Rich Energy renamed, Storey leaves role
- Published on 16 Jul 2019 18:47
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- By: Fergal Walsh
Rich Energy has officially been renamed Lighting Volt as William Storey has parted ways with the company.
Prior to the British Grand Prix weekend, the energy drink company's twitter account claimed that it had ended its sponsorship deal with the Haas Formula 1 team.
However, Haas and the Rich Energy shareholders moved to clarify that the two were still very much in a partnership, while the race weekend saw multiple tweets from Rich Energy blasting the company and the F1 team.
On Wednesday, company documents declared that the Rich Energy name was no more while Storey had left his role as a director, as has Croatian Zoran Terzic.
Matthew Bruce Kell has taken on a director role in the absence of the aforementioned personnel.
In a leaked letter last weekend, Haas stated that it would be willing to continue working with Rich Energy as long as it saw substantial and clear evidence that Storey was no longer part of the company.
How the Rich Energy saga unravelled
On Wednesday, July 10th, Rich Energy posted a tweet with claimed it had pulled out of its ts sponsorship deal with Haas.
On Thursday, July 11th, Haas team principal Guenther Steiner affirmed that the two were still together in a deal.
On the same day, Haas confirmed that Rich Energy's logos would remain on their cars for the British GP weekend.
Later that day, Rich Energy released a statement insisting that it was still in a deal with Haas, blasting the actions of one "rogue individual".
On Friday, July 12th, Storey contradicts the company's statement, calling it "ludicrous".
Later that day, Whyte Bikes, the company who sued Rich Energy for stealing its logo, threatened to have Rich Energy wound up after it didn't recieved payments as ordered by the court.
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Replies (7)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Good riddance, that fella seems like a PR nightmare in all possible ways. As for Terzic, I have no clear idea on him, but considering his business buddies, I'd stay clear of him too. I guess Rich (now Lightning Volt) didn't want to try some of Haas' homebrewn Anthrax..
f1ski
Posts: 726
Just read the Jalopnik article. Storey sounds shady . Can’t believe aF 1 team got inwith him.
Johnnykmkz7
Posts: 1
To be fair Gene Haas did go to prison for Tax Fraud
xoya
Posts: 583
To be fair to Gene Haas, it's not difficult to go to prison in the US.
Half of Europeans would go to prison for various reasons, if they were there.
No messing around with "the sheriff". :)
2GRX7
Posts: 108
To be fair to the U.S. Judicial system and Rule of Law, he went out of his way to break the law-out in the open, no less. Filing false tax returns, witness intimidation, and conspiracy wouldn't place well in the E.U. either. When these people get to the point of wealth and power, someone gets in their ear and tells them the laws are in place (by us) to keep the minions in check-not them!
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I'd say it is easier to go to prison if you are a civilian. The U.S both love and take good care of their corporations though, they can generally do a lot of weird stuff without getting consequences for it, for for Gene to have gone to prison for that stuff is pretty amazing.
2GRX7
Posts: 108
....Yes, it's easier as a civilian, person of color, to go to prison. They are used to prop up what is a lucrative incarceration complex. The good thing is people are now acknowledging/reacting to that.
With regards to corporate coddling, it happens if your lobbying machine is poring in the dollars for representatives' re-elections (or their defeats), otherwise, you're caught in the middle-just like Haas, and Haas ain't as big as he thinks he is. He was a case of believing in his own hype!
His indiscretions amounted to a slam-dunk case for the prosecution.