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UPDATE: Sitrick’s Lawyer: ‘No Basis’ To ESOP Suit
It looks like crisis PR guru Mike Sitrick is going to need his own services. The high-priced flack, whose Sitrick & Company also reps showbiz types, is the target of a lawsuit that was certified today in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. It alleges, among other things, that he manipulated the value of his firm’s Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) to deprive current and former employees of millions of dollars. I must say that, for years, I’ve heard complaints about his ESOP from former and current employees. The ESOP was formed in 1999 and was terminated at the end of 2008 while Sitrick was in negotiations to sell the firm to Resources Connection Inc. Richard Wool, the former head of Sitrick’s New York office 2001-2004, is the name plaintiff, but the suit has been filed on behalf of all the plan’s members, including some current employees. Besides Sitrick, the other defendants are his wife Nancy, their trust, and Relieance.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Yep, Nikki. I heard the same thing over the years. I guess someone got to the bottom of it and didn’t like what they saw. Sitrick drips more oil than a 1964 Corvair.
I have read the lawsuit and mostly anonymous posts here with considerable amusement. A few observations:
–Richard Wool’s complaint speaks for only one former or current Sitrick employee—himself.
–In my 22 years as an investigative reporter and editor at the LA Times, I don’t recall meeting Anita Busch. Her comment that she “heard the same thing” regarding unproven allegations about Sitrick means nothing.
–In my nearly three years at Sitrick, I have come to admire his generosity. He kept one critically ill employee on the payroll for two years and another for nearly a year. He also has made personal loans to employees who were suffering financial hardship.
–The ESOP value was more lucrative for Sitrick employees than if we had kept a 401K in place and the company made the maximum possible contribution.
–As managing director, I am not “feeding former co-workers in the media with whatever tripe of the day Sitrick is selling.” Rather, I am overseeing fascinating and challenging assignments without any involvement or interference on Sitrick’s part.
Oh, I am the proud owner of a 1962 Plymouth Valiant. It does not leak oil.
Glenn,
Whether you have met me or not means nothing to any point you are making here. I will say that you defended your employer well. Hope you get that raise.
‘Every dog has his day.’ He is one of the most disgusting human beings ever and he deserves to be dragged under the bus as he has done to tons of people unjustly. Suck it Sitrick.
Well said
It’s part of corporate life… build a successful business, and some disgruntled employees will come after you.
This has nuisance suit all over it. But I’ll tell you one thing… going after Mike Sitrick is a very poor idea. One wonders what they’re thinking.
This comment has Sitrick written all over it.
What a scumbag. Glad his well-known practice of screwing his employees is now in the public domain.
So Nikki, who is behind this suit? What’s his story? Does he have an axe to grind? How did he become a “former employee?”
When you report something like this, especially with an “I’ve heard” opinion, shhouldn’t you check the facts at the same time to give us all some real information?
Will be awaiting your “behind the scenes” investigation.
So does this one.
You’d think someone in the business of handling PR for people and businesses in crisis would understand the importance of
A) Not making enemies out of employees & colleagues.
B) Not giving them anything, even if they are just allegations, that they can use against him.
Maybe he thinks he can spin his way out of this.
If this is true, BOOOOOOOOOOO to the Scumby!!! U will one day pay for that…
Karma at last to this arrogant fraud who charges ridiculous fees to bully and intimidate — obviously his own employees as well. He’s turned some respectable journalists into low-rent hacks. Sad but at least he may be getting his…
Ok, Kiddies. Time for PR lesson 101.
See if you can guess which of the comments above are Sitrick spins. Guess the answer correctly and you can apply for your position at a vastly overpaid crisis management pr firm that hires and allegedly rips off staffers, if one believes the lawsuit….
And hey class, aren’t many of the Sitrick flacks ex journalists?
That’s right students, Mike likes to hire reporters from major news outlets and then he gives them a cheap makeover and pimps them out as PR professionals where he charges hundreds of dollars per hour for their so-called services… And what exactly do these reporters do once they sell out to the man who put Trick in his last name? These former journalists were/are not hired not because they know anything about crisis management or PR. They are targeted primarily so they can feed their friends and former co-workers in the media with whatever tripe of the day Sitrick is selling.
Shills,
Time for a lesson in Advanced PR;
Sitrick wins. That’s why he gets hired, and that’s what he delivers.
Let’s speculate on the axe you may be grinding:
1. Are you a flack that got your head handed to you when you went up against the wrong guy?
2. Are you a current flack that’s got a grudge, or is jealous?
3. Did you get turned down for a job over there?
Winners win. Losers file lawsuits and whine.
Why hello again, Mr. Sitrick and/or Sitrick relative or employee.
Sounds like a family member to me AB….who would want to work with the biggest scumbag on earth. When a publicist’s ego and fame is more important than the clients one serves….stay away. Sitrick himself is one of the most litigious people in LA. His fortune has been amassed by suing people…..let the games begin. Suck it Sitrick.
This article is similar to that of Michael Flacks who runs by the trading name of Flacks Group, resides in Monaco, on the run from the United Kingdom and facing multiple criminal charges in Miami for screwing investors from the local jewish synagogue, where better to collect the ill earned!!!!!!.
The guy is actually potless but talks as if he owns half of Monaco, with not a brain cell in there and not a dime in his pocket!!!!
This dickwad Shills obviously never made it to the show. If he had he wouldn’t believe his myth that journalists with real jobs don’t need to be spoon fed by former colleagues and friends who become flacks.
What is R. Kelly gonna do if he pees on someone again.
the only thing I know about Mike Sitrick’s treatment of his employees is that he kept a friend of mine who was very sick on the payroll throughout her illness and her recovery. He also helped her find a place where she could send her very disturbed adopted son and he paid for his stay there, for years.