Capitola, California entrepreneur Griffin Guess, the guy running the Titans of Mavericks big wave surf contest and Big Cartel Management reportedly filed for bankruptcy on both businesses on Tuesday, January 31, 2017, according to a story in the Mercury News.
Cartel Management Inc. and Titans of Mavericks LLC, . . . filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection amid a sea of legal and financial problems. . . It’s unclear exactly what the twin bankruptcies mean for the contest this year and in years to come, since Cartel last year obtained a new five-year permit from the San Mateo County Harbor District to run the contest off Pillar Point.
But there is more:
The bankruptcies come on the heels of a judgment this fall in which jurors found Cartel and Guess’s wife, swimsuit model Marissa Miller, owed a company $1 million for breaching a contract to promote sunless tanning products and a tanning salon in Southern California. . . On Friday, Red Bull Media House filed a breach of contract and unlawful enrichment claim against Cartel and Titans of Mavericks for $400,000. Red Bull has broadcast the Mavericks contest live on the internet. . . Cartel also owes $280,000 to Fox Sports in another disputed claim, according to the bankruptcy filing. The harbor district is owed $6,600 as part of the government contract involving the Mavericks contest.
Guess says none of this should really worry fans of big wave surfing as the bankruptcy is part of a “strategy” to sell off the intellectual property rights and get them into the hands of someone who can “gain from all our hard work,” he said.
In fact, Titans of Mavericks spokesperson Kelsey Kaulukukui said in an email to the Mercury News that none of this should suggest that the contest won’t happen this year. Remember, bankruptcy is just big business’s way of saying, “whoops.”
[Link: Mercury News]
