Von Dutch Originals LLC (Los Angeles), the international fashion designer and retailer with the car and motorcycle culture, has filed a complaint against its former head designer, Christian Audigier and others, alleging fraud, conversion, breach of fiduciary duty, and unfair competition. The complaint also alleges that the defendants conspired to obtain unauthorized payments directly from Von Dutch Originals’ suppliers and manufacturers.
Audigier was hired in May 2002 as head designer and also held a vice president title. He left the company in August 2004 to open a new business, Don Ed Hardy, with a competing store on Los Angeles’ Melrose Avenue. While at Von Dutch, Audigier was said to be earning more than $1 million a year, including salary and commissions.
The Von Dutch lawsuit alleges Audigier “concocted a scheme and plan whereby he would extort millions of additional dollars from Von Dutch suppliers.” In order to be hired or retained by Von Dutch, Audigier would require the suppliers to “pay directly to Audigier a significant monetary kickback,” the suit states. Von Dutch claims the money Audigier used to open his new store “was the result of the supplier kickback scheme.”
The suit, which also names Audigier’s nephew and former assistant, and several of Audigier’s friends and business associates — who were not employed by Von Dutch — asks for at least $3 million in compensatory damages, plus unspecified punitive and exemplary damages.