New Executives at SUN Sports

Today SUN Sports announced the additions of Clyde Gentry III as COO and Bruce Scambler as Director of Corporate Affairs and Legal. Full details here.

Former Executive Sues SUN Over Departure

Serious allegations about SUN Sports are contained in a press release that was submitted to MMAPayout.com. The allegations come on the heels of the company's announcement of a partnership with FSN:

DALLAS, TX — The former president of SUN Sports & Entertainment, Inc., who departed on March 7, 2008 after a year at the Mixed Martial Arts promoter of Art of War, has filed a $25 million lawsuit against SUN Sports & Entertainment, Inc., SUN Management Group, Inc., and Titan Securities of Dallas., claiming he was forced out of his job for questioning financial irregularities within the company, deceptive press announcements and what he believed was a huge conflict of interest by Titan executives.

John Buckeye Epstein filed the suit Friday against SUN Sports (pink sheets SSPE), not to be confused with SUN Sports owned by Fox Sports, claiming that CEO CJ Comu and Titan, acting as board members, illegally forced-out Epstein after he became very vocal regarding the financial management of SUN Sports.

"I can't believe the audacity of Mr. Comu; the company had no funds, credit cards are shut off, vendors are calling every day, employees are owed more than forty thousand dollars in back expenses, and the medical bill reimbursements of past fighters like Justin Eilers and Pedro Rizzo were not being paid. All this while Comu takes a limo to the airport ten miles away," Epstein said.

The suit alleges that Titan Securities was improperly involved in a huge conflict of interest, controlling the Board of Directors and the expenditure of funds, all without disclosures to the public, and that Titan conspired with Mr. Comu to cause the breach of Epstein's employment contract with SUN. It also alleges that Mr. Comu, SUN's CEO, never intended to fulfill his financial promises and commitments to Mr. Epstein.

Epstein added, "This is not a disgruntled employee case like most people assume when they hear an unhappy executive leave a company". Under Epstein's sports marketing direction, within a year Art of War was recognized as possibly the number two contender in producing Mixed Martial Arts events. "This is about an employee trying to fight for honest and ethical treatment of shareholders, vendors, fighters and employees who was thrown out of the company for his trouble. The problems at SUN are far-reaching. Just last week Mr. Comu signed for a nine-show tour (a start date of April 19th) with George Greenberg (Fox Sports Net's Executive Vice President, Programming & Production) with virtually nothing in the bank."

Moreover, Epstein goes on to explain the relationship with Titan Securities (FINRA or NASD Broker Dealer). "Brad Brooks' group at Titan was involved in drafting and approving SUN press releases to the public, at the same time having been a huge market maker in SSPE stock, all without disclosure to the public. It is just unbelievable".

A former business partner of Mr. Comu in SUN before Epstein, said, "There are people who invested thousands of dollars in a sports franchise that CJ sold and for over two years has never called them or repaid the amount of funds."

Epstein had been SUN president for a little over a year when the company announced his departure in March 2007, saying he was leaving to "pursue other interests."

SUN-FSN TV Partnership

From the press release:

SUN Sports & Entertainment Inc. announced today that the Dallas-based Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) production and promotion company has signed an Agreement with Fox Sports Net (FSN) to telecast SUN's new innovative, MMA TV series: "GI Vs. Pro."

SUN's "Art of War" division will produce a series of nine MMA events that will air as one-hour specials Saturday nights at midnight on FSN, beginning July 19th, 2008 and concluding on September 13th, 2008.

"GI Vs. Pro" will pit current and former MMA-trained armed services members against professional mixed martial arts fighters from around the country. All fights will be scheduled for three, 5-minute rounds. "GI Vs. Pro" action will be fought inside a circular cage -- a first on FSN.

FSN announcer Jay Glazer and analyst Frank Trigg, who worked as the commentary team for the Pride Fighting Championships on the network, will also team up on the "GI Vs. Pro" telecasts.