Ron Rose wanted for embezzlement?

[lefty rosen]

Does anybody have an developments on this strange story. Supposedly he was co-promoting a martial arts tournament and ran off with the gate reciepts when the tourney was cancelled? Any news would be appreciated, thanks.

[mike l.]

i just wanted to thank you for being the first person in a long long time to post some bonafide gossip on this forum.

[Please Use the Search Function]

http://www.onzuka.com/news.html
Confusion Reigns Over IFC Sturgis CancellationWith all the controversy surrounding the canceling of the Sturgis Music Festival this past week, including the International Fighting Championships Sturgis Rally Rumble, it's been confusing for everyone trying to understand just what happened.Last week on Wednesday, we got word from the IFC's Paul Smith that the festival was in jeopardy due to financial backer Ron Rose packing up on Tuesday night and leaving town taking computer equipment and money with him, leaving the IFC and all of the remaining musical acts scrambling.For his part, Rose released a statement to the press saying that ticket sales had been abysmal and that the company behind the festival, Sturgis 2004 LLC, had lost everything and was basically bankrupt and that was why everything was cancelled.Apparently, Rose has been in contact with officials in Sturgis and according to the police department in Sturgis, he has not yet been charged nor arrested for anything at this point.Though the refund process for people who actually purchased tickets at the box office in Sturgis has been frustrating to most fans, Sturgis 2004 LLC promoter Erica Hansen said that they are working diligently to refund fans' money. Etix, the online vendor handling ticket sales, has already started sending out email statements notifying ticket purchasers that their credit cards were in the process of being credited.The whole Sturgis Music Festival, which is one separate faction of the entertainment at the motorcycle rally in Sturgis, was up against some very stiff competition for rally goers' entertainment dollars, specifically the concerts at the Buffalo Chip Campground. On Monday night last week at Buffalo Chip, ZZ Top reportedly brought in over 50,000 fans and later in the week Kid Rock brought in fans estimated to be between 75,000 and 100,000 in number.In contrast, Sturgis Music Festival act ticket sales were basically horrid. Credence Clearwater Revisited and the classic rock night featuring .38 Special each sold only 600 or so tickets and Hank Williams, Jr. sold about 1,500. The venue at Lynn's Dakotamart holds some 15,000-plus fans. With such terrible ticket sales, Sturgis 2004 LLC had to be losing money. The decision was made to cancel the classic rock show just prior to show time on Tuesday night, the rest of the festival shows were cancelled at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.Aware of what was happening, the IFC tried to find a new financial backer to come in and rescue the IFC's Saturday night show. According to Smith, they did find such a backer in Dennis Maloof, who is part of Paradise Entertainement who has worked with the IFC in the past and agreed to rescue the IFC show. The problem was that officials also wanted the musical acts rescued as well and were asking for various related fees to be covered by Maloof in addition to the backing necessary to keep the IFC show itself on track. In any event, an agreement could not be reached and everything remained cancelled.In the meantime, most of the fighters and their camps were not notified until late Wednesday night that the show was cancelled and some weren't notified until Thursday morning. Dan Severn was actually on his way to the airport when he was notified.Regardless of how things shake out between the IFC, Ron Rose and Sturgis 2004 LLC, the bigger question now for the IFC is how it will regain credibility in the mixed martial arts community. This latest occurrence at Sturgis follows a laundry list of associations gone awry for the IFC.Last year in Chicago, a show sanctioned by the IFC's sanctioning arm, ISKA-MMA, under the direction of Paul Smith, went bad when the promoter, Ed Kim, did not pay nearly all of the fighters on his Battleground show when his checks bounced.A show in Texas last year, Rumble on the Rio, co-promoted by the IFC, also left fighters in a lurch when the main financier didn't follow through on his responsibilities to pay the fighters. Luckily in Texas, the show was sanctioned by the commission and was required to be bonded and insured, so the fighters were eventually paid.Just last month, the IFC cancelled their scheduled show in Monterrey, Mexico due to the promoter they were partnering with misleading local fans into believing that former UFC Champion Tito Ortiz was going to fight on the card.Unfortunately for the IFC and fans of the sport, the IFC's bad business dealings with other promoters is developing into a pattern of misfortune that is starting to point right back in their direction.Both Nathan Marquardt and Jeremy Horn, the feature fighters in the most high profile bout on the Sturgis card, displayed their misgivings about the IFC saying that they were hopeful that the IFC would follow through on contracts and pay the fighters since the fights were cancelled due in no part to the fighters themselves, but weren't optimistic.We will continue to follow this story this week as more details come to light. There will be more discussion on this story today on MMAWeekly Radio. You can listen to the show at 9am Pacific/12 Noon Eastern at www.mmaweeklyradio.com.Source (http://www.mmaweeklyradio.com.Source): MMA Weekly

[Please Use the Search Function]

http://www.graciefighter.com/?page=news&PHPSESSID=0461960fe21f76d5964485973a458 0a0

From Pancrase.us

6pm, 08-16-2004

My name is Ron Rose. I am the managing member of Sturgis 2004, LLC and one of the major investors in this enterprise. Many of the fight websites have printed libelous remarks about me and my involvement in the Sturgis Music Festival. I can no longer remain silent and swallow this abuse without replying with the facts. The following article making the rounds is typical enough of what is being said that I will respond to it point by point with facts, not innuendo!


This is what is being printed about me:

Some friends of mine are involved in a fight promotion in Sturgis this weekend. Seems Mr. Rose skipped town to the tune of $600k. This from www.graciefighter.com (http://www.graciefighter.com) :

"An absolute fiasco has engulfed the IFC show in Sturgis, South Dakota. The IFC was one of several shows to be prominently featured at the famous Sturgis motorcycle rally. Musicians B.B. King and the group 38 Special along with comedians Dana Carvey and Paul Rodriguez were all contracted to perform this weekend. Unfortunately it seems as if a crooked investor has forced the cancellation of all performances. Ron Rose is a 7x World Poker Champion and one of the co-investor/promoters. Mr. Rose apparently stole an estimated 400 to 600 thousand dollars of the ticket sales and then promptly skipped town. He also took with him all of the E ticket terminals. The terminals were the only record keeping machines for the revenues being generated and it is assumed that he took them so he could wipe out the hard drives, making an exact accounting of how much he took impossible. Several hundred bikers had purchased tickets to the various shows and are now left with the fact that they were duped out of their money. Millions will be lost on the show due to the fact that there were several television shows filming the perfomances along with an HBO special. The IFC show was set to be a pay per view event and will very likely be cancelled if other investors don't ante up for the stolen revenue. Paul Smith and Monte Cox are scrambling to make the Horn vs. Marquardt fight happen, however Pe De Pano vs. Severn and all of the Brazilian fighters' fights have been officially cancelled. We will not find out until tomorrow morning whether or not the whole show will be cancelled. "

First and most libelous is the fact the I have been wrongly accused of taking off with $600,000 of ticket receipts. If that were not so absurd, ridiculous and downright malicious, it would be laughable. The sales for the first three concerts, all of which were first class, were dismal. Total sales for the first concert in an arena that would hold 15,000 spectators was 548 paid attendance. Second Concert, 562 paid attendance. Third concert, Hank Williams, Jr., one of our top draws was 1501 paid attendance. The receipts for these figures did not even begin to cover what we paid in entertainment fees to the artists. All cash sales were deposited the next day in the bank. All credit card sales were recorded at Etix online ticket sales. All figures can be accounted for by the bank, Etix and by the CPA who acted as the controller to be sure that sales were conducted properly. How I could walk off with $600,000 is a mystery to me and to any reasonable person. Accusations to this effect are not only libelous they are incredibly hurtful to myself and my family.

As to advance sales, Classic Rock Night had 252 tickets sold; B.B. King had 605 ; Las Vegas Night, a mere 20, Comic Relief, 35 and the great IFC rumble had a grand total of 36 seats sold. Again, no $600,000 figures here! And all sales were accounted for in the same way as for the concerts which took place. I ask you. Does this merit putting on five more shows? Only a moron would continue.

Next point, Comic Relief Night. We had no contract at all with Comic Relief. Despite repeated attempts to nail down a contract and have them provide us with a lineup so that we could advertise and make advance sales, it was not until August 6, one week before the performance that we were told that we had Paul Rodriguez and 6 no name comics lined up to perform. Dana Carvey was not scheduled or expected to be scheduled. More lies! How can a promoter sell tickets for a show with no lineup? And, oh, we were also promised one of the three big Comic Relief Stars which we of course did not get – Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams or Billy Crystal! Coincidentally we could never even get a contract with Comic Relief even though they were paid $25,000 earlier in the process.

I don’t need to comment again about the slurs to my reputation which are asserted next in the post. They are of course libelous and actionable by law. The writer does not even have my poker wins correct. I would love to admit to being a 7-time World Champion, but it just ain’t so! More inaccuracies.

As to the computer terminals, they were returned to the computer store which rented them to Sturgis 2004 for ticket sales the morning after the concerts were cancelled. They were laptops with a swipe for credit cards. I could not wipe out the hard drives, since all information is on the system at Etix, not on the computers we used to process the credit cards. Again, Etix has a full accounting of tickets sold and are giving refunds from funds collected from Visa/MC ticket sales. Despite repeated attempts over the last month to get a complete accounting from Etix we have never seen one.

Several hundred bikers have not been “duped” out of their money. Credit card sales are being refunded and we have taken names of those who called in for cash refunds. However, at this time those who have paid cash for tickets may not get a refund because of lack of funds.

Now, for one of the biggest bits of misinformation put out by my detractors – Television contracts. There was never at any time the possibility of a contract with HBO for Comic Relief. And we did not have a signed contract with the IFC pay per view event. They presented us with a contract a few days before the show, expecting, I guess that we would sign anything at that point. We did not.

For anyone interested in the facts, there are three major reasons why this cancellation happened.

First, lack of attendance. We had an A+ facility – stage, bleachers, LED screens, plenty of room to stand – a capacity of 15,000. The attendance cited above should speak for itself.

Second, when our investment group was presented with this concert idea we were promised one to one and a half million dollars in sponsorship. We were told of a list of sponsors that were supposedly already signed or ready to sign like Ford, Gillette, etc. In actuality,we received $7,000 to rent a tent which may or may not be called sponsorship. That leaves a deficit in sponsorship monies of, let’s see, “only” $993,000 to $1,493,000. The people that promised this as a way to lure investors, are the real culprits. I tried my level best to keep this thing going, working night and day since the day I was made a managing member. Surprise after surprise from the other members who obligated the corporation to pay monies without the authority to do so made it virtually impossible. But for all my work and for all the money I put in (they put in nothing as investors – nothing!) I could not make it go. As a last resort, I turned to the group who owned the venue area in Sturgis if they would like to take over the Sturgis Music Festival so that the shows would not have to be cancelled. After I told them what the ticket sales had been; they politely declined.

Third, the city of Sturgis gave us zero in the way of support to bring bikers into the city for entertainment. They “allowed” us to put a banner on the armory which they required us to have made by their printer at a cost of about $5,000 and the mayor wanted 20 all events passes worth $4,500 in return. They promised parking for the event. They charged $5 per head for parking (they got that money) and provided another free lot a half of a mile away from the venue. That is it. That is what the city did for us. Once the event was cancelled, the Mayor wanted to distance the city from us so stated to all who would listen that the city had nothing to do with the Sturgis Music Festival.

Why did I leave without defending myself? I was advised by the police who were there when we cancelled the show and by the security guards not to stay. My life was threatened, both in person and by telephone. My family was with me (who by the way worked 14-16 hour days the whole time solely out of the goodness of their hearts) and I would not risk their safety for anything! I talked by telephone continuously to those involved, Etix, bank, investors, ticket holders, Sturgis officials, etc. what I got in return were more threats and malicious lies spread about me.

This brings me to my last point. I have a list of all who have posted libelous comments on the net. If they are not taken off immediately they will be included in my libel and slander suit against all who are spreading rumors which people are only too anxious to pick up and spread.

I did not have to write this rebuttal to all the garbage that has appeared, but enough is enough! It’s time for action.

Sturgis 2004, LLC will not have enough funds to pay all its debts and will likely have to go into bankruptcy. It is not what we had planned. We envisioned something that would be good for Sturgis, for the bikers and visitors and for the investors. It did not happen for the reasons stated above. My detractors should also keep in mind that Sturgis 2004, LLC is not comprised solely of Ron Rose. There are other members of the corporation, some of whom have started these malicious lies about me. They must bear their share of the blame for what has happened. I regret the outcome. I regret that there are others who are profoundly affected by this development. But I can only speak for myself. You will not likely hear from the others!

Ron Rose

Graciefighter.com has received all information directly from IFC fight promoter Paul Smith and has reported the Sturgis fiasco as told solely by him.

[BeerMoney]

I never liked Ron Rose.

[scotnt73]

[ QUOTE ]


I never liked Ron Rose.

[/ QUOTE ]

youve met him? /images/graemlins/grin.gifJ/K he does come off as an ass on tv to me as well. however reading this i believe hes telling the truth.

[BeerMoney]

I would say I believe him too.