Isaac
Years ago

Eddy Groves suing Joey Wright

Fallen childcare entrepreneur and former Brisbane Bullets basketball team owner Eddy Groves is suing one of his former employees for $1 million.

Mr Groves says Bullets coach Joey Wright contributed to Mr Groves' failure to sell the team and its now-defunct NBL licence last year.

Mr Groves says media interviews by Mr Wright in March last year resulted in adverse speculation about the Bullets' financial position, according to court documents filed in the Queensland Supreme Court last week.
Early last year, Mr Groves announced he was selling the Bullets, and in early April an agreement was reached with a potential buyer, a consortium headed by Logan-based businessman David Kemp.

Mr Groves alleges that because of the breach of Mr Wright's duties to his employer, the sale fell through.

Read the full story

I am hoping this is just an attempt at pressure to make Wright withdraw his case against Groves, but otherwise Groves seems a bit off the rails. Didn't the sale fall through because Kemp got cold feet over a major sponsor not continuing with their arrangement?

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HAHA  
Years ago

Several things happened in this order:

* Groves tried to hide the extent of his money woes towards Feb/March when rumours were circulating that his wealth would diminish and having a basketball team would be a luxury ANYBODY in that situation wouldn't be able to justify affording.

* Several weeks passed where rumours were flying around about the stability the Bullets would have because of Groves problems as his downward spiral became headline news- Groves continued to deny he was in any sort of significant strife in his business and claimed the Bullets were fine.

* Further stories continued to come out about the extent of his losses, this time, he reluctantly and cryptically danced around the thought of losing money.
Still denied he would have to sell his beloved club, which with every passing day, greatly devalued their bargaining power to negotiate a sale while still on top.

* At the 11th hour, several weeks after he should've seen the writing on the wall and sold for the benefit of the club, not his stubborn ego, Groves admits the club is a luxury he can no longer afford after flying back from the US from a business meeting that was unsuccessful- by this stage a significant chuck of respect has been wiped off the Bullets branding and now resembles a desperate fire sale: everything must go a la Cowan's Dragons gear for $5.

* NBL try to help with some negotiations but end up making it worse by publicly claiming every few days they are 'quietly confident' the Bullets will get a buyer. Whoops.

* Kemp consortium take over for a lot less than what the club should be worth because of Groves killing it with kindness instead of letting go- 8 weeks passes before due diligence is completed upon which the Kemp consortium say 'the numbers don't add up'.
Tell us something you should've noticed 8 weeks prior- Groves ran the club like it was a bank and we all knew it- Kemp agreed with Wright and Kerle at the time to help clean it up.

* Virgin Blue decide not to renew their lapsed sponsorship on the Bullets- hardly surprising with this sort of instability going on and partly why I get reminded of the devalue to the product that is caused when clubs don't handle their business professionally similar to the Tigers/ Dragons fiasco that contributed Fox to revise their sums and get cold feet from public bickering.

* Groves then goes on a rampage to say they should have done due diligence sooner- about the only valid and responsible thing Groves has done since Feb when the whole Cindarella story started to collapse.

* NBL then say that for them to keep their licence, they will have to pay a $1mil bank guarantee which was not discussed, let alone imposed on any other club at the time when several others were in financial trouble- Groves said take your bank guarantee and shove it up your a$$ and rightly so as it was not a requirement anybody else had to suddenly bow down to with 3 days notice.

* Licence gets handed back and Chuck's name becomes scum in Brisbane, while most of Brisbane quietly want his head on a stick when he shows up at the Bullets relaunch in Sept.

Since then, Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale and another guy that formed part of the Kemp consortium (can't remember his name right at this moment- some real estate tycoon) have come under public fire for dodgy dealings in other areas of business, so in retrospect, their short-lived support would've been a red herring and they'd end up having bigger fish to fry elsewhere also and tarnishing the brand.

(Mod: Points for effort.)

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HAHA  
Years ago

Forgot to add that Joey and BK were about the only responsible two that were trying to protect the branding and not have it dissipate and become devalued while Groves was flying here there and everywhere trying to salvage his business and Joey and BK held the fort.
These guys were the only ones going above and beyond to save a club that at the end of the day, needed to be saved from its owner.

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nickyg  
Years ago

Very detailed & good reading haha. I agree that it will be Eddy trying to get Joey to pull his law suit. When Eddy had a buck he was very good with it - he even shouted them all to Vegas after they won the thing.

It's a shame his finances took a down turn & he lost his beloved Bullets. They both need to think of the good times & keep it out of the courts. The only winners in courts are the lawyers...

Go to the pub & have a few pots boys - it's not worth it!!

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HAHA  
Years ago

I agree.
Joey has moved on although he did suffer a significant loss of income because of it until he got his Blaze contract- Groves is doing this out of spite and trying to find some much needed respect in his home city where his name is mud through his own fault.
Joey is trying to pick up where he left off with the Bullets- he is putting his money where his mouth is with developing the game (despite it now being a requirement it is something he really believes in) so I take my hat off to him for that also- he is handling the whole thing with dignity and grace.

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Isaac  
Years ago

Might end up a little like Pigs fan Cesar vs Shane Heal with the bigger name throwing their weight around to bury the valid case of the opponent.

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HAHA  
Years ago

Good point.
I've not spoken to Joey since this story broke of Groves believing he has something over Joey, but it's a bad reflection of Groves when he clearly did have enough tucked away (in retrospect) to keep the Bullets alive if he can fork out for a wedding to charge up to $500 a head to marry his long-term mistress.
As so many have said, the man is full of secrets and lies even still, and what kind of integrity exists in a person who can pass his mistress off as his actual wife for so many years?
Even those close to Groves for several years thought his mistress really was LeNeve and didn't know any different.
Where is his credibility when a story like this comes out?

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,27574,24917738-3102,00.html

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24624050-421,00.html

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Paul  
Years ago

Is David Kemp related to Martin Kemp(former number 2 to Groves at ABC)? Maybe that is why the sale fell through?
The NBL doesn't need any more negative publicity now that it is up and running.

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HAHA  
Years ago

Nope definately no relation there.
Kemp is the BDS shopfitting guy and has involvement with the Logan Thunder and has poured millions into a new stadium being built somewhere on the westside of Brisbane.

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