The alleged fraud occurred in 2006, when Pacific Sun was under different ownership, said Chad L. Belville, an attorney representing MRC. The lawsuit was filed in L.A. Superior Court’s North Valley District and seeks more than $22,000 in restitution.
18 West Studios is owned by Roseville, Calif.-based Media Resource Communications Inc. The studio, one of several MRC properties, specializes in producing DVDs that have "exceptionally cute American twink models, 18-20, in solo and hardcore action," according to a company statement. MRC also operates membership websites, including BoyFunk.com and CuteBoyVideos.com.
"After initially indicating a willingness to work with us to settle this debt, Pacific Sun, probably realizing how much was actually owed, started a series of conflicting explanations, excuses and delaying tactics. Even after we worked extensively with their accountant, verified with her that all product we had invoiced had been marked as received in their accounting system, and resolved other discrepancies in their bookkeeping, all we got was a continuous stream of constantly changing excuses," MRC President A.J. Braden said in a company statement. "Filing suit was the last thing we wanted to pursue, but since Pacific Sun showed litte interest in actually coming to terms and resolving the issue, we were left with no choice."
Pacific Sun manager Pritam Sinha, one of the named defendants, told XBIZ he had not seen the lawsuit.
“Our response, according to our books and the previous owner, is that we don’t owe them anything,” said Sinha, adding that he started working for Pacific Sun in February.
“[Pacific Sun] claimed to have returned units at the domestic rate that were ordered at the lower international rate in numbers that could not have occurred, shorting [MRC] by thousands of dollars,” the lawsuit alleges.
After MRC contacted Pacific Sun, Saeed Sardan, also a named defendant, admitted that records were deleted and raised the possibility something wasn’t right.
“Lots of records seem to have been deleted by Motti [a previous officer at the company]. One more thing I would like to add [is] you are not the only person screwed by Motti. There’s a big list.”
MRC “discovered that discrepancies existed between the number of units [Pacific Sun] acknowledged as received, the number of units [Pacific Sun] claim to have returned, and the mix of units sent to the various retail outlets,” according to documents obtained by XBIZ.
MRC hasn’t distributed its titles through Pacific Sun since 2006, Belville said.
“Anyone that has done business with them should review their records,” he said.
