The Rokit Group of Companies, the conflict-prone business conglomerate founded by billionaire John Paul DeJoria and his British partner, Jonathan Kendrick, may be reaching its legal event horizon in a series of court cases across the U.S., Sportico reported. Last week, the bankruptcy trustee managing the chapter 7 case of a Rokit subsidiary received court approval to retain an outside law firm to “investigate potential litigation claims.” The move by trustee Peter Mastan comes as the creditors’ meeting in the bankruptcy of Able Events, previously known as Rokit Marketing Inc., was continued last week for the 10th consecutive time since last summer. It has now been rescheduled for mid-September. Five years ago, Rokit put itself on the American sports map by entering into a series of high-profile, multimillion-dollar sponsorship deals with professional teams, including the NBA’s Houston Rockets, Formula 1’s Williams Racing, and the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers. However, each of these agreements prematurely collapsed after Rokit ceased making good on its payments. This pattern of delinquency extended to other of its business dealings as well: Last month, for example, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury ruled against a different Rokit subsidiary in a case brought by a former employee who had sued for breach of contract. That verdict represented just the latest legal setback for Rokit. After the company defaulted on its agreements with Williams Racing and the Houston Rockets, those teams separately took Rokit to arbitration and each prevailed with eight-figure rulings that were later reaffirmed in court. Rokit responded by putting six of its subsidiaries into voluntary bankruptcy, including the entities that were parties to the team sponsorships. Rokit has also since filed separate lawsuits against Team Williams Racing and the Houston Rockets parent company Fertitta Entertainment, in an effort to invalidate the arbitral rulings.
