The co-founders of CMJ, Bobby Haber and Joanne Abbot Greene, have found themselves in an ongoing lawsuit since 2013 with John Scher- a New York promoter, who presents a case over a failed deal to buy the company. Providentially, the two remain busy this past fall season in Mondo, NYC by launching a music festival and conference. Surprisingly enough, the current owner of CMJ, Adam Klein has once again found himself in a position of questioning.

Taking a chronological look back to Klein’s business record brings us to 1993. At this point in time, Klein was the CEO of Boumat- a South African company. During his time in a position of power for Boumat, Klein was arrested on charges of fraud, theft and forgery. Klein has claimed that this “administrative misdemeanor” was not an issue located under the United States law and was due to the South African government being,” very, very politically loaded.” Meanwhile, the charges were consistently denied and eventually dropped three years later when he pleaded guilty to violating South Africa’s laws on the Exchange Control Regulations.

Moving forward to 2012, Klein had switched his authority from Boumat to eMusic. In doing so, he became involved with another lawsuit, which entailed him being accused of sexually harassing an employee—this lawsuit was later settled.

Furthering to the spring of 2016, Remote Facilities Consulting Services sued Abaculi in a lawsuit that encompassed allegedly non-payment of more than $400,000. In June, the disputes were settled. Adding onto the inconsistent payments, in late August a federal judge in Massachusetts put into affect a $425,000 judgment against Abaculi on the failure to make a payment required for the prior settlement agreement. Mid-September, Klein pleaded to the judged to throw out this $425,000 “late-fee” essentially. In turn, the court denied Klein’s initial request and kept the balance at $425,000.

In recent news, two former employees are suing CMJ over allegedly unpaid wages. One of the former employees believes he/she is owed $38,671.97 not including interest, damages or legal fees. While the other former employee of CMJ has not specified any amount of money he/she believes CMJ owes them. The initial lawsuit claims that workers have not been compensated for their work since mid October 2015. In doing so, they ask for unpaid wages, unpaid overtime compensation and damages. The case was categorized as “collective action”. Meaning, other employees or former employees can choose to join the suit. Ten former employees have come forward thus far. Check out our previous stories on Adam Klein.