New Frontier Media's vice president and general manager Tom Nyiri says the company is finally prepared to sit down and offer its side of the controversial J.P. Lipson dispute.
Lipson, a Colorado financier nicknamed "the pig farmer," has filed suit against New Frontier Media, claiming NFM reneged on an agreement that would allow him to run the company in exchange for financial concessions that totaled close to $10 million.
When Lipson became an active force in the New Frontier Media politic last October, NFM's CEO, Mark Kreloff, categorically denied that there even was a Lipson, much less a "pig farmer" in the corporate scenario.
New Frontier Media, however, has since filed counter claims against Lipson, who is now attempting to put the company in receivership, claiming that Kreloff is unfit to run the company.
Asked why Kreloff denied the existence of Lipson in the first place, Nyiri says that Kreloff had been "under a lot of stress," but now the company is prepared to sit down and address individual issues.
"I haven't met anyone who's achieved a level of success [meaning Kreloff] who doesn't have a bad reputation," says Nyiri. "The more success you attain, the more of a target you become."
Not only have Kreloff and New Frontier Media become a target for J.P. Lipson, Kreloff and NFM are also facing lawsuits coming at them from Steven Marshank, a former employee; Image Entertainment; Golf Partners; and Alan Stone & Associates.
A jury trial of Oct. 18 has been scheduled in the Marshank case.
