Air America Scandel: Inside Air America, An Investigative Blog Report
Michelle Malkin and Brian Maloney have collaborated and published an investigative piece on the Air America Scandel involving the misappropriation and theft of $875,000 from an inner city New York Boys and Girls Club.
Read all of the piece, INSIDE AIR AMERICA: AN INVESTIGATIVE BLOG REPORT here.
It’s not just the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls that’s knocking on Air America Radio’s door looking for lost money. According to court records obtained by Radio Equalizer/MichelleMalkin.com, another major creditor has been demanding that Air America pay up. The liberal radio network has refused to do so, despite a court order and scathing words from a New York judge overseeing the case. Now, the creditor–Multicultural Radio Broadcasting Inc.–has filed a new complaint, accusing Air America and Piquant LLC (Air America’s current owners) of engaging in a “sham transaction” and “fraudulent conveyance” of assets in order to avoid paying its debts. (See the prescient Professor Bainbridge for corporate law background.)
The initial battle between Multicultural Radio and Air America was widely covered last year.
Now, here’s the rest of the story the MSM has yet to report.
On June 23, 2004, New York Supreme Court Judge Marylin Diamond filed this order. The matter concerning the two parties’ time brokerage agreement was not settled in Air America’s favor.
Five months later, on Nov. 24, 2004, Judge Diamond filed a default judgment ordering Air America to pay Multicultural Radio the sum of $255,518.86 in damages.
*Click here to download the 11/24/04 default judgment.*
Six months after that order was filed, Multicultural Radio still had not been paid. On May 24, 2005, the company filed another complaint with the New York State Supreme Court–this time with legal guns blazing. Named as defendants were past officers and directors of Air America Radio, as well as current officers, directors and investors of Piquant LLC, including:
Evan Cohen
Rex Sorensen
Doug Kreeger
Jon Sinton
Terry Kelly
Mary Kelly
Anita Drobny
Sheldon Drobny
Thomas Embrescia
Mike Papantonio
Peter Durst
Normain Wain
Sandy Koshkin
Barbara Levin
Rob GlaserNote that this revelation included in the complaint was made in May 2005–two months before the story hit the blogosphere and Air America publicly acknowledged its “moral obligation” to pay back Gloria Wise.
The complaint next documents Air America’s p.r. strategy of smearing Multicultural Radio president Arthur Liu.
According to Multicultural Radio, dissenters from the “classic shell game” scheme were met with threats.
And the deal proceeded.
In addition to its obligations to Multicultural Radio, the complaint alleges that Air America owed more than $2 million in accounts payable and had no means to repay its obligations. Multicultural Radio further alleges that Cohen and Sorensen made a deal with Piquant promising never to sue, retaining an ownership interest in Piquant, and all agreeing to “indemnify and hold harmless” one another “with respect to claims for any breach or default or failure to perform any undertakings pursuant to their agreement.
***
Now you know why the current owners of Air America seem so disinterested in holding Cohen accountable for the Gloria Wise mess.Now you know why Air America and its defenders are using smear tactics to disparage critics and bloggers and journalists asking hard questions about its past and current finances.
But what’s next for Air America as it travels down its trail paved with debts?
Stay tuned to The Radio Equalizer for Part II of this series, as the Air America shell game continues…
The full Multicultural Radio complaint is now up. Fascinating reading. Click here.
Blogosphere reaction is far and wide:
Leon H. at Macho Nachos
Lance at Red State Rant
Somebody is going to visit CLUB FED.
And Air Amerca looks like they will have a date in the bankruptcy court.
Hey Al Franken! How about being morally responsible for destroying Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club and who is the LIAR here……not Rush or the President!
Technorati Tags: Air America, Al Franken, New York City, Evan Cohen, theft