When the jewelry company Alex and Ani sought to redefine their product line in 2023, executives resorted to Los Angeles designer, Pamela Love.
Together with his own homonymous brand, Love had worked with J. Crew, Shinola and Top Shop. In Alex and Ani, she would be “creative director” for around $ 21,000 per month, more royalties.
Now, Love has led the owners of Alex and Ani to the courts, saying that the company is selling its designs, but it owes up to $ 6 million in royalties and other costs, along with more than $ 200,000 in unpaid consulting rates.
In a lawsuit filed on Wednesday in New York, Love and its lawyers seek to collect unpaid money and at the same time allege that the owners of the jewelry brand, including a company in the hands of the celebrity of the, Mark Geragos, are dedicated to a “shell game” and orchestrated “a collusive mortgage execution” to make love to love and other creditors.
The lawsuit appoints the two owners of the jewelry company, the Bathing Club LLC, which alleges that it is controlled by Geragos, and LC A & A Holdings, who alleges that it is controlled by the financial Lyndon Lea through the Private Lion Capital Equity Fund.
“After Pamela Love began the arbitration against Alex and Ani to recover the unpaid consulting rates and sales royalties … Alex and the beneficial owners of Alex and Ani, Lyndon Lea and Mark Geragos, executed a conspiracy of years to interpret the test of Alex and Ani's trial,” said Love's Suit.
Neither geragos nor read responded immediately to the accusations or the requests for comments.
The demand occurs when Geragos has shot a broader celebrity to represent Lyle and Erik Menéndez, and highlights the broader commercial companies of the lawyer, which include the property of the magazine of Los Angeles, restaurants, hotels in California and New York, and the minority stake in Alex and Ani. The jewelry company has had problems in recent years, including a bankruptcy of 2021.
After starting in Alex and Ani in 2023, Love initially received the payment, but did not receive any for its last 10 months. She designed jewelry for Alex and Ani who went on sale last summer, according to the suit. According to the three -year agreement, love was eligible for up to $ 2 million per year in royalties on products that he designed or “contributed differently”, but never received such payments or sales reports that allowed him to determine the royalties, according to the demand.
In the spring of 2024, arbitration began to collect unpaid funds.
“Alex and Ani did not deny that he owes Pamela Love substantial fees under the agreement,” the lawsuit said. A former company lawyer “admitted” during the arbitration that Alex and Ani were “trying to find a way to pay Pamela for his money.”
The referee, the former judge of the Superior Court of the, Katherine Chilton, put on the side of love and said it was “indisputable” that they would not have paid him for 10 months. In a December decision, Chilton required that Alex and Ani LLC published as security $ 208,333.40 for consulting work, along with $ 12,000 in costs.
Chilton said that the “only justification” of the company not to pay love was its bad financial condition and “apparently, because the assets have been transferred to a third party.”
Love's demand also alleges a one -year effort to move assets to hinder creditors such as love.
Among those steps: in February 2023, the firm linked to Geragos, The Bathing Club, registered a security interest in all Alex and Ani assets, according to the lawsuit. In 2024, shortly after Love began its arbitration, Lea, owner of 65% of the jewelry company, also assigned a tax on all the assets of the company Al Bathing Club.
“The transfer was internal to privileged information,” said the demand. “With two internal taxes on the assets of Alex and Ani and without defenses to the statements of Pamela Love … Geragos caused the Bathing Club and Alex and Ani to execute a strict mortgage execution on the assets of Alex and Ani around July 24, 2024”.
The demand alleges that the mortgage execution “was part of a farce to defraud the creditors” and did not interrupt commercial operations.
“The alleged mortgage execution was alone in the name,” the demand said. “Alex and Ani's employees were 'dismissed' and 'they hired' the same day.”
The Love's suit issues the mortgage execution as part of a “'insolvency defense” that Geragos tried while working as a lawyer of Alex and Ani in the arbitration. In a September email, Geragos indicated that a member of the Board “will be finishing the entity” and that the company's CEO, Prite Kumar, “had not worked for Alex and Ani since July when the lender was executed.”
During the arbitration, the member of the Independent Board Larry Meyer declared under a perjury penalty that he was “managing the ordered closure of the company.”
According to the demand, however, the online business of Alex and Ani has continued, and in the fall, the love manager was able to buy a ring that love designed on the website of Alex and Ani.
“Pamela Love did not receive a payment of royalties for this sale,” said the demand.
And earlier this year, Kumar, whom Geragos had indicated was no longer with the company, published on LinkedIn that Alex and Ani were “in a tear” and sought to hire. One of the positions, he wrote, was for a “leader … that can generate income for our several million property clients.”
Love demand alleges that maneuvers were planned very much. As evidence, Love recounted a conversation with the creative director of Alex and Ani, who told Love that it was “part of a plan to go forward.”
“'You would change to a different company, and they would all pay us for [Geragos’] Company, ”said the creative director to Love, according to the demand.
