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Defendant in NWA-TNA lawsuit issues statement to PWTorch.com

Aug 5, 2002 - 3:27:00 PM
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The following is a press release sent to PWTorch.com by Len Sabal, who is a defendant named in a lawsuit filed last week by J Sports & Entertainment (NWA-TNA)...

For Release:
Monday 3:00 p.m.
5 August 2002

To:
PW Torch
Wrestling Observer
411 Wrestling

Gentlemen:

(Please feel free to quote this document in its entirety.)

Following is my complete quotable response that I had submitted in response to a query by MultiChannel News on 31 July. (A link to today’s brief MultiChannel News article follows at the end of this statement.)

I am providing this to you today in order that some clarity and factual insight be shared with you, your staff and your readers, as opposed to the wandering, contradictory and fabricated claims being stated by Jeff Jarrett, Jerry Jarrett, Bob Ryder and Jeremy Borash (an announcer--!!!-- no less, acting as their “legal commentator”!!) in radio and website interviews, as well as in their contrived and manufactured articles and whisperings about this “suit” by JSE/NWATNA.

Please note that I will endeavor to address your specific questions if submitted by e-mail (your media questions only, and not from the general public). Due to time constraints, I will not be able to accept telephone queries, and of course, will address only those issues my counsel and special counsel permit.

Please also note this is being released exclusively to only your three sites, for the following reasons.

Based on the intimate involvement, managerial manipulations, and informational control of Bob Ryder;
-- Who is the owner and director of <1Wrestling .com>;
-- As well as JSE’s daily, on-site “executive manager” in Nashville;
-- JSE’s designer, writer and manager of their NWATNA website;
-- JSE’s direct liaison with the JSE Public Relations firm in Nashville;
-- As well having as a “thumb in ‘legal’ and every other department” of JSE-NWATNA,
I thus cannot bring myself to address this message, nor any other, to <1Wrestling.com> since I am of the old school that believes editorial integrity and objectiveness are a vital mainstay of free press, whereas some seem to feel that direct conflicts of interests are more important to reaching ‘wannabe” status, along with their apparent opinion that as ‘press’, anything can be said, printed or “leaked”, even that which is clearly slanderous, libelous, intentionally misleading, manipulatively deceitful, or even an outright lie.

Accordingly, I submit the above and below statements to your three sites exclusively, with my permission to you to quote them in full form only, and not in redacted or abbreviated form.

Thank you for your kind attention and cooperation.
Len Sabal

********************
For MultiChannel News:
Exclusive July 31 2002

Regarding the Jarretts'/JSE Lawsuit against Len Sabal.

"I have not yet received a complaint nor seen any specific allegations, but have heard and read about it in website reports for almost two weeks now.

"I can assure you, Tom, that it's all nonsense, and an intentional effort to divert attention from JSE/TNA's impending implosion, and the fact that as Jeff Jarrett complained to me on July 19th, JSE "is running on credit".

"The fact is, I negotiated a tremendous contract with iN Demand on JSE's behalf, one requiring no upfront fees or advance payments of any sort. But before I even contacted iN Demand, I needed assurances that JSE had the financial wherewithal to perform. What I received was their personal assurances that they had $1 million in cash set aside for the first two shows, and a $5 million line of credit in place for the next 6-8 months until their PPV revenues started to flow.

"After my early-negotiation meetings with iN Demand, the Jarretts and Bob Ryder met with me and four iN Demand executives, and in that meeting again confirmed their $1 million/$5 million funding to iN Demand..

"What followed between that March meeting and the June 19th premiere of TNA: Total Nonstop Action could, as the saying goes, fill a book, especially when the Jarretts proved unable or unwilling to fund two small letters of credit as called for in the iN Demand agreement. Instead, they hastily sought outside investors, to whom I'm certain, Jerry Jarrett used his mantra of '150,000 buys', despite all efforts by myself and iN Demand to keep him focussed on a realistic 25,000-buy minimum, 50,000-buy-target from which to build upon.

"The two letters of credit were funded by the founder of Healthsouth, who also was listed as an official sponsor of the June 19th premiere. I understand that an additional $1.2 or 1.6 million in buy-in equity was negotiated, but stalled when Healthsouth discovered the corporation's formation and filings as personally prepared and filed by Jerry Jarrett were not acceptable from a businessman's or investor's perspective.

"So the Jarretts quickly recast their corporation (which is the only entity contracted with iN Demand, by the way) into an limited-liability-partnership, and inadvertently preventing the possible conclusion of any investment until after their first event numbers started arriving..... numbers that clearly showed any investor that the mantra of '150,000 buys' was but one man's misguided wish, and driving away any serious investors.

"And so, today, JSE has dramatically departed from a most promising, entertaining and history-making weekly PPV series, to a despairing shadow of its promise.... with crews being told to drive to Nashville from Atlanta (or wherever home may be), and then drive back after the event because JSE can't pay their hotel bills. Where my $1700 in expenses for the June 19th premiere are not being paid by JSE, because "we don't want to pay them'. Where the ad/marketing agency that prepared all the marketing kits for the iN Demand cable-system and satellite affiliates is being told, "Go sue somebody else, JSE's not obligated to pay you a penny for the materials you prepared for us." (Should the agency demand their materials be pulled from the iN Demand affiliate site, including all logo treatments??)

"While in the meantime, a carefully orchestrated, shifting, evolving storyline of sabatoge, conspiracy, and intentional malfeasance continues to flow from the Jarretts, Bob Ryder and JSE, Inc/JSE LLP... with careful mentions of Federal investigations, 'white-collar' crime, Attorney General's offices, and more possible suits and investigations targeting totally unrelated parties, and even iN Demand itself.

"Next, one wouldn't be surprised to hear Enron, WorldCom and JPMorgan Chase dragged into this JSE/TNA debacle, where once again, Jerry would continue to prove his skills as an evolving storyteller.

"It's just too bad they didn’t have the $5 million they represented, and also failed to deliver the events on a wholesome, quality basis. Instead, they now are in a self-destruct mode.... have been and are in breach of the iN Demand agreement in numerous instances... and trying to deflect all attention away from their failures and impending door-closing to whomever they can manage to weave into their twisted web.

"As opposed to the Jarretts and Bob Ryder, I feel truly sorry for the crew and production staffs, many of whom uprooted to Tennessee at their own cost, for the talent that's been rewarded with some airtime and little else, for the suppliers being told no payments are possible, and, of course, for the profit-sharing and equity stake promised to me, but as with all else, reneged on by the Jarretts/JSE.

"Just think, Tom, this is before I've even seen their complaint against me..... Believe this, though, my counsel and special counsel are salivating, so I'm sure you'll be hearing much more about this ill-conceived, nonsensical action by the Jarretts, Bob Ryder and JSE against me personally.”

--End of response—

Len Sabal
10:49 a.m.
073102

***

This week's TorchNewsletter will feature a detailed account of the actual lawsuit along with the latest comments from any involved parties.


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