LOS ANGELES—Cryptocurrency company Vice Industry Token says it plans to seek restitution after purportedly losing millions of crypto tokens in a crumbling deal between Playboy Enterprises and Canadian-based Global Blockchain Technologies for GBT to integrate VIT currency across Playboy's websites.
Playboy announced in March that it planned to begin accepting VIT and other cryptocurrencies on its various media and gaming sites, starting with Playboy.TV. However, it recently filed suit against GBT in Los Angeles Superior Court for fraud and breach of contract, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday, claiming the crypto tech firm failed to implement the cryptocurrency on Playboy's sites and neglected to make a $4 million payment promised as part of the deal.
In a statement to the Times, GBT called Playboy's fraud allegation "frivolous" and the suit as a whole a "normal dispute," going on to assert, "Global believes it has a strong defense to the action and will be vigorously defending same." Meanwhile, Vice Industry Token has become a casualty in the crossfire, it claims, and is strategizing with lawyers to take action within the coming week for remuneration of its losses.
"I've read the complaint that Playboy has with Global Blockchain, and I'm really disappointed in Playboy," VIT CEO Stuart Duncan told AVN, "because we gave them millions and millions and millions of tokens, [and] they've never reached out to us once to try and get anything tokenized with their website. ... It makes me think that maybe we've got a case for a lawsuit against them, because they've taken the equivalent of millions of dollars from us, and we've received absolutely nothing and no benefit from it whatsoever.
"In fact, they've done all they can do to distance themselves from my company, and I'm really, really disappointed," he continued. "They put out one press release where they said they were going to integrate it, and they've done absolutely nothing."
Duncan said that currently, "I'm weighing my options. I feel like I've been screwed ... maybe Global Blockchain is partly to blame, but I don't know what Playboy really promised Global Blockchain. Now, I asked a long time ago, 'Where's our agreement with Playboy?' and my answer from those parties back then was, 'Well, we're going to be doing more work with each other, so we have a bigger picture.' So in the end, who gets screwed in all of this? Neither of those two companies is out any money, and I got screwed. I don't know what to do, I'm weighing my options ... I will be doing something."
As far as what specific grounds he may have for a lawsuit against Playboy, he said, "I think that they induced Global Blockchain maybe to make a deal with us promising them ... I don't know. I don't know what went on over there. All I know is we paid a lot of money, and we got absolutely nothing back. I'm the collateral damage in this thing, and I'm pissed right off. I've already spoken with my legal people in Los Angeles and I've told them how upset I am about everything, and I'm going to be figuring out what to do with them and my corporate attorneys in Denver, Colorado, over the next week. I will be doing something, I just don't know what it is I'll be doing yet. If those two companies can't resolve their problems and fix things with me, Playboy's going to have a big problem."
Neither Global Blockchain Technologies nor Playboy responded to requests from AVN for comment by post time.
