws. Ray Bitar, one of the founders of Full Tilt Poker, struck a deal on various charges in 2013 that included bank fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling. Station Casinos principals and a few of their associates launched "Ultimate Poker" the same year Bitar made that last deal. </div>
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The arrest of Bitar in 2011 also came at a time when the UFC was working on a deal to double down on their sponsorship arrangement with Full Tilt Poker. <a href="http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2011/4/19/2120213/ufc-sponsorship-deal-with-full-tilt-poker-nixed-by-government-seizure">Reports in the wake of the Full Tilt bust</a> additionally indicated that Station Casinos had their own plans to unite with Full Tilt in anticipation of favorable federal regulation regarding online gaming. Instead, Station Casinos tried <b><i>and failed</i></b> to do it themselves with <a href="http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2011/4/19/2120213/ufc-sponsorship-deal-with-full-tilt-poker-nixed-by-government-seizure">Ultimate Poker</a>. Even as the first and only operator in the niche for a short while, the profits made by Ultimate Poker were scarce, especially since only Nevada residents could legally use the site. </div>
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During the Xyience debacle, the Fertittas also had <a href="http://unlimitedfightnews.com/wordpress/access-denied-fertitta-friendly-global-cash-access-may-lose-arizona-license/">peculiar connections</a> to people disgraced by <a href="http://lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jun/22/casino-vendor-faces-legal-trouble-arizona/">a scandal at Global Cash Access</a>. One of the GCA flunkies, Kirk Sanford, ended up being the co-CEO of Xyience during a time when the company's collapse was inevitable. I had a meeting with Sanford and the other co-CEO Adam Frank before <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC_78">UFC 78: Validation</a> in Newark, New Jersey. The two executives authorized full payment for my trip from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to meet with them and talk about the future in New York City just before the event in November of 2007. </div>
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During that fateful sit-down, Sanford consistently maintained that the plan for Xyience was to go "scorched earth" on the investors. He also indicated this was the direction the Fertittas wanted to go with the situation. Throughout the holiday season that year, the supplement company that helped put the UFC on the map laid off multiple employees on the way to a particularly ugly bankruptcy, which was purposely <a href="http://lasvegassun.com/news/2009/dec/31/trustee-files-complaint-xyience-energy-drink-bankr/">orchestrated by the principals at Fertitta Enterprises</a>. </div>
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<b><u><br /></u></b></div>
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<b><u>THE STATION CASINOS AND UFC UNION FIGHT</u></b></div>
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<br /></div>
The Culinary Union in Las Vegas managed to emerge in recent years as particularly sharp thorns in the side of the Fertittas, thanks in part to their wing of researchers and writers outlining the shady history and <a href="http://www.dbriskalert.org/wp-content/uploads/DBRA-Report-1_It-Happened-In-Las-Vegas.pdf">strange bedfellows</a> associated with Station Casinos. The union also famously contacted performers scheduled to come to Red Rock Casinos and discouraged them from doing so, among many other public protests and stunts. Now, the union is even <a href="http://www.rrripodissected.org/">trying to shut down the latest Station Casinos IPO attempt</a>.<br />
<br />
Their tactics of relentless and expensive campaigns to degrade the opposition begs the question: why would you want to work--even under favorable union conditions--for such underhanded individuals and their manipulative, wheel-greasing friends? I imagine the answer is the same one given by Willie Sutton when someone asked him why he robbed banks: "Because that's where the money is." UFC President Dana White responded to union attacks once by claiming the Station Casinos union deal would represent a $10 million per-year benefit for the culinary union itself.<br />
<br />
I even wrote an article myself at one point wondering aloud why the union would squawk so much about <a href="http://mmapayout.com/2012/02/culinary-workers-union-local-226-calls-on-nsac-to-adopt-mma-bill-of-rights/">the rights of UFC fighters</a> if they weren't doing anything to actually create a fighters' union. Though some recent <a href="http://www.mmamania.com/2015/9/25/9400091/judge-rules-antitrust-lawsuit-against-ufc-can-proceed-after-denying">anti-trust suits against the UFC</a> are working their way through the courts, these are being brought by fighters on the roster. The Culinary attacks on the UFC came out of left field in the context of what they were trying to do with organizing Station Casinos. <a href="http://www.rantsports.com/mma/2013/08/17/big-labor-vs-the-baldfather-culinary-ufc-fight-is-an-mma-soap-opera/">My article</a> basically asked the union bosses to put up or shut up in a little more nuanced terms. Much to my surprise, the union <a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/news/teamsters-culinary-union-announce-effort-unionize-ufc-fighters-192619735--mma.html">did make a play to attract interest in the fighter union concept last year</a>, but not much has been done since then to make the dream a reality beyond a Web-site with no recent updates:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.fightersagenda.org/p/about.html"><img alt="Fighters Agenda" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB_9Fn04GHFIivkd2NvcrDO-eQyr5q2IfZr4pQ3gXip5wcq7oCu5f_IX_5yDqHKrDVIV9gkg8MEjZcJxfZleLY45De3AVb2IuVu2_x5nM_mLHFmE_aujbnFAAhtdnWLA0e-OM8BIR1zZIf/s640/TFA_Logo-01+%2528no+white+space%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
The way the UFC brass treats some fighters and the poor pay rate prospects earn leaves too many competitors paying out of their own pockets to compete as professionals. Bills and expenses can bleed a fighter dry of any potential profits, and the lifelong negative effects of the injuries and stress of intense training and physical combat can be debilitating after retirement. The message sent by the UFC to many of their most hard-working young fighters is callous: working hard at your craft is worthless to your bosses if you can't entertain the fans when you step into the cage at an official UFC event. In the old school days of the Wild West, this mentality is the equivalent of the villain making his victim dance by shooting bullets at his feet. It was put on a show or die back then, and it's put on a show or forget about making a decent living now.<br />
<b><u><br /></u></b>
<b><u>DON'T BUY IT!</u></b><br />
<br />
The Fertittas have become exceedingly talented when it comes to putting on a "show" of their own. They pretend to be honest, upstanding citizens in the public eye while behind the scenes they keep ruining lives as a means of lining their own pockets. <a href="http://www.nasdaq.com/markets/ipos/company/red-rock-resorts-inc-977107-79572">The Red Rock Resorts IPO</a> is yet another example of the Fertitta family making it look like they want to help other people make money when it's really their own bottom line they are ultimately and primarily concerned about.<br />
<br />
As long as this family is involved as managing partners of <a href="http://seekingalpha.com/news/3134586-warning-issued-red-rock-resorts-ipo">this proposed RRR stock</a>, they are free to execute the same scams and schemes they've used in the past to unjustly enrich themselves. My guess, based on years of investigation into Fertitta dealings, is that this family will make sure in the end that they will collect the highest dividends, even if the stock itself ends up being worth less than the paper it's printed on. That's how they roll, and the evidence and history doesn't lie.<br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907323057885195099.post-67447186713478942572015-04-15T20:55:00.000-07:002019-04-01T20:18:18.632-07:00Rich's New Book: Representing Yourself in Court<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The most affordable legal advice you can get is right here in this book. The Founder of this blog wrote this book to make it easier for folks to start with limited understanding of the law and overcome the incredible odds against succeeding as your own attorney in a court of law.</div>
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Rich takes readers through two of his most intriguing cases where lawyers were hired with the specific purpose of silencing his work. Rich fought back, and this book is the result of his difficult struggle as an investigative reporter constantly seeking the truth about serious subjects.</div>
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Rich used the strategies in this book to overcome a $25 million lawsuit against him and to help generate serious publicity for the case of Lucille Iacovelli.</div>
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For just $20, you can have your very own copy of Rich’s book and read all about his battles against biased judges, billionaire casino barons and a doctor bent on keeping his critics from using his name. Click the following link or the book jacket photo above to order now.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907323057885195099.post-8954777467140464922014-12-27T14:09:00.000-08:002014-12-27T14:57:15.279-08:00Class Action Lawsuits Against Zuffa Set the Stage For an Interesting New Year <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
By: Rich Bergeron<br />
<br />
Before you read this story, listen to Comedian Jim Gaffigan's take on legal documents for a good laugh: <br />
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<audio class="powerpress-mejs-audio" controls="controls" preload="none" src="http://media.kism.com/Comedian_Jim_Gaffigan_on_Legal_Documents.mp3">
</audio>
<br />
<br />
<br />
Recently-filed class action cases brought
by former and current UFC fighters against Zuffa, LLC are generating
controversy and discussion from all corners of the MMA media. The first
of these California-based cases hit the docket just as <a href="http://fightnewsunlimited.blogspot.com/2014/12/mixed-martial-arts-fighters-file-class.html" target="_blank">press releases went out to announce the filing</a>. There was also a full-blown press conference celebrating the start of this intriguing course of litigation against the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the undisputed world leader of the sport of mixed martial arts.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqpX_LhdPgJzt1AehaGPwTENSWkUf2MdkGgfFf5ID1c40MNBFJloJpb717YLluR5W9t9Vdlhrrpsu6QKvWYw9SIilXoPPvi0wM9b4zwjYoLqgDbzaplJcrizCBnx0beZbqDmFoIt5Ucqc/s1600/fitchlequarry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqpX_LhdPgJzt1AehaGPwTENSWkUf2MdkGgfFf5ID1c40MNBFJloJpb717YLluR5W9t9Vdlhrrpsu6QKvWYw9SIilXoPPvi0wM9b4zwjYoLqgDbzaplJcrizCBnx0beZbqDmFoIt5Ucqc/s1600/fitchlequarry.jpg" height="314" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
At
first, Cung Le, Jon Fitch, and Nate Quarry (L-R above) were the three faces of the
legal action. Another filing naming plaintiffs Javier Vasquez and Dennis
Hallman hit the California docket Tuesday with language that is <a href="http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2014/12/23/7436881/two-more-fighters-are-suing-the-ufc" target="_blank">reportedly nearly identical to the other case</a>. A third filing appeared on Christmas Eve, another lump of coal in Zuffa's stocking. This time it was <a href="http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2014/12/24/7448055/brandon-vera-and-pablo-garza-file-third-class-action-suit-on">Pablo Garza and Brian Vera as plaintiffs</a>. Duplication of proceedings can be a nice way of forcing the other side to spend more money than usual defending the first salvo. If there is good reason for the cases to go on separately without quick consolidation, it will be three times the hearings the opposing lawyers need to attend, three times the paperwork, and three times the aggravation. <br />
<br />
An initial statement from the UFC indicated that they had not even been served the
documents yet after the first round of stories emerged on the subject. Lawsuits traditionally begin with prompt service of
documents, which involves someone called a process server, or in some
cases a deputy sheriff or even a U.S. Marshall actually handing the
lawsuit documents to the company representative. This is serious legal
business, since you can't win if the opposition isn't even aware you're
suing them. Some defendants try to play games to refuse or avoid
service, but once they are served, the case is official. If the UFC
persists in saying they have not seen the documents, the plaintiffs can
also argue that service is already accomplished through publication,
which is sometimes a last resort.<br />
<br />
Examining the crux of
the legal arguments in the initial filing, I can only conclude that the
case makes a ton of legal sense to me. I would even say it does not go
far enough. As a person who can say I've done legal battle with the
attorneys for Fertitta Enterprises (a holdings and investment company
owned by the same Fertitta family that owns the UFC), I'm also convinced
the UFC's parent company will attack this with a relentless army of
specialized attorneys. They won't be the ones who charge $500 an hour
that Gaffigan mentions above. Some of them will charge much more than
that for a phone call or a short consultation. The Fertitta-owned
Station Casinos chain paid some of their bankruptcy lawyers as much as
$900 per hour or more to carry that case through the court process.<br />
<br />
These firms backing these fighters will have to be ready for all out war, and in many ways it was a crafty and cunning move to <a href="http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2014/12/13/7387889/fighters-to-sue-ufc-for-100s-of-millions-in-class-action" target="_blank">publicize this effort before it even became an official legal action</a>.
It also makes sense to duplicate the proceedings on the off chance that
the cases end up before two, three, or even dozens of different judges as multiple stand-alone
litigation streams instead of being consolidated at some point. Legal
battles often hinge on the paperwork, and well-heeled firms aren't
afraid to kill a few trees to overwhelm their opponents with copious
amounts of reading material. Responses to everything in all cases would also have to be filed, each of those detailed legal documents requiring different content and unique defenses. It's actually more like what Zuffa does when pursuing their own worst enemies in the courts. They are used to being the big bully who always gets what he wants. This time, they might be facing an army of Davids against one Goliath.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, much of
the mainstream combat sports media wants to remain in the UFC's good
graces and will not publish a crooked word about the company. Most of
the "news" sites that support the UFC no matter what will dismiss these
legal proceedings as worthless and hopeless. That's really too bad,
since the UFC's objectionable and corrupt business practices are laid
bare in
these legal documents. If you really count yourself as a fan or
supporter of this promotion you should read this whole case despite the
difficulty of the language and the dozens of pages involved. To access
the full case document from the opening action, <a href="http://www.cohenmilstein.com/media/pnc/5/media.1675.pdf" target="_blank">click here</a>. <br />
<br />
Trying as hard as I can to look at this case objectively, I do have some important questions to raise.<br />
<br />
The
first question is where are the financial figures coming from in these
documents? There are claims like, "On information and belief, UFC
Fighters are paid approximately 10-17% of total UFC revenues generated
from bouts." Yet, there is no exhibit or affidavit this statement points
to for proof. This is not to say I do not believe this could be
possible. I just want to see where these financial estimations are
coming from.<br />
<br />
The second major question is why are these
lawyers only pursuing this action on behalf of such a narrow group of
the larger spectrum of victims that their described monopsony/monopoly
scheme impacts? The reality of conditions exposed in these documents
cries out for other promotions, individual promoters, managers, agents,
burned sponsors, trainers and other supporting staff to be included as
plaintiffs. Perhaps I should just wait and see on this front. These firms filed three detailed lawsuits in a single week, so by next month there could be dozens. Like Gremlins, these furry little legal creatures could multiply and turn into monsters.<br />
<br />
Finally, what is the average fighter's
costs for a year of full time training? There ought to be a reflection
of this somewhere in this suit. I would love to see a poll of UFC
fighters asking this question. Also, what is the average yearly income
of a mid-level UFC fighter, and what percentage does he or she keep
after taxes and expenses? Some of this information could come out of the
discovery process if the case goes that far. A Median Income Level would be an excellent baseline for these attorneys to show that the fighters were not getting their just due out of this raw deal they had to make with the UFC in order to compete at the "elite" level of the sport.<br />
<br />
I am certain there are still fighters out there who literally wind up in the negative after each fight with their purses and bonuses going directly to paying off expenses. Travel and lodging, passports, training staff, management, medicals, and the countless other costs associated with a typical training camp can bring a fighter from $60,000 to zero in a heartbeat. I think this is the harshest reality that will be exposed in these litigation streams. Yes, the UFC has medical insurance, but fighters bear the costs of medical testing required for every fight. To get to the level where you are attracting huge show, win and bonus purses, you need to treat mixed martial arts training like a full time job. Fighters don't just drop out of the womb as seasoned experts at every discipline. It takes dedication, heart, patience, and in many cases copious amounts of money to get you and your entourage to the promised land. Sponsors can only chip in so much after they pay the UFC just for the privilege to be associated with you. Purses can dissolve before the fighter sees a penny. <br />
<br />
This case tackles a plethora of actions the UFC took to lock down the MMA marketplace as the dominant, controlling force. The <a href="http://unlimitedfightnews.com/wordpress/ftc-investigation-of-ufc-is-no-rumor/" target="_blank">Federal Trade Commission investigated many of the same circumstances</a>
and found no evidence that would lead to any formal action. The fact
that the FTC was even looking into the fight promotion at all was
headline news, but their lack of action made the UFC look as if it was
vindicated of all monopoly and monospony claims. The reality is there
are just too many obstacles to a government entity bringing such an
action against such <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuffa">well-funded and well-positioned</a> opponents. These agencies
have to deal with red tape, politics, and influence peddling on top of
trying to build a rock solid case while fighting against highly skilled
corporate attorneys. It doesn't help that the Abu Dhabi government is in bed with the promotion by way of their 10 percent ownership of the UFC through Flash Entertainment. Talk about an unbreakable piggy bank!<br />
<br />
The Fertittas are notorious wheel
greasers, and they promote and support powerful politicians like Harry
Reid with frequent <a href="http://littlesis.org/relationship/view/id/290539">donations</a> and endorsements that Reid <a href="http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/mma/post/2010/07/senates-reid-backs-ufc-push-in-new-york/1">repays when he can</a>. They are also
traditionally very supportive of the Republican Party. Just because all <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20121018190622/http:/bleacherreport.com/articles/119377-the-real-story-behind-the-ufcs-royal-family" target="_blank">their direct Mafia ties</a>
are long gone does not mean they forgot the art of maintaining
"connected" status. This is why the FTC's refusal to bring charges does
not really mean there was nothing concrete behind their concerns. The
Fertittas are also responsible for a large chunk of taxes paid in the
state of Nevada and California, and wherever else they do business
across the country. Being an average Joe taxpayer isn't going to get you
out of many major jams, but things change when you pay the kind of epic
tax bills the Fertittas foot every year. <br />
<br />
At the same
time, a civil law firm does not have the same constraints to worry
about. They're not playing with taxpayer money. They listen to their
clients, not constituents or powerful politicians. They don't have to
fear a backlash. Still, the court system can also be influenced through
political channels. It's an uphill battle either way. So, even when
there's plenty of smoke, there's no guarantee any of it will catch fire
unless conditions are absolutely perfect. This may just be that time
when the blaze finally erupts, but I would be more inclined to expect a
quiet settlement once the first flicker of flame becomes visible here. <br />
<br />
Reading
this suit reminded me of so many cases of fighter favoritism, payment
complaints, and the UFC's many moves made to squash the competition. I
am reminded first of the IFL's demise and their longtime feud with the
UFC. The creators of the IFL allegedly took the UFC's proprietary
information when they left the company's employ to start their new
team-based fight league. The resulting lawsuit revealed that Dana White
personally threatened company employees at the time with termination if
they did not all immediately sign a formal non-compete agreement. <br />
<br />
I
also served as an informal consultant to one of the lawyers handling
the PRIDE suit against the UFC after promises to keep the top-tier MMA
promotion viable were quickly broken. The money to purchase PRIDE
actually came from something called a "senior secured credit facility"
that is due next year. This complex loan and credit package totaled
around $400 million, and even Billionaire Mark Cuban invested in the
debt. This is ironic, especially since I actually received
correspondence from Cuban during the time when he was battling the UFC
in court to retain the services of Randy Couture in his own fledgling
fight league (HDNet Fights) that never quite got off the ground. Cuban
was trying to put together a Couture vs. Emelianenko fight, but the bout
fans were screaming for would never happen due to the whole ugly legal
debacle. <br />
<br />
Cuban told me in a personal email that he
was keeping an eye on my case against the Fertittas, and it came as a
bit of a shock. A true financial genius, he eventually figured out how
to make money off the UFC with or without Randy on his payroll. I later
questioned Cuban on the Fertittas owning Xyience, which at the same time
was sponsoring the UFC. Cuban wrote back and explained that there is
nothing inherently wrong with them doing that from a business ethics
standpoint and the arrangement was perfectly above board. Still, I
thought it was strange that the Fertittas seemed to go out of their way
to obscure their ownership of their own sponsor.<br />
<br />
The recent class action lawsuit takes time to further explain Couture's issues with the UFC,
including his refusal to sign over his lifetime rights. At the time
Couture took a stand against his former bosses, it was a move that was
unheard of. Most fighters knew if they wanted to get anywhere in the
industry, they had to maintain a friendly relationship with the UFC
bosses and toe the company line. Couture was one of the promotion's
success stories and could claim a healthy fan base and a huge part of
the UFC's history. He didn't want to short change his legacy and struggled with the UFC over their demand for lifetime rights and other concessions. The feud would grow to be a bitter one. It's actually still
simmering quietly in the wake of Couture being excluded from even being able to
corner his own son when Ryan Couture was a UFC fighter for a brief
stint.<br />
<br />
I <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk8LVMHbU8M">interviewed Ryan Couture personally in Las Vegas a few years ago</a>, and
he told me off camera that his father encouraged him to join Strikeforce
because, "The UFC likes to keep you under their thumb." The UFC's buyout of Strikeforce eventually led to Ryan having to take the best offer that came along, which happened to be the UFC's. Losses to Ross Pearson and Al Iaquinta were enough to force the organization to part ways with Ryan, and he now fights for Bellator.<br />
<br />
So,
I have intimate knowledge of how this climate of dominance developed
and how fighters have been conditioned to think that you can't fight the
UFC, even if you have a legitimate beef. UFC fighters are taught from
their earliest involvement with the company that you're better off being
blindly loyal, staying perpetually quiet about any grievances you might
harbor. Typically, fighters who do speak out are those who are above
reprisal (i.e. <a href="http://jose%20aldo/" target="_blank">Jose Aldo</a> or <a href="http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1953542-jon-jones-doesnt-see-eye-to-eye-with-the-ufc-and-that-may-cost-them-dearly" target="_blank">Jon Jone</a>s) or obscure enough to dismiss as disgruntled nuts (i.e. <a href="http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2013/5/23/4359046/john-cholish-jacob-volkman-ufc-vets-fighter-pay" target="_blank">Jacob Volkmann and John Cholish</a>).
The bulk of the UFC masses want to remain employed and on the rise,
hoping for brighter days and bigger paychecks. Criticizing the company
leadership is a great way to earn a demotion or guarantee that you'll
never get a fight bonus again.<br />
<br />
The case also highlights Quinton "Rampage" Jackson's past run-ins with the promotion <a href="http://www.foxsports.com/ufc/story/quinton-rampage-jackson-i-have-fight-in-me-122014" target="_blank">he just recently re-joined</a>
after referring to his old bosses as "the devil you know" in a Twitter
post. The complaint, which Jackson is not a party to but could still
actually benefit from, describes how Jackson secured individual deals
with a figurine company called Round 5 and sneaker giant Reebok before
the UFC moved in and blocked these moves in favor of arranging their own
longtime agreements with these companies.<br />
<br />
Jackson and
Tito Ortiz both departed the UFC for Bellator amid very public
disputes regarding how their careers progressed under their UFC
contracts. They both once had plenty to say about how much they were
mistreated, but now they are singing what sounds like the same tune and
avoiding run ins with this all-powerful force in the industry. Business
is business, explains Jackson. <a href="http://mmajunkie.com/2014/12/ex-champ-tito-ortiz-was-approached-to-participate-in-ufc-class-action-suit-and-declined" target="_blank">Ortiz officially turned down the opportunity to join this round of lawsuits</a>,
citing his ongoing responsibilities as a manager and agent for
fighters. In other words, he doesn't want to burn down the bridge he
just began to rebuild after burning down the first one.<br />
<br />
The
basic gist behind Ortiz's motivation for opting out of the court battle
is actually explained on page 47-48 of the initial complaint by Le,
Quarry and Fitch:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i> "Professional
MMA Fighters who compete at the highest level of the sport cannot 'opt
out' of UFC because the UFC’s anticompetitive conduct has made it
impossible to maintain a successful MMA fighting career outside of the
UFC."</i></blockquote>
<br />
So, if that statement is indeed
correct, it's highly likely that Ortiz will bite his tongue and wind up
following Jackson back to the UFC in the near future. Still, where some
fighters are convinced the UFC will have their backs in the long run,
others are buoyed by the suit and want in. One such fighter is <a href="http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2014/12/15/7393151/former-champ-sean-sherk-wants-in-on-lawsuit-against-ufc" target="_blank">Sean Sherk</a>,
who retired with a 36-4-1 record that included a long stint in the UFC.
Like many fighters who are no longer in the inner circle of the company
as fighting superstars or honorary executives, Sherk can't help but
look back and feel cheated. What he put in seems to be exponentially
greater than what he was able to reap in return as far as purses,
profits and residual income. Sherk is the first fighter I've heard of
supporting this case who actually owned a UFC belt at one time, so if he
gets formally involved it will certainly be monumental.<br />
<br />
Though
many experts might think most current UFC fighters will refuse to sign
up as plaintiffs for fear of reprisals or retaliation, it might also be
hard for some to explain why they signed a petition that was reportedly
circulated to UFC fighters in 2012 (<a href="https://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/CGh4_B78rVj2kpy20jsIQ2qNGqQ=/600x0/filters:no_upscale%28%29/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/2690958/10801985_10152838371860831_8199213914825430518_n.0.jpg" target="_blank">as described by Pablo Garza</a>).
The petition reportedly asked fighters to confirm the promotion was not
a monopoly and that all its fighters were treated fairly. The
signatories of this petition might be used against the plaintiffs in
these class action cases as proof that the UFC is running a reputable
and upstanding operation with no hint of monopoly involved. <br />
<br />
The
reality is, there really are "company" fighters who get all the breaks
while their lesser or equal counterparts continue to get the short end
of the stick. This group of pampered active and retired insiders
includes Chuck Liddell, Dominic Cruz, Gilbert Melendez, Daniel Cormier,
Brian Stann, Dan Hardy and Kenny Florian (among others). Other than
Liddell, they all have lucrative television gigs. Liddell has
commercials instead with Duralast and Bud Light. I have never personally
heard any of these guys present an argument that the UFC is in any way
corrupt, greedy, or worthy of any significant criticism. You often find the same level of intense blind loyalty with whoever gets picked as a coach for The Ultimate Fighter. The lone exception may be Jason "Mayhem" Miller, who was hired more for comic relief than being a yes man. Sticking to the old company line is obviously being rewarded for most of the fighters who bite their tongues when it comes to lashing out against the company's management.<br />
<br />
Jon Jones and Ronda Rousey are stars who are really almost bigger than the promotion, but they still wind up being sponsored by who the company wants to highlight most. I suppose they are fighters who still get treated like they can do or say no wrong, but they still have to stand by the main causes the company champions. They are spokespeople by default, shilling whatever they have to in order to remain loyal to their bosses. Both <a href="https://m1.behance.net/rendition/modules/87215627/disp/e02f8b18a714ad6f31d8f242c9f17d25.jpg">Rousey</a> and <a href="http://heavyeditorial.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/xyience_jonjones.jpg">Jones</a> were sponsored by Xyience when the Fertittas owned it. Ronda is also the "prettiest" face involved in the UFC's frequently-airing commercials for a major cell phone network. Cain Velasquez is also featured in the same commercials. Jon Jones is also the first MMA athlete to sign on with DraftKings.Com as they assemble their very first Fantasy MMA offerings in time for his upcoming bout with Daniel Cormier. <br />
<br />
The
only hint of any major animosity shown toward the promotion by any of the
above-named "company" fighters in my recollection was when Brian Stann retired and
<a href="http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2014/4/21/5636470/ufc-brian-stann-drug-testing-policies-ped-reason-for-retirement-mma-news" target="_blank">cited concerns regarding PED usage in the sport</a>,
the same sentiment Longtime UFC Welterweight Champion George St. Pierre
pointed to as the main reason for his departure from the sport.<br />
<br />
Stann
also recently made a telling remark during last Saturday's UFC
broadcast. During one fight that didn't live up to expectations, Stann
stated that as a fighter, "You have to take risks if you want to make a
name for yourself in the UFC." If anyone should know, it's Stann.<br />
<br />
If you
end up washed up or not making enough money, so many fans and UFC
supporters (often called nuthuggers on MMA forums) will condemn you for
not trying hard enough. It's your fault, no matter what, even if you
spent half your own life savings trying to make it in the sport. Yet,
the UFC is not a powerhouse because it has only successful and dynamic
fighters. It takes some fighters who are not so dynamic and amazing to
actually show how good the best fighters really are. Having these
lower-tier fighters on board is essential, but their lack of
extraordinary talent also makes it easier for the UFC brass to abuse
these folks. The very design of the bonus system and the fighter pay
structure encourages fighters to take risks in every fight in order to
achieve success in the UFC. You can't just win by split decision on a
smart, boring strategy and expect to get all the spoils of fame and
fortune that fighters who always win by knockout get. It's no longer a
case of winning being enough. You also have to put on a show to get
anywhere in this organization. <br />
<br />
Even though he's not a
perfect poster child for fighters who did everything right and still
got shafted, Cody McKenzie's recent retirement is worth noting here. <a href="http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2304749-former-ufc-fighter-cody-mckenzie-retires-from-mma-cites-poor-pay-and-treatment" target="_blank">He
recently expressed some major issues he had with working for the UFC
and trying to survive on the outer fringes of the sport and failing</a>.
Though it would be easy to argue Cody and other complainers like the
Diaz brothers just don't work hard enough, you could also make the claim
that they were maybe convinced at some point along the line that working
harder just wouldn't matter. Some people just either don't have that
natural talent or simply have no chance of getting to the elite level of
the sport. The cards really are stacked against some fighters, even
though some of them possess all the talent in the world. <br />
<br />
Whatever
the reason a particular contender has for lacking supreme ass-kicking
ability, being a halfway decent fighter also takes a tremendous amount
of work and sacrifice in this sport. The effort put in by these less
than superior combatants in the UFC is just as tremendous at times as
those fighters who hold championship belts. Yet, the same effort rarely
earns the same return under the UFC umbrella. It's all about popularity,
positioning and performance in the UFC. You can't just work hard. You
also have to suck up to the brass, align yourself with the right people,
and just be a good soldier in general. Even if you get booted from the UFC at some
stage of your career, you still have to keep quiet about
your bad experiences if you ever want to make it back into the fold.<br />
<br />
The
UFC taught Cody McKenzie a hard life lesson. They basically told him to
"go fish," which is actually a career the Alaskan native would have been better off pursuing. After all, everything on the boat is
paid for. There's no on-the-job travel expenses, trainer and management fees, or
dependence on extra bonus money for superior performance. You show up,
you work hard, you get paid, and you go home if you don't wind up in the
hospital or on the bottom of the ocean due to some kind of tragic
accident.<br />
<br />
The Ultimate Fighting Championship has a
serious problem with the way they treat fighters, plain and simple. Does
this lawsuit do enough to put a stop to it? I doubt it, personally. I
envision this whole situation fading away quietly with each fighter
getting a few million and the lawyers getting all their fees paid. All
it will take is one or two bigger names coming out in support of or
actually joining one of these classes of plaintiffs. There will be a
point when the bad publicity and mounting sense of revolution will
become too much for the UFC brass to bear, and they will pay a
settlement. Nothing will actually change for the better in the long run
if that happens.<br />
<br />
For sweeping change to come out of any
of this litigation, it will have to go to trial. People will have to
testify, damning documents will have to be exposed in discovery, and
fighters will have to tell the sordid details of their awful personal
experiences with this all-powerful promoter for the record. No matter
how dedicated the plaintiffs and their attorneys are, I doubt
California's political climate and the possible favoritism of the
Fertittas due to their casino and property interests in the state will
allow this case to get to trial.<br />
<br />
So, it makes for a
good story and promotes healthy debate on the monopoly subject, but if
any changes do eventually come out of this court battle, it will take
years for them to take effect. The
worst case scenario would be a climate where the lawsuit is actually
killed before it gets off the ground, which is entirely possible if the
UFC has that much behind-the-scenes influence in California. <br />
<br />
Nevertheless,
this is a fantastic start in the quest to bring this organization to
task for the way their overbearing actions negatively impact the sport
of MMA as a whole. It is one thing to build something great while
focusing only on your own business model and building it up from the
initial concept into a worldwide force to be reckoned with. It is
something else entirely to focus on destroying and/or minimizing
everyone else in your niche to get to the top. Honesty is hardly ever
the best policy in our capitalist way of doing business, though.
Sometimes keeping secrets is actually crucial to a company's survival.<br />
<br />
Consider the case of a guy named <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Pavia" target="_blank">Ken Pavia</a> who used to be a big player in the MMA industry and is now a bit more removed from the sport. <a href="http://www.cagepotato.com/zuffa-sues-agent-ken-pavia-and-bellator-over-theft-trade-secrets/" target="_blank">Pavia shared some UFC contracts with Bellator and wound up on the business end of a Zuffa lawsuit against him</a>.
The debacle eventually led to Pavia leaving the country to work for an
overseas fight promotion. Pavia told me during this period that Dana
White personally threatened him over the situation, telling him that the
company would do everything in its power to get revenge. He even
claimed White told him he would not be happy until Pavia's fiance left
him and he committed suicide. A countersuit filed on behalf of Bellator
and Pavia helped initiate a settlement in the case that is not allowed
to be discussed by either party. So, now the outcome of a case about
company secrets is itself a company secret.<br />
<br />
The point
is, the UFC is constantly building up their power base, and they have
tremendous pull when it comes to making or breaking a fighter under
their employ. They can also make life difficult for anyone who may rely
on their support to do business in the industry.<br />
<br />
Often
the courtroom can be the last place to look for any semblance of real
justice, but the tide has to turn somewhere. Maybe it will turn here,
but my outlook on the situation is colored by skepticism and personal
experience with the type of lawyers the Fertittas hire and how they
operate. I'm more inclined to think more publication and less legalese
would be a better way to inspire change. A blockbuster documentary
exposing fighter complaints, maybe with a few blurred faces and
distorted voices, might go a lot further in blowing the lid off this
corruption.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, there's also a chance that
this behemoth is just too big already and nothing will be able to keep
it in line. As these class action cases outline, the UFC has been at
this monopoly building thing for a long time, and they're very adept at
avoiding culpability for their worst transgressions. Still, all it will
take is one honest judge in California who is willing to hear the case
out and let it continue to a final conclusion. And it would certainly
help to have a few more high caliber fighters coming out of the woodwork
to join the cause and levy their own personalized complaints and
grievances.<br />
<br />
I have been harping on the possibility of a
legal action like this against the UFC for a long time, ever since Dana
White started saying he wanted the UFC to be as popular and powerful as
the NFL someday. I predicted years ago that a class action lawsuit
could be the only way to stop the rampant abuse many fighters under UFC
contract face in trying to earn a respectable and comfortable living.
Even the highest paid UFC athletes no doubt make a huge chunk of their
income from sponsors and endorsements. The most famous fighters also get
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zV4tgWYx50">movie roles on top of all that</a>, so there's not much to complain about.
Yet, what does it say about the sport and the owners of the biggest
promotion in the sport when even their top athletes aren't making a
luxurious living off the actual wages they're paid? Why should they need
to depend on all this outside income when the profits of the promotion
make it possible for them to be compensated much better without all that
hoopla?<br />
<br />
The answer to those questions may be more
simple than you think. It all amounts to one short word, just five
letters long: GREED. And the UFC brass is so downright greedy that I
can't imagine them spending more on a settlement than they would be
willing to shell out on the army of legal bulldogs it will take for them
to crush their opposition here. When you are as corrupt and conniving
as the Fertittas and Dana White, lawyers can be the most important piece
of the puzzle. Some of the sleaziest attorneys are just as likely to
advise you on how to break the law through sophisticated maneuvering as they are to help you make sure to
follow it to the letter. The kind of lawyers employed by these folks are the ones all
the lawyer jokes are really made for. Many of them already sold their
souls to the highest bidder, and they have no scruples or morals
remaining to stop them from taking these valid fighter complaints and
turning them into a puff of smoke.<br />
<br />
I, for one, will be
rooting for the fighters to score a key victory here that finally
exposes the UFC for taking advantage of the very people who made the
organization what it is today. The publication of the suit itself goes a
long way in doing just that, but results are what will really matter in
this case. This legal team has the personnel and the persistence to
make things interesting, but what they really need is to secure a final
judgment or at the very least get to trial.<br />
<br />
Stay tuned
as we follow this case to see if any of this legal wrangling will pan
out for the plaintiffs in the long run. I know one of the folks behind
this case is interested in starting a fighters union at some point, so
even if the case settles it might lead to some financing for that future
endeavor. This development might not represent a perfect plan to
revolutionize the way the UFC does business, but it's a damn good start
as far as attempting to root out some of the corruption and mistreatment
some of the promotion's fighters endure. I will keep a sharp eye on
these cases as they play out and pass on new documents and developments
as I acquire them.</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907323057885195099.post-1480103444576431982014-09-02T21:21:00.000-07:002014-09-02T21:26:02.120-07:00Fertittas Walk Away From Xyience & Xenergy With Big Red Buyout<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
By: Rich Bergeron<br />
<br />
Inside sources at Xyience, Incorporated broke the news to me last week that the company would soon be sold off to <a href="http://bigred.com/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Big Red</a>, based in Austin, Texas. Employees will apparently not be receiving severance packages, and early indications are that the beverage company buying out the brand will not seek to enter into the supplement business. This means only the Xenergy line of energy drinks will remain under the Xyience label. I held off on publishing the news immediately due to a promise of more intelligence if I let it go a few days. Then, the Las Vegas Review Journal forced my hand today with <a href="http://www.reviewjournal.com/business/energy-drink-maker-xyience-sold-texas-company">THIS REPORT</a>.<br />
<br />
The sudden washing of their hands of the former supplement giant known for sponsoring Chuck Liddell in happier days is par for the Fertitta course. It comes as no surprise that Lorenzo and Frank would bail on the company in this fashion. It certainly is ironic, though. It was actually disgraced Xyience Founder Russell Pike who originally came up with the idea to hype up the Xenergy line in the hopes of selling it to a major bottling outfit. Pike wanted Pepsi or Coke to come in with a multi-million dollar offer to take over Xenergy and transform it into a wholly unique company. The Fertittas obviously fell short of that lofty goal (maybe it had something to do with <a href="http://www.fightopinion.com/2007/06/05/dana-white-coke-needs-us-we-dont-need-them/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">something Dana White once said</a>), possibly banking on their Galveston, Texas roots and other family connections in Texas to ink the new deal that allows them to walk away from this boondoggle.<br />
<br />
Other whispers from the final days of the Fertitta-run Xyience indicate that marketing studies showed Xenergy is being sold to more mainstream non-UFC-fans than ever. This reality also means the end of UFC sponsorship deals with Xyience and Xenergy.<br />
<br />
One thing the company managed to do well over the last few years is in the realm of building distribution agreements for their sugar-free energy drink. Since the heady "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejPEUT5P4m4" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Monica</a>" days at Xyience, Xenergy's always been easier for the company to market than the supplement lines. Insiders who are aware of the Fertitta walkout point to profitability, or lack thereof, as an issue for the whole conglomerate. Lorenzo Fertitta in particular, one of the principles at Fertitta Enterprises (which holds the official, albeit obscured, ownership position over Xyience), is reportedly growing tired of losing $5 million a year.<br />
<br />
This is the end of another monumental scam for the Fertittas, who just barely escaped serious liability in a lawsuit brought against them by the U.S. Trustee in bankruptcy court. The scheme that drove Xyience just far enough into the ground for the billionaire casino barons to take the whole thing over is now officially in the rear view mirror of their Rolls Royce. The roadmap's been painfully obvious to people like me from the very beginning, but somehow the local boys made good managed to avoid culpability and accountability for the mess they ultimately left behind by their selfish actions throughout the whole process. Let's not forget the hundreds of innocent shareholders who saw their investments turn to dust thanks to the way the Fertittas swept in and turned the whole operation into another sad example of vulture capitalism.<br />
<br />
Though I took some small consolation from Fertitta Attorney Greg Garman telling a judge at my final hearing that my reporting has caused his clients multiple headaches with the gaming authorities in Nevada, it is even more comforting to know the Fertittas never could get Xyience buzzing again under their leadership. Maybe they will finally come to realize they would have been better off doing everything above board. I know, fat chance on the "Come to Jesus" moment ever happening for these scum-of-the-Earth con artists.<br />
<br />
The bottom line is there won't be any former Xyience investors waiting for the final closing of this deal to cash in on what they put their life savings behind so many years ago. The Fertittas will be another couple of fat cats getting fatter when they deposit the final checks that bail them out from this disaster they constructed and created out of sheer, callous greed. Perhaps it will all go to pay for another yacht, another private jet, or another summer getaway they can jet off to when everyday life gets too real. Whatever the final sale price is, it is a crying shame that none of it will go to the honest folks who actually put the brand on the map with their hard-earned money from decades of the kind of hard work the Fertittas themselves will never be able to relate to. Whoever said liars and cheaters never win probably never met Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta III.<br />
<br />
We'll have more details as they come to light on this blockbuster transaction. <br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907323057885195099.post-64555108536835459552014-06-28T05:04:00.001-07:002014-06-28T21:52:24.631-07:00Convenient Accident or Cold-Blooded Murder? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
"You wanna pull off a brilliant murder, you gotta act like it's an accident. If you do it right, you ain't even gotta be there when it goes down." <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsQtI33UbGI">Jamie Foxx as Dean Jones</a> in <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horrible_Bosses">Horrible Bosses</a></i> (2011)</div>
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EDITOR'S NOTE: It may be helpful for readers to review a few of our prior reports <a href="http://writingfortruth.blogspot.com/2010/07/fertitta-familys-organized-crime.html">here</a>, <a href="http://writingfortruth.blogspot.com/2010/07/from-bellboy-to-gambling-tycoon-how.html">here</a>, and <a href="http://writingfortruth.blogspot.com/2010/07/7-years-of-bad-luck-station-casinos.html">here</a> in order to better understand the history leading up to the events described in this article. </div>
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By: Rich Bergeron</div>
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More than 20 years ago, on the afternoon of November 4th, 1993, Carl Wesley Thomas died after his 1992 Suburban crashed on a gravel-lined stretch of Plush road in Frenchglen, Oregon. According to the official police report (for the full document click on these links to pages <a href="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=171553088">1</a>, <a href="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=171553089">2</a>, and <a href="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=171553090">3</a>), the investigation of the scene indicated the vehicle swerved to the left first, with the two left-side tires leaving the road briefly. </div>
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Upon swerving back onto the road, Thomas apparently paid dearly for not wearing his seat belt. He was ejected from the vehicle as it rolled over, crushing him underneath it. The report goes on to state that the vehicle rolled again and wound up in a ditch at the side of the road. Thomas was discovered face-down on the road, some 36 feet from where the Suburban ultimately came to rest. </div>
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The Harney County Sherriff's Office dispatched Officer F.H. Hickey, Jr. to the scene. His report of the accident explained, "The victim received multiple fractures of the right leg, a flailed chest, and head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:15 PM." </div>
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Whatever Hickey observed that did not end up in the report may forever remain a mystery, because the officer died of a heart attack in 1995. </div>
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The Sheriff at the time was Dave Glerup, who still holds the position today. I spoke to Glerup last October, just a few weeks shy of the 20th anniversary of the fateful crash. He explained that the scene of the rollover was a rural, remote road which experienced "lots of accidents of this type." He added that the conditions were "kind of treacherous," especially for anyone who was driving while intoxicated. </div>
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Officer Hickey's report also indicated that a half-ounce of cocaine was found on Thomas along with an empty baggie and a short straw, discovered in his pocket only after the body went to a local funeral home. The records Sheriff Glerup sent me included a <a href="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=171553079">Blood Alcohol Report on Thomas from the State Medical Examiner</a>, which came back negative for alcohol. To the sheriff's knowledge, there was never any testing done to determine whether Thomas had any other drugs in his system at the time of the crash. </div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
Despite inferences of foul play suggested to him over the years, Sheriff Glerup remains convinced that the cause of death should be classified as accidental. "It's hard to believe this could be anything but an accident," he explained. "I can't picture a homicide where the vehicle actually rolls over him like that." </div>
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Throughout the decades since the incident, rampant speculation still points to the case as a possible homicide. Adding to the suspicious circumstances involved in the crash is the fact that, just prior to his death, Thomas agreed to provide testimony at a very important meeting with Missouri Gaming officials regarding their inquiry into whether or not they should grant a gaming license to Station Casinos. Just before his death Thomas also reportedly met with Station Casinos officials to discuss his summons to Missouri, and that meeting most likely included Frank Fertitta, Jr. offering counsel to his longtime friend and associate. The crash happened on his trip back to Oregon from the Vegas sitdown, and it guaranteed Thomas would never testify in Missouri. The Fertittas were able to get their Station Casinos license after all with the dead man telling no tales. </div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
There was only one condition put on the final approval: Frank Junior could not be part of the Missouri operations of the company. Frank's eldest son Frank Fertitta III, AKA "Frankie Three Sticks," ended up having to hold the reins there in Missouri until the state implicated the company in multiple scandalous incidents detailed further <a href="http://writingfortruth.blogspot.com/2010/07/7-years-of-bad-luck-station-casinos.html">here</a>. Missouri revoked their license and forced Station Casinos to sell their Missouri properties and go back to Vegas where Frank III also eventually had to take over due to his father's questionable past. </div>
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It's a long story, but it's safe to say Station Casinos would benefit tremendously from the death of Carl Thomas. Though that doesn't make it a sure thing that the crash was somehow orchestrated or caused by an unknown suspect connected to the Fertittas, the family collected a unique type of figurative "insurance" after the "accident." </div>
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To put things in perspective, Thomas earned a permanent ban from all Nevada casinos in 1990 after being implicated in the massive skimming operation popularized in the 1995 movie <i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBjmiE1kf_Q">Casino</a></i>, starring Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci. Frank Junior himself was on the fringe of that scandal, and the prevailing Las Vegas legend has Frank taking over Thomas' co-ownership of what later became <a href="http://museumofgaminghistory.org/pics/bingopalace.jpg">the first Station Casino property</a> for a lump sum of one single dollar. The forfeiture of his ownership interest reportedly came just before Thomas went to prison for what was supposed to be a 15-year stretch. Thomas served only two of those years according to <a href="http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1993-11-10/news/9311100145_1_nevada-casinos-skim-thomas">a report of his death published in the Orlando Sentinel</a>, thanks only to his willingness to cooperate with authorities.</div>
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Frank Junior had connections to multiple casinos in Las Vegas during the heydey of Mafia skimming there. Between his departure from Texas in 1960 and his purchase of "The Casino" with Carl Thomas in 1976, Fertitta went from bellboy to dealer to pit boss to Baccarat manager to general manager at properties including: The Stardust, The Tropicana, The Sahara, Circus Circus, and ultimately The Fremont. "The Casino" later became "The Bingo Palace" which would morph further into Palace Station in 1983, launching what would become a vast "locals casino" empire rivaled only by the Boyd Corporation founded by Sam Boyd. To this day, Station Casinos and Boyd compete as the leaders of this market catering to local Las Vegas residents and casino workers. </div>
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The jury is still out on how Frank Junior avoided prosecution in the skimming investigations, especially since FBI wiretaps caught him on tape talking about "excess cash" and other veiled references to the skimming repeatedly. A security agent named Harry McBride, who worked under Thomas at the time, also told authorities that there was a "Frank" involved in perpetrating the skimming operation at the Fremont Hotel and Casino. McBride also cooperated with investigators who ultimately turned Thomas as well. McBride <a href="http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1985/Former-Casino-Security-Worker-Testifies-At-Skimming-Trial/id-4abf45581b3e06ee3c2a2c3664f8f9e2">testified in a U.S. District Court Case</a> against five members of the skimming ring in 1985. </div>
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There are no official records I know of regarding any testimony or cooperation on the case offered by Fertitta himself, but I did find one court document in which a name of a witness was redacted, and the person described sounded like Fertitta. My personal theory is that Frank was a secret witness in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Rather than testify in open court, he could have provided background information that helped further the investigation. After all, that might explain why David Helfrey, the chief prosecutor in the 1985 trial cited above, later went to work for Station Casinos in Missouri. If Frank Junior being a snitch sounds too far fetched, consider the fact that Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal (played by Robert DeNiro in <i>Casino</i>) died before the fact that <a href="http://www.reviewjournal.com/jane-ann-morrison/lefty-rosenthal-was-fbi-snitch">he was a government informant</a> leaked out. </div>
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Another possibility is that Carl Thomas himself could have requested Fertitta be left alone in exchange for his cooperation. Thomas switched sides during the same 1985 trial in which McBride testified. He obviously had some very incriminating and useful evidence for federal prosecutors about all the players, but he certainly could have left Fertitta out of any information he volunteered. The only other alternative explanation for Fertitta avoiding jail time is that he was an extremely lucky man. </div>
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For more on the investigations into Mob-influenced Vegas skimming at the time, check out <a href="http://timesupblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/skimming-las-vegas-casinos-part-i.html">this Dennis Griffin blog</a>, which is the first of three chapters on the whole operation. Like most organized crime schemes, the whole enterprise turned out to be very sophisticated. The movie based on the true events is a bit loose with the facts, and it's really only half the story. </div>
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Harry McBride would later resurface during a 4-year probe of Frank Junior by the Nevada State Gaming Control Board in the lat 80s. If McBride agreed to testify before the Control Board, it could prove that Fertitta lied about his role in the Argent skimming operation when he applied for his gaming license. Thanks in part to McBride's outright animosity toward a commission member, the vast political connections cultivated by Frank Junior, and also possibly the lack of any criminal penalty for not taking the stand, McBride declined to cooperate with the board. He reportedly also did not think any good would come of him testifying. </div>
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The final decision on the matter came down to a 2-1 vote to take no action against Frank Junior. Just a few years later, in 1993 (the same year Carl Thomas died), Frank Junior passed the empire to his sons Frank III and Lorenzo. Despite Frank Junior giving up official control of Station Casinos, he spent a great deal of time at the very same property he named "The Casino" when he bought it with Carl Thomas in 1976. Though he was no longer officially in charge, workers at Palace Station would often run into Frank Junior making his rounds or eating lunch there right up until his tragic death on the operating table during a heart procedure in late August of 2009.</div>
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Carl Thomas died a tragic, yet convenient death for a Las Vegas family that later saw their power and influence grow exponentially. Even a pre-planned bankruptcy of the whole Station Casinos chain didn't stop the Fertittas from reigning supreme in the locals market and taking a once little known fight league from barbaric side-show to mainstream attraction. Through it all, Lorenzo and Frank III heeded the example of their dearly departed father. Like Frank Junior--who was a prolific political donor in his day--they always <a href="http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/lorenzo-fertitta.asp?cycle=12">grease the wheels</a> whenever and <a href="http://www.standupca.org/tribes/North%20Fork%20Rancheria/las-vegas-casino-hosts-fundraiser-for-california-senator-on-eve-of-key-vote/">wherever</a> possible. <a href="http://littlesis.org/person/15394/Lorenzo_Fertitta/political">Both Democrats and Republicans benefit</a> from that family tradition, and if paying off the politicos isn't enough to keep their corrupt actions from being shut down, they also continue to keep up their father's <a href="http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=6339&page=3">habit of buying a ton of advertising in the local papers</a> to keep mainstream reporters from writing too much about their worst transgressions. </div>
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Beyond Las Vegas, the Fertittas also have contracts with various Indian-run casinos to manage casino complexes across the country. The Fertittas also do consulting work for casinos and stand at the forefront of the online gaming movement. This quiet expansion is nothing new, which is likely why the Harney County Sheriff's Office received requests for the records of the Carl Thomas crash from the <a href="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=171553084">Missouri Gaming Commission</a> and the <a href="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=171553071">Indiana State Police Gaming Enforcement</a> Section in 1994. Oddly enough, Nevada gaming officials have never requested accident report copies according to Sheriff Glerup. </div>
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My own investigation of the records leaves more questions than answers. The first question, and perhaps the most important one is: what caused Thomas to swerve when the crash initiated? Even the most comprehensive forensic examination with all the technology we have even today might run into a dead end trying to answer that one. The fact that the crash happened on a gravel road might mean that any tracks of another vehicle that was possibly involved might not be detected by investigators. Another unanswered question is why was there no testing for drugs when Thomas had cocaine in his pocket at the time of his death? Also, how often are passengers ejected from a vehicle that then rolls over them? Though Sheriff Glerup concludes the ejection and rollover makes it most likely the cause of death was accidental, I really don't understand that reasoning. </div>
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If the straw and the cocaine were both in his pocket at the time of the crash, it seems obvious to me that Thomas wasn't doing the cocaine at the moment of the initial swerve. So, that can't be the cause. If there was any amount of cocaine in his system, it also seems highly unlikely he fell asleep at the wheel. The only valid explanation in my humble opinion is that he was trying not to hit an animal crossing the road (accident), or another person and/or vehicle was responsible (murder or vehicular manslaughter). Since the area was so remote, there would be no witnesses, and law enforcement would take considerable time to arrive on the scene. </div>
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Rather than pin this down as an accident, I consider this a cold case that should be classified as unsolved with the official cause of death deemed undetermined. Unfortunately for all who wish to know the full truth, this is one case that will never be re-opened. There's absolutely no possible way of finding out exactly what happened, which makes Jamie Foxx's line at the top of this story so relevant to the situation. If it was murder, it was executed flawlessly. If it was actually an accident, there's still not enough evidence to conclude what really caused the rollover. It's a perfect storm of suspicious, but easily explained away facts that could support either side of the debate. Regardless of how he died, though, without Carl Thomas helping Frank Junior get his start, the Fertitta empire might not exist today. In the same breath, it must be said the death of Thomas also helped guarantee the continuation of that empire that might have been stopped in its tracks if Thomas told the truth in front of those Missouri gaming officials. </div>
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Those who dismiss the conspiracy theories would point to Thomas not implicating Fertitta when it counted back in 1985. Why would he bother to throw Frank Junior under the bus in front of a gaming commission that didn't have the power to throw him in jail for a long time if he didn't cooperate? Doubters would also point out that Fertitta wouldn't have a formal meeting with Thomas if he knew he was going to have him killed on the trip home. The very fact that at least two gaming authorities wanted to see the crash report proves that even the slightest possible inference of a criminal deed sheds a bad light on any gaming license candidate. Why would Frank Junior risk the suspicion that would surely fall on him? I can only surmise that if it was murder, Frank Junior might not be the one who ordered it. If he was running the Fremont skim for the Kansas City mob as the evidence shows, he could have also expanded to Missouri to appease the next generation of the same Kansas City outfit after the original skim bosses went down. </div>
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A murder for hire operation of this scope and magnitude, leaving no trace of evidence of a homicide, seems more like the work of a trained and experienced killer used to working in the shadows of the underworld. The hit could have been ordered by someone else deep within the organization who stood to benefit from Station Casinos getting a Missouri license, if indeed it was a sophisticated hit. Then again, who had more to gain than Frank and his family? Therefore, you can't forget the words of another "Lefty" from another movie based on a true story. I'm talking about Al Pacino's character in <i>Donnie Brasco</i>. "When they send for you," Lefty said, "You go in alive, you come out dead, and it's your best friend that does it."</div>
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Regardless of the true circumstances surrounding the Carl Thomas crash, it is a mystery that will follow the Fertitta family for eternity. The ghost of Carl Thomas will haunt the family legacy as long as the facts as we know them are passed down from one generation to the next. The cloud of suspicion will never go away even if speculation of any current mob connections to the Fertittas is unfounded. The fact is, the physical Mafia ties may be long gone, but the organized crime mentality still exists thanks to what Frank Junior passed down to his sons. Everything they do may technically be "legal," but there's a good chunk of activity that could be labeled very close to crossing the line into criminal behavior. Even if you can't call it criminal, you can certainly call it corrupt and underhanded. Go back through their history, and you will find one deftly avoided major scandal after another. From Argent to <a href="http://www.fightopinion.com/2009/01/05/the-fertitta-family-and-usa-capital/">USA Capital</a> to the orchestrated Station Casinos and Xyience bankruptcies to the dirty dealings of Zuffa over the years, it's all a matter of complicating and obfuscating things just enough to avoid serious lawsuits and/or criminal prosecution. It may not be the textbook definition of "crime," but it's definitely organized. </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com90tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907323057885195099.post-72434687718107910162013-10-07T20:53:00.000-07:002013-10-07T21:08:27.753-07:00Smoking Gun Evidence that Bergeron Case Was Unfounded in Law or Fact<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The above email chain dates back to the beginning of the <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/fightnewsunlimited/xyiencecaseagainstme">$25 million Xyience lawsuit</a> filed against me in Las Vegas District Court back in 2007 by Attorney Jamie Cogburn. These exchanges came from an email recently sent to me by the brother of Xyience Founder Russell Pike, who is currently incarcerated due to a conviction for tax evasion. I will be publishing a large cache of other insider emails in the near future.<br />
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At the time these emails originated, Pike was working feverishly to get more investors to come in to keep Xyience viable. My reports were making those efforts nearly impossible. The lawsuit described investors willing to enter into financing with Xyience, but only if my articles were removed from the Internet. As soon as the case resulted in a preliminary injunction against me, Russell Pike sent a representative out to deliver copies of the injunction order to local investors. This rep wrote the following statement in an affidavit I filed in my counterclaim:<br />
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The Fertittas always denied through their attorneys that they had anything to do with the suit against me, but it's obvious from this testimony that they forced Xyience's hand. Dana White didn't end up investing anything, but before Fertitta Enterprises went through with their loan package they did get White's approval.<br />
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This email chain will be the main exhibit in a new case against Attorney Cogburn in Nevada. There will be much more to come on this front in the days and weeks ahead. Stay Tuned. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907323057885195099.post-55995005455514808162013-10-05T22:55:00.000-07:002013-10-05T22:55:38.082-07:00Xyience Dismisses Claims Against Rich Bergeron; Accepts Summary Judgment on Counterclaim<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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By: Rich Bergeron</div>
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It's been a long time, but even a six-year legal battle did not deter me from continuing to report the truth about the history and current operations of Xyience. Today I can look back knowing I finally managed to get the claims against me completely dismissed. Four different judges oversaw the case over those six years, and multiple law firms and attorneys for the opposition.</div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f3f; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; line-height: 20px;">The above order also allows for a summary judgment request on my counterclaim against Xyience to go unopposed, so it marks the first major judgment on my behalf in any legal action I've ever been involved in. It's all the more impressive since the opposing lawyer admitted the now-dissolved $25 million case against me had no merits. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f3f; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 20px;">Though this order officially releases me from any liability and confirms my efforts to expose the truth, it does not end the litigation entirely. I still have <a href="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/161607640/Amended-Rule-9011-Motion">an extensive sanctions motion</a> in play with multiple affidavits supporting that motion. My own <a href="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/161620894/Affidavit-for-Sanctions-Motion">affidavit</a> and <a href="http://www41.zippyshare.com/d/74025094/1560899/000000000000arule11evidence.pdf">evidence files</a> explain the whole situation, but after a September 19th, 2013 hearing I can honestly say I don't think that presiding Judge Lloyd King bothered to read any of that content. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f3f; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 20px;">Judge King certainly did not even consider the fact that the judge prior to him (Judge Mike Nakagawa) allowed me to amend the motion for the record. Judge Nakagawa would not allow me to amend a motion which had already been decided, which was the contention of the Fertitta lawyers going into this hearing.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f3f; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 20px;">The hearing resulted in an indefensible decision I will appeal to the 9th Circuit. That hastily-made ruling proved Judge King is biased against me to the point of believing everything the opposing lawyers contend, even if it happens to be a lie. Judge King actually made the effort to locate and read out loud an order on the motion before him, and that moment will be a major basis for my appeal. If it was a "senior moment" for the aging federal judge, his capacity to continue in such an important judicial role should be seriously questioned at this stage of his career. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f3f; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 20px;">Now, I'm no law school graduate, but the last time I checked a summary judgment denial is not in the same legal ballpark as a complete claim dismissal. How could any acting federal judge get as far as Judge King has without knowing the difference between those two distinctions? </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f3f; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 20px;">Judge King read the decision on a 2008 summary judgment request in my case like it was a smoking gun for the Fertitta lawyers during the September 19th hearing. The motion he referred to is actually the most viewed document I currently have on Docstoc.com and can be accessed <a href="http://legacy.docstoc.com/docs/434271/Motion-To-Suspend-Xyience-Bankruptcy-Motion-For-Summary-Judgment">HERE</a>. The Fertitta lawyers also tried to represent at the September 19th hearing that the same motion was dismissed on the merits, but the actual dismissal order concludes the dismissal is mandated by technicality, because I did not properly serve the motion on all creditors involved in the bankruptcy. I would have had to file my own bankruptcy petition in order to pay the postage alone on such notifications. I don't have the kind of budget most lawyers and law firms typically bring to the legal process. Everything I do is fueled by extremely minimal financial resources. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f3f; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 20px;">So, Judge King read this order denying summary judgment on my sanctions claims. He read it right out loud in court for the record right after trying to explain that it meant the whole issue had already been litigated and dealt with. Why even have a hearing in the first place if his conclusions were true? If he reviewed the record and came to the decision that the Fertitta lawyers were correct in their false representation of the record, there would not even be any basis for holding the hearing where he made this huge mistake. I immediately corrected him at the hearing, but that only made things worse for me. He continued to betray an overwhelming bias against me along with a willingness to praise and commend the opposing lawyers. He even rejected a legally feasible and logically sound request for a default judgment against all parties who did not answer the claims and did not have any representation at the hearing. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f3f; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 20px;">I gave Judge King multiple chances to hold a more comprehensive hearing when I could physically attend, asking for the hearing on September 19th to be considered a scheduling conference. Instead, he allowed the telephonic appearance to be my final say in the matter, and I had a great deal of issues with the court hanging up on me and not being able to hear me clearly. Judge King couldn't even be bothered to come up with any official legal background for his denial of my claims. He left that up to the main opposing attorney and his law firm. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f3f; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 20px;">Gordon Silver is a high-class Las Vegas law firm, and the main guy they put on this case is a managing partner named Greg Garman. This shark is a well-trained and experienced lawyer with a very esteemed position at his firm and in the legal community. So, how could he really confuse the record himself to the point that he put such incredible misrepresentations in print and then repeated them in open court after I corrected him in my reply brief? The most logical answer is that he was never confused at all and just purposely painted the record in a false light to make his case look like it could be easily dispatched on a technicality instead of actually being examined on the merits. Lawyers seem to love winning legal battles on technicalities. It saves them the trouble of actually defending against or pressing claims based on actual facts and evidence. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f3f; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 20px;">This time, the basis for giving Garman the win on a technicality was completely fabricated. His argument that a technicality existed at all made Judge King look like a fish out of water when he tried to take the bait. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f3f; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 20px;">Once again, the September 19th hearing proved to me that justice is an evil bitch. The judicial system in this country is hopelessly bogged down by patronage, abuse, waste, and incompetence. People like me were not intended to be able to even make it this far into the legal process. I jumped through every hoop my opposition put in front of me, and by some miracle I remain standing more than six years into this extensive litigation that went from an obscure district court claim to a major bankruptcy adversary proceeding. I simply could not make it to this point if I did not have the truth on my side. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f3f; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 20px;">Over time I learned to realize that pointing out serious flaws in the opposition's arguments and legal citations did not mean those points would even register with a judge who came into the process as a biased party. I came to appreciate how twisted the system is when it comes to pro-se (self-represented) parties. I knew at some point only an appeal examined by competent and unbiased federal judges would set the record straight. At this point, Mr. Garman hasn't even filed any order to appeal, but I'm eagerly awaiting the moment when I can actually see what the court's official decision will use for a basis in law. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f3f; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 20px;">Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the hearing came in the response to my opening comments (which went largely unheard due to a bad connection). Mr. Garman began his statement by confessing that the Fertitta brothers are already suffering due to my work. He did not get into specifics, but he claimed I was responsible for their recent issues with the Nevada Gaming Control Board. If their trouble with the gaming authorities is my doing, I wonder what else about the Fertittas gaming officials might need to know. I haven't even really investigated Station Casinos as much as I have researched the Fertitta involvement in Xyience. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f3f; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 20px;">Garman's remarks proved to me what I've always known in the back of my mind: courts are far too slow at delivering justice. Real justice comes from the court of public opinion. Exposure of inherent evil is often fatal to its ability to fester and grow out of control. Station Casinos has a history of leaving victims behind as the Fertitta brothers continue to hoard their billions in personal assets. As a gaming licensee in Nevada, these casino barons ought to have a much cleaner background than they currently do. The fact that the Fertittas brought Ultimate Poker into legal status as the first official online poker outfit in the state of Nevada is disturbing when you look at <a href="http://www2.zippyshare.com/d/7926360/704972/fertittaadversary.pdf">what Fertitta Enterprises is really capable of when it comes to fraud</a>. Their connections to the <a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/04/17/founder-full-tilt-poker-pleads-guilty-fraud-federal-court-148864">illegal Full Tilt Poker operation</a> through their ownership of Strikeforce is also egregious considering they should have known the illegal status of online poker when they made decisions to retain their sponsorship agreement with the company when it came under Zuffa control. Even worse, US prosecutors labeled Full Tilt Poker a Ponzi Scheme since the outfit's owners were <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904106704576582741398633386.html">allegedly pocketing player funds</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f3f; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 20px;">The Station Casinos <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/Both-sides-hold-jokers-in-Indian-casino-game-2617374.php">expansion as a management firm</a> into California casinos governed by Native American tribes is even more troubling under the circumstances. Their <a href="http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Feinstein-Hubby-Blum-makes--1-BILLION-off-Station-Casinos.html?soid=1102324248697&aid=FpABU8B6D1U">indirect financial connections to California senators</a> are telling. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid also <a href="http://www.fourwinds10.net/siterun_data/government/banking_and_taxation_irs_and_insurance/social_security/news.php?q=1265228679">has a son named Key Reid who is on the board of directors for the Fertitta-run Meadows Bank</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f3f; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 20px;">It makes sense that even a federal judge would be afraid to rule against people with this kind of power and access. They are virtually untouchable. Still, Judge King also refused to sanction me despite saying in open court that he actually felt I was the one who deserved sanctions. So, basically he admits he is not willing to even rule in favor of what he feels is actually justified. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f3f; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 20px;">The appeal process should be intriguing, but I also plan to report Judge King to the state bar for displaying a complete lack of ability to do even minimal research into the claims he decided so hastily. The most important development at this stage is regarding my long break from working on this site. The litigation process leading up to my departure from Las Vegas was draining and stressful, and I needed a break from all of it. The hearing designation and dismissal of all claims against me opened new doors and brought me back to the heart of the story and the need to expose the real truth here. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f3f; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 20px;">With no legal obstacles, I can now pursue a non-fiction book project on the case. I can also begin to plan out a documentary. At the rate I'm going, such projects will have a better potential to benefit burned Xyience shareholders than any legal action I could possibly undertake. I am also compiling an extensive report to deliver to Nevada, California, and Native American gaming authorities, which could do more to bring the Fertittas to justice than any judge in any court in this land. Someone must show these ruthless robber barons that there is a price to pay for screwing over innocent people and destroying their investments needlessly and thoughtlessly. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f3f; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 20px;">Although I should be disappointed upon losing the decision on the most important motion in my case thus far, I am actually thrilled. My passion for this story is renewed. My prospects for a successful appeal are promising. Judge King's bias was more pronounced than ever at this latest hearing. Over the next few weeks I will be working to revamp this site to include all the relevant information and documentation detailing the irresponsible and corrupt history behind the Fertitta family facade. Stay Tuned for more frequent updates in the days and weeks to come.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f3f; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 20px;">EDITOR'S NOTE:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3f3f3f; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 20px;">All stories on this site are now free to read with no subscription fee required. I will be spending some time updating broken links on the site in the next few days. This is mostly due to an unfortunate issue with the loss of all customer files hosted on fileden.com. We had a ton of material hosted there that now needs to be relocated to another public server. Some of these files are now hosted <a href="http://legacy.docstoc.com/profile/Boxer47">HERE</a>. We will make a formal announcement when all bugs are fixed. </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907323057885195099.post-48536668842315445752013-02-16T19:24:00.000-08:002013-09-24T00:44:15.498-07:00The Choice of a NOS Generation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
By: Rich Bergeron<br />
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It's only fitting that Xyience's star is falling and the brand is collapsing into debt just as Coca Cola's NOS brand of energy drinks cements a spot as the top sponsor of The Ultimate Fighter. TUF is the show that put Xyience on the map in the first place, so it's a strange coincidence.<br />
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News is trickling in lately surrounding the stable of fighters Xyience once sponsored, and it sounds like Xyience and Xenergy are at DEFCON X. Virtually all of the current UFC fighters on "Team Xyience" were cut from their sponsorship deals in recent days and weeks, and inside sources say the company owes at least 1.5 million dollars to Cott, the beverage giant responsible for creating and canning Xenergy. Without a bailout from the same Fertitta Family that owns the majority of the UFC, the company could be headed for a second bankruptcy or a fire sale. <a href="http://nvsos.gov/sosentitysearch/CorpDetails.aspx?lx8nvq=w2mQRKtvYIQG5%252bRhxnaqMA%253d%253d&nt7=0">Fertitta Enterprises still owns and operates the brand</a>, but a recent ultimatum from Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta forced the brand to make attempts to stand on its own without further financing from the billionaire brothers.<br />
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Inside sources also report that the Fertittas and UFC President and Part-Owner Dana White recently tried to convince Coca Cola's NOS brand to replace Xenergy as an official UFC sponsor. Right now NOS does not appear in any other octagon outside of the one on the TUF series. It's a relationship that the company fostered more with the Fox network than with the UFC itself. Yet, Dana is always drinking from his can of NOS whenever the show's camera crew catches him with one in hand. That's pretty interesting considering in past years fighters were sometimes caught "drinking" from closed Xyience cans. Dana's can is always open, much like his mouth. <br />
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What makes the NOS connection even more interesting is the fact that only a little less than six years ago, Dana White was telling NBC Sports that the UFC didn't need Coke's sponsorship:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><a href="http://www.mmaplayground.com/discussion/topic/dana-white-coke-needs-don-5801p1.html">“I’m cool with Mickey’s and Toyo Tires, man, believe me, you’ll never hear me bitch. The way that we’ve run this business and the way we have come up, think about it… we didn’t have any mainstream press, we didn’t have any mainstream sponsors, and look at how huge we are. I don’t ******* need Coke to keep doing what we’re doing, man. Believe me, the big time sponsors if they come on, of course that’d be fantastic. I don’t need ‘em. 18-to-34 year old males, they’re here hanging out with me. If Coke wants them, Coke needs to come to us.”</a></span><br />
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Suddenly it seems that White's words have come back to haunt the UFC, and apparently Coke still holds a grudge and won't bite on the league's multi-million dollar price tag to move their branding beyond the reality show. They don't need actual UFC fighters to flaunt their brand, either. The same tired commercial featuring a flashy, overconfident MMA fighter getting dropped with one punch is the new standard for NOS when it comes to marketing to the TUF fan base. And you can tell the winner of the fight in the commercial is really drinking from the can in the TV spot. He chugs it so fast, much of it ends up dripping down his face. Another jab at the UFC, although it seems unintentional, is the fact that the whole made-for-TV fight happens inside a ring, not a cage. <br />
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The Fertitta-run Xyience is in crisis mode these days, recently laying off multiple sales personnel and leaving the rest of the staff in fear of an imminent implosion. The company the Fertittas surreptitiously acquired by stealing it out from under hundreds of earnest investors is now a money pit. The Fertittas don't seem to want to spend the capital to keep the operation going despite getting a hold of the company for a song. It's the ultimate payback for all those shareholders who didn't get a dime out of the deal when the Fertittas purposely bankrupted the company and then retained ownership through a scandalous scheme involving former Cott executives pretending to enter into a serious purchase agreement only to later default on that deal.<br />
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<a href="http://www.unlimitedfightnews.com/xyience.htm"><img src="http://www.prlog.org/11910595-xyience-athletes-frank-mir-anthony-pettis-jon-jones-matt-serra-dan-hardy.jpg" /></a><br />
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For a little while the Fertittas made all the right moves to make the brand appear stable and ready to X-pand. Sponsorship deals with top-notch fighters like Jon Jones and Anthony Pettis appeared to be signs of the brand's resurgence as a key UFC sponsor. None of the fighters pictured above represent the brand any longer according to inside sources at the floundering supplement company. For Matt Serra, this marks the second time he's getting screwed for associating with Xyience. His prize for winning The Ultimate Fighter ended up getting wiped out by the company's bankruptcy, and he was the only fighter from that Xyience stable to come back to the brand before Chuck Liddell came out of Xyience retirement in recent months. Since Liddell's sponsorship agreement came with a pre-paid setup, he is among the last of the Mohicans still repping the brand. That's also fitting seeing as his initial Xyience sponsorship was one of the most lucrative deals in the history of the sport at the time of his first signing with the company.<br />
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The operation of Xyience once the Fertittas had control of it certainly betrays their attitude toward the fighters they employ in the UFC. It shows these silver-spoon billionaires just don't give a damn about the people who line their pockets. These recent developments illustrate an underlying selfishness on the part of the UFC's royal family that pervades everything they do. Xyience only mattered to them when it was a way to get a <a href="http://www.unlimitedfightnews.com/xyiencewow.htm">HUGE LOAN</a> or a way to pay the UFC with the same money they used to get the chief lien position over the company just before they rigged the bankruptcy process to work in their favor.<br />
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At the moment my own legal battle with Xyience and the Fertittas is in limbo. I've been waiting for the right moment to ask for a final hearing on my remaining claim asking for millions of dollars in sanctions against the Fertittas and their associates who made the whole fraudulent bankruptcy possible by silencing my reporting. Should Xyience and Xenergy fold due to the Fertittas failing to put their own money up to bail their UFC sponsor out, it will be the perfect cap stone for the case I've built brick by brick and year by year to prove that Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta only wanted Xyience to be a going concern if it operated as a personal piggy bank. Without any way to siphon money off the brand or use the brand to make the UFC look better than it actually is, the Fertittas just don't need it. Sadly, this has been the trend as long as Xyience has been in business. It's been passed from one abusive management and ownership crew to the next. Everyone seems to find a way to smack it around and treat it like another red headed stepchild with no real identity or meaningful purpose for living and thriving.<br />
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What seems to get lost in translation to most of the fans who stumble onto this story is that there are real victims behind this ongoing scandal. As the saga continues to unfold the people who suffered most are only reminded of the savings they invested into the fledgling Xyience. They saw all their hard-earned dollars put into the company get wiped out by a couple of scumbag brothers who have way too much money to begin with. Some of the children of these victims had to forego college. For many, their retirement plans were catastrophically altered. The money some of them spent their entire lives putting away for a rainy day is just gone, flushed down the drain by the careless and ruthless actions of a couple of casino barons <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20121018190622/http:/bleacherreport.com/articles/119377-the-real-story-behind-the-ufcs-royal-family">who had all their wealth passed down to them from Daddy Dearest</a>. They will never know what it is to truly earn a paycheck, but those they victimized over the years to keep themselves healthy and wealthy will always know what it's like to lose everything and have to start over. <br />
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Let it be known that the Fertittas just don't care about real people with real struggles. They don't have any genuine concern for their own fighters, and they don't get bent out of shape in ruining families just to make themselves a little richer. Making things right for every individual they burned in the Xyience bankruptcy would be a drop in the bucket for these two billionaires with their ever-growing business empires, but they choose to ignore the suffering and act like it never happened.<br />
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While I never rooted for Xyience to fail in the past, it seems to be sweet justice to see it failing now. I seriously doubt my fledgling <a href="http://www.boycottxyience.com/#">BOYCOTT XYIENCE</a> campaign made a dent, but I'm at least proud that I never really gave up the struggle to educate the public about who the Fertittas really are and where their motivations really lie. I will never forget the people who really put Xyience in position to be successful in the first place, and I will cherish the day I am allowed to put Frank and Lorenzo on the witness stand to answer some real hard hitting questions about the damage they've done and the lives they've destroyed in the name of pure greed.<br />
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In all honesty, I hope Xyience doesn't fail just yet. I hope that the Fertittas actually sink a few more million into trying to make it work. I hope they invest just enough so they wind up losing as much as the people they've screwed over the years have lost for believing the brand would be taken care of by the UFC owners. Now that would be real justice. Here's to hoping Karma catches up to these corrupt and spineless scamsters, so even if the burned Xyience shareholders don't get any financial relief they can at least get a little revenge...served with a cold can of Xenergy. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907323057885195099.post-46087949213679959672012-06-13T07:31:00.000-07:002013-01-23T21:28:41.135-08:00BOYCOTT XYIENCE: SIGN OUR PLEDGE<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://www.boycottxyience.com/"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRYE5ppL13VXlF-ttCvLJzRbMHzPoslmR-w-Qvo3YpIs9ZWC5yfrU39g6BEdEjXF4_XfrcnWb0yO8UHB6O6OWLg8tvi7pmMom5cnQcbIOE5N6cdO54lAO_AgoOJ3UyIrSrS-HlhKniFOs/s640/saynotoxyience.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.bbb.org/southern-nevada/business-reviews/health-and-diet-products-retail/xyience-incorporated-in-las-vegas-nv-76512/file-a-complaint">CLICK HERE TO FILE A COMPLAINT ON XYIENCE WITH THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU</a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907323057885195099.post-45102153021622226142012-05-17T11:11:00.000-07:002013-09-23T20:23:31.885-07:00X Marks the Sport: Xyience Scam Shows Dark Side of MMA's Most Powerful Promotion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<img alt="" style="font-size: 13px;" /><em style="font-size: 13px;">"Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise." <strong>Thomas Gray</strong>, Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College, 1742</em></h1>
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From the oldest dimestore novels to the most current TV cop dramas, a classic element of detective stories is the old familiar line about the perpetrator always coming back to the scene of the crime.</div>
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As Xyience Inc. limped through a controversial bankruptcy process over the past few years, the Xyience and Xenergy branding was relegated to <a href="http://www.onthemat.com/node/1003391" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">UFC fighters wielding cans of the energy drink</a> and the Xyience.com and other Xyience and Xenergy logos appearing only on the outer ring of the mat or on the ring bumpers.</div>
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<a href="http://www.unlimitedfightnews.com/xyiencewow.htm">The old center of the mat space Xyience used to occupy became prime real estate that Harley Davidson and Bud Light occupied for most of Xyience's absence</a>. </div>
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Saturday, May 5, 2012, marked a milestone for Xyience: a triumphant return to their old domain. Once again, the brand picked up where it left off, marking the center of the mat space for UFC on Fox 3 with the "Xenergy" (pronounced Zen-ergy) name, focusing on the company's sugar-free energy drink.</div>
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Ironically, this is the same strategy employed by Xyience Founder Russell Pike. Now facing July sentencing for being found <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/ex-xyience-energy-ceo-russell-pike-convicted-for-more-felonies" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">guilty of tax evasion</a>, Pike's been someone the current company <a href="http://www.bevnet.com/news/2012/xyience-pike-belongs-to-different-era" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">wants to distance the brand from</a>. Yet it was Pike who first decided to take the Xyience bar code off the mat and replace it with a Xenergy can.<br />
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Back then Pike's goal was to drum up interest in a potential buyout of the drink label while the rest of the company would continue under the Xyience name.</div>
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Though the Fertittas seem to paint Pike as the prototypical fall guy, they went to great lengths to lock the founder and his friends and family out of controlling the operation so they could bankrupt it after promising shareholders that their involvement and intervention would save the company from such a fate. </div>
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On Oct. 2, 2007, Xyience Co-CEOs Adam Frank and Kirk Sanford informed Russell Pike, William Pike and Michael Clark (shareholders who represented 25 percent of the shares outstanding) that if they did not sign the funding consent form for the Fertitta funding and give up their voting rights, Frank and Sanford would put the company into bankruptcy.</div>
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On Oct. 3, under duress, the Pikes, Clark and other major shareholders signed the consent forms. Only 11 shareholders, who represent over 50 percent of the shares outstanding, ever saw the funding agreement before it became official.</div>
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An email sent by Fertitta Enterprises GM Bill Bullard to Lorenzo Fertitta on Oct. 4, 2007 discussed a $150 million offer from Cott Beverages to buy Xyience. This email was only found due to an intense discovery process initiated by the trustee's counsel, Jon Backman. The full text of that message is below:<br />
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By January 2008, the Fertittas perfected their scheme by foreclosing on their loan and speeding the company ship toward the iceberg of bankruptcy.</div>
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Instead of letting Cott buy the company at full price, two former Cott executives wound up agreeing to purchase the brand out of bankruptcy for $15 million through a front company called Manchester Consolidated.</div>
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Coincidentally, that purchase price was exactly 10 percent of the $150 million mentioned above. Manchester would later default on their payment plan, ceding control back to Fertitta Enterprises.</div>
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All the golden parachutes were reserved for company insiders who were in on the scheme, and over the past four years and counting the result of losing their Xyience investments tore apart innocent families, caused individuals who lost everything significant pain and aggravation, and forced a ton of folks to start over on building their once-substantial nest eggs.</div>
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The Fertittas rode into the sunset with their own supplement company that is now making record profits.<br />
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Few Mixed Martial Arts fans know the true extent of what went on behind the scenes at Xyience leading up to and throughout the ongoing bankruptcy. Wednesday, in a Las Vegas courtroom in front of a substitute judge from Hawaii, <a href="http://www.lvrj.com/business/fertitta-unit-to-settle-claims-over-xyience-150558045.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Attorney Jon Backman, the bankruptcy trustee's counsel for Xyience, settled some contentious issues with Fertitta Enterprises</a>. </div>
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The re-organized Xyience (<a href="http://nvsos.gov/sosentitysearch/CorpDetails.aspx?lx8nvq=w2mQRKtvYIQG5%252bRhxnaqMA%253d%253d&nt7=0" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Zyen, LLC</a>) staff celebrated the announcement of the settlement recently with a huge catered dinner at Red Rock Casino, the most modern and luxurious casino the Fertittas own in Vegas. They're calling the next phase of the business "Xyience, Round 2."</div>
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Meanwhile, 385 original Xyience shareholders will be left with absolutely nothing once the final check is signed distributing the final dollar left in the trust.</div>
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Over 65 million shares issued in the company during their early days of rubbing elbows with the UFC will now be worth less than the paper they're printed on. Family trusts, retirement accounts and college funds were wiped out by the Fertitta takeover. </div>
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Some say life imitates art, while others argue it's the other way around. I stumbled upon the Xyience debacle for the first time as an independent investigative reporter covering the sport of <span id="goog_1908785744"></span><a href="http://fightnewsunlimited.blogspot.com/search/label/Mixed%20Martial%20Arts">MMA</a><span id="goog_1908785745"></span> in 2006. <a href="http://www.freewebs.com/mmalinks/mmainterviews.htm" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">The resulting project and related litigation</a> eventually became a significant part of my everyday life.</div>
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This site will someday make a phenomenal book and/or documentary effort. The experience proves beyond any reasonable doubt that fact is truly stranger than fiction. </div>
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Those MMA fans who might wonder why they should care about <a href="http://www.fightopinion.com/2009/12/30/scandals-in-mma-and-dont-forget-about-xyience/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">scandals like Xyience</a> need to look at the bigger picture. The Fertittas knew they could get away with this from the very beginning when they first pulled the trigger on this scheme. Consider this snippet from a <a href="http://www.lvbusinesspress.com/articles/2008/02/19/news/iq_19711357.txt" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Las Vegas Business Press article</a> printed a month into the bankruptcy:</div>
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<em>Attorneys for three unsecured creditors claimed that the deals were part of a "lend to own" strategy pursued by the Fertittas.</em></div>
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<em>The Chicago law firm of Bell, Boyd & Lloyd filed papers alleging that Xyience's "bankruptcy case appears to being run for the sole benefit of Zyen -- the debtor's insider secured creditors."</em></div>
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<em>It added: "Zyen is given a giant axe to hold over the debtor's head, while the debtor's credits are left with no opportunity to defend themselves against improper chopping."</em></div>
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Zyen, a Fertitta company, would have the right to make a bid for the company, the Chicago attorneys contended.<br />
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Chicago attorney Jim Morgan told the judge: "There is going to be possibly a forced sale with absolutely nothing left in the estate for unsecured creditors."</div>
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Greg Garman, attorney for the Fertitta's Zyen, rejected criticism from shareholders and unsecured creditors, even though his clients' crooked behavior was one of the main reasons why these parties were concerned in the first place. It is unlikely that Xyience shareholders will recover anything from the bankruptcy due to the large amount of debt, Garman said.</div>
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The bigger picture reveals that Xyience's bankruptcy basically served as a practice run for the much larger and more profitable Station Casinos bankruptcy. Both companies sit comfortably on the other side of bankruptcy as reorganized entities at the moment. Station Casinos <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/station-casinos-announces-first-quarter-2012-results-2012-05-15" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">just announced a $6.8 million profit</a> for the first quarter of 2012.</div>
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The Fertittas are still rich and getting richer, but at what cost? <a href="http://www.loansafe.org/texas-teachers-pension-fund-invests-in-casinos-loses-99-million" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">The little people paid for it all</a>, from the private jets to the tailored suits to the luxurious mansions.</div>
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Pension funds and savings accounts across the nation affecting countless average Americans in multiple locales were impacted negatively by the unethical and irresponsible behavior of the Fertittas and their minions. </div>
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Too many MMA fans and even more MMA media professionals stick their heads in the sand and pretend that the UFC's primary owners are great guys, model citizens, and all-around heroes. If you look into their past, you will see that Xyience is just the tip of the iceberg.</div>
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Since their transgressions have gone unchecked for so long, these powerful Las Vegas brothers keep generating bigger and bolder schemes, enlisting high-powered local lawyers to deal with the fallout. They grease the palms of enough national political forces to insulate themselves from any federal probe, too. </div>
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This penchant for pulling off fraud and stepping on the toes of little people most certainly carries over into their operation of the UFC at many levels. Silence is golden for the the Fertittas when it comes to the UFC, and there's millions of reasons for them to keep most of their financials private. </div>
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This is why no fighter is making a million dollars per bout in the UFC while there are a number of boxers who can command that amount and more.</div>
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Interestingly enough, Russell Pike reportedly gave Chuck Liddell a million-dollar contract to pimp Xyience back in the early days of the company. Pike's regime also signed multiple high-caliber fighters to the brand across the MMA landscape and not just in UFC circles.</div>
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Despite his criminal tendencies, the company founder made bold moves and laid the foundation for the UFC's current symbiotic relationship with Xyience.</div>
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The Fertittas have much more cash at their disposal now as owners of Xyience, but they don't have nearly the same number of talented fighters in the sponsorship stable these days. The Fertitta-owned Xyience also now only sponsors the UFC and their own fighters instead of branching out to other MMA leagues and sports as Xyience did in past years.</div>
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The little people in the UFC to the Fertittas are the fighters, even though many of the men and women fighting for the top dog in MMA become fiercely loyal to the Zuffa, LLC organization. Few fans and media professionals realize that this is a conditioned response.</div>
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The Fertittas and <a href="http://www.rantsports.com/mma/2013/07/06/dana-whites-baseless-fighter-pay-comments-reveal-complete-lack-of-professionalism/">Dana White</a> fostered a leadership environment leading to a whole new class of obedient fighters who rarely rock the boat or call out their bosses for any reason at all.</div>
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Over the next ten years as MMA athletes who fought the bulk of their careers for the UFC are retiring, we may begin to see the real toll a UFC career can have on a fighter's health. By then it will be too late for the fighters suffering from the worst symptoms to negotiate for a higher per-fight pay or a piece of the royalties the UFC makes off their past fights and <a href="http://www.mmafighting.com/2008/11/20/jon-fitch-released-by-ufc-over-likeness-rights" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">likeness rights</a>. </div>
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It's time for the truth to trump the lies. It's time for people to realize the Fertittas built their success off the backs of better men and women than themselves. These silver-spoon-fed brothers are much worse than whoever is responsible for JP Morgan Chase's $2 billion miscalculation the FBI jumped all over recently.</div>
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Why aren't any federal authorities taking a harder look at the tactics these billionaires are using to continuously get away with ruining the lives of average Americans who get duped into backing these <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le_OFttNkko" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">economic hitmen</a>? </div>
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In reality, Bernie Madoff and Wall Street's worst scam artists are not nearly as bad as the combined negative force of the army of financial wizards in this country like the Fertittas who get away with fraud considered to be legal (or only borderline criminal) and only subject to civil penalties. And those civil penalties only apply if those damaged by the fraud can afford the world's most fantastic lawyers.</div>
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Paying law firms to cover up their worst behavior becomes cheaper for businesses and billionaires than it would cost to do business the right way: with respect and responsibility.</div>
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The roadmap to riches for the Fertittas ripped apart the lives of regular folks from all walks of life, from firefighters and teachers bilked out of retirement funds, to Xyience investors who had their shares wiped out due to Fertitta greed, to all the fighters the UFC chewed up and spit out for not fighting up to the big dog of MMA's standards.<br />
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Don't believe the hype and never forget the people who bought out and rebuilt this league will take care of themselves first and screw the little guy any chance they get if it can make them an extra buck by doing so.<br />
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The Fertitta family's <a href="http://crimefile.servertalk.in/viewtopic.php?t=107" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Galveston gangster ancestors</a> would be so proud to see what kind of corporate crooks these grown brothers have become. </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907323057885195099.post-28545484089733967512012-04-26T01:02:00.000-07:002012-04-26T01:11:19.818-07:00Settling For Nothing: Fertitta Enterprises Gets Off With Slap on The Wrist For Bankruptcy Fraud<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
By: Rich Bergeron<br />
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<a href="http://bleacherreport.com/articles/119377-the-real-story-behind-the-ufcs-royal-family"><img border="0" height="606" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJv_0wlFsrVeMkOMOE7mZZ7_ZsHpdhxAThiCOkamENHBOJLhqN5l4a2slYB2835J19tuHrFJVj4psWA_tCpn5cmFLRXiJ7LkORbXDl47ER3b1-Ulq-HG2_o-wPNFGV3vMv-diMsLwI9P0/s640/fertittamaceo.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
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It always amazes me to see how much history repeats itself. Nearly the same scene that's depicted in the photo above unfolded at the Fertitta-owned Red Rock Resort and Casino recently. This time around, the banquet featured the entire current crop of Xyience employees celebrating <a href="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/119648884/Xyience-Trustee-Settlement-With-Fertitta-Enterprises">a new settlement agreement to end the company's bankruptcy battle with the trustee's counsel Jon Backman</a>.<br />
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The settlement is disappointing when you look at how long the proceedings dragged on and how much promise there seemed to be in taking the Fertittas to trial. My own relationship with Mr. Backman was sometimes contentious. I often asked him what could be done for the shareholders. He always told me they would probably recover very little or next to nothing. I pressed my own motion to suspend the bankruptcy before Backman took the case on for Trustee David Herzog.<br />
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There were times Backman seemed to be doing whatever it took to seek justice while at other times I saw the stereotypical lawyer in him. Eventually I grew to understand he was in a tough position, but he amassed a catalog of evidence that began to build momentum leading up to the trial. He won a sanctions motion that he now has to scrap his rewards for to get a lowball settlement approved. Apparently, Backman didn't want to take his chances fighting the case in court, and he eviscerated his chances to prove that case in the settlement motion.<br />
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Reading some of those sentences came as a real shock to me. The language had the tone of someone writing with a gun to his head. I attended a hearing in Las Vegas where Backman wiped the floor with his opposition: Attorney Greg Garman. The tide seem to be turning in the case, and my own experience with Garman led me to believe he really had no idea why his clients should have to pay for stealing the company out from under the shareholders. He knew the law, but he he didn't seem to know the case that well. He certainly didn't grasp the real circumstances that made this bankruptcy a borderline criminal conspiracy.<br />
<br />
Paying out anything to the trustee came at a price for the Fertittas, I suppose. I wouldn't doubt the negotiations featured discussions on how the settlement motion would be written to absolve the Fertittas and their employees of all possible implications of guilt or culpability. Just like the gangsters in suits depicted in the photo above, the Fertitta brothers have to appear respectable and spotless in the public eye while running their rackets behind the scenes. <br />
<br />
Mr. Backman seemed ready for trial recently, and he let me know at one point that I'd probably read about it in the papers before he could tell me how it was going. He didn't quite get that one right, because I'm the one writing about what happened rather than reading about it anywhere. If I weren't around, the Fertittas might have slipped this one right under the radar. That's unfortunate, but it's the world we live in. Thanks to people who continue to look the other way and let crooks be crooks, crime really does pay for gangsters in business suits these days. Just take a few hours and sort through this blog someday. Research the Fertitta bloodline. 50 cent was over at Floyd Mayweather's gym Tuesday being a ham for the cameras, but if he really wanted to find out how to be a gangster he should have been talking to Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta III. From their machine gun-toting security details to their stubble-ridden tough-guy mugs, these guys are the picture of organized crime in Las Vegas evolved to a totally new dimension.<br />
<br />
It really is depressing to see a company stolen right out from the investors who built it, but even more disgusting is how the Fertittas are planning to fold Xyience into Zuffa. They are literally and figuratively driving it like they stole it.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8CyK_UzjtSMKEr9L9tfTyOD9PbZVUQe0TkyDBpja1YW4QEw116DUK8Fdla7Y8iS8NiFvI0AE_RKI0N29kJCrE4hJ_KdHNG3ibHSsyCzwHMhKJYdPhekX74c5UCohCwXsVlrAzgcx9_Jw/s1600/pikeinmate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8CyK_UzjtSMKEr9L9tfTyOD9PbZVUQe0TkyDBpja1YW4QEw116DUK8Fdla7Y8iS8NiFvI0AE_RKI0N29kJCrE4hJ_KdHNG3ibHSsyCzwHMhKJYdPhekX74c5UCohCwXsVlrAzgcx9_Jw/s200/pikeinmate.jpg" width="151" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Russell Pike (parody)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The company's current PR staff even made it a point <a href="http://www.bevnet.com/news/2012/xyience-pike-belongs-to-different-era">to disavow any connection to the company's original founder, Russell Pike</a>, when Pike <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/ex-xyience-energy-ceo-russell-pike-convicted-for-more-felonies">was recently convicted of Tax Evasion</a> to the tune of owing an estimated $1.5 million to Uncle Sam. Pike will be sentenced in July. By then, the Fertittas will be making millions emulating his original model of doing business: sponsor the UFC's fighters and the UFC to sell more low-rate supplements and other assorted overpriced items. The only thing they didn't do that Pike did was seek investors. The Fertittas and their insider friends wanted all the spoils for themselves. The UFC brass wanted a supplement company tied to the organization for a long time. Now they have one.<br />
<br />
Xyience "Round 2" will flash the new marketing model at us all on free television soon by <a href="http://www.bevnet.com/news/2012/xyience-xenergy-gets-center-of-the-octagon-positioning-for-ufc-on-fox-3-saturday-may-5-2012">posting the Xyience logo back in the middle of the mat once again on May 5th for the UFC on Fox 3 card</a>. It will be the first time the company's held that position on the mat since I helped expose how the Fertittas created a false bidding war for the middle of the mat space. Xyience defaulted on a multi-million dollar payment plan for that ad space while they were steaming toward bankruptcy, and the Fertittas had to know the company couldn't meet the terms of such a deal when they put ink to paper on it. <br />
<br />
Money coming out one Fertitta pocket and going back into another would be a common theme through the case, and I kept finding new areas where the Fertittas found ways to pay themselves without any intention of their moves ever being made public. Yet, even when I exposed much of this behavior, they managed to get away with it all and did not even have to suffer a real civil penalty. These guys have become the kings of insider dealing, influence peddling, and lawyering up to beat the band.<br />
<br />
Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta managed to erase billions in Station Casinos debt through the bankruptcy courts, and they bought all their over-leveraged properties back for a bottom dollar bid at the tail end of the process. They used Xyience as a trial run, an experiment of sorts. It wasn't long before the lesson learned came to be: bankruptcy can be extremely profitable if you play the game correctly. I arrived in Vegas on my last trip out during a time period where Station Casinos was still on the way out of bankruptcy. They were advertising a car a day give-away. Later on I read some reorganization paperwork that showed Station Casinos simply defaulted on the payments to the dealerships involved. The dealerships no doubt wrote off the losses as part of their insurance program, and the folks with the free cars made out like bandits. It's the kind of magic that can only happen in Las Vegas.<br />
<br />
<img height="640" src="http://www.stationcasinos.com/images/promos/gaming/wll_car.jpg" width="516" /><br />
<br />
This is why the Fertittas themselves are very rich individuals who always make the Forbes list. This is what business-suited gangsters do. There's nothing better than selling something you got for free. As casino owners, the Fertittas must maintain a resolute appearance as upstanding young men who are law-abiding citizens. Billions of dollars could literally be at risk if they were ever caught up in any kind of criminal charges. Bankruptcy fraud seemed like a fair charge when I first levied it against them with a<a href="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/434271/Motion-To-Suspend-Xyience-Bankruptcy-Motion-For-Summary-Judgment"> motion to suspend the bankruptcy.</a> Their juice and my lack of an attorney led to a judge paying my motion no heed. The Fertittas steamrolled the company through bankruptcy with relative ease. It was like a bank robbery broadcast on national television where a million tips come in because everyone knows the robbers. Yet, nobody gets cuffed in the long run. Nobody is told to pay for their transgressions or provide any relief to those who suffered through these long years hoping something tangible would come out of the court process.<br />
<br />
I currently have a motion seeking $150 million in relief for sanctions against a wide array of parties implicated in the bankruptcy. There has never been an appropriate hearing on that motion, and it would require a ton of testimony to do it right. It's not a task I take lightly, and it would be a gargantuan effort to bring that hearing to fruition. Still, I am determined to do what it takes to play my part in this and provide whatever shred of justice I can.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907323057885195099.post-69501768865937390732011-10-07T21:57:00.000-07:002011-10-07T22:12:52.915-07:00Xyience Bankruptcy Hearing Yields No Decision On Sanctions For Now: Lorenzo Fertitta Suit May Be In Pipeline<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; "><p>By: Rich Bergeron</p><p><br /><p><a href="http://www.lvrj.com/business/dispute-over-deleted-emails-flares-up-in-xyience-bankrutpcy-131371943.html">CLICK HERE FOR AN ARTICLE ON THE LATEST LEGAL WRANGLING IN THE LAS VEGAS REVIEW JOURNAL</a></p><br />An adversary case filed in Nevada bankruptcy court by the trustee's counsel for Xyience against Fertitta Enterprises, Zyen, and Zyen's General Manager William Bullard is suddenly getting very interesting. A contentious hearing Friday, October 30th in the case addressed a sanctions request for discovery violations. The hearing gave way to suggestions from Trustee's Counsel Jon Backman that Lorenzo Fertitta could be named in an entirely new future complaint as a result of what his recent, last-ditch discovery efforts uncovered.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Bankruptcy Judge Lloyd King seemed to take some limited interest in the sanctions motion and made some remarks indicating he agreed with Backman's factual take on the situation. Still, he made no final decision on the motion and asked for supplemental briefs from both sides regarding the procedural technicalities involved. Judge King also indicated that a follow up hearing featuring witness testimony would likely have to be held to determine the direction and breadth of any sanctions that could possibly apply. The judge also later set a proposed trial date for the existing case in April, 2012.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Despite what Backman described as harsh conditions for collecting evidence, he explained to Judge King that what he did find so late in the game changed the whole direction of his case. Backman argued that the lack of cooperation from his adversaries made the case far more difficult to deal with. The real tragedy, he explained, is the evidence that's just impossible to uncover. "We're never going to see those emails," Backman lamented about a situation in which he sought official Xyience email servers his adversaries somehow could not produce despite rigorous attempts to force them to. "There's nothing left to compel production of."</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The complicated scenario that led to the sanctions request left both sides in the legal wrangling claiming the other was being unreasonable. A <a href="http://unlimitedfightnews.com/wordpress/?p=18740">previous article previewing this hearing</a> explains the nuances of the trustee's claims. Missing and now impossible to recover email communications are at the center of the controversy. A Fertitta right hand man of sorts, William J. Bullard, became public enemy number one for Attorney Backman at Friday's hearing.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Bullard is the General Manager of Zyen, LLC, formed as a Fertitta Enterprises subsidiary to provide a loan to Xyience. Once in the chief lien position over Xyience, the Fertitta side company quickly foreclosed on the debt. Zyen then became Manzen and assumed control of Xyience after the company declared bankruptcy in early 2008. Manzen was actually a combination of the Fertitta group (Zyen) and a company made up of four individuals named Manchester Consolidated. The combined parties coordinated to enter into a payment program in order to allow Manchester to appear to be buying the company out of bankruptcy. The monthly payments from Manchester eventually stopped coming in, giving control of Xyience back to Fertitta Enterprises once again.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>To add another layer of intrigue to the complicated scheme, Machester Consolidated consisted of a total of four people with two of them being former executives of Cott beverages. Cott is the manufacturer of Xenergy. Had the bankruptcy resulted in another ownership group acquiring the company, Cott might not be guaranteed a chance to continue doing business creating the company's popular drink product that touts itself as the official energy drink of the UFC.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Friday's hearing discussed emails, some of which were only discovered after the trustee had to resort to delivering a subpoena to Gordon Biersch, a brewery and restaurant chain also owned by the Fertittas and managed by Bullard. Due to what he described as a painstaking process, Backman eventually did get a hold of some crucial emails, including one he described as "one of the hottest smoking guns I've ever seen in litigation." Fittingly called Exhibit G, <a href="http://www.unlimitedfightnews.com/new_pa21.gif">the email between Bullard and Lorenzo Fertitta</a> mentioned a $150 million offer for the purchase of Xyience from the Cott Corporation. The date of the email was aligned very closely with the first $12 million in financing the Fertittas provided to Xyience to gain control of it down the line. </p><p><br /></p><p>The offer, if company officials capitalized on it, could have helped Xyience shareholders recover some value for their shares. Instead, it seems the Fertittas were intent on locking the shareholders out at the first opportunity they could, refusing to hold scheduled shareholder meetings and neglecting to pay the first interest payment on their loan with company funds. Hundreds of shareholders lost nearly all hope of any recovery when the Cott offer morphed into a scheme involving former Cott executives and their associates pretending to purchase the company for $15 million as a "stalking horse bidder" in the bankruptcy.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Coincidentally, I have a pending motion in these proceedings under my own adversary case which seeks $150 million in relief to be granted to shareholders burned by a campaign to silence my reporting that was trying to bring the whole Fertitta scheme to light. At the time I filed that motion I had no idea this smoking gun of an email existed, but it certainly fits a pattern I've described time and again for my readers here and at <a href="http://www.xyiencesucks.com/">xyiencesucks.com</a> in intricate detail.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Traditional mainstream media surrounding the sport of MMA and the world of finance is really missing the boat when it comes to the meat of this story. Yet, even a publishing entity that painted the Fertittas in a more positive light in the past picked up this vein of the tale surrounding Backman's sanctions request. Forbes Magazine didn't afford the trustee's attorney the courtesy of spelling his name correctly in the piece, and the author falsely asserted there is formal mediation involved in the case, <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielfisher/2011/09/13/fertitta-treasurer-accused-of-lying-in-energy-drink-case/">but they did make an attempt to tell the story's most important points</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Forbes didn't send anyone to the actual hearing, though. None of the local papers had reporters there, either. It was not hard to find a seat in the courtroom. This is a story that's still unfolding in a controlled environment of sorts, so damage control for the Fertittas and the UFC so far has been fairly limited.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Backman is on track to make this case into much more of a spectacle if he indeed names Lorenzo Fertitta in any future complaint. The subpoena of Gordon Biersch's email server information led Backman to some documents he professed to never seeing before, documents that could pinpoint Lorenzo Fertitta's role in the conspiracy to bankrupt Xyience and defraud the company's shareholders and creditors.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>"Whole cases can turn on single documents," Backman reminded the judge in open court on Friday. Getting a hold of the evidence that turned his case in a completely new direction added enormous excess costs for Backman to absorb on a case he took on contingency. These very documents, had Backman acquired them earlier, could have allowed the estate to make much more progress in the complicated litigation surrounding the estate at a much earlier date in the process. Instead, Backman now has to backtrack and reflect on the countless hours of wasted time spent chasing down company email servers he could never actually obtain.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The destruction, loss, and/or failure to preserve these servers and hard drives sought by Backman leaves a gaping hole in the case. The frustrating scenario caused irreparable damage that Backman had some trouble fully quantifying for the judge Friday. During much of his argument before the court, Fertitta Attorneys Gregory Garman and Joel Schwarz busily took notes, whispered to each other, and appeared to be genuinely agitated by the accusations against them and their clients. There really isn't much hard evidence of a driven, purposeful campaign to destroy the evidence in question, but the situation is about as suspicious as it could possibly be.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Attorney Garman explained away the accusations from Garman as "outrageous" and personally referred to Exhibit G sarcastically with the same "smoking gun" label Backman applied to it. Garman provided a basic timeline and list of efforts he personally undertook to assist the trustee in finding evidence. He vehemently disputes the claims that his actions constituted the hindering of Backman's discovery efforts. Instead, he explained that he did everything in his power and his clients assisted to the best of their abilities to voluntarily provide every shred of evidence they possibly could. Garman, at one point citing his high blood pressure, seemed clearly disturbed that his reputation might take a hit because of this case. Deep into one of his rants about how cooperative and misunderstood he is, he actually had to apologize when he almost uttered my name instead of Backman's.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Even though Garman is an expert litigator and an excellent speaker, Backman's accusations and evidentiary support are clearly bothersome for the Gordon Silver attorney. During my own past interactions with Garman he's come across as overly concerned about how others perceive him professionally. He told me himself at one point earlier this year that he considers the Fertittas one of his least significant clients, but at this point the task of protecting them and their associates seems to be causing him some "xtreme" stress. He even asked the judge for a recess and extra time afterward to argue more points surrounding his purported cooperation with the discovery process that he felt Backman misrepresented. Traditionally, a lawyer bringing a motion introduces it, the opposition gets a chance to refute the claims, and the moving attorney gets the final word. Garman's protests led to another round of back and forth at this hearing, and it seemed to expose the attorney's nervousness.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>My personal impression of Garman's tactics--though certainly swayed by my intimate knowledge of the case and his basic character--left me convinced that he is running out of confidence on this one. He let the judge, Backman, and the few in attendance at the hearing see him sweat Friday. Backman, even when he was at a loss for words, came across as perpetually relaxed in his tone, speaking with the conviction of someone who knows he is right.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Backman wore a sharp suit that seemed a little too big for him Friday, but he filled the courtroom with the authority in his voice. He called the evidence debacle "one of the most egregious discovery violations I've ever seen." He seemed to have trouble even fathoming a world where sanctions would not apply to what his opposition's been caught in the middle of. Judge King conceded that there was no question he had the power apply sanctions, but he also said he wanted to know "the source" of that power. There are multiple categories and tiers of sanctions based on certain litigation behavior. Whatever stream of relief is applicable here will be best suited to become the basis for a formal order on the matter. Judge King seems to be thinking ahead about not wanting his order appealed if he sides with Backman.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Backman described the discovery difficulties as a "shocking development" in the case and confessed, "I want this case to be over." He further explained he had no vendetta or personal issues with Garman or his clients. "A serious mistake was made here," he stated plainly at one point.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Garman, in his second crack at a response to the charges against him and his clients, reported that he'd never been engaged in "such contentious litigation." He called Garman's strategy a "fabricated emergency." He insisted Backman's allegations did not mesh with the established record in the case and that he and his clients "did comply" with the discovery process. "I took this case exceptionally seriously," he said before listing off a series of numbers quantifying how many documents were turned over to Backman and when. He argued that some of the same emails Backman recovered from the Gordon Biersch subpoena were volunteered by other defendants in the case on previous occasions.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Garman went on to contend that he's gone out of his way to try to offer Backman concessions in the wake of the discovery mess. He told the court he was willing to expand the discovery process and allow further depositions of key witnesses but Backman refused these options. Garman also spent a considerable amount of time harping on the $150 million Cott offer being insignificant since it never actually materialized.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The question Garman seemed to miss in his explanation of the multi-million dollar Cott purchase offer is why it went away so fast after a meeting between Xyience insiders and the Cott folks in Canada. The deal didn't dissolve for no reason. There's no witness testimony as of this point in this litigation that adequately gives the exact reason why the $150 million offer came off the table and why it's not suspicious that people associated with Cott ended up with an ownership interest in the company anyway. Still, Garman insisted that if there was any conspiracy involved in this case it was "a conspiracy in the light of day" and his clients were open and honest about their intentions and actions.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The record simply doesn't reflect Garman's explanation as the full truth. The shifty approach to discovery adds more suspicion to what's already a clear-cut case of deceptive practices involved in the takeover and bankruptcy of Xyience by the Fertitta group. Garman also made the mistake of calling Former Xyience Co-CEOs Adam Frank and Kirk Sanford cooperating witnesses in Backman's case. Backman clarified that while Sanford and Frank agreed to provide information and evidence without the need for subpoenas and settled their own adversary cases, they are still "co-conspirators" in the case and will be treated accordingly.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Perhaps the most pretentious portion of Garman's argument on Friday was his framing of Backman as being dishonest for not holding up his end of a bargain struck at a previous hearing to split the costs of restoring computer drives that were reportedly destroyed by a system crash at Xyience. The agreement between attorneys came to pass only because the drives were represented to Backman as the ones with the company's crucial email servers contained within them. It turned out the drives were essentially worthless once they were restored and did not contain any email records whatsoever. So, essentially Garman wants full payment on a debt for services provided that were wholly misrepresented by him and his clients.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Judge King admitted not even bothering to read previous filings I presented to the court when it came time for hearings regarding those matters. I came into Friday's hearing not expecting him to give Backman much more of a fair shake. He surprised me when he picked up on a nuance neither side considered up to that point.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Focusing on Bullard's lack of record preservation related to his emails, Judge King pointed out that Bullard was savvy enough to know that being on Xyience's board of directors would require him to fulfill certain fiduciary responsibilities including keeping accurate records. Yet, at the same time, Bullard insisted that he did not save certain material because he did not anticipate being named in litigation. Bullard pointed to the liability issues he would be embroiled in as his reason for not wanting to be on Xyience's board as a formal member. So, the evidence shows Bullard purposely avoided being held accountable for accurate record keeping at one point and yet he still claims not keeping and volunteering crucial emails was an honest and innocent mistake.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Garman did not seem to have any adequate explanation for that reality. He later wondered aloud why both sides were spending so much money on a sanctions motion and requested a trial date at "the earliest possible date." Depending on how dueling summary judgment motions end up impacting the case once they are heard in December, the two sides will face each other at trial the week of April 9th, 2012. Before then, Backman will pursue some other serious evidence issues through additional motions for relief.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>It's clear that Backman's approach has Garman flustered and desperate for a rush to judgment before the case gets out of hand. His clients are in a precarious position at this point, and it's not looking like conditions will ever improve. The Fertitta attorney was clearly off his game on Friday, apparently the result of knowing that the longer this case goes on, the worse he and his clients will look in the end.</p></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907323057885195099.post-68936361360359091282011-10-03T18:22:00.000-07:002011-10-03T18:25:14.009-07:00Funny Twitter Follow<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(233, 239, 242); "><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="center" width="710" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); "><tbody><tr><td style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(99, 131, 155); "><a href="http://twitter.com/?from=emailheader&iid=am-70781558913176859447274830&nid=23+header&uid=24932952" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: block; "><img alt="Twitter" height="52" src="http://a2.twimg.com/a/1317332595/images/email/email_header_710.png" width="710" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; display: block; " /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding-top: 25px; padding-right: 40px; padding-bottom: 22px; padding-left: 40px; "><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="600" align="center" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; "><tbody><tr><td height="36" width="540" valign="middle" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 25px; padding-left: 0px; "><h1 style="font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a href="http://twitter.com/danaFwhite?iid=am-70781558913176859447274830&nid=23+sender&uid=24932952&utm_content=profile" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); text-decoration: none; "><strong>Dana White</strong> <span style="color: rgb(90, 123, 147); ">@danaFwhite</span> </a>is now following you (<a href="http://twitter.com/xyiencesuckscom?iid=am-70781558913176859447274830&nid=23+recipient&uid=24932952&utm_content=profile" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(90, 123, 147); text-decoration: none; ">@xyiencesuckscom</a>).</h1></td><td valign="middle" align="right" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: arial, sans-serif; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 25px; padding-left: 0px; "><img alt="" src="http://a0.twimg.com/a/1317332595/images/email/follow-icon.png" style="display: block; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; 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Allegations brought by the company's bankruptcy trustee, represented by Attorney Jon Backman, point to an effort to hinder the trustee in acquiring evidence in a case against Fertitta Enterprises, Zyen, and Zyen's General Manager William Bullard. What's worse, recent documents in the case reveal that company officials at Xyience and Fertitta <a href="http://www.unlimitedfightnews.com/images/gregory-e-garman.jpg">Attorney Greg Garman</a> hatched and executed a deceptive plot to hide or deny access to the most incriminating material.</p><p><br /></p><p>Unfortunately, despite all this dedicated trust lawyer's hard work, <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielfisher/2011/09/13/fertitta-treasurer-accused-of-lying-in-energy-drink-case/">the Forbes piece</a> didn't even spell his name right. BACKMAN will ask the court for sanctions this Friday in what could be one of the most important hearings in the case so far.</p><p><br /></p><p>One man mentioned repeatedly in the documents filed by the trustee recently is Michael Levy. Levy still works as a general manager of sorts at Xyience these days and goes by the title of Chief Financial Officer. Page 6 of a September 1, 2011 sanctions motion describes how Levy reacted to an inquiry about electronic data:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><img class="aligncenter" src="http://www.unlimitedfightnews.com/new_pa13.gif" alt="" width="650" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; " /></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>If it were a criminal case, Backman's claims could be considered obstruction of justice. Much of the controversy behind his bold claims is a direct result of the refusal of key parties to turn over critical evidence. A big issue arose when the company servers came into play. Suddenly these crucial servers containing countless emails were damaged after a system crash and would have to be repaired for 10-12,000 dollars. Constant delays seemed to plague the process by which Backman sought to seize and examine these servers and comb them for information pertinent to his case.</p><p><br /></p><p>Despite the roadblocks thrown up by his adversaries, Backman did manage to find a few nuggets of gold while panning for truth. A company called PC911 handles much of Xyience's computer issues. A technician from PC911 named Chad Stone (and he's not smooth like Keith Stone) admitted to lying to support the case in a signed declaration. The admissions came during a subsequent deposition on May 4, 2011. The Trustee's Counsel called Stone's written declaration "Pure Fiction." Backman went as far as to suggest that if the legal system's design didn't protect Stone, Xyience computer specialist Devin Keays would have a case for defamation against Stone based on his false testimony about Keays. Keays was forced out of the company during Xyience's push to bankruptcy in early November of 2007. Stone falsely suggested Keays was the one to blame for the server issues.</p><p><br /></p><p>According to the Trustee's September 1, 2011 motion:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><img class="aligncenter" src="http://www.unlimitedfightnews.com/new_pa14.gif" alt="" width="650" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; " /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><img class="aligncenter" src="http://www.unlimitedfightnews.com/new_pa15.gif" alt="" width="672" height="67" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; " /></p><p> </p><p>During a Times Square meeting on November 15, 2007, within two weeks of Keays leaving the company, <a href="http://unlimitedfightnews.com/wordpress/?p=788">Adam Frank and Kirk Sanford told me personally that bankruptcy was the only solution for Xyience</a>. Emails and other electronically stored information from this time frame is crucial to the trustee's case. If there are full backups of the servers available, they may contain some huge bits of communication between company officials like: Former Co-CEOs Adam Frank and Kirk Sanford; Zyen General Manager William Bullard; Fertitta Enterprises Owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta III; Fertitta Enterprises Lawyer Greg Garman; and CFO Michael Levy.</p><p><br /></p><p>Eventually, the company that reportedly had possession of the drives and servers in question analyzed them, and another contracted company provided a detailed report of what they found. Upon looking at the resulting report, Devin Keays informed Backman that the company that checked the drives analyzed the wrong ones and did the work on drives the trustee already had all the information from. Apparently there was some kind of bait and switch game going on. Another Las Vegas based firm examined all the drives and found none of them had any signs of containing email server information. So the electronic information Backman initiated a campaign to discover was never even on the target drives company officials led him to. Was it a simple mistake or a bold-faced lie that led to these developments? The trustee's counsel asserts that it doesn't matter how the mishap occurred, because the evidence shows the company, their attorneys, Bullard and Levy all had a duty to preserve evidence pertaining to the bankruptcy and failed to do so. Backman calls his adversaries' behavior in the situation "by no means innocent or excusable."</p><p><br /></p><p>Another snippet from the September 1, 2011 sanctions motion filed by Backman in the case explains further:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><img class="aligncenter" src="http://www.unlimitedfightnews.com/new_pa16.gif" alt="" width="691" height="407" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; " /></p><p> The motion further alleges that the principals involved in obscuring, eliminating, or inadvertently misplacing evidence in this scenario should essentially know better. At worst, they possibly engaged in this scheme intentionally, with the specific purpose of confusing and confounding the trustee's campaign to discover the truth behind the forced bankruptcy plot. Whatever the case, Backman requests compensation for being sent on the wild goose chase due to the responsibility of the named parties to protect and preserve the electronically storied information that is now unaccounted for. Backman asserts, "...defendants and their counsel repeatedly, routinely, unabashedly, and unapologetically have violated the discovery rules relating to electronically stored information as such rules are set forth in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the controlling case law, and have been for many years."</p><p><br /></p><p>The trustee's argument makes sense, especially considering the thorough support cases he cites. Whether or not his adversaries physically destroyed or "lost" the information by accident or on purpose, they had a defined duty to make sure the information could be made available for inspection. So, whatever happened to it and wherever it is isn't the point. The fact is the company and their attorneys had an obligation to retain it and provide it when requested to do so. Even if there's no smoking gun to show the disappearance of the information was willfully orchestrated by certain parties, it is incredibly suspicious that this block of communications conveniently vanished.</p><p><br /></p><p>The primary perpetrators of the questionable conduct associated with the entire evidence debacle, according to Backman, were CFO Michael Levy, Attorney Greg Garman, and Zyen General Manager William Bullard. These individuals acted in a manner that made the server requests and other inquiries harder to fulfill, Backman reports in the September 1, 2011 sanctions motion:</p><p style="text-align: center;"> <img class="aligncenter" src="http://www.unlimitedfightnews.com/new_pa17.gif" alt="" width="692" height="629" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; " /></p><p> </p><p>An August 8, 2011 email from Attorney Garman attempts to justify the back story behind the missing evidence. He further explains that he personally participated in fruitless searches for pertinent records that Backman requested. The Garman letter is included as Exhibit 6 to Backman's September 1, 2011 sanctions motion. The final paragraph contains language that indicates how frustrated Garman is regarding the approach of the trustee's counsel. Garman appears to have let his emotions get the better of him when he concluded the letter with the following words:</p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><img class="aligncenter" src="http://www.unlimitedfightnews.com/new_pa18.gif" alt="" width="653" height="323" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; " /></p><p> Backman includes multiple lengthy exhibits with his motion, including snippets of deposition transcripts and other documents that lay a foundation for his claims. Part of one of the later exhibits is a peculiar letter from one of the only Xyience executives I invested any good faith in at the time just before the company changed hands and entered into the foreclosure and forced bankruptcy. William Underhill had a background in restaurant management and actually helped prosecute fraud in his former work experience. Xyience tapped him to take over the company just before the final collapse. He later resigned from the board with a shot across the bow at the tactics used to cause him to walk away so suddenly, and he sent the resignation email on Halloween, 2007. <a href="http://www.unlimitedfightnews.com/underhillresignationletter.htm">His "reluctant" formal resignation letter</a> speaks volumes with hindsight being 20/20.</p><p><br /></p><p><img class="alignleft" src="http://www.gordonsilver.com/bios/joel-z-schwarz.jpg" alt="Joel Z. Schwarz" width="116" height="141" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; float: left; " />Backman's own communication to multiple Fertitta Enterprises lawyers--directed primarily at Joel Z. Schwarz (left)--stood out among the rest as the last exhibit to his motion. The date of the email is October 20, 2010. The tone of Backman's message is one of clear frustration with the way Schwarz and other members of his firm are actively trying to deceive him. <a href="http://www.unlimitedfightnews.com/new_pa19.gif">Click here to view the most scathing paragraph of Backman's email</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p>It is clear the email is a result of pent up feelings of mistrust between the tireless underdog Illinois attorney and the big city Las Vegas law dogs at Gordon Silver who are playing on a home court. These same lawyers are likely hoping the judge won't throw the book at them this Friday. That's when he will likely hear more about allegations that these well trained legal eagles avoided their responsibilities to the rule of law and obstructed the trustee's formal inquiries at every turn. A hearing in Las Vegas at the bankruptcy court will allow both sides to present their arguments for or against sanctions to apply here.</p><p><br /></p><p>Even <a href="http://www.unlimitedfightnews.com/new_pa20.gif">my name made a cameo appearance</a> in a list of emails said to be "not relevant" to the liquidation trustee's cases. Some of the documents leading up to this last sanctions request lay out the path of evidence perfectly. <a href="http://www.unlimitedfightnews.com/82011sanctionsmotion.pdf">A previous sanctions motion filed by Backman on August 20, 2011</a> featured some potent charges and even more nuggets of gold. Exhibits G (<a href="http://www.unlimitedfightnews.com/new_pa21.gif">an email from William Bullard to Lorenzo Fertitta</a>) and H (<a href="http://www.unlimitedfightnews.com/new_pa22.gif">an email between Bullard and both Fertitta brothers: Frank III and Lorenzo</a>, <a href="http://www.unlimitedfightnews.com/new_pa23.gif">Click Here For Part Two</a>) were bombshell findings, and these are the emails that were actually discovered. One can only imagine what hasn't been found yet. Where there is smoke there is fire, and it certainly appears that these guys were ready to barbecue Xyience as soon as the coals were hot enough. The conditions were ripe. There was a way to "muzzle" Xyience Founder Russell Pike according to Bullard in that Exhibit H email message chain from August of 2007. If that's not convincing enough evidence that something's rotten in Denmark, consider the relevant portions of <a href="http://www.unlimitedfightnews.com/Williambullardtranscript.htm">William Bullard's deposition transcript Backman included in Exhibit S</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p>Friday will be an intriguing day for the trustee if the judge on the case can see the clear pattern of deception involved here. It should be a slam dunk motion, barring any hometown cooking affecting the outcome.</p></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907323057885195099.post-67134592130301822052011-09-29T06:20:00.000-07:002011-09-29T12:49:38.764-07:00Xyience, UFC, Fertitta, Station Casinos, MMA, Internet Gambling Update<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); "><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Rockwell Extra Bold', Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 20px; "><b>The Headline in the Las Vegas Sun Article Says it All:</b></p><h1 style="line-height: 18px; margin-top: 42px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 20px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 20px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; color: black; letter-spacing: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; "><a href="http://unlimitedfightnews.com/wordpress/Culinary%20picks%20a%20%EF%AC%81ght%20with%20UFC%20to%20get%20at%20Station"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;">CULINARY PICKS A FIGHT WITH UFC TO GET AT STATIO</span></span>N</a></h1><div><br /></div><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Rockwell Extra Bold', Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 20px; "><b>It is an article by <span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;"><a href="http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/opinion/columnists/j-patrick-coolican/">J. Patrick Coolican</a></span></span>, a writer I haven't followed that closely. I don't think I've ever seen him in any byline for a story regarding the Brothers Fertitta. Here he starts right off by sending readers to <span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;"><a href="http://www.unfitforchildren.org/">www.unfitforchildren.org</a></span></span>, a site set up by <span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;"><a href="http://www.culinaryunion226.org/">Culinary Union</a></span></span> insiders to illustrate <span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHn96ZOWE1w">how vulgar Dana White really is</a></span></span>.</b></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Rockwell Extra Bold', Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 20px; "><b>If you like Coolican's work, I highly recommend an earlier vintage of Fertitta/UFC History from the archives of our own investigative work:</b></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Rockwell Extra Bold', Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 20px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;"><a href="http://unlimitedfightnews.com/wordpress/?p=18466"><b>ARE STRIKEFORCE'S DAYS NUMBERED?</b></a></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Rockwell Extra Bold', Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 20px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;"><a href="http://unlimitedfightnews.com/wordpress/?p=18507"><b>FULL TILT POKER FIASCO MAKES UFC BRASS GUILTY BY ASSOCIATION</b></a></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><b><a href="http://unlimitedfightnews.com/wordpress/?p=18740">Xyience Bankruptcy Trustee Finds Damning Evidence Against Fertittas, Pushes For Sanctions This Friday </a> </b></span></span></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Rockwell Extra Bold', Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 20px; "><b>If you want a unique perspective on fighter sponsorship <span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial;"><a href="http://www.mmafighting.com/staff/ben-fowlkes/">Ben Fowlkes</a></span></span> has the best recent piece on the subject:</b></p><p style="font-family: Georgia, 'Rockwell Extra Bold', Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 20px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; "><a href="http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/09/13/the-truth-about-fighters-and-sponsors/"><b>THE TRUTH ABOUT FIGHTERS AND SPONSORS</b></a></span></span></p></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907323057885195099.post-73342639427691824862011-08-23T01:33:00.000-07:002012-06-14T00:04:36.411-07:00Hardy's UFC Life Xtended Due to Xyience Sponsorship Deal<div class="media-pass-article"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<img align="left" src="http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_full_width/hash/ec/78/fruitpunchxenergy.jpg" />By: Rich Bergeron
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<a href="http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Dan-Hardy-10629">Dan "The Outlaw" Hardy</a> is a true Xception to the so-called "three strikes rule" often used to Xpell fighters from the UFC when they suffer three straight losses in the octagon. <br />
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Hardy's losing effort in the main event of UFC Live 5 against <a href="http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Chris-Lytle-267">Chris "Lights Out" Lytle</a> was his 4th loss in a row, something Dana White usually responds to by releasing a fighter as quickly as possible. Yet, when Hardy went down in the third-round by submission, the decision to keep or cut Hardy was left out of the Baldfather's hands. Instead, Lorenzo Fertitta saved the day for Hardy <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/lorenzofertitta/status/102942555137781762">with a single tweet</a>. The MMA media quickly set about analyzing and criticizing the UFC for not letting Hardy go, but none of the major outlets seemed to be able to figure out the real reason (see image at left) Dan Hardy is being retained as a UFC fighter. None of the pundits in either the print or television sports media bothered to take a moment to ask, "Why did Lorenzo Fertitta make the call to keep Hardy instead of Dana White?" </div>
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The fact is, Dan Hardy's Xyience sponsorship is what really kept him from getting cut. See that UFC label on the Xenergy fruit punch can above that Hardy is prominently featured on? There's got to be at least hundreds of thousands of those cans either in circulation or yet to be distributed by Xyience. It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that Xyience is owned by Fertitta Enterprises, and the Fertitta brothers are of course the majority owners of the UFC. Xyience-sponsored fighters are company men in more ways than one. They can do no wrong, especially in this case where Hardy is literally the face of Xyience's popular Xenergy brand. Another Xyience-branded fighter <a href="http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/08/17/krzysztof-soszynski-says-at-least-85-percent-of-fighters-defini/?utm_source=bleacherreport.com&utm_medium=referral">claimed recently that about 85-percent of MMA fighters are using performance enhancing drugs</a>. </div>
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Hardy's fight against Chris Lytle turned out to be a landmark last fight for Lytle, who told Hardy at the weigh in that he intended to retire after the match. Lytle specifically told Hardy he wanted to make it a good battle to go out on, which obviously called for plenty of toe to toe action. Hardy obliged and tried to outbox a former pro boxer, which didn't work out in his favor despite a few bright spots. The whole fight just seemed too happy and magical for Lytle when the smoke cleared. Stories after the fight centered around Lytle ending his career on a high note. Other fighters were forced to take notice and told to try to follow Lytle's example of how to retire properly. It seemed Hardy was in a lose-lose situation going into the fight. If he beat Lytle up he'd spoil the legend's leaving the league on good terms. If he lost he risked getting cut, or at least that's what he must have imagined his fate would be. Hardy actually seemed surprised that he wasn't voted off the island after the loss, and he hinted at his own possible retirement in promising to take some time off to reinvent himself. </div>
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<a href="http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2011/8/16/2367263/john-howard-campaigning-for-fight-with-dan-hardy">John "Doomsday" Howard was quick to call foul</a> at the three strikes rule causing him to lose his job when Hardy was allowed to stick around after losing four consecutive fights. The double standard even led Howard to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8y-QfSY5oo">challenge Hardy on YouTube</a>. Howard's last three fights were long battles against Matt Brown, Thiago Alves, and Jake Ellenberger. If Howard had been sponsored by Xyience, would he still be working in the octagon? Maybe so, but after the cut it's a bad idea for him to call out a company man like Dan Hardy and expect the UFC brass to bite. </div>
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Hardy's good fortune didn't end with Lorenzo's decision to keep him around. <a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/UFC-on-Versus-5-postfight-Lytle-wins-bonuses-W;_ylt=Al9_gBicP8_V82wTw9iA..iMFI14?urn=mma-wp5891">He also netted a $65,000 fight of the night bonus</a>. Hardy's loss by submission also gave Lytle the chance to bolster his retirement fund with $130,000 in bonus money, adding a submission of the night bonus to his half of the fight of the night honors. Looking back it all just seems too perfect, almost as if the fight was fixed. </div>
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Only Hardy's genuine disappointment gave the impression that he really did do his absolute best to win the fight. He even hinted in his post-fight commentary that he was glad the UFC was going to give him "one more fight." Just in case he loses that next opportunity to prove himself he let it be known he was going to take his $65k back to the UK and go on hiatus for a while. This, of course, will give Xyience plenty of time to sell off their remaining fruit punch "collector cans" of Xenergy featuring Dan Hardy's face on them. </div>
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The boxing game helped coin the phrase "tomato can" to represent an easy opponent to beat. Dan Hardy's losing streak is starting to make "Xenergy can" sound like the best MMA equivalent of that label. He might even cause other Xyience sponsored fighters to refuse to have their faces plastered on future Xenergy cans for fear of the whole streak representing a Xyience curse akin to the Madden NFL and Sports Illustrated cover curses that plagued other sports teams and players in the past. Whatever happens next, look for the preferential treatment of Hardy to persist as long as fruit punch Xenergy is still on store shelves.
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By: Rich Bergeron<br />
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The three letters that changed the mixed martial arts landscape and put the sport on the map in the first place are U-F-C. Not only do those three letters stand for Ultimate Fighting Championships, but they also have been used by many fans to represent and encompass the entire sport of MMA. All too often I've heard even small-scale local shows that have no affiliation with the UFC referred to by patrons as "UFC fighting." Across the world MMA is also known as "Ultimate Fighting."<br />
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These realities were present long before the parent company of the UFC purchased the outfit's most powerful competitors, yet it seems that Zuffa's always been intently focused on maintaining and improving their top-dog status in the world of Mixed Martial Arts. Over the years this juggernaut has grown from an obscure, barbaric, and controversial outfit into a widely accepted and heralded business model working on gaining world MMA domination by any means necessary.<br />
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No pinnacle Zuffa reaches ever seems to be enough, and the initial $2 million investment in the company by Frank Fertitta III and his brother Lorenzo Fertitta has since been paid back more than 1,000 times over. Three little letters started it all, though they were three letters the Fertittas and their friend Dana White never actually created themselves. The UFC actually started as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Meyrowitz">someone else's vision</a>, someone who didn't have the friends or partners with the tens of millions of dollars it would take to turn the fledgling, struggling sport into a ruthless, all-powerful business.<br />
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Three other letters are now looming large to threaten the UFC's complete supremacy and question how the Zuffa banner came to corner the entire market. Those letters are FTC, and they stand for <a href="http://www.ftc.gov/index.shtml">Federal Trade Commission</a>. There have been some <a href="http://ringsidereport.com/?p=11454">articles</a> and <a href="http://www.boxinginsider.com/columns/ufc-evades-question-of-ftc-investigation-focuses-on-the-%E2%80%9Ccrybabies%E2%80%9D-of-boxing/">blog posts</a> in recent days speculating on <a href="http://www.boxinginsider.com/columns/mma-rumors-surge-regarding-an-ftc-investigation-of-zuffaufc/">supposed "rumors" of an FTC investigation</a> regarding potential anti-trust violations and monopoly concerns that could target the UFC's parent company Zuffa, LLC. Let's put the rumors to rest right now and stop the speculation once and for all.<br />
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The Federal Trade Commission has plenty to be concerned about regarding Zuffa's business practices. Sources I speak to regularly confirmed to me last week that the FTC already started an intense investigation into Zuffa and will likely come up with sufficient evidence to file a complaint. Even though it seems that it's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFf6nAo4Cp8&feature=player_embedded">mainly boxing industry insiders being blamed for dumping on the UFC's parade</a>, Dana White's openly complained that <a href="http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/06/12/dana-white-discusses-ufc-131-blasts-bob-arum-and-gary-shaw/">some of his loudest pugilism-oriented critics are simply copycats and "cry-babies</a>:"<br />
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Ariel Helwani, the masterful interviewer who may well be the most recognized MMA reporter on the planet, also broke the story regarding the Zuffa buyout of Strikeforce. During the exclusive one-on-one session with Dana White that helped the UFC explain the Strikeforce purchase, Helwani managed to get White to say the words "business as usual" a total of ten times. This all seemed like Deja Vu to many of the MMA media members who are not on Dana White's top ten list of go to guys he calls to get the word out on a big development.<br />
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White's hollow Strikeforce promises sounded strikingly similar to what he said would happen when Zuffa purchased PRIDE from that ciruit's Japanese owners. Instead of holding "Superbowl" events featuring UFC fighters facing PRIDE vets, <a href="http://www.fightopinion.com/category/pride/">Zuffa wound up dissolving PRIDE amid a torrent of controversy and legal wrangling</a>. The really dedicated MMA journalists out there like Zach Arnold of <a href="http://www.fightopinion.com/">Fightopinion.com</a> are not out to please the Zuffa brass enough to get exclusive access. They simply want to educate the fan base and keep them in the loop about what's actually happening behind the scenes rather than simply spouting what White and the Fertitta brothers may want you to hear.<br />
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Notice how Dana White would not answer Helwani's question about the government's interest in Zuffa's business practices. Helwani, to his credit, made sure White addressed the question but didn't go far enough to press him for a yes or no about whether White's been approached by anyone in the government. Whether Dana's been given the third degree by investigators or not, the fact is the FTC has a long list of potential avenues to travel down in their investigation. Officials from that agency are already interviewing key witnesses to contract issues and other antitrust and monopoly concerns that continue to play second fiddle to the burgeoning debate about New York state's refusal to regulate mixed martial arts.<br />
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My own piece of the pie relating to <a href="http://www.xyiencesucks.com/">Xyience</a> shows beyond any reasonable doubt that Zuffa's principals have been using Xyience sponsorships and the intimate relationship with their sponsor to perpetrate insider dealing. The Xyience stable of UFC fighters is expanding rapidly, and since Fertitta Enterprises is the actual owner of Xyience at this point the company policy actually forbids sponsorship of any other league or sport. Though the company is still embroiled in an ongoing bankruptcy litigation steaming toward a trial date later this year, some of the UFC's top level fighters sport the Xyience brand proudly and seem to get preferential treatment for doing so. Meanwhile, a bevy of fighters sponsored by Xyience prior to the bankruptcy are conspicuously absent from the current company roster of marquee fighters. <a href="http://www.unlimitedfightnews.com/xyiencewow.htm">Misrepresenting the strength of Xyience is also an issue at the heart of a senior secured credit facility that allowed the UFC to borrow the money to acquire PRIDE in the first place</a>.<br />
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There are multiple reasons for the FTC to look into Zuffa's conflicts of interest regarding the Fertittas' ownership of Xyience. At the same time this intriguing sponsorship push by the reorganized Xyience is taking place, <a href="http://robnashville.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/carwin-manager-jason-genet-speaks-on-good4u-ban/">other sponsors have been locked out of the UFC cage</a> for one reason or another. If certain fighters are perhaps being forced to enter into sponsorship agreements to gain special treatment from Zuffa brass or forced to drop other sponsors that compete with preferred sponsors like Xyience, the FTC and the Justice Department should take a close look at this unhealthy scenario. It's called "tortious interference" when a business inserts itself into a contract unfairly and/or exerts undue influence to make or break a contract. Looking back through the UFC's history it's not hard to find multiple examples where fighters were forced into making certain agreements to appease the bosses. <a href="http://www.ivansblog.com/2008/11/ufc-management-to-all-ufc-fighters-sign.html">One example is Dana White's ultimatum to the UFC organization's fighters forcing them to sign over lifetime rights to their likenesses to a video game manufacturer or be fired</a>. If that isn't textbook tortious interference, I don't know what is.<br />
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The UFC did not gain top-dog MMA league status through acquisition alone. They also sold a slice of the business to an Abu Dhabi entity that has endless financial resources. Additionally, the Zuffa brass employs an army of lawyers in numerous venues who seem to be retained in order to <a href="http://mmajunkie.com/news/20112/bellator-zuffa-lawsuit-a-big-pile-of-nothing-company-moving-forward-undistracted.mma">sue competitors for even the slightest appearance of impropriety</a>. Few brave souls who sued on their own or counter-sued have been able to gain much ground filing suit against Zuffa, though, especially in light of the Fertitta family's influence on the Nevada judiciary and political landscape.<br />
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The Fertitta family and their Station Casinos chain provides regular political campaign donations, and Nevada is a state where many judges are elected to office rather than appointed. <a href="http://writingfortruth.blogspot.com/2010/07/7-years-of-bad-luck-station-casinos.html">The Nevada wheels are thoroughly greased in favor of the UFC due to the Fertitta connection</a> and their generosity to the campaigns of judges, including the first judge to oversee my own case brought by Xyience. Judge Timothy C. Williams was endorsed for the bench by Station Casinos, which also helped distribute election pamphlets on his behalf. It's no surprise Judge Williams <a href="http://www.lvrj.com/business/court-says-man-can-sue-over-car-stolen-from-valet-parking-123087458.html">was recently over-ruled by an appeals court in another case which had the potential to damage a Station Casinos entity</a>. Not even <a href="http://www.5thround.com/1371/couture-loses-a-small-battle-in-ufc-war/">Mark Cuban's money could stop Nevada from favoring the Fertittas in the case of Randy Couture's contract dispute that Cuban attempted to assist with</a>. Cuban's now a bondholder on the UFC's Senior Secured Credit Facility that paid for the PRIDE purchase and provided huge dividends for Dana White and the Fertitta Brothers.<br />
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Initial reports regarding the FTC's potential to come after the UFC seem to focus exclusively on antitrust and monopoly concerns stemming from the Strikeforce purchase. The reality is there are countless bigger picture issues, and the FTC and Justice Department won't hesitate to explore the possibility of filing a major, comprehensive complaint that considers various charges that go far beyond the Strikeforce deal. Some witnesses are being interviewed for hours at a time by a panel of investigators and interrogators who want to know the whole story behind Zuffa's operations, and that tells me these government employees are serious and committed to going full circle on this effort. They won't simply stop at inquiring about the issues currently being aired in the "lamestream" MMA media. Consider the FTC's stated powers by law:<br />
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<a href="http://www.ftc.gov/ogc/brfovrvw.shtm">The Commission may" prosecute any inquiry necessary to its duties in any part of the United States" (FTC Act Sec. 3, 15 U.S.C. Sec. 43) and may"gather and compile information concerning, and to investigate from time to time the organization, business, conduct, practices, and management of any person, partnership, or corporation engaged in or whose business affects commerce, excepting banks, savings and loan institutions * * * Federal credit unions * * * and common carriers * * *." (FTC Act Sec. 6(a), 15 U.S.C. Sec. 46(a)).</a><br />
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Odds are there will be plenty of dirt to dig up through talking to the people who know where all of Zuffa's bodies are buried. Though the FTC will likely never publicly admit they're taking a hard look at Zuffa before a complaint drops, it can't be a coincidence that so-called "rumors" are being spread about their curiosity. Where there is smoke there is fire, and if the FTC goes after Zuffa with all of their resources it will only be a matter of time before the resulting inferno burns Dana White's bald head and the rest of the company brass. For once they might be in a situation where their political campaign donations and lobbying efforts won't help in the long run. For once their opponent across the courtroom won't have less money to spend pressing their case. Whether it becomes a civil case or a criminal one--or both--remains to be seen, but a case will most surely materialize in due time.<br />
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The only problem seems to be that whatever happens as the saga unfolds, it seems exceedingly impossible to conceive a scenario in which any complaint will result in any actual accountability shown by the Zuffa powers that be. Perhaps the company will pay a hefty fine or a select few high-level co-conspirators will get into a bind with potential criminal charges, but slick lawyers with huge retainers will make sure to save the day either way. Whatever changes might be mandated due to the crackdown will likely make minimal difference since so much of the damage has already been done. Only in a perfect world will we see any public congressional hearings or any corporate crooks in silver bracelets.</div>
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What's far more likely is fighters will continue to be screwed by Zuffa management into conceding better benefits and pay days in order to stay under the UFC/Strikeforce banner. Rather than rely on fair compensation from the league, these cage warriors will continue to rely on sponsorships for day to day expenses for training and costs of living. Many of those sponsors will also continue to be forced to jump through hoops and pay out of deep pockets to be in a position to even approach and deal with Zuffa's stable of combatants. Dana White will go right on calling his critics "idiots" and be seen as an everyman who speaks his mind and tells it like it is. He'll keep denouncing unions and making moves to prevent his fighters from ever considering creating their own union, which they may need now more than ever. But...the real journalists who come from the kind of background that only leads to blacklisting for truth-telling will always know the real story too many others are afraid to tell for fear of losing access. That tale casts Dana White and his cronies in a light that makes Don King look like a saint.<br />
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I, for one, hope the FTC proves me wrong.</div>
</div><br><br></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907323057885195099.post-14145346153069911092011-05-25T05:55:00.000-07:002011-05-25T05:57:04.065-07:00Check Out This Self-Help Legal Blog<a href="http://www.pro-seblog.com"><img border="0" src="http://www.unlimitedfightnews.com/prosebloglogofinal.jpg" width="468" height="90"></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907323057885195099.post-23657736173337789242011-05-13T21:54:00.001-07:002012-06-14T00:50:56.623-07:00UFC and Station Casinos Facing New Battles<div class="media-pass-article">
By: Rich Bergeron<br /><br />The UFC and Station Casinos have both been making headline news over the past few weeks. The two entities typically keep their operations wholly unique without any major overlap. Yet, in many ways these two companies with brothers Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta III at the helm have been suffering from some of the same woes. While the brass at Station Casinos grapple with <a href="http://www.workerstation.org/">local Culinary Union workers</a> and a massive National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Complaint against the casino chain, the UFC recently held a fighter summit at Red Rock Casino (A Station Casino property) and announced measures that appear designed to make sure a fighter's union never materializes. The unspoken message to the MMA practitioners in attendance seemed to say to all of them that the one thing UFC definitely doesn't stand for is Union Friendly Company.<br /><br />As far as Station Casinos and their union troubles, it seems that they <a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110512006034/en/Station-Casinos-Mounts-Defense-Massive-Labor-Law">literally have no defense in the NLRB case</a>. Casino brass recently brought back two employees fired for union organization efforts in what looks like a clear surrender, potentially opening the door to further appeasement efforts. Culinary Workers Union President Geoconda Arguello-Kline pointed out recently that the "We love Locals" motto of Station Casinos comes across as slick and disingenuous due to how the company's been treating their union-friendly staff over the years. Arguello-Kline explained, “It is truly alarming that a company which claims to love locals has had the federal government step in to ensure that workers are not retaliated against for exercising their rights under federal labor laws.”<br /><br />Culinary Local 226 has been anything but quiet about their concerns, and their president seems to have a point about the casino chain's company slogan hiding the real issues related to attempts to unionize. After all, <a href="http://www.lvrj.com/business/culinary-union-stages-demonstration-targeting-station-casinos-118626464.html">the most recent union protest on March 24, 2011</a> inspired a response from the company that included rolling out a chain of three "We Love Locals" billboard trucks to mask a 1,000-member, two-mile march from union headquarters to Palace Station. 100 of those 1,000 "Locals" were arrested for trying to block the entrance of the casino during the protest.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://drophandleandhold.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83455fdbe69e2014e8650bd7b970d-500wi" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 334px;" src="http://drophandleandhold.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83455fdbe69e2014e8650bd7b970d-500wi" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><br />Whatever happens with the NLRB complaint, it seems highly unlikely that any company executives responsible for the anti-labor climate at Stations will leave their offices in handcuffs. <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-isnt-wall-street-in-jail-20110216">Like the fat cats on Wall Street who saw their companies pay fines their personal, irresponsible behavior inspired</a>, the most culpable company employees at Station Casinos will probably get off with no real punishment at all. Ths is despite the fact that the original 166-count complaint featured charges of threats, intimidation, interrogation, surveillance, bribery, discouragement, discrimination, discipline and even physical assault to thwart workers efforts to form a union. Yet, any resolution of these disturbing issues is most likely to involve the company being forced to pay fines and institute changes that will make it easier for workers to organize without repurcussions and retaliation.<br /><br />Station Casinos was once labeled as one of the 100 best companies to work for by Fortune Magazine. Yet, despite the union issues and a highly contentious bankruptcy process, the Fertitta brothers remain high on another important list. Both Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta III had no trouble making the Forbes list again this year with both said to be worth around a cool billion. Though they slipped a few spots in the heirarchy of that rich list, the favorable outcome to the bankruptcy put nearly all of their financially-stressed properties back under their control. They even went on a hiring spree and launched a huge giveaway of cars and cash before instituting reorganization plans revealing they might not even end up paying for most of what they gave away to generate business.<br /><br /><a href="http://photos.lasvegassun.com/media/img/photos/2008/04/22/scaled.0423_met_fertittas02_t198.jpg?cdfb4b79ec677a25380d4d2ab25aad58f36db2ce" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 198px; height: 186px;" src="http://photos.lasvegassun.com/media/img/photos/2008/04/22/scaled.0423_met_fertittas02_t198.jpg?cdfb4b79ec677a25380d4d2ab25aad58f36db2ce" border="0" alt="" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span">It's hard to believe this is the same company that at one point planned to build a <a href="http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/apr/23/station-casinos-banking-biggest-being-best/">$10 billion development</a> featuring three hotels and casinos at <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px; ">the site of the Wild Wild West motel and casino on Tropicana Avenue and Interstate 15. (concept photo at left)</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px; ">The project also reportedly included a possible plan to place an arena on site. <a href="http://www.lvrj.com/business/18312604.html">The concept was even championed by a Deutsche Bank official</a>, which is ironic considering that's one of the same institutions now left holding the bag for a great deal of the casino chain's massive debt load. That huge amount of Station Casinos debt that led to the company's bankruptcy was racked up and steadily growing out of control long before the "Viva" resort plans hit the presses. Just acquiring the target land area for the proposed--and now likely doomed--development </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0505/080a.html">cost the Fertittas $335 million over a ten-year span</a>.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Considering the completely irresponsible handling of the company's business by the Fertitta Brothers, it's no surprise that <a href="http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2011/may/12/green-valley-ranch-fires-back-after-lenders-challe/">their lenders are now challenging the family's buyback of Green Valley Ranch for $500 million</a>, which would eliminate $378 million in debt. It seems to be perfect timing considering the UFC, owned by the same Fertitta brothers, is flying high enough to help out with some of the big ticket buybacks of these highly-distressed properties. The UFC's success has been so pronounced that there was even enough cash flow to buy the next best fight league on the market. To keep the UFC gravy train flowing, though, it's going to take more than the acquisition of a major competitor like Strikeforce.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span">To really take heed of the lessons learned by Station Casinos' union struggles and bankruptcy, the Fertittas will have to focus more on saving money than spending it when it comes to operating the UFC. Though there is no current fighter union taking shape at this point, some recent decisions made by UFC brass indicate that it's something the organization seems concerned about. It can't help that one of their Strikeforce stars, Nick Diaz, is working on scheduling a boxing match with Jeff Lacy this fall. So, fighter payment is sure to take center stage as a contentious issue that must be dealt with soon if the Fertittas and Dana White intend to avoid the formation of any union. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span">The UFC took the first step in the union-prevention direction by announcing a new <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/extra/mma/news/story?id=6515074">accident insurance offering</a> designed to assist fighters who suffer injuries during training. The news came at a time when the injury bug hit the league square in the face after two marquee fighters (Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard) wound up having to pull out of their main event fight scheduled for UFC 130. Frankie Edgar's broken ribs and Gray Maynard's busted knee will be taken care of under the new plan. Prior to the additional coverage being offered, fighters were only insured by the league for actual fight injuries. Outside of training injuries, fighters will also enjoy benefits if they are involved in non-training accidents that require medical treatment. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Still, other developments in the sport recently seem to point to a potential need for even more coverage for unforseen health circumstances fighters may face. Bryan Baker's proposal to his girlfriend at a Bellator event recently paled in comparison to the news of what he had to fight through to get to that point. <a href="http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/12052011/58/baker-beats-cancer-wins-fight-gets-girl.html">A Dave Meltzer report</a> in the wake of the engagement story sweeping the Internet also revealed Baker's battle with Leukemia and how he concealed the cancer diagnosis through three competitive fights. Brock Lesnar's bouts with Diverticulitis are also making waves lately, and the condition led Lesnar to back out of a planned match-up with Junior Dos Santos. Though many reports since the latest TUF coach fight was called off speculate on <a href="http://www.lowkick.com/UFC/Who-could-be-MMAs-biggest-draw-if-Brock-Lesnar-retires-12730">whether this could lead to Brock's retirement</a>, nobody seems to be asking whether or not the UFC should be helping him with his medical bills. If they expect him to toe the company line in his post-fight speeches and keep him from making any return appearances with the WWE, what's so outrageous about expecting the league to step up and take care of his health woes? Of course, Lesnar might not be the best example since he is such a huge draw and one of the most well-paid fighters in the UFC. He's not likely struggling to pay his outside health insurance premiums, and it's not as if he's forced to turn to Obamacare to get by. Still, if it can happen to a guy like him who's been an athlete nearly all his life and is the picture of fitness, it can really happen to anyone. If the new plan doesn't cover these types of unforseen circumstances, it is probably only a matter of time before that type of insurance will prove essential. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Providing all fighters comprehensive health and dental benefits is just one way to stave off the formultion of any fighter's union. Another method utilized recently by Dana White involves demonizing union efforts and painting the Culinary Union's parent company (UNITE HERE) as the enemy to furthering the acceptance of the sport in a key state. <a href="http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/05/11/union-memo-reveals-its-arguments-against-mma-in-new-york/">White made headlines recently after calling attention to "union idiots" in New York spending money to oppose MMA's regulation there</a>. UNITE HERE is lobbying against the sport in New York state due to multiple issues unions typically work to address on behalf of their members. A memo, put out by UNITE HERE members and </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; ">mentioned in the above-linked story, points to problems specifically caused by the "near monopoly" the UFC created by purchasing Strikeforce. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; ">Fighter pay and contract issues do seem to be legitimate reasons for UNITE HERE's opposition to MMA, though the Station Casinos case against the Culinary Union is also clearly an indirect contributor. The UFC and Station Casinos often neglect to keep their businesses from overlapping, so it's no coincidence Red Rock Casino hosted the most recent fighter summit that sought to quell many of the issues calling attention to the potential need for a fighters' union. It's also no coincidence that the same Fertitta brothers who don't seem to want their casinos to become union shops are also concerned enough to make moves that give the impression that they care about their UFC fighters as much as any fighters' union would. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; ">The official UFC response to UNITE HERE's opposition (see above-linked article) cites the many union-friendly companies who are both employed by and benefit from UFC events and business practices. This is the "ultimate" height of hypocrisy that seems to be saying on one hand it's OK to support unions under certain circumstances while on the other hand the UFC brass makes every effort to avoid a fighters' union penetrating the organization and the UFC's majority owners don't even mount a defense to a sweeping civil indictment of their union-busting tactics at Station Casinos. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span">New York Assemblyman Bob Reilly was already a staunch opponent of MMA's regulation in New York state before hearing Dana White's "union idiots" chatter after UFC 129. Since Reilly admittedly received many donations over the years from various unions, he was obviously offended by White's union bashing and attempts to link the Culinary Union issue to the regulation debate. The fact is, since White's tirade against the Culinary Union the UFC brass seem much more concerned than they ever were before about unions, their power to negotiate, and the concept of losing the battle against union related issues plaguing their organization to the point where a fighters' union becomes inevitable. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span">One issue also plaguing the UFC of late has nothing to do with unions, but it could prove to be more damaging to the league than contract or insurance issues could ever be. Chael Sonnen's recent indefinite suspension by the California State Athletic Commission calls attention once again to the Steroids issue that cast a pall over other sports like Baseball in recent years. The prosecution of Barry Bonds illustrated that the government takes the issue of lying about steroid use seriously enough to spend more on that case than it has in pursuing many perpetrators of massive fraud on Wall Street. <a href="http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2011/5/11/2165767/usada-chief-official-criticizes-drug-testing-policies-in-mma">A recent report citing the United States Anti-Doping Agency's criticism of the UFC's drug testing policies raises some serious questions</a>. Situations like Chael Sonnen's pathetic "hyper Gonadism" excuse for injecting 4 times the legal limit of Testosterone before his fight with Anderson Silva would have and should have encouraged a more involved investigation by the UFC itself if they indeed were intent on keeping Steroids out of the league. Instead, it appears that the UFC's casual attitude toward Sonnen's attempt to find a loophole to break the rules forced the CSAC to attempt to right that wrong for them. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Tyler Tygart, chief of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, advocates more stringent testing for steroids, and he points out that the UFC brass is engaging high-powered lawyers to argue against blood testing. The different regulatory bodies in the many locales the UFC travels to often have exclusive rules when it comes to testing for performance enhancing drugs. Some venues allow the UFC to do their own testing, which could create a look-the-other way climate for certain cards. Essentially, the UFC brass could decide to accept or act indifferently to PED use in the name of getting more exciting performances out of their fighters. <a href="http://www.fightopinion.com/2010/06/09/nevada-drug-testing-steroids/">There are already accusations that cards in Nevada (Where the UFC's parent company Zuffa and Station Casinos are both based) offer far less stringent testing than states like California</a>. It seems that far more fighters who are caught in positive drug tests after fights are nabbed outside of Nevada even though the UFC has gone to great lengths to promote a high number of cards in their home state. Former Nevada State Athletic Commission officials are entrenched in the UFC, including Lorenzo Fertitta, who is one of the company's majority owners and also a former commissioner. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">If any major government investigation on PEDs infiltrates UFC fighter circles and takes aim at Nevada in particular, the results could be extremely damaging. Union concerns and fighters like Nick Diaz turning to boxing for a better payday could wind up being small potatoes if that happens. The sad fact is the UFC brass, particularly the Fertittas, are used to both getting their way in their home state and throwing money around to get their way when they need to solve problems away from home. Once a major investigatory agency decides to dig deeper and refuses to allow money to trump justice, all the corrupt and subversive tactics the league's bigwigs have been getting away with could all come crashing down on their heads. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span">Don't forget the recent busts involving online casino giants like PokerStars.Com, which the UFC's majority owners just made a huge deal with not long after taking over Strikeforce. Strikeforce once counted PokerStars as a major sponsor, and that relationship opened the door for Station Casinos to negotiate an agreement to work together with PokerStars in lobbying efforts to legalize online gambling in Nevada. When <a href="http://www.lvrj.com/business/after-deal-pokerstars-returns-100-million-to-gamblers-121826269.html">government agencies stepped in and took over the online gambling entities</a>, the Fertittas backed off their deal. The fact that the Fertittas didn't get deeply involved enough to be embroiled in the money-laundering and other accusations facing the online casinos was perhaps their first close call in what could be more major legal issues in the future if the next time they don't happen to be so lucky. </span></span></div><br><br></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907323057885195099.post-6354515195773507922011-03-31T05:47:00.000-07:002011-03-31T05:55:39.705-07:00The Wonderful Pom Return Bomb<object id="_ds_75119556" name="_ds_75119556" width="630" height="550" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://viewer.docstoc.com/"><param name="FlashVars" value="doc_id=75119556&mem_id=40846&doc_type=pdf&fullscreen=0&allowdownload=1" /><param name="movie" value="http://viewer.docstoc.com/"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /></object><script type="text/javascript">var docstoc_docid="75119556";var docstoc_title="10-main";var docstoc_urltitle="10-main";</script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://i.docstoccdn.com/js/check-flash.js"></script><br /><font size="1"><a href="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/75119556/10-main">10-main</a></font><br><br><br /><br /><a href=" http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/9/16/1434673//10-1.pdf">Exhibit 1</a><br><br> <br /><a href="http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/9/16/1434673//10-2.pdf">Exhibit 2</a><br><br><br /><a href="http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/9/16/1434673//10-3.pdf">Exhibit 3</a><br><br><br /><a href="http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/9/16/1434673//10-4.pdf">Exhibit 4</a><br><br><br /><a href=" http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/9/16/1434673//10-5.pdf">Exhibit 5</a><br><br><br /><a href=""></a><br><br><br /><a href=""></a><br><br><br /><a href=""></a><br><br><br /><a href=""></a><br><br>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907323057885195099.post-10677541942649692232011-03-31T05:39:00.000-07:002011-03-31T05:57:50.002-07:00The "Blue Pom" Pre-emptive Strike<object id="_ds_75119022" name="_ds_75119022" width="630" height="550" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://viewer.docstoc.com/"><param name="FlashVars" value="doc_id=75119022&mem_id=40846&doc_type=pdf&fullscreen=0&allowdownload=1" /><param name="movie" value="http://viewer.docstoc.com/"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /></object><script type="text/javascript">var docstoc_docid="75119022";var docstoc_title="1-main";var docstoc_urltitle="1-main";</script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://i.docstoccdn.com/js/check-flash.js"></script><br /><font size="1"><a href="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/75119022/1-main">1-main</a></font><br><br><br /><object id="_ds_75119024" name="_ds_75119024" width="630" height="550" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://viewer.docstoc.com/"><param name="FlashVars" value="doc_id=75119024&mem_id=40846&doc_type=pdf&fullscreen=0&allowdownload=1" /><param name="movie" value="http://viewer.docstoc.com/"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /></object><script type="text/javascript">var docstoc_docid="75119024";var docstoc_title="1-1";var docstoc_urltitle="1-1";</script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://i.docstoccdn.com/js/check-flash.js"></script><br /><font size="1"><a href="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/75119024/1-1">1-1</a></font><br><br><br /><object id="_ds_75119027" name="_ds_75119027" width="630" height="550" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://viewer.docstoc.com/"><param name="FlashVars" value="doc_id=75119027&mem_id=40846&doc_type=pdf&fullscreen=0&allowdownload=1" /><param name="movie" value="http://viewer.docstoc.com/"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /></object><script type="text/javascript">var docstoc_docid="75119027";var docstoc_title="1-2";var docstoc_urltitle="1-2";</script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://i.docstoccdn.com/js/check-flash.js"></script><br /><font size="1"><a href="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/75119027/1-2">1-2</a></font>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1907323057885195099.post-24093704714723629082011-03-31T04:20:00.001-07:002013-09-23T21:54:25.749-07:00The Lennon Tapes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhofrZDi8XMcyion06xF6AZGDKqG_njQM7X9toBAPYzKoUpX4lK-kuC02BoPN06INaCHveqPj428SyCUC1szaS4s1YoBb322hhcaSRM79DNxokZ-IXx85QC4rE1uQn6o-Rvs0AhykRPQvk/s1600/000johnlennon.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5590202672203551106" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhofrZDi8XMcyion06xF6AZGDKqG_njQM7X9toBAPYzKoUpX4lK-kuC02BoPN06INaCHveqPj428SyCUC1szaS4s1YoBb322hhcaSRM79DNxokZ-IXx85QC4rE1uQn6o-Rvs0AhykRPQvk/s200/000johnlennon.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 200px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 154px;" /></a>The following tape is from a conference call held with all Xyience employees who could attend by phone or in the room about what John Lennon, the Xyience, Incorporated President, called a distraction....emails to all employees about the company's past, it's history, and the $25 million suit against me all based on lies...<br />
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I just wanted to talk to Lennon, hear it straight from him. I actually told him if I didn't talk to him in person, I'd be talking to him in front of a judge, or something to that effect. Turns out that came true, and that's when we first spoke face to face. Those tapes will come later. For now, listen to Lennon sell the troops a few loose lines about who I am and what I do. The meeting starts about 9 minutes into the recording. </div>
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