In Lawsuit, Olympusat Takes A Stand Against Abusers Of The #Metoo Movement
November 11, 2019 – In a 53- page Answer and Counterclaim filed by Olympusat Inc and its CEO in Federal Court, they allege a number of violations of law, including breach of contract, fraud and unfair competition against Maria Luz Zucchella.
In April, Olympusat filed an initial complaint against Dina Almeida for commercial bribery. Although unknown at this time, it is believed that the amounts of their combined actions cost the company range from Hundreds of Thousands to Millions of dollars.
As detailed in the Answer and Counterclaim against Ms. Zuchella it is alleged that “Maria Zucchella brought false claims of sexual harassment against Olympusat and Mohler as a pre-emptive strike to avoid prosecution for her taking kickbacks.” It further states, “Zucchella threatened Joel Nunez (a content producer) by telling him that he would be precluded from working on any Olympusat project if he did not pay her a $10,000.00 per episode kickback. As a result of her threat, a payment of $10,000.00 was paid to Zucchella.”
The document filed in Federal Court in California states, “Shortly before filing her lawsuit, Zucchella was made aware that Olympusat had filed a civil action for commercial bribery against her friend, Dina Almeida, for taking similar kickbacks. Shortly before that action was filed, Almeida’s lawyer told Olympusat’s lawyer that if Olympusat did not resolve its dispute with Almeida, she would file a sexual harassment lawsuit against Olympusat and Mohler. True to her word, approximately two and a half months after Olympusat sued Almeida in Florida, Almeida retaliated by filing a false sexual harassment lawsuit against Olympusat and Mohler in California.”
The Answer and Counterclaim further states, “Zucchella violated her employment agreement in other ways too. On September 30, 2019, Zucchella testified under oath that she currently owns Perro Blanco Films, However, on April 2, 2014, Zucchella signed her employment contract and promised, as a condition of employment, that she “will be transferring ownership of Perro Blanco Films” to Gabriel Simon. In Zucchella’s own words, this transfer never happened.”
According to the Answer and Counterclaim, “Upon further inquiry, it was also discovered that Zucchella’s company has been trading on the goodwill of Olympusat and Mohler in order to generate revenue. Never thinking anyone would find out, Zucchella’s company falsely lists Mohler and another Olympusat employee, Arturo Chavez, as employees of Perro Blanco Films.. However, neither Mohler nor Chavez are or ever have been employees of Zucchella’s company.”
“Ultimately, and as a result of Zucchella’s theft, embezzlement, lies and failure to respond to simple questions about her expense submissions, Olympusat terminated her employment on October 11, 2019.”
“We strongly dispute the claims made against me and the company. We have great confidence in our legal system and strongly believe we will be able to prove our allegations and that we will prevail. We will not allow the legal process to distract us from our great work of providing content and technology to a growing list of networks,” said Olympusat Inc.
Contact: Eric W. Rose (213) 741-1500 x 525 or Eric@ekapr.com
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