{"id":191039,"date":"2021-02-28T23:42:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-28T20:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/juul-trying-to-recoup-millions-from-eonsmoke-founders\/"},"modified":"2021-02-28T23:42:00","modified_gmt":"2021-02-28T20:42:00","slug":"juul-trying-to-recoup-millions-from-eonsmoke-founders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/juul-trying-to-recoup-millions-from-eonsmoke-founders\/","title":{"rendered":"#Juul trying to recoup millions from Eonsmoke founders"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Juul trying to recoup millions from Eonsmoke founders<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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Juul is caught in a cat-and-mouse game<\/a> with two cheeky entrepreneurs from New Jersey who app<\/a>ear to have gone to extreme lengths to keep their millions from the vaping powerhouse \u2014 risking possible criminal penalties in the process, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n

Juul sued Gregory Grishayev, 34, and Michael Tolmach, 35, for trademark infringement in 2018 claiming their company Eonsmoke illegally marketed its vaping pods as \u201cJuul compatible,\u201d complete with packaging that looked eerily similar to Juul\u2019s.<\/p>\n

But rather than settle the case, Grishayev and Tolmach now stand accused of quietly stashing millions in corporate funds out of Juul\u2019s reach \u2014 despite a federal judge having warned them last year not to touch the money \u201coutside the ordinary course of business.\u201d<\/p>\n

In that same February 2020 ruling, New Jersey federal judge Kevin McNulty blasted the men for a series<\/a> of brazen Skype messages showing them discussing how to keep their millions from Juul \u2014 warning them that he would not tolerate \u201cLOL\u201d as a response to his orders.<\/p>\n

But just 10 months later, Juul was sounding the alarm on all kinds of alleged shenanigans \u2014 including millions of corporate dollars that were blown on personal expenses and millions more that were quietly moved offshore.<\/p>\n

Many details of the pair\u2019s alleged funny business are hidden from public view because court documents outlining them were filed under seal.<\/p>\n

But publicly available filings show that Tolmach used $2.3 million of Eonsmoke\u2019s money to buy a 3,900-square-foot mansion in Los Angeles\u2019 Hollywood Hills last June, then spent another $341,000 on renovations, construction work and furniture.<\/p>\n

That purchase \u2014 along with some other \u201cunexplained\u201d spending and money transfers \u2014 helped convince McNulty to freeze the men\u2019s assets in December, court records show.
Then it emerged that they had also moved more than $23 million of Eonsmoke funds into Swiss bank accounts held through trusts they secretly set up in the South Pacific\u2019s Cook Islands, \u201ca jurisdiction well known for sheltering assets,\u201d Juul alleged in court records.<\/p>\n

Tensions have gotten so high that lawyers for Grishayev and Tolmach earlier this month asked McNulty whether he intends to \u201cpursue criminal contempt sanctions against the defendants,\u201d court papers show. The judge declined to say one way or another but has demanded more information on the money transfers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile purposefully using JUUL branding to confuse customers that its illicit products were somehow related to Juul Labs, Eonsmoke flooded the market with pods featuring inappropriate flavors and packaging made with unknown ingredients under unknown quality standards,\u201d said Juul spokesperson Austin Finan. \u201cWe will continue to enforce against illegal actors like Eonsmoke to help ensure the vapor category is comprised of companies focused on transitioning adult smokers from combustible cigarettes while following regulations and combatting underage use.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grishayev and Tolmach certainly look and talk the part of two 30-something businessmen from North Jersey willing to give a big middle finger to the system.
Tolmach, who studied at Baruch College and Bronx High School of Science<\/a>, sports shaggy black hair, aviator sunglasses and a Hollister T-shirt in his Facebook<\/a> profile picture.<\/p>\n

Grishayev\u2019s photo on the social network shows him posing with a drink in front of a darkly lit bar. In another 2014 photo he posted, he\u2019s seen in a tight-fitting gray T-shirt next to rapper Ja Rule, who he claimed was \u201changing out in the office.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rapper
Rapper Ja Rule with Gregory Grishayev.<\/figcaption>
Facebook<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201ceven if we lose the lawsuit, I will never sign check to Juul or ever pay them,\u201d Tolmach allegedly wrote to Grishayev soon after Juul\u2019s 2018 complaint was filed, court documents show.<\/p>\n

\u201cim not worried,\u201d Grishayev wrote in a separate exchange that prompted the judge to warn the men against laughing about the case. \u201cyou can even still have same company [after bankruptcy] lol.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawyers for the men have cast Juul as a corporate bully bent on snuffing out a tiny rival that offered consumers a cheaper alternative. Marc Agnifilo, the high-profile attorney whom Grishayev and Tolmach recently retained, declined to comment on the money transfers except to say that his clients will prevail against Juul\u2019s trademark claims.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not prepared to comment on matters pending before the court, but we feel very confident in our litigation position and we look forward to a trial on the merits,\u201d Agnifilo \u2014 whose previous clients include Nxivm cult leader Keith Raniere and \u201cPharma Bro\u201d Martin Shkreli \u2014 told The Post.<\/p>\n

\"Side
Juul\u2019s lawsuit says Eonsmoke illegally marketed its vaping pods as \u2018Juul compatible.\u2019 <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Grishayev and Tolmach were riding high in October 2018 when Juul filed its lawsuit. They were promoting the pods via influencers like Kardashian ex Scott Disick, former porn star Mia Khalifa and a YouTuber named \u201cDonnySmokes\u201d who was reportedly paid $1,000 each time he reviewed an Eonsmoke item.<\/p>\n

Revenues exploded from $2.3 million in 2017 to $30 million in 2018, court papers show. By 2019, Eonsmoke was raking in an eye-popping $90 million and Grishayev and Tolmach had bought Ferraris and Lamborghinis along the way, according to court filings.<\/p>\n

But Eonsmoke shut down by April 2020 amid growing legal and regulatory scrutiny. The FDA sent Eonsmoke a warning letter<\/a> in 2019 saying its products were illegal because they didn\u2019t have the proper federal marketing authorization.<\/p>\n

The firm\u2019s use of influencers also landed it in hot water with both the FDA and the Massachusetts attorney general<\/a>, who sued Eonsmoke in May 2019 alleging that it targeted underage consumers.<\/p>\n

\u201cMom! It\u2019s a USB drive!!,\u201d Eonsmoke wrote of its devices in an Instagram post cited by the city of Denver, which also sued last year.<\/p>\n

But less than a year after shuttering, Juul was complaining to the court that the company\u2019s funds had also gone up in smoke.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of Defendants\u2019 asset dissipation \u2014 which was indisputably in willful defiance of the Court\u2019s orders \u2014 the amount of Defendants\u2019 assets in their US accounts has dropped from over $31 million in January 2020 to less than $500,000 now,\u201d Juul said in a Feb. 3 filing.\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Juul trying to recoup millions from Eonsmoke founders” Juul is caught in a cat-and-mouse game with two cheeky entrepreneurs from New Jersey who appear to have gone to extreme lengths to keep their millions from the vaping powerhouse \u2014 risking possible criminal penalties in the process, The Post has learned. Juul sued Gregory Grishayev, 34,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":191040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/02\/juul.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[95607,77719,77720,70446,11013],"class_list":["post-191039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-2-28-21","tag-e-cigarettes","tag-juul","tag-lawsuits","tag-vaping"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}