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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief Kim Couture, wife of UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture, has filed a lawsuit against Affliction owner Todd Beard in a Las Vegas court. According to MMAPayout.com "The suit alleges that Beard threatened Couture and seeks a restraining order preventing Beard or others working in concert with Beard from interacting, communicating and/or having any contact with Couture, including attending the events surrounding UFC 91 this weekend at the MGM Grand." The story also states that a temporary restraining order had been issued.
MMAPayout also obtained the application for the protective order and followed up on the exact nature of Couture's concerns.
The Couture's had a business partnership with Affliction through their Xtreme Couture clothing line, and in the suit Couture alleges that Beard failed to present them with accurate accounting statements for the past 12 months. According to the Couture in the application, "Not only has Beard refused to cooperate, but instead, he has resorted to a series of threats and acts intended to intimidate me and otherwise coerce me to 'back off' on my insistence that he and his company give proper accountings. These threats culminated in a series of calls to me and my attorney, Sam Spira, on October 17, 2008. During those calls, Todd Beard, in the most profanity laced and obscene filled rants, literally screamed at the top of his lungs that he would 'get' us and otherwise make us regret that we had persisted in our efforts to get proper accountings."
The application came with an affidavit from a private investigator, a former FBI agent named James Perry, alleging a history of criminal activity out of Beard. Those allegations included guilty pleas for conspiracy and fraud, as well as arrests for theft, cocaine posession, driving under the influence, and more. Beard has also allegedly been subjected to a restraining order before, stemming from a domestic violence case.
Penick Analysis: This is not going to be pretty for Affliction. In fact, with previous guilty pleas to fraud, allegedly, and the allegation that the Couture's have not received requested accounting statements in their joint venture with Affliction, there's something very fishy going on here. With Beard then threatening Kim Couture for trying to get information that he is legally obligated to obtain makes this an even bigger black eye to the company. This is simply not how the CEO of a large company acts in the business world. This is going to majorly hurt the image of a company that's already losing money with their attempt to promote in this sport, and we'll have to wait to see just how much of an effect these allegations will have on the Affliction brand as a whole.
*UPDATE: A press release was issued today in which the Board of Directors for Affliction Inc. have received and accepted Todd Beard's letter of resignation.
In the release, Beard stated that "I would like to apologize for my comments that may have offended Kim and Randy Couture and Mr. Spira. I had a long-standing relationship with the Coutures, and I was deeply and emotionally hurt by some of their recent business decisions. I have only the best of intentions for the success of the Affliction and Xtreme Couture clothing brands and understand that there are personal issues I must address."
The press release also clarified that Affliction Inc. does not control the operations of Affliction Entertainment, which is the MMA promotion side of Affliction.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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