Found a article on FX usa online.
" SWEDISH AIR GUN CO. SAYS US EXEC MADE BIZ HIS "PIGGY BANK"
A Swedish maker of high-end air guns has accused the manager of its American arm of plundering the business by racking up millions of dollars in debt while using company funds as a "personal piggy bank" to keep his wife in pricey cars.
In a sprawling complaint in North Carolina state court, posted Thursday, Rumpegarden — the U.S. arm of FX Airguns — says Jonathan Tueller mismanaged their joint venture to import Swedish rifles by overspending on a gaudy warehouse upgrade, stiffing vendors and abusing his expense account to fund a luxury lifestyle.
Tueller also lied in an attempt to squeeze potential investors — celebrity chef Guy Fieri was allegedly a target — and hired a convicted criminal posing as a decorated U.S. veteran to serve as a senior operations manager, the complaint says.
"Instead of honoring his duty and the confidence placed in him, [Tueller] and his wife [Evelyn Elvegaard] and business exercised dominance and influence over Rumpegarden by exercising actual formidable managerial control over FX USA to commit gross mismanagement, fraud, fraudulent manipulation of FX USA's records, concealment, and misappropriation of FX USA's assets for their personal use and benefit and for use in their other unrelated businesses," Rumpegarden said.
Rumpegarden is seeking damages, and wants the court to appoint a receiver to operate FX USA, straighten out its financial situation and investigate Tueller's running of the company.
FX Airguns and Tueller formed a joint venture in 2017; Tueller had a 40% stake. The Swedish company claims Tueller had the upper hand due to his superior understanding of American law and business.
The complaint outlines a litany of problems Rumpegarden says it discovered about Tueller's role in the venture. Tueller violated a spending limits agreement by taking out a $2 million bank loan and also racked up more than $6 million in debt owed to vendors, Rumpegarden says. He also overspent by $2.4 million to purchase and renovate a warehouse, making it the "Taj Mahal" of Wilmington's industrial real estate, according to the complaint.
Tueller is using FX USA, Rumpegarden says, to fund a lifestyle that includes first-class plane tickets intended to cure his wife's fear of flying and renting Bentleys and Rolls Royces for her.
Companies and other entities owned or associated with Tueller and Elvegaard are being used to siphon FX USA's money, according to the complaint.
And the money issues may be worse than believed, as Tueller and a financial director he hired — who isn't a certified professional accountant or a U.S. citizen — have thwarted Rumpegarden in obtaining and auditing financial records, the company says.
Rumpegarden says it believes FX USA is insolvent from the financial records it has been able to obtain, but it can't know for sure because Tueller and his financial director have "cooked the books."
In addition to the alleged financial misdeeds, Tueller "destroyed" FX USA's reputation with the most prominent air gun show in the United States, Rumpegarden says, by making unauthorized sales in a hotel room during the show: this resulted in FX USA's ban from the show. Tueller nonetheless returned to the show the following year, under a different company name, and bragged about it on video: as a result the company was permanently banned.
Tueller pulled out of another important air gun show after Rumpegarden wouldn't meet his demands in talks about him leaving FX USA, the complaint says.
FX USA is also losing respect from military veterans because Tueller hired a convicted criminal who has a sham military record as senior operations manager, Rumpegarden alleges.
A military impostor watchdog flagged the manager's suspicious claim that he earned a Purple Heart certification in 2006 for Operation Desert Storm even though the war began in 1990, according to the complaint. Rumpegarden fears the manager's employment puts FX USA in the crosshairs of the Stolen Valor Act, which makes it a federal crime to pretend to have military awards for personal benefit.
Rumpegarden further claims Tueller and his wife used FX USA to try to "bilk" investors out of $75 million to get in on a "fraudulent scheme": building an eco-park and resort in Puerto Rico. Tueller and Elvegaard had lied about their prowess and profits with FX USA to entice investors into the supposed project and put the American company's money into it, Rumpegarden says.
In an email, Tueller lied about FX USA's worth to try to lure Fieri into handing over money so the manager could buy out Rumpegarden, according to the complaint.
Counsel for Rumpegarden gave no comment Thursday. FX Airguns USA did not immediately respond to a comment request. Attempts to reach Tueller and his wife were unsuccessful.
Read more at:
https://www.law360.com/articles/172...ays-us-exec-made-biz-his-piggy-bank-?copied=1 (
https://www.law360.com/articles/172...ays-us-exec-made-biz-his-piggy-bank-?copied=1)
