“The Video in question was surreptitiously filmed without Mr. Simmons’ knowledge by a woman named Traci Anna Koval,” attorney Barry E. Mallen wrote in the letter to Valleywag.com. “To the extent that Ms. Koval ever claimed to have any interest in the Video, which is both disputed and inconceivable, given its surreptitious filming, such rights were acquired by our client Allied Industry in 2003…Accordingly, Mr. Simmons and Allied Industries collectively control all rights in and to the Video.”
Mallen, of the L.A.-based law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, emailed a cease-and-desist letter yesterday to the gossip site, which posted video clips taken from the sex video. Valleywag Managing Editor Owen Thomas said he would not comply with the attorney’s demand because the clips are “newsworthy.”
Also in the letter, Mallen identifies the blond woman in the video as Traci Anna Koval. It is not known at this time if Koval is Elsa, the Frank’s Energy Drink spokesmodel that GenesSecret.com identifies as his sex partner. It’s also believed that Koval is from the Netherlands, not Austria as the site claims.
The attorney's claimed date the footage was acquired by his clients would contradict what Jon Stevens, spokesman for Stormfront Corp, the Panama-based company behind GenesSecret.com, told XBIZ on Tuesday.
Stevens said that the Simmons sex footage was shot “about nine months ago.” However, Mallen said Simmons and Allied Industry acquired all rights to the video in 2003.
Mallen’s cease-and-desist letter demands that the video and stills be removed from Valleywag.com immediately and that all links relating to the video be taken down. Additionally, the site must “account to Mr. Simmons and Allied Industry for all profits received to date and that [Valleywag.com] disclose to us your source of the infringing materials.”
