All the recent posts inspired me to check on the status of the bankruptcy case alerts I have running on Bloomberg Law to confirm the status of the various KULEK and KULEK-RELATED (e.g., VirtuaPin's CNC Machine, Tim Fife's Predator pin, etc.) proceedings (which I believed to be CLOSED).

All of the bankruptcy proceedings (of which I am aware) are CLOSED.

I'm not aware of any other (civil or criminal) proceedings.

However, if there are any (now or in the future), the dockets for federal proceedings will be easy to get. For state proceedings, online access not only varies from one state to the next, but even from county to county within the same state.

In my next post, I will list all the case info on the cases I was tracking. This info has already appeared throughout this thread, but I am reproducing it so that people can see it all in one place.

Once the proceedings started, has any money been recovered that has ended up in the hands of anyone that put down a deposit?

As far as the way things played out, I was surprised there was no recovery against Paul Maletich & VirtuaPin (especially since there was originally a default judgment against Maletich & VirtuaPin).

There could be many reasons for this, but here are my opinions as to the possibilities:

1. There were not actually grounds for recovery against Maletich & VirtuaPin.

2. There were grounds for recovery, but KeithinMI and/or the plaintiffs thought it wasn't worth it to continue to pursue the case once Maletich obtained effective representation.

3. The whole "defamation counterclaim" sideshow spooked Keith and/or the plaintiffs (even though I still think is was a BS claim and Keith ultimately would have prevailed). Agreeing to dismiss the case against Maletich & VirtuaPin seemed like a better option than the additional costs of discovery and litigation related to defeating the defamation counterclaim.

Anyway, at least Pinside got $100 out of me being wrong about the defamation counterclaim being dismissed. Note, this does not mean the defamation counterclaim was legit. However, the court was not be able to dismiss it without additional information:

"Put in the context of this adversary proceeding only, the Defendants' Counterclaim against the Plaintiff would fail. But there is more to this case than mere allegations in the Complaint. For some reason, the allegations made in the Complaint escaped the judicial or court setting and have now made their way into the general public.

...

The mere recitation of the four paragraphs complained of by the Defendants filed with this Court are not actionable on their own, but the publication to others beyond the normal course leaves this Court to conclude that the Defendants should be allowed limited inquiry as to how the allegations, as well as any comments regarding the allegations, were developed. The Court is also interested in learning about the individuals involved with the dissemination of this information outside of the normal court proceedings."

Frank v. Maletich (In re Kulek), No. 16-21030-dob, 2017 BL 446251 (Bankr. E.D. Mich. Dec. 11, 2017)

So in other words. stick a fork in it, it's done.

So Kulek blew through preorder money and the preorder folks got shafted?

Here's what I've learned over the years. People that don't have, and never built up, any sizeable amount of money, will NOT be able to handle a sudden influx of money.

They have zero idea how to manage it and no concept of how to effectively put it to work.

Based on what I read in this thread over the years, it was gross incompetence and a complete lack of experience on the part of SkitB.

Short story yes.
I mean, some people think he has all the money in 2 big sacks with dollar signs on them but it's never been proven.

Seeing as how a million in hundreds fits nicely in a typical briefcase, the image of big sacks of money with dollar signs on them is pretty far from reality, current or past.

Kulek walking around with a briefcase is even less believable.

There’s some wisdom in those words. I’ve watched this scenario play out more times than I care to remember with family, friends, you name it. What makes it suck even worse is watching that freight train barreling down and being powerless to stop it. I’ve had to watch while people close to me blew through life changing amounts of money in a matter of months. Nothing could be said or done to change the course.

I don't have the lambo tho..paired it with a seafood feast & beer ..no soda

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I was driving thru central michigan and thought of this post.

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How is Virtuapin and Paul still in business after all of this???

Bad Lawyering?

I thought the whole point of the Bankruptcy proceedings by pinsiders was to stop Kulick from declaring bankruptcy so the debts and claims etc. could not be absolved.
SO the court did or did not uphold Kulick's bankruptcy claim?

I think they did say he couldn’t get out of these debts with a BK, but also good luck getting anything out of him. He is basically a ghost.

Surprised he still has two functioning legs.

Too late for the First 48, but Lt. Joe Kenda could probably get to the bottom of it. Or it will make a great Cold Case File 20 years from now.

After watching "The Lady and the Dale", I figured to myself how this could happen again, and it did. Heh

Sorry if I am A bit late here and partially naive... what was Paul and Virtualpin involvement in this case? Only curious as I have ordered lots of product from him thank you.

His involved was making cabinets for the machines I believe.

If I recall, he was not only contracted to make the cabs but paid a large amount of money for them .. but they were never produced and theory? was that the money went to cnc machines and tools instead.. it came up in the case hearings a few times

My memory is a bit sketchy but didn't he also vouch for the Hollywood license agreement as being real?
Please correct me if it was someone else.

Yeah, wasn’t there some quote from him that he wouldn’t touch the project unless it was 100% legit.

Yes, Indeed

In his defense, he did explain that he was duped by Kevin and truly believed that the license was legit. Take that for what you will, but Paul has never really been a bad guy (except for a while in this thread) and continues to operate a well loved and legitimate business to this day.

That was always my sense of the guy even as things went south. I'm glad he's doing well.

I remember there were a few usual picthforkers calling for his head and laughing at his imminent demise, then he counter sued the dream team and things changed.
I think

This thread was a favorite of mine a year after I joined Pinside. Couldn't believe guys were spending that kind of money on a pinball machine - let alone a game that some guy claimed to be making in his basement.

"Those fucking pinball forum guys are weird and easily scammed." My first impressions of many pinsiders. Still rings true today.

I can, it was a different time (2013). Under $5k for a hot predator licensed pinball? Wizard of Oz was having issues getting off the ground (and had that crazy at the time $7k price tag). Stern was on the cusp of releasing metallica, but before then they were cranking out boring titles. If your a typical consumer you have no idea the grand scale difference between a couple one off prototypes and production quantities. I just hope everyone learned their lesson..
Deeproot: hold my beer

I never thought he was purposely lying for Kevin. But I do think he should have done better due diligence before coming on a public forum and putting the weight of his business behind a project collecting pre order money. Hopefully he has learned.

See dr thread for people who are still doing this lol. Pinball people with $$$ are easily scammed. Thank god im not rich?? Lol

Everyone finally give up? I consider my 3k a wash many many years ago.

Im sure somewhere Whysnow is still trying to convince someone that "Kevin will pay!"

I eventually got my refund from Paypal after continually dogging them. In the future I will use Amex.

Yeah, I read the Deeproot thread and guys post about Jpop and Robert Mueller going to jail for stealing money, then think of this fiasco. If KK can avoid jail for stealing, I'm sure Jpop and RM will be just fine. They'll have much better lawyers than KK.

Probably not jpop, but who knows with RM. If he has committed securities fraud or taken ppp loans that were not valid, he could be in some, well, deepshit.

Is he really still off the radar? I imagine him living in the woods, collecting coins from his rumored route games every week and then goes off to buy his next batch of canned soups.

Probably getting around fine making a decent living.

I read it too and got several times while reading it some kind of „Dejavu“ and my loss in Predator (I preordered and paid 5 games) popped up again in my mind ;(
Only good thing for me was that the friends for which I ordered as well (3 games) are still my friends

This game always looked terrible. Sorry for those who lost their money.

I'm currently propping the new Predator movie shooting in Calgary.....maybe Stern will get on board one day for this title.

Jigs
What…new Predator movie? Is Arnold in it? PM me if you can.
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https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/predator-skull-dan-trachtenberg-b1892608.html

Get to the choppa FFS! Maybe Spooky should license theme and build a pin.

Does anyone know if I can contact kevin? I have a good reason. I know you guys wouldn't understand. But I just want to ask him a question.

Try us

Anyone know the latest on this case?

John

You going to a Halloween party as a pirate and need to ask him where he gets his sweet pirate outfits?