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Former Dean chief Evan Rubinson lays out counterclaim to embezzlement lawsuit

The former Armadillo CEO is facing accusations that he embezzled $420,000 from a company started by his father, and now purportedly owned by his mother.

Dean CEO Evan Rubinson

Evan Rubinson

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Evan Rubinson, the former CEO & President of Dean Guitars and its parent company Armadillo, has laid out his counterclaim to the embezzlement lawsuit that he is facing.

Rubinson’s answer to the initial suit contests almost every part of Pamela Keris-Rubinson’s original lawsuit – all allegations of embezzlement and mismanagement of Thoroughbred Inc are expressly refuted. The preliminary statement paints a rather different picture than the original suit, saying: “By all accounts, Evan ran [Thoroughbred] well. Nonetheless, in early 2020 [Pamela] unilaterally assumed control of the business – and promptly ran it into the ground. Now, over two and a half years later, in an effort to blame her some for her own negligence and retaliate against him because he recently began questioning her management of other family businesses, she has filed this sham lawsuit.”

Additionally, the answer denies that Pamela is the trustee of the Elliott Trust – established by Armadillo founder Elliott Rubinson to manage his affairs, claiming that “[Pamela] has not established that she is the rightful trustee entitled to bring this action, or that the Elliott trust tis the sole shareholder of Thoroughbred ,In addition, or in the alternative, [Pamela] has engaged in actions that warrant her removal as trustee and therefore she has forfeited any right to take this action of behalf of the Elliot Trust.

The answer then lays out its counterclaims, alleging that “Pamela has made an illegal, improper or perverted use of this Court’s process after it was issued by using her
defamation in the process to leverage Evan to dismiss two other, meritorious lawsuits… Pamela’s illegal, improper, or perverted use of this Court’s process was made with an ulterior purpose, other than the purpose for which the process was intended… As a result of Pamela’s abuse of process, Evan has suffered harm to his reputation, standing, and credit, loss of business, and has incurred attorney’s fees.”

The counterclaim requests a judgement making Pamela responsible for these damages and costs.

The response comes shortly after Pamela released a statement as the owner of Armadillo, addressing Evan’s departure – notably describing it as him having been removed from the company. On the other hand, Evan himself described his departure as his resignation.

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