rhymes with shmembezzlement

Axium Fallout Continues: Why Was Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model and Soft Core Porn Actress Amber Smith On The Payroll?

4:37AM Defamer Hollywood | The bombshell allegations against the partners of Axium, the Hollywood payroll company that recently declared emergency Chapter 7 bankruptcy, keep coming. According to court documents filed in the United States District Court (Central District of CA division), Goldentree Asset Management is taking partners John Visconti and Ron Garber to court for “diverting untold millions of dollars in cash and other assets to secret bank accounts” and “using Axium as their own personal piggy bank to finance their extravagant lifestyles.” Zing! Thanks to our base of well-connected tipsters, we got our hands on PDFs of the court filings. We read through the 35-page document and picked out the juiciest moments for your enjoyment. We’re talking multiple identities, cash payments to former supermodels for “consulting” and all sorts of other general shadiness not seen since the halcyon days of Enron. Trust us, it’s GOLD. More »

Axium: The Enron Of The Payroll Services World?

10:09AM Defamer Hollywood | It’s looking more and more like Axium’s downfall may have been the result of the brass illicitly dipping their hands into the company cookie jar. The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that their president, Ruben Rodriguez, is no longer with the firm AND that the IRS is hot on the trail. To that end, we’d like to share this email from a tipster who used to work with the deep-sixed and Chapter 7′d payroll and accounting service: “The reason for this is all because of the two owners [Ron Garber and John Visconti]. They mismanaged funds and sent a very profitable company and all of its employees and production payroll clients down the drain. They could have fixed things but decided not to. All 350 plus employees were notified via email not to show up for work and are most likely not going to be paid for their last week or two. Nobody had any idea this was going to happen since everything had been going so well. It is like another Enron.” Got any more info? Email us! More »