18 West Studios sues Pacific Sun Entertainment for fraud
18 West Studios sues Pacific Sun Entertainment
For Immediate Release
Contact: AJ Braden,18 West Studios
916-912-4444 / aj@mrconline.net
September 29th, 2008 - Media Resource Communications, Inc. (MRC), the parent company of DVD studios 18 West Studios and Cuteboyvideos, announced today that it has filed a civil suit against adult DVD distributor and VOD provider Pacific Sun Entertainment, Inc., and its owners Pritam Sinha and Saeed Sardar. MRC is suing the parties in the amount of $22,000 for unpaid invoices and legal costs. MRC had been unsuccessfully attempting to work with Sinha and Sardar since March of this year to settle the debt.
18 West Studios was exclusively represented by Pacific Sun for several years before switching to Marina Pacific in late 2006. MRC president AJ Braden comments, "After initially indicating a willingness to work with us to settle this debt, Pacific Sun, probably realizing how much was actually owed, started a series of conflicting explanations, excuses, and delaying tactics. Even after we worked extensively with their accountant, verified with her that all product we had invoiced had been marked as received in their accounting system, and resolved other discrepancies in their bookkeeping, indicating that payment was due, all we got was a continuous stream of constantly changing excuses. Filing suit was the last thing we wanted to pursue, but since Pacific Sun showed little interest in actually coming to terms and resolving the issue, we were left with no choice."
MRC also alleges that fraud may have been committed by Pacific Sun, a claim that was echoed by statements made by Sardar and Sinha in emails to MRC. Braden comments, "In auditing our books and looking at information provided to us by Pacific Sun, we uncovered more than one case where Pacific Sun had attempted to return for credit more units of several titles than they had ever been invoiced for by us in the first place. So either they actually received product they reported to us as lost in transit, or they were illegally pirating our product. Additionally, during the audit, we discovered a pattern of Pacific Sun ordering quantities of titles at a lower price, intended for international distribution, then attempting to return these units at the higher domestic price. In several cases, more units were returned at the domestic price than had been ordered at that price in the first place. This was not an isolated case, and it's possible this may be a pattern that extends to other Pacific Sun-represented studios in addition to ours. We encourage current and former Pacific Sun-represented studios to conduct their own audits of transactions with Pacific Sun. In our case, the discrepancies seem to indicate underpayments in the thousands of dollars."
Since Sinha and Sardar purchased and continue to operate the same Pacific Sun Entertainment corporation previously operated by Motti Green, they are responsible for all prior debts of Pacific Sun, even though the transactions with MRC happened before their purchase, according to attorney Chad Belville, who represents MRC. "This is an open-and-shut case. Pacific Sun ordered product, entered it into their books as received, sold it to retailers, and never paid 18 West Studios for it. I encourage any studio that did business with Pacific Sun to audit their records, and if money is owed or there are discrepancies in the records, to seek advice from legal counsel to pursue any claims they may have."
MRC repeatedly contacted Pacific Sun in trying to resolve the situation, and based on emails sent by Sardar and Sinha, and it appears there may also be other studios with unpaid claims against Pacific Sun; Sinha wrote in one email to MRC, “Lots of records seem to have been deleted by Motti [a previous officer at the company]." Sardar wrote, "One more thing I would like to add [is] you are not the only person screwed by Motti. There’s a big list.”
Braden summed up the situation this way: "This was a particularly disappointing situation for us. Unlike Marina Pacific, who we've always had a great relationship with, Pacific Sun, at least according to the emails sent to us by the current owners, had a somewhat questionable reputation under previous owner Motti Green. We were initially encouraged that the new owners of Pacific Sun seemed to want to run an honest and fair business. Unfortunately, it appears that they are falling back into the same patterns of stonewalling, evasiveness and non-responsiveness. We are disappointed, but we feel very lucky to be working with Marina Pacific, who has always treated us well and has been very successful at moving large quantities of our titles."
About MRC/18 West Studios: 18 West Studios (www.18weststudios.com) has released over 25 premium gay twink DVDs. Their titles are known for having exceptionally cute American twink models, 18-20, in solo and hardcore action, with high quality production values. 18 West Studios titles are consistent top sellers at retail, with more than 100,000 units shipped. Its current release "Eight is Enough" has sold out of its initial pressing and is being reprinted. Its next release, "Skinny Dipped" will be released October 15th. 18 West Studios is exclusively distributed by Marina Pacific Distributors, with retail support (posters, catalogs, graphics and ad materials) available directly from the studio.
