We got so much postive response from our first expose on the modeling industry, that our insider 'joey' agreed to give us some more to post.
So without further ado, heres some more dirt on the biggest agencies.
FORD MODELING AGENCY (oops, better call it Ford Management for that pesky New York class action lawsuit - tee hee!)
JUICY JUICY JUICY! Usacomplaints.com is currently in the midst of an investigation that has initially revealed that new Ford owner Johnny Kaplan is currently under investigation by the SEC for irregularities stemming from the internet company (www.about.com) he used to run (and that gave him the millions to buy the agency from the incompetent red-headed stepchild, Katie Ford, who wouldve run the thing into the ground in a year).
Johnny-boy apparently did some potential insider trading and didnt fully report all the stuff he was supposed tobut more details are still unfolding. Shame on you Johnny! Oh well, between the crumbling reputation and the huge class action lawsuit against Ford, Elite, Wilhelmina, Next, and other top NY agencies, Johnny has enough on his plate right now.
You may also be wondering why a dotcom hotshot would want to buy a mom and pop modeling shop like Ford? It seems like the financial figures arent the figures Johnny is interested in. From those in the know, he looks like what youd expect an internet geek to look like - so being able to call up models on a whim and invite them to meetings late at night is the best chance this guys had of scoring in a long time. Rumors on the street are that with Casablancas happily screwing his 17 year old bride of the month, Johnny is the new pimp du jour of the agency biz. Money talks, b.S. WALKS - living proof that rich, ugly people can still get laid.
WOMEN AGENCY
owned by a rich old pervert (and financial moron) who just wants to screw young models.
A rich man's fancy (from the Daily News, 10)
From Huntington Hartford to Donald Trump, wealthy gents of a certain age have dabbled in the modeling business. Now, another, an Italian born in Egypt, a pharmaceutical exec with homes in London, Lugano, Switzerland, and Miami Beach, is buying up beauty banks. He can, one model agent says, because "he has cash, cash, a lot of cash."
Sixtysomething Carlo Salvi got his start selling medicine in the Middle East in the 1960s, and eventually took control of several large drug concerns.in 1997, after California's Sicor, which makes generic injectable drugs, merged with one of his companies, Salvi became its chief executive.
He'd been dipping his toe in the modeling business for years, losing investments in several small agencies in Europe. But after he sold 11.5 million Sicor shares for more than $200 million in he used part of the proceeds - "just a little bit, peanuts, " he told The Word this week at the Mercer Hotel - to buy half of Women, the New York agency, which then used his funds and connections to open branches in Paris and Milan. Salvi has also been involved with model shops in Prague and Miami.
He's not a silent partner. After Women lost Eva Herzigova, Stella Tennant and Kate Moss (it still has Naomi Campbell, Veruschka, Carmen Kass and Frankie Rayder), Salvi ponied up more cash to finance signing bonuses for replacement faces.
Why would a private-jet-owning centamillionaire want to own model agencies? It's pride that drives him. "Whenever anybody had a bad idea, they thought of Carlo, " one agent explained. "He was the pigeon."
Now he has set out to prove he's a bird of a different feather. "It bothered me that I failed, " Salvi admitted. "Why not succeed?"
COMPANY MODEL MANAGEMENT
HOW MANY TIMES CAN 1 COMPANY SCAM EVERYONE AND STILL BE IN BUSINESS - or lawsuits, bankruptcy and I hope daddy bails me out.
Company claims
by jared paul stern
December 27 —
A court-appointed trustee has filed a blistering attack against Michael Flutie, founder of Company Management, the boutique modeling agency that launched the careers of such top mannequins as James King, Jaime Rishar and Rhea Durham, accusing him of "looting" the agency.
According to a complaint filed in U.S. Bankruptcy court by trustee David Kittay, Flutieengaged in a variety of fraudulent behavior in his operation of the now-bankrupt Flutie New York Corp.
Back in September we reported that Flutie New York - a company owned by his father, Albert, and which at one time had licensed the name Company Management - had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection.
This helped protect Flutie from lawsuits filed by former Company models, including Revlon star Durham, Wonderbra model Saira Mohan and Gap girl Amy Wesson, who are all involved in litigation with Flutie New York Corp. And with Flutie himself over contract disputes.
"Flutie New York was merely an administrative entity that had been dormant for a number of years, " Flutie told Fashion Buzz at the time.
"Basically, all it was doing was spending too much money defending bulls - - t lawsuits. "This has nothing to do with us, who we are today or the talent we represent. And we've never been healthier."
He has since branched into entertainment management and movie production.
Now Kittay alleges that Flutie bilked the modeling outfit and its creditors by using company funds for his personal use, and by improperly transferring assets of his bankrupt company to another firm in a bid to thwart them, according to Court TV's The Smoking Gun, which obtained the documents and gave Fashion Buzz an exclusive preview (since we put them onto the story in the first place).
According to Kittay, Flutie treated the modeling company "as his own personal cookie jar, and used the corporate veil as a sham through which to engage in conduct intended to deprive the [his] legitimate creditors of assets."
But Flutie tells us everything's been blown out of proportion.
"My father has lived for over 80 years with an unblemished reputation, " he declares. "He prides himself in dealing fairly, honestly and ethically with everyone. Neither he nor I know of any impropriety in the affairs of Flutie New York Corp.
"All of the items that Mr. Kittay described are accountancy issues, " he continues. "I have contacted the Flutie New York accountants and they will respond."
According to trustee Kittay's legal complaint, Flutie was personally "loaned" $386,000 from the modeling company without proper documentation; Kittay also alleges that Flutie New York paid a variety of Flutie "personal expenses, " including "his rent, home telephone and utility bills, [and] health club membership fees."
Kittay also says Flutie ran up $380,000 in personal purchases on his corporate American Express card.
In addition, Flutie transferred the contracts of at least a dozen fashion models from Flutie New York to another firm under his control "in an effort to avoid debt collection efforts by models and other creditors with claims against the Debtor, " Kittay claims.
Kittay's complaint is seeking million of dollars in judgments against Flutie, his father and the pair's new corporate alter egos.
But wait theres more. If you act now you can read all about
Freedom Rayder
Gisele isn't the only model making news for defecting from her agency: Givenchy, Versace and Dolce & Gabbana model Frankie Rayder has dumped Company for the Women agency. Company owner Michael Flutie got the news while vacationing in Aspen last week, but was philosophical when contacted by Chic Happens. "The amazing work we got for her speaks for itself, " said Flutie. "I'm proud that I took a girl five years ago, stuck by her when no-one else would, and developed her into the envy of the industry.
If she can't see that we brought her to this level, I feel sorry for her. And let's face it, she's not getting any younger at 26." According to insiders, the split was over a disagreement in the model's career trajectory. Flutie wanted to extend Rayder's market worthiness by booking her jobs for more mainstream publications like Italian Marie Claire and clients like Pantene, while Rayder was keen to work only for magazines like Italian Vogue and Harper's Bazaar.
And the former p.R. Hack couldnt even throw a party in party-central - miami!
Flutie Call
Company model agency owner Michael Fluties PR firm, Flutie Media, flew in the likes of Nikki and Paris Hilton, George Wayne, Lulu Johnson, James King, Frankie Rayder and David Kirsch for the opening of new South Beach lounge W6 last weekend. Only problem was, the club owners never obtained the proper permits from the fire department, leaving the guests stuck in Miami with nowhere to party.
Since Flutie had his guests put up at Jonathon Morr's Townhouse hotel, which officially opens this week, he begged the management to let him have the party in the basement Bond St. Loungeto no avail. Flutie went ahead and held the party at W6, but cops closed it down after two hours. South Beach authorities refused to confirm that it was Amy Wesson who made the call.
LA MODELS/NEW YORK MODELS
This once venerable agency (agencies) is really now 2 totally separate agencies heading in different directions. The LA outfit and their acting division has totally surpassed the original back in New York in terms of name recognition and credibility. New York Models is like a nice Buick.
Years ago it used to be respected, but now everybody wants a flashy BMW. New York Models is now reduced to sucking around for sponsors to host its model search. Unlike the big name agencies, Elite or Ford, who can have hundreds of girl fly at their own expense to various cities to participate in their searches, poor NY Models has to stick its agents on planes and buses and shlep em around the country for weeks going to East Bejeezus, Wisconsin and SorryAss, Michigan and every two-bit city in between searching for a girl the bigger agencies wont steal from them.
Plus, they now have to promote LA Looks cosmetics and hair care - oh yeah, the top models ALL use LA Looks, right? Okay, fellow agents, stop laughing. Having a legit agency shill for LA Looks hair care is like a professional photographer saying he thinks those disposable cameras you buy at the drugstore are just as good as a Leica $2000 camera. PATHETIC.
And dont forget our fair Nazi du jour, Heinz, who, after raping and pillaging eastern Europe, decided to invest some ill-gotten gains by buying an existing editorial agency in Vancouver, Canada called Booking One.
Subsequently, he bought the franchise rights to Elite/John Casablancas Modeling Schools and Agencies for Canada. Elite was then the largest agency at that time with head offices in New York. He then opened ten agencies and schools in Canada and California as franchises, STOLE some top working models from competitors, and worked closely with Elite New York and Elite Paris.
SOOOOOOObasically LA/NY models is nothing more than an agency formed by a guy who ran ripoff modeling schools. Remember that the next time someone from NY or LA Models tells you dont pay for trainingits a waste. Ummmm, then why did the owner of your company make his fortune ripping off girls by teaching them to walk with books on their heads. PATHETIC.
Elite
do i really need to say anymore
Since you all know how pathetic Elite is, (are there any models left they havent tried to screw or do coke with), heres just a tiny tidbit more. Youve all read the BBC undercover story on John, Gerald Marie and all their international chaperones who brag about screwing 16 year olds, so well skip that for now.
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
Media whore and sometime Elite chairman John Casablancas has written a three-page letter to London's Sunday Times outlining why he is suing Gisele Bundchen, the 19-year-old Brazilian model who quit Elite before Christmas to join IMG.
In a vitriol-drenched rant, Casablancas called his former charge a "monster of selfishness" who developed "a pattern of constant thanklessness, pushiness and greed, " and added that he was shocked by her "lack of consideration."
All of which may be true, if not exactly a crime. Casablancas is keeping his lawyers busier than any of his models, having recently taken legal action against Anne Nelson, Bundchen's former booker at Elite New York.
That's not to say Casablancas is letting the courts have the last word: he added that Bundchen would soon be usurped by new models with "long teeth and little scruples." Sounds like they'll get along just fine.
NOW THATS THE POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK - J.C. Calling a model selfish and greedy. I cant stop laughing.
NYCFAME-recently. NYCFame has postponed an event in Atlanta for which hundreds of models had already PREPAID for the event and BOOKED their airfares. The following are the reasons given on the company website as to why the event was postponed.
NYCFAME has been forced to postpone the Atlanta Expo event until after the Iraqi war and until terror alerts have been downgraded.
The reasons for this action are many:
1) Airlines are canceling hundreds of flights making it difficult for all of our agents to attend.
2) CNN Center (our base of operation for the Expo) has been experiencing anti-war demonstrations which are growing in size.
3) Many participants and agents have expressed concern about their safety by attending such a "high profile" event at this time.
4) None of us knows what to expect between now and the previously planned date of the Expo (April 5th & 6th).
5) Our primary responsibility is for the safety of our participants, agents and staff.
We will announce the new date for the Atlanta Expo as soon as the war is over and security is no longer a factor.
Thank you,
Nyc fame
The most important reason (which they conveniently left out) was. I AINT GOT NO MONEY for the hotel ballroom or to fly the agents in. I wonder how long it will take Dwight to loot the American Model Expos coffers like hes done to his other companies. Maybe he will find some sucker (like Artie who was stupid enough to buy Manhattan Model Search) to buy NYCFame (hint to any potential buyers of NYCFame - you might want to consider having Dwight sign a non-compete THIS time!)
More details to come once we uncover more dirt. And rememberemail your inside goodies to usacomplaints. [email protected]
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