Orenstein: There Is No Hustler Deal and Never Was

Defying the cliché "Where there's smoke there's fire," Wicked Pictures owner Steve Orenstein strongly denied any intention of selling Wicked to Hustler despite the unsubstantiated rumors that have been circulating for months now on adult industry gossip sites.

"For the record Wicked has not been sold to LFP, nor did LFP ever make an offer to buy Wicked. I'm glad that AVN is only interested in reporting the facts," Orenstein told AVN.com

Yesterday one site went so far as to publish, reportedly without bothering to substantiate the rumors, that Hustler had offered $25 million dollars for Wicked but that Orenstein was holding out for $30 million. Often the gossip Websites have claimed to have been tipped to the deal by a "reliable source," though that is not the case of the posting referred to yesterday.

"I'm just wondering what constitutes a reliable source? I keep hearing about and have been told about things in writing listing reliable sources. But none of the places writing such things have ever spoken to me so how reliable can they be?" Orenstein asked.

Yet for all the industry gossip, there appears to be not even the slightest evidence that a deal has even been suggested, yet alone pursued.

“We haven’t had any conversations about acquisitions, Steve and I,” confirmed Jim Kohls, president of LFP Video. 

Kohls was also at a loss to explain the rumor or where it originated.

"That's what I'd like to know," he said.