The Vinyl Media Pressing plant at 4201 N. Brighton Blvd. is seen on Thursday, May 2, 2024. (Justin Wingerter/BusinessDen)
Two former executives at the Denver record subscription company Vinyl Me, Please say they were fired and sued under false pretexts this spring by an “extraordinarily wealthy” board member who wanted to avoid paying them $300,000 in severance they were entitled to.
CEO Cameron Schaefer and Chief Financial Officer Adam Block, along with Chief Strategy Officer Rich Kylberg, were terminated in March and sued by Vinyl Me, Please on May 1. The company accuses the trio of wasting company funds on a pricy new vinyl record production plant in RiNo.
“When, by late 2023, the pressing plant was still not able to press records or fulfill orders, the board began to investigate the relationship and business dealings between the pressing plant and VMP,” according to the lawsuit. Schaefer, Block and Kylberg “did not provide a candid or truthful accounting or explanation to the board,” so they were fired on March 21.
But Schaefer and Block are now telling a much different story — and countersuing VMP.
In the days before their firing, Schaefer and Block spoke with VMP co-founder Matt Fiedler about their conflicting ideas for the company’s future, according to Schaefer and Block. There were no allegations of financial impropriety or mismanagement then, they say.
Instead, all sides talked about a path forward, including either a new role for Schaefer and Block or an exit strategy, which would include severance. Block was to get $169,000, Schaeffer $125,000, and one year of health insurance, according to Schaefer and Block. Then, on March 21, the two execs were abruptly fired, ensuring they would not receive benefits.
“This abrupt and factually false change in position was led by Keith Stoltz, who had boasted of his bad faith treatment of employees at other companies that he owns,” according to a countersuit that Schaefer and Block filed on June 28 in Denver District Court.
Stoltz, who is described in the countersuit as “extraordinarily wealthy,” runs Stoltz Real Estate Partners in the Philadelphia area. That company bought the Pepsi bottling plant property at 3801 Brighton Blvd. — a couple blocks away from VMP’s plant at 4201 Brighton — in 2022 for $158 million.
Schaefer and Block say that VMP’s lawsuit against them “is being pushed and paid for” by Stoltz, who has “filed meritless lawsuits against former employees of other companies that he owns to ‘teach them a lesson’ and punish them when they did not follow his directives.”
“This lawsuit was filed as a way to avoid paying severance amounts due under their employment contracts and to attempt to force (Schaefer and Block) — through expensive litigation — to forfeit their ownership interests in the company,” the countersuit claims.
Schaefer and Block are suing VMP for breach of contract. They also want Judge Martin Egelhoff to declare they were not fired for cause and are not bound by non-compete clauses. Kylberg, the third defendant in the case, did not join in the countersuit and has not hired a lawyer.
Schaefer and Block’s attorneys are Stephen Csajaghy and Marisa Hudson-Arney with Condit Csajaghy in Denver. Vinyl Me, Please is represented by Chad Nitta and Shelby Morbach in the Denver office of Kutak Rock, who did not answer a request for comment.
The Vinyl Media Pressing plant at 4201 N. Brighton Blvd. is seen on Thursday, May 2, 2024. (Justin Wingerter/BusinessDen)
Two former executives at the Denver record subscription company Vinyl Me, Please say they were fired and sued under false pretexts this spring by an “extraordinarily wealthy” board member who wanted to avoid paying them $300,000 in severance they were entitled to.
CEO Cameron Schaefer and Chief Financial Officer Adam Block, along with Chief Strategy Officer Rich Kylberg, were terminated in March and sued by Vinyl Me, Please on May 1. The company accuses the trio of wasting company funds on a pricy new vinyl record production plant in RiNo.
“When, by late 2023, the pressing plant was still not able to press records or fulfill orders, the board began to investigate the relationship and business dealings between the pressing plant and VMP,” according to the lawsuit. Schaefer, Block and Kylberg “did not provide a candid or truthful accounting or explanation to the board,” so they were fired on March 21.
But Schaefer and Block are now telling a much different story — and countersuing VMP.
In the days before their firing, Schaefer and Block spoke with VMP co-founder Matt Fiedler about their conflicting ideas for the company’s future, according to Schaefer and Block. There were no allegations of financial impropriety or mismanagement then, they say.
Instead, all sides talked about a path forward, including either a new role for Schaefer and Block or an exit strategy, which would include severance. Block was to get $169,000, Schaeffer $125,000, and one year of health insurance, according to Schaefer and Block. Then, on March 21, the two execs were abruptly fired, ensuring they would not receive benefits.
“This abrupt and factually false change in position was led by Keith Stoltz, who had boasted of his bad faith treatment of employees at other companies that he owns,” according to a countersuit that Schaefer and Block filed on June 28 in Denver District Court.
Stoltz, who is described in the countersuit as “extraordinarily wealthy,” runs Stoltz Real Estate Partners in the Philadelphia area. That company bought the Pepsi bottling plant property at 3801 Brighton Blvd. — a couple blocks away from VMP’s plant at 4201 Brighton — in 2022 for $158 million.
Schaefer and Block say that VMP’s lawsuit against them “is being pushed and paid for” by Stoltz, who has “filed meritless lawsuits against former employees of other companies that he owns to ‘teach them a lesson’ and punish them when they did not follow his directives.”
“This lawsuit was filed as a way to avoid paying severance amounts due under their employment contracts and to attempt to force (Schaefer and Block) — through expensive litigation — to forfeit their ownership interests in the company,” the countersuit claims.
Schaefer and Block are suing VMP for breach of contract. They also want Judge Martin Egelhoff to declare they were not fired for cause and are not bound by non-compete clauses. Kylberg, the third defendant in the case, did not join in the countersuit and has not hired a lawyer.
Schaefer and Block’s attorneys are Stephen Csajaghy and Marisa Hudson-Arney with Condit Csajaghy in Denver. Vinyl Me, Please is represented by Chad Nitta and Shelby Morbach in the Denver office of Kutak Rock, who did not answer a request for comment.
