Modeling Agency News
Elite files for bankruptcy in US
"Elite Model Management Corp faces high legal costs from a long-running private class-action suit, which alleges the company conspired to fix commissions. The agency has said in a statement that it will contest the allegations. Elite is also fighting a ruling it must pay a former employee $4.3m, who said smoke in its offices ruined her health."1
"Elite said its business would continue as normal while operating under bankruptcy."2
1. "Elite files for bankruptcy in US," BBC News, Feb. 16, 2004.
2. Ibid.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3491999.stm
(Elite Model Management)
Elite Model Bankrupt
"Elite Model Management Corp., the agency that helped propel the careers of supermodels Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Wednesday, blaming costly litigation. Among its burdens, Elite was ordered in January to pay $4.3 million to Victoria Gallegos, a former employee fired after complaining that cigarette smoking in Elite's Manhattan offices was caused her respiratory distress. A jury ruled last year that she was wrongfully terminated. Elite is appealing that decision. The New York state judge in the case scheduled a Friday hearing to determine whether a receiver should be appointed to oversee Elite's finances."1
1. Nick Baker, "Elite Model Bankrupt," Smart Money, Feb. 12, 2004.
http://www.smartmoney.com/bn/ON/index.cfm?story=ON-20040211-001234-1630
(Elite Model Management)
Model Mogul Throwin' Smoke
"Former Elite Model Management chairman John Casablancas has declared war on ex-underling Victoria Gallegos, who won a $5.2 million jury verdict after claiming the agency made her sit through second-hand smoke in its office for seven weeks. "Miss Gallegos left a trail of unhappy people when she worked at Prada, Barneys and Nordstrom," Casablancas told PAGE SIX from his home in Brazil. "I have talked to all these people. There are many things that the judge didn't allow to come up in court that would show what kind of person this young lady was." . . . Gallegos' lawyer, Rosalind Fink, shot back: "These allegations are so clearly not true that the judge precluded them from coming out in the trial. "Casablancas is trying to bring them in the back door," Fink continued. "He's going to throw all the mud he can. He doesn't want to pay. He's trying anything he can not to pay." Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Louis York has yet to rule on Elite's motion to reduce the judgment handed up last May. . . . Casablancas, who has sold his stake in Elite and is no longer involved in it, can be pursued for the money along with other top Elite executives if the company files Chapter 11 in an effort to evade the judgment."1
1. "Model Mogul Throwin' Smoke," Page Six, New York Post, Nov. 19, 2003.
http://www.nypost.com/gossip/pagesix_u.htm
(Elite Model Management, John Casablancas)
Fashion
world shaken as top New York model
agency faces ruin
"Elite Model Management of New York, the agency that launched the careers of Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Heidi Klum, is on the brink of collapse. In a move that will send a shudder through the world's most glamorous industry, the agency has filed for protection against bankruptcy in a final attempt to prevent it from going out of business. Elite Model Management has been the leader in the modelling business for more than 30 years, reaching the height of its fame in the late 1980s and 1990s: a time when leading "supermodels" were in such demand that Evangelista famously said she "would not get out of bed for less than $10,000." Now, however, the Manhattan agency has entered a dark chapter in its history: partly as a result of changing times and growing rivalries, but most obviously because it is under sustained legal siege."1
"Elite has seen its revenues plummet as a result of the harsh business climate and legal actions. It was said recently to have just $4.5 million in assets, against $7 million in liabilities. According to fashion observers in London, Elite and some other of the large agencies with hundreds of women on their books have also become, as it were, unfashionable. Many leading models now prefer the "personal touch" and are working for the smaller, elite "boutique" agencies, which often look after fewer than 20 models."2
1. Walter Ellis and Andrew Alderson, "Fashion world shaken as top
New York model agency faces ruin," Telegraph, Feb. 15, 2004.
2. Ibid.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/02/15.html
(Elite Model Management)
Not A Pretty Picture At Elite
"For two years, Elite has been at the center of a $50 million class action. The lawsuit, originally filed on behalf of some 10,000 models against Elite and 12 other agencies, went to trial on June 1. The models allege rampant, decades-long price-fixing. BusinessWeek has learned that most of the agencies named in the suit, including Ford Models and Wilhelmina Models, opted to settle the first day of the trial."1
1. Marcia Vickers, "Not A Pretty Picture At Elite," BusinessWeek, June 14, 2004.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_24/b3887081_mz020.htm
(Elite Model Management)
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