Local
Metro Weekly sued for more than $1 million
Post-Newsweek lawsuit alleges fraud, seeks damages
Metro Weekly, a local LGBT magazine, is being sued over an alleged $85,000 printing debt by a company owned by Post-Newsweek Media, Inc., the media conglomerate that owns the Washington Post, according to a lawsuit filed July 8 in D.C. Superior Court. The lawsuit also seeks $1 million in punitive damages.
The lawsuit, which was first reported by the Washington Business Journal in its Aug. 6, 2010 edition (Vol.29 No.15), alleges that the company that owns Metro Weekly, Jansi LLC, and one of Jansi’s two shareholders, Randy Shulman, are responsible for a five-year-old printing debt with the Gaithersburg, Md., printing firm Comprint, a Post-Newsweek affiliate.
In addition to charging Jansi and Shulman with breach of contract for not paying the printing debt, the lawsuit accuses them of fraud for allegedly entering into a licensing agreement with Isosceles Publishing, Inc., the corporation that owned and operated Metro Weekly up until November 2007, for the alleged purpose of evading debts and liabilities.
“Upon information and belief, Mr. Shulman, Jansi, and Isosceles entered into the 2007 License Agreement with the specific intention to evade Isosceles’ creditors while continuing to publish, and reap revenue from, Metro Weekly,” the lawsuit says. “As a direct result of the defendant’s fraud, plaintiff suffered damages in a sum to be proved at trial but expected to exceed $1,000,000,” the lawsuit states in its request for punitive damages.
“We believe the lawsuit filed against Jansi LLC by Post-Newsweek is wholly without merit,” said William McLain, Jansi’s attorney.
McLain said he could not comment on any further details of the case until he files a response to the lawsuit later this month on behalf of Jansi.
“This story is totally premature for publication, and our responsive pleadings will support our claim that the lawsuit is without merit,” he told the Blade.
Although McLain has yet to file Jansi’s response to the lawsuit, Washington Business Journal quoted him as saying Post-Newsweek was not going to recover its money from Jansi because “it’s just not that corporation’s debt.”
Paul Thayer, the attorney representing Post-Newsweek, said he expects Jansi to argue in its response to the lawsuit that the printing debt was incurred by Isosceles Publishing, Inc., rather than Jansi.
Isosceles and Jansi entered into the licensing agreement in November 2007 in which Isoceles “granted to Jansi the exclusive right to publish Metro Weekly in exchange for a licensing fee,” the lawsuit says.
It says that Shulman disclosed in a deposition taken during a 2009 lawsuit filed by Post-Newsweek against Isosceles, in an earlier effort to collect the printing debt, that “each and every Isosceles employee was transferred to, and was exclusively compensated by, Jansi” after the licensing agreement took effect.
A Superior Court judge issued a judgment in Post-Newsweek’s favor on Dec. 11, 2009, ordering Isosceles Publishing to pay the $85,000 printing bill plus “pre-judgment interest at the rate of 6 percent per annum, dating from Feb. 1, 2009 to the date of judgment” along with court costs.
Thayer said Isoceles had yet to make any payments on the debt since the December judgment.
The July lawsuit argues that Jansi LLC and Shulman should be held responsible for the debt because “there has been a near complete intermingling of corporate funds, staff, and property between Isosceles and Jansi LLC.”
“Mr. Shulman has confirmed that one motive for the License Agreement was a desire to continue publishing Metro Weekly without having the publisher responsible for debts incurred by Isosceles,” the latest lawsuit says.
The lawsuit states that Sean Bugg, Shulman’s business partner, is the second of the two shareholders in Jansi LLC. Bugg is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, in a related development, Washington Business Journal reported in the same story that “nearly $656,000 in federal and state tax liens have been filed against Isosceles,” according to data the newspaper said it gathered.
Public records available from the D.C. Recorder of Deeds, which keeps track of tax liens, show that 21 federal, D.C., or unemployment liens have been filed against Isosceles Publishing between 1996 and 2010. Thirteen are listed as a “U.S. Tax Lien.”
It could not be determined from the Recorder of Deeds docket listing of the Isosceles liens whether they are still pending or have been resolved.
McLain declined to comment on the liens.
The lawsuit states that Isosceles entered into a settlement agreement with Post-Newsweek in June 2005 to pay what at the time was a printing debt of $125,000 incurred “over a period of years.” It says that from 2005 to December 2008, Isosceles made payments totaling $40,000.
“Isosceles failed to make any further payments in accordance with the terms of the Settlement Agreement,” the lawsuit says.
Rehoboth Beach
Former CAMP Rehoboth official sentenced to nine months in prison
Salvator Seeley pleaded guilty to felony theft charge for embezzlement
Salvator “Sal” Seeley, who served as an official with the Rehoboth Beach, Del., CAMP Rehoboth LGBTQ community center for 20 years, was sentenced on April 5 by a Sussex County Superior Court judge to nine months in prison and to pay $176,000 in restitution to the organization.
The sentencing took place about five weeks after Seeley pleaded guilty to a charge of Theft in Excess of $50,000 for allegedly embezzling funds from CAMP Rehoboth, a spokesperson for the Delaware Department of Justice told the Washington Blade.
Seeley’s guilty plea came shortly after a grand jury, at the request of prosecutors, indicted him on the felony theft charge following an investigation that found he had embezzled at least $176,000 from the nonprofit LGBTQ organization.
“Salvatore C. Seeley, between the 27th day of February 2019 and the 7th day of September 2021, in the County of Sussex, State of Delaware, did take property belonging to CAMP Rehoboth, Inc., consisting of United States currency and other miscellaneous property valued at more than $50,000, intending to appropriate the same,” the indictment states.
“The State recommended a sentence of two years of incarceration based on the large-scale theft and the impact to the non-profit organization,” Delaware Department of Justice spokesperson Caroline Harrison told the Blade in a statement.
“The defense cited Seeley’s lack of a record and gambling addiction in arguing for a probationary sentence,” the statement says. “Seeley was sentenced in Superior Court to a nine-month prison term and to pay a total of $176,000 in restitution for the stolen funds,” Harrison says in the statement.
Neither Seeley nor his attorney could immediately be reached for comment.
At the time of Seeley’s indictment in February, CAMP Rehoboth released a statement saying it first discovered “financial irregularities” within the organization on Sept. 7, 2021, “and took immediate action and notified state authorities.” The statement says this resulted in the investigation of Seeley by the state Department of Justice as well as an internal investigation by CAMP Rehoboth to review its “financial control policies” that led to an updating of those policies.
“As we have communicated from day one, CAMP Rehoboth has fully cooperated with law enforcement,” the statement continues. “At its request, we did not speak publicly about the investigation while it was ongoing for fear it would jeopardize its integrity,” according to the statement. “This was extremely difficult given our commitment to transparency with the community about day-to-day operations during the recent leadership transition.”
The statement was referring to Kim Leisey, who began her job as CAMP Rehoboth’s new executive director in July of 2023, while the Seeley investigation had yet to be completed, following the organization’s process of searching for a new director. It says Seeley left his job as Health and Wellness Director of CAMP Rehoboth in September of 2021 after working for the organization for more than 20 years.
“Mr. Seeley’s actions are a deep betrayal to not only CAMP Rehoboth but also the entire community we serve,” the statement says.
Maryland
Christian Siriano to serve as grand marshal of Annapolis Pride Parade
Fashion designer is an Annapolis native
BY JOHN-JOHN WILLIAMS IV | He’s conquered fashion week. His designs have slayed the red carpet during award season. And now Christian Siriano is coming home.
The Annapolis native will serve as grand marshal and keynote speaker June 1 for the annual Annapolis Pride Parade and Festival, which is a major coup as the event enters its fourth year.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
District of Columbia
As You Are bar closes temporarily, citing problems with building
Shutdown comes two months after fundraising appeal brought in $170,000
As You Are, the LGBTQ café and bar located in the Barracks Row section of Capitol Hill near the Eastern Market Metro station, has announced on its Instagram page that problems associated with its building at 500 8th St., S.E., forced it to “temporarily” close on April 8.
“As you may be aware, As You Are’s location in Eastern Market has been closed since April 8, when we began to have concerns about the physical condition of the building,” the Instagram message states. “We worked quickly to alert our landlord, and they have assessed the building with their engineers,” the message says.
“We understand that certain repairs need to be made to ensure the safety of our staff, patrons, and community,” the message concludes.
In one of two more recent videos posted on Instagram on April 17 and 26, As You Are co-owners Jo McDaniel and Rachel Pike said they did not have any update on when they can reopen. “The engineers and contractors have all come into the space, and we’re just waiting on a plan and a timeline from our landlord,” McDaniel said in the video.
Pike mentioned in one of the videos that As You Are has a Venmo app set up, and said they appreciate the support they have been receiving from the community. McDaniel added, “We’re really interested in supporting our team through this, as this is an unexpected loss of income for all of us.”
McDaniel didn’t immediately respond to a request from the Washington Blade for a further update on where things stand with the building repair project and the specific nature of the problems with the building. An earlier message posted on the As You Are website said, “Heavy rain damaged the back wall of our building, and we are closed to assess and repair.”
The message added, “Regular updates and ways to support can be found on our Instagram page @asyouaredc.”
The April 8 shutdown came a little over two months after As You Are issued a GoFundMe appeal on Feb. 5 seeking emergency financial support to prevent it from closing in February due to a $150,000 debt. In a display of strong community support, its $150,000 fundraising goal was reached in less than a week. By the following week, the GoFundMe appeal had pulled in more than $170,000 from more than 3,000 individual donations.
Many of the donors left messages on the GoFundMe page for As You Are expressing their strong support for the bar and café, saying it served as a uniquely supportive space for all members of the LGBTQ community.
In the GoFundMe message, McDaniel and Pike said their goal in opening their business in March 2022 was to offer community center type programming beyond just a bar and café.
“AYA is a café, bar and dance floor that hosts diverse programming nearly every night of the week, including social sport leagues, Queer youth socials, weekly karaoke, book clubs, open mics, Queer author events, dance parties, and much more,” the two said in their message.
The building’s owner and the As You Are landlord, Rueben Bajaj, who is the principal operator of the Bethesda, Md., based real estate firm White Star Investments, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. The Washington Post reported that he contributed $500 to the As You Are GoFundMe appeal, saying, “I personally want to see As You Are succeed.”
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Christian Siriano to serve as grand marshal of Annapolis Pride Parade
Kenyan court bars homophobic protests
Pride season has begun
Md. governor signs Freedom to Read Act
Successful open relationships take effort
HHS reverses Trump-era anti-LGBTQ rule
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