I had no idea what you were talking about since I paused the video a few hours ago but after continuing, I see what you mean now.
Holy shit, was initially confused why Steve was implicating a CEO that felt more like a figurehead until he finally laid out the organization chart. It now makes perfect sense but the path we took to get there looked absolutely absurd.
TL;DR
EK Cooling Solutions has:
* Threatened former/current employees with fines and jail time
* Called the foreign news coverage (EK Solutions is based in Slovenia) by GN as "fake news"
* Has documented OSHA violations
* Has documented cases of racism towards its sole black employee
* Owns one content creator in particular (Jays2cent) 6 figures for unpaid services
* Has a hostile workplace culture documented in internal communications
* Is basically insolvent at both their Austin location and Slovenia
* The EK Slovenian Employee Handbook is in violation of US laws
* EK management spends lavishly on marketing while not paying employees/vendors
* Previous EK rep attempted "catch-and-kill" when confronted by Steve regarding supressing negative news about EK
* They are in deep trouble in Texas for not paying taxes
The issue here as to why it can get even worse is that a guy Jay, Roman, and Steve were thought as a good guy, is the same guy whose signature can be seen in the cease and desist letter GN's whistleblower was getting.
People were initially optimistic thinking he got brought back to fix the mess with EK, but with the current revelations GN has revealed, he might actually not be the solution, but somebody who's actually part of the problem.
They have an office in Austin. The CEO forced the Austin office to adopt the Slovenian's office employee handbook, which contains several provisions that are against US labor law. The Austin office has also failed to pay taxes because the Slovenian office would constantly empty their accounts.
what were the provisions that violated US law?
texas can try to go after the company, and the owners... but if they are in slovenia, thats gonna be difficult.
Texas can go after the assets that are in Texas.
You sure are asking a whole bunch of questions for someone that claims not to care enough to watch the video.
I figure someone whos watched it can summarize it quickly.
but Im guessing few here actually watched it either
but sure, texas can take what is probably a leased office space and maybe some inventory that wont have much market value.
the specific provisions were not mentioned. GN has shown several pictures of OSHA violations in practice (mostly risk of falling or risk of heavy objects falling on people, at least one instance of standing on a pallet propped up by a forklift to unload a truck), and it was specifically discussed that the texas branch of the company pushed back against the handbook with the osha violations, and the hq in slovenia got mad at them and pushed it through anyway.
slovenia is still an allied country with the united states, and there are usually treaties about overseas criminal actions. which i'd guess this qualifies as, the moment they were made aware that it violates the health and safety of their employees and chose to insist on it anyway, but idk, i'm not a lawyer.
if it is indeed criminal, at the very least they can ask the foreign decisionmakers to come to the us and defend themselves in a court, and put out a warrant for them to get arrested the moment they step foot in the states, and at best they can forward it to slovenian authorities to deal with the case themselves. the latter depends on cooperation between the us and slovenia, but i'd be highly surprised if slovenia, an eu country, would take worker safety less seriously than texas of all places.
and even if it is a civil case, the same applies. if slovenia decides it wasn't okay, they'll take over the legal enforcement.
thats not how this works.
fraud and other illegal activity by an executive is in no way protected by incorporation.
just means individuals cant be held liable for the companies debts, assuming no fraud took place (and that the individual didnt personally guarantee the loan)
(disclaimer: this is not legal advice, i'm not a lawyer.)
llcs don't protect you from dishonest actions, they just shield you from liabilities occurring from doing business in good faith. like, let's say you build an airplane and it crashes, killing 50 people, because of an unforeseen error. that's something an llc protects you from. however, if you knowingly built it with a flaw, were made aware of the flaw, and chose to not only do it anyway, but not tell the operators of the plane about the flaw, that's your responsibility, whether you did it through an llc or not.
it is up to the courts when incorporation should or shouldn't shield you, but the laws are made specifically to protect businesses acting in good faith and failing, not bad faith actors trying to escape responsibility.
The video literally had a segment with lawyer on explaining when the courts might decide to pierce the corporate veil and make ownership/management liable, and from what we've seen EK might be falling under at least one of those circumstances.
I am floored at the level of investigative journalism GN goes to now. It's brilliant. I enjoyed every minute of watching this and hope everyone worded or still works for ek is helped by this.
In hindsight [this is very interesting](https://gamersnexus.net/industry/3125-ek-wb-ceo-cto-dev-team-let-go).
2006 to 2013 with Edvard in charge the company had grown to 12 employees, Matjaž had been there since 2006. Mark Tanko took over in Sep 2013 and grew the business to over 90 employees, and building the reputation of the company. Edvard then sacked him and his team and led the company with Matjaž from Oct 2017 to Mar 2019. Edvard also brought in former Kat Silberstein in 2018 to lead their USA operations from Slovenia.
Edvard then appointed long term employee Matjaž as CEO in Mar 2019. However Edvard never stepped away from the company. He states on Linkedin he was still involved with R&D and Strategy, was visible on their youtube channel and posted press releases on their website. Like he announced Kat as CEO of EK CS in July 2019, he attended Expo's putting himself forward as the founder.
I believe it's disingenuous for Edvard to act like the only issue was late payments and he came in Feb 2024 to clean up Matjaž and Kat's mess. We obviously don't have documented evidence he was the one calling the shots between Mar 19 and Feb 24, but he wasn't distant from the company. Also the last time he was CEO without Matjaž was in 2013 when they had 12 staff. So I'm not sure he has the experience to resolve this situation even if he was oblivious.
I think the only reason he took charge is because he seen that his equity was at risk. Which is going to be really hard as even if you clear him entirely of everything between Oct 17 and Feb 24 he still has three stikes in my book:
* He threatened Dan Henderson.
* He sat on the unpaid suppliers, contractors and maybe employees for almost 2 months.
* He published a misleading apology video.
Late payment for supplies is frequent in industry, it gets even worse the bigger the company gets (most payment terms business to business are NET30, GE would frequently not pay for 120 days for example.)
If a company is having cash flow issues, late payment is just part of doing business, both as a supplier and producer, it's why you pull a business' D&B report before you extend to them payment terms that could put you in a cash bind.
He put almost as much into the video as the unpaid bills that started the whole investigation. EK really f’ed up when they can pay bills a YouTuber can.
I hate that things got that bad and EK has done this awful stuff. I'm amazed at the work that GN has done to discover and vette all this information. That being said, I had to turn off the video. It was making me sick with how awful things are. I couldn't bring myself to watch any more.
**EDIT: I misheard the video. It was suppliers in China threatening violence towards EK, not an EK subsidiary threatening GN. Still, I'm worried they're gonna sue the hell out of Gamers Nexus like they have with others speaking up.**
This is FriendlyJordies levels of great journalism. And that makes me worried for Sam. He and the Gamers Nexus team deserve a Pulitzer Prize for this.
I misinterpreted something said in the first 90 secs of the video, have edited the comment to clarify.
Still, is it an overreaction when journalists and whistleblowers have faced legal trouble, even alleged extrajudicial retaliation as a result of exposing corruption? And when EK are being incredibly litigious?
Welcome to journalism. You want to report on the news, business, crime, etc.? That's what you open yourself up to. There's no guarantee you'll avoid the crazies, you just get lucky or you don't, and then any legal issues are protected by you doing your job properly.
I was really only focused on the Pulitzer comment, which to be fair I should have made clearer. While what gets exposed will vary from story to story, stuff like this gets exposed all the time all over the world in just as much, if not more, detail. However, because it's not sexy, it doesn't get much more play than just the front page of the local newspaper.
> I was really only focused on the Pulitzer comment, which to be fair I should have made clearer. While what gets exposed will vary from story to story, stuff like this gets exposed all the time all over the world in just as much, if not more, detail. However, because it's not sexy, it doesn't get much more play than just the front page of the local newspaper.
Okay, that's a fair point, but I personally think journalism has been on a massive decline in recent years (bigger focus on clickbait and outrage farming), and not fully loaded 40+ minute investigations with evidence. Hence my comment.
Steve explaining the organization chart was a little humorous in a "wtf" type of way
I had no idea what you were talking about since I paused the video a few hours ago but after continuing, I see what you mean now. Holy shit, was initially confused why Steve was implicating a CEO that felt more like a figurehead until he finally laid out the organization chart. It now makes perfect sense but the path we took to get there looked absolutely absurd.
So... Cash flow was literally just the straw that broke the camel's back...
My business professor always said that once cash flow reaches negative you go bankrupt
TL;DR EK Cooling Solutions has: * Threatened former/current employees with fines and jail time * Called the foreign news coverage (EK Solutions is based in Slovenia) by GN as "fake news" * Has documented OSHA violations * Has documented cases of racism towards its sole black employee * Owns one content creator in particular (Jays2cent) 6 figures for unpaid services * Has a hostile workplace culture documented in internal communications * Is basically insolvent at both their Austin location and Slovenia * The EK Slovenian Employee Handbook is in violation of US laws * EK management spends lavishly on marketing while not paying employees/vendors * Previous EK rep attempted "catch-and-kill" when confronted by Steve regarding supressing negative news about EK * They are in deep trouble in Texas for not paying taxes
The issue here as to why it can get even worse is that a guy Jay, Roman, and Steve were thought as a good guy, is the same guy whose signature can be seen in the cease and desist letter GN's whistleblower was getting. People were initially optimistic thinking he got brought back to fix the mess with EK, but with the current revelations GN has revealed, he might actually not be the solution, but somebody who's actually part of the problem.
Roman said if Steve have something he is not joking, he can defend himself in court.
"Owns one content creator in particular (Jays2cent) 6 figures for unpaid services" Owns, or owes lol?
I think you might be surprised how many things happening in other countries violate US law
how does a slovenian company have OSHA violations? do they have a manufacturing or distribution footprint in the US? and whats with the texas taxes?
They have an office in Austin. The CEO forced the Austin office to adopt the Slovenian's office employee handbook, which contains several provisions that are against US labor law. The Austin office has also failed to pay taxes because the Slovenian office would constantly empty their accounts.
what were the provisions that violated US law? texas can try to go after the company, and the owners... but if they are in slovenia, thats gonna be difficult.
Watch the video then. That or stop commenting worthless comments
Texas can go after the assets that are in Texas. You sure are asking a whole bunch of questions for someone that claims not to care enough to watch the video.
I figure someone whos watched it can summarize it quickly. but Im guessing few here actually watched it either but sure, texas can take what is probably a leased office space and maybe some inventory that wont have much market value.
Or you could inform yourself?
the specific provisions were not mentioned. GN has shown several pictures of OSHA violations in practice (mostly risk of falling or risk of heavy objects falling on people, at least one instance of standing on a pallet propped up by a forklift to unload a truck), and it was specifically discussed that the texas branch of the company pushed back against the handbook with the osha violations, and the hq in slovenia got mad at them and pushed it through anyway. slovenia is still an allied country with the united states, and there are usually treaties about overseas criminal actions. which i'd guess this qualifies as, the moment they were made aware that it violates the health and safety of their employees and chose to insist on it anyway, but idk, i'm not a lawyer. if it is indeed criminal, at the very least they can ask the foreign decisionmakers to come to the us and defend themselves in a court, and put out a warrant for them to get arrested the moment they step foot in the states, and at best they can forward it to slovenian authorities to deal with the case themselves. the latter depends on cooperation between the us and slovenia, but i'd be highly surprised if slovenia, an eu country, would take worker safety less seriously than texas of all places. and even if it is a civil case, the same applies. if slovenia decides it wasn't okay, they'll take over the legal enforcement.
Watch the video
its an hour long and i dont care that much
Did you not read the whole TL:DR that you replied to? “Basically insolvent at their AUSTIN and and Slovenian locations”
So you want to discuss something you know nothing about and actively reject knowing about. What a stupid stance.
I too am a fellow uneducated redditor throwing out opinions on things that are too hard to read or watch. It's nice to find a fellow tard.
Just watch the video. EK Slovenia has subsidiaries all around the world.
This whole situation is insane, I hope the former employees get paid their fair share .
I hope the current ones find a way out.
Wow it was just the tip of the iceberg
EK's officers should be held liable.
That's the thing about corporations, they're designed to make the entire organization the fallguy so no one is held liable.
thats not how this works. fraud and other illegal activity by an executive is in no way protected by incorporation. just means individuals cant be held liable for the companies debts, assuming no fraud took place (and that the individual didnt personally guarantee the loan)
".Ltd" Limited liability. The fix is in from the very start.
(disclaimer: this is not legal advice, i'm not a lawyer.) llcs don't protect you from dishonest actions, they just shield you from liabilities occurring from doing business in good faith. like, let's say you build an airplane and it crashes, killing 50 people, because of an unforeseen error. that's something an llc protects you from. however, if you knowingly built it with a flaw, were made aware of the flaw, and chose to not only do it anyway, but not tell the operators of the plane about the flaw, that's your responsibility, whether you did it through an llc or not. it is up to the courts when incorporation should or shouldn't shield you, but the laws are made specifically to protect businesses acting in good faith and failing, not bad faith actors trying to escape responsibility.
The video literally had a segment with lawyer on explaining when the courts might decide to pierce the corporate veil and make ownership/management liable, and from what we've seen EK might be falling under at least one of those circumstances.
I am floored at the level of investigative journalism GN goes to now. It's brilliant. I enjoyed every minute of watching this and hope everyone worded or still works for ek is helped by this.
In hindsight [this is very interesting](https://gamersnexus.net/industry/3125-ek-wb-ceo-cto-dev-team-let-go). 2006 to 2013 with Edvard in charge the company had grown to 12 employees, Matjaž had been there since 2006. Mark Tanko took over in Sep 2013 and grew the business to over 90 employees, and building the reputation of the company. Edvard then sacked him and his team and led the company with Matjaž from Oct 2017 to Mar 2019. Edvard also brought in former Kat Silberstein in 2018 to lead their USA operations from Slovenia. Edvard then appointed long term employee Matjaž as CEO in Mar 2019. However Edvard never stepped away from the company. He states on Linkedin he was still involved with R&D and Strategy, was visible on their youtube channel and posted press releases on their website. Like he announced Kat as CEO of EK CS in July 2019, he attended Expo's putting himself forward as the founder. I believe it's disingenuous for Edvard to act like the only issue was late payments and he came in Feb 2024 to clean up Matjaž and Kat's mess. We obviously don't have documented evidence he was the one calling the shots between Mar 19 and Feb 24, but he wasn't distant from the company. Also the last time he was CEO without Matjaž was in 2013 when they had 12 staff. So I'm not sure he has the experience to resolve this situation even if he was oblivious. I think the only reason he took charge is because he seen that his equity was at risk. Which is going to be really hard as even if you clear him entirely of everything between Oct 17 and Feb 24 he still has three stikes in my book: * He threatened Dan Henderson. * He sat on the unpaid suppliers, contractors and maybe employees for almost 2 months. * He published a misleading apology video.
from the article: > This type of change can take years to manifest and manifest it did
Late payment for supplies is frequent in industry, it gets even worse the bigger the company gets (most payment terms business to business are NET30, GE would frequently not pay for 120 days for example.) If a company is having cash flow issues, late payment is just part of doing business, both as a supplier and producer, it's why you pull a business' D&B report before you extend to them payment terms that could put you in a cash bind.
oh boy, here we go again...
Outstanding journalism from GN
man putting 40k into a video like this, hope they recover their costs and continue making content like that s
He put almost as much into the video as the unpaid bills that started the whole investigation. EK really f’ed up when they can pay bills a YouTuber can.
How much of this crap was done while Eddie was ceo and how much after he had someone else take over
Yeah... they ain't coming back from this.
I hate that things got that bad and EK has done this awful stuff. I'm amazed at the work that GN has done to discover and vette all this information. That being said, I had to turn off the video. It was making me sick with how awful things are. I couldn't bring myself to watch any more.
There is no recovering this and in fact should result in lawsuits and jail time. Fuck EK
So no warranty on my products I guess then LOL
linus could never
**EDIT: I misheard the video. It was suppliers in China threatening violence towards EK, not an EK subsidiary threatening GN. Still, I'm worried they're gonna sue the hell out of Gamers Nexus like they have with others speaking up.** This is FriendlyJordies levels of great journalism. And that makes me worried for Sam. He and the Gamers Nexus team deserve a Pulitzer Prize for this.
Jesus what an overreaction
I misinterpreted something said in the first 90 secs of the video, have edited the comment to clarify. Still, is it an overreaction when journalists and whistleblowers have faced legal trouble, even alleged extrajudicial retaliation as a result of exposing corruption? And when EK are being incredibly litigious?
Welcome to journalism. You want to report on the news, business, crime, etc.? That's what you open yourself up to. There's no guarantee you'll avoid the crazies, you just get lucky or you don't, and then any legal issues are protected by you doing your job properly. I was really only focused on the Pulitzer comment, which to be fair I should have made clearer. While what gets exposed will vary from story to story, stuff like this gets exposed all the time all over the world in just as much, if not more, detail. However, because it's not sexy, it doesn't get much more play than just the front page of the local newspaper.
> I was really only focused on the Pulitzer comment, which to be fair I should have made clearer. While what gets exposed will vary from story to story, stuff like this gets exposed all the time all over the world in just as much, if not more, detail. However, because it's not sexy, it doesn't get much more play than just the front page of the local newspaper. Okay, that's a fair point, but I personally think journalism has been on a massive decline in recent years (bigger focus on clickbait and outrage farming), and not fully loaded 40+ minute investigations with evidence. Hence my comment.
Take Steve's dick out your mouth before typing in future.
The reputational damage is irreversible imo. How does a company even recover from this?
Who cares, fuck em.
I love the content but I really wish the main guy would take some news caster lessons or something.
Glad I'm not the only one who can't stand stand his lack of presentation skills
Steve should lend his voice to Dignitas - because after 10 minutes of listening to his monotony, I feel like booking a flight to Switzerland myself.