Ryan Gordon has filed a lawsuit against Keith Miller and 13 Red Media Ltd. for “brazen and deceptive tactics…to steal valuable intellectual property…debilitate (his) ability to pursue gainful employment, tarnish his reputation, and jeopardize (his) ongoing and anticipated business relationship.”
The lawsuit, which also names Helix in-house counsel Chad Anderson as a defendant (as well as other unnamed parties), was filed July 19 in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona.
Gordon is described as “a distinguished and accomplished videographer who regularly produces content for the mainstream media industry” who “also created a successful career as a videographer in the adult entertainment industry” under the name Jack Hudson.
(1/2) Honor, truth & respect are paramount to life. While I didn’t envision filing a lawsuit against @heIixstudios when I met @KeithHelix & @ChadKnowsLaw I refuse to be a statistic. @QueerClick @QueerMeNow @Str8UpGayPorn
— Ryan Gordon (@RyanXGordon) July 26, 2019
The suit contains 11 causes of action and seeks “monetary damages and injunctive relief for Defendants’ brazen breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, fraud, misappropriation of trade secrets, defamation, aiding and abetting tortious conduct, and other inequitable and unlawful conduct.”
The suit provides some juicy reading, alleging that Gordon developed a brand—Rugged Male—that the defendants conspired to obtain by unlawful means. On Twitter, Gordon provided a link to the document, which was also re-tweeted by former Helix model Cameron Parks:
Just a reminder that @HelixStudios is being sued on 11 accounts that include fraud and defamation https://t.co/T5VHzvhX6r
— Cameron Parks (@camxparks) August 1, 2019
Among the highlights:
“Defendants intentionally entered into a contract with Mr. Gordon, which they had no intention of honoring, for the sole purpose of extracting and profiting from Mr. Gordon’s work product.”
“On or about October 19, 2018, Mr. Gordon was contacted by Defendant Miller via Twitter. Defendant Miller told Mr. Gordon that Miller and Defendant 13 Red were looking for producers to create content for Defendants’ adult entertainment business.”
“On or about November 6, 2018, Mr. Gordon spoke by phone with, Aaron Cumbey a.k.a. Kyle Ross, who was represented to Mr. Gordon as Defendant 13 Red’s Operations Manager. Mr. Gordon and Mr. Cumbey discussed Mr. Gordon’s business and production plan and Mr. Cumbey expressed that Defendants were willing and ready to move forward with Mr. Gordon on this new brand of content.”
“On or about November 13, 2018, Mr. Gordon and Defendant Miller developed a production schedule so that production of content could begin immediately, with preparation for launch of the product and distribution through Defendant 13 Red in January 2019.”
“Because of the stigma attached to the adult entertainment industry, all of Mr. Gordon’s work within that industry was performed under a stage name, with the clear intention to keep his true name from becoming associated with his work in the adult industry.”
“On November 13, 2018, while Mr. Gordon was flying back to Phoenix, Arizona, Defendants issued a public press release via Defendants’ website and Twitter account announcing that Mr. Gordon was going to be working with Defendants to produce Mr. Gordon’s new content. The press release identified Mr. Gordon by his true name, rather than his industry standard stage name, Jack Hudson. Mr. Gordon had not given Defendant permission to use his true name in any publicly available media.”
The suit alleges that information was sent and published by blog Str8UpGayPorn, which subsequently removed Hudson’s name. Says the suit, “As a result of the exposure of Mr. Gordon’s true name, Mr. Gordon’s contracts and business relationships with entities in the mainstream media have been jeopardized and harmed.”
The suit alleges the plaintiff “sent proofs and copies of the logos and brand identification mark styles that Mr. Gordon had approved for the new Rugged Male brand” but that the defendants “had begun to create different logos for Mr. Gordon’s brand which they would subsequently use in an effort to falsely claim that Defendants were the originators of the mark.”
The suit contends that the defendants promised to purchase the necessary equipment for the plaintiff to film, but that that equipment was never purchased or provided. Continues the suit:
“Mr. Gordon was subsequently obliged to cancel the bookings because Defendants failed to provide the necessary equipment to actually produce the content that they had agreed to purchase.”
The plaintiff also says he entered into a residential lease for a property in Peoria, one allegedly selected by Cumbey (aka Kyle Ross) as a suitable location for filming for both Rugged Male and Helix.
“Mr. Gordon expressed a concern about the size and cost of the Peoria Studio House, which was significantly more than he required as a single individual. Cumbey assured Mr. Gordon that Defendant 13 Red would compensate Mr. Gordon by way of ‘location fees’ that would exceed the cost of leasing the Peoria Studio House.”
The site was launched last December. “When Mr. Gordon subsequently informed Defendants of the dispute at issue in this case, Defendants utilized their access and control over the website to remove the (‘Copyright Ryan Gordon 2018’) notice.”
“On or about December 21, 2018, Aaron Cumbey traveled to Arizona to train with Mr. Gordon on the production of the Rugged Male content and serve as Mr. Gordon’s production assistant. Mr. Cumbey worked with Mr. Gordon from December 21st to December 29th, learning the details of the unique and distinctive production design and tactics that Mr. Gordon had developed for the Rugged Male brand. Mr. Gordon was not aware at that time that Defendants intended to use Mr. Cumbey’s training as a means of stealing Mr. Gordon’s protectable production secret.”
“On or about December 29, 2018, Defendant Miller sent a text message to Mr. Gordon, demanding that Mr. Gordon immediately relocate to Las Vegas, and threatened to terminate all work on Rugged Male unless Mr. Gordon complied.”
“Mr. Gordon explained that this was impossible as he had entered into a new residential lease for the Peoria Studio House at the behest of Defendants. Mr. Gordon further explained that it would be impossible to properly produce the Rugged Male content in the Las Vegas environment.”
“On or about December 30, 2018, Defendant Miller called Mr. Gordon. Defendant Miller shouted and cursed at Mr. Gordon, again demanding that Mr. Gordon relocate to Las Vegas. When Mr. Gordon asked why Defendant Miller was suddenly taking such an aggressive and intimidating approach, Defendant Miller accused Mr. Gordon of trying to take over the Rugged Male brand. When Mr. Gordon reminded Defendant Miller that Mr. Gordon was the creator of the Rugged Male brand and that it was his own intellectual property, Defendant Miller informed Mr. Gordon that Defendants were terminating their contractual agreement with Mr. Gordon immediately.”
“Defendant Miller then informed Mr. Gordon that Defendants were taking over all aspects of the Rugged Male brand and that Defendants had filed for trademarks. Defendant Miller also informed Mr. Gordon that Mr. Gordon could only participate in the production of Rugged Male products if Mr. Gordon agreed to substantially reduced compensation and moved to Las Vegas.”
“On or about December 31, 2018, Defendant Chad Anderson informed Mr. Gordon that Defendants were indefinitely suspending the Rugged Male production, and suggested that Mr. Gordon could “buy back” his own brand from Defendant.”
See Gordon’s tweet for a link to the full document.
So what do you think? And is there any question who Cameron was referring to with this tweet?
They’re the most disgusting people I’ve ever met in my life
— Cameron Parks (@camxparks) July 14, 2019
And is it coincidence that as of publish time, Kyle Ross (who is also the Helix Operations Manager) has not Tweeted since July 20th, one day after the date this was filed? (Which was just a retweet; his last original tweet was July 14.)
In the meantime, you can catch both Cameron Parks and Kyle Ross (along with Corey Marshall, another former Helix model) in Vegas Nights from Helix!
Mr. Cumbey (don’t you just love how lawsuits reveal people’s names) has tweeted (or retweeted) more stuff on August 1 and 4 which seems to indicate he’s on vacation somewhere with his significant other.
Naturally Zac at Str8 is calling this lawsuit “bogus”, but considering he is a Helix shrill, that should come as no surprise to anyone. Helix will survive this – it will most likely either be dismissed or Miller will pay Gordon something to shut up and never speak of it again.
Regardless, it is obvious that behind the scenes, Helix is quite the mess.
Models leaving. Now this. Helix has been a dumpster fire all year.
I guess their affiliate program must be pretty lucrative for Ryan Gordon to have tweeted a copy of the lawsuit to QueerMeNow, QueerCkick, and Str8UpGayPorn a week ago and for them to have ignored it.