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Latest update on UFC vs. Couture lawsuit
By Zach Arnold | February 19, 2008
An attorney has been finally named on behalf of Randy Couture — Joseph S. Peek. Findlaw search on Peek.
Peek filed a motion to dismiss the case and a court date has been set for the hearing on March 25th.
Meanwhile, the court date for Zuffa’s motion of a preliminary injunction against Couture has been moved up a full week and will take place on 2/26 (next week).
Update on Xyience Inc. vs. Rich Bergeron court case
Rich Bergeron has posted a PDF of his counterclaim in court against Xyience (direct PDF document link here). It’s a 90-page document that outlines many of the statements that Bergeron recently made on Fightlinker’s radio show.
Here’s just one of the many items from Bergeron in the PDF document:
Bergeron has been slandered and defamed in bogus blogs produced about him and connected directly to Xyience employees and/or associates through IP addresses. These blogs have included the false suggestions that Bergeron is a homosexual, Bergeron was removed from a teaching position due to a situation with a minor, and Bergeron had a personal vendetta against Xyience.
A Xyience representative used this Court’s own preliminary injunction to misrepresent to at least one Xyience shareholder that the Court sentenced Bergeron to a 30-day suspended jail term and fined him $1,000. The same representative also told the same shareholder that Bergeron was a former Xyience employee, which is also false. This representative also admitted he was seeking loans for Xyience Consultant Russell Pike at 10 percent interest.
Counter-Defendants Xyience, Inc. and Fertitta Enterprises engaged in a quid-pro-quo agreement described in the initial complaint that sought a prior restraint to enjoin Bergeron from reporting the truth about the fraudulent activities of both companies. In exchange for Xyience obtaining a preliminary injunction against Bergeron, Fertitta Enterprises promised to provide $15 million in capital to Xyience.
Just one day after a preliminary injunction became official in this case on September 13, 2007, a funding consent letter went out to shareholders seeking ratification of a $12 million loan agreement between Fertitta Enterprises and Xyience.
Later on in the document…
Essentially Dana White, Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta III, Adam Frank, Kirk Sanford, Karim Maskatiya, Kathryn Lever, and Omer Satter all operated in collusion with each other to lock out most of the company’s remaining shareholders through a foreclosure and bankruptcy designed to ultimately facilitate a hasty sale of the company they only about a week earlier promised would undergo a Chapter 11 reorganization. Bergeron will prove through discovery that these associate and official representatives of Xyience were at all times acting subordinate to the interests of Fertitta Enterprises.
…
Bergeron has been informed that federal law enforcement authorities have already been dispatched to look into this entire egregious situation and the ensuing fraud involved in trying to keep it quiet. Due to the progress of these proceedings, Bergeron may actually be in a better position to help build the government’s case through civil channels. He is committed to maintaining direct communication with federal authorities he has already contacted. The defendant and cross-claimant Bergeron is also depending on these proceedings to help over 340 shareholders regain their original investment in Xyience before Fertitta Enterprises defrauded them and locked them out of any future in the company through clear misrepresentations of intent. The complete lack of full disclosure that occurred under the direction of Fertitta Enterprises and the willful determination to eradicate Bergeron’s published reports about the ongoing fraud and collusion has produced countless victims who are relying on the results of this case and Bergeron’s reporting itself. This case may be the most promising measure to help them recover what they have lost in the process of the counter-defendants’ attempts to unjustly enrich themselves.
As you read through the 90-page PDF document, it contains exhibits of past e-mails sent to Bergeron (start on page 32).
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 2 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Well the situation seems to have gotten a lot more interesting with the announcement that Couture has signed with HDNet once his contract is up.
This could get MESSY.
Zack, this needs a post of its own. Line 59 from Bergerons law suit!
59. Cross-Defendant Xyience has engaged in strong-arm tactics up to and including death threats
395 against witnesses Bergeron has spoken with. Bergeron has had to keep the names of his deepest
396 entrenched sources a secret as a result. Further, Counter-Defendants Fertitta Enterprises may be
397 connected to organized crime through family ties that include at least one member of past generations
398 of Fertittas being wrapped up in official criminal investigations dating back to the initial stages of the
399 Fertitta casino empire. The possibility that current ties may still exist in some capacity puts Bergeron
400 in a position where he fears for his own life.