Over at Adult FYI I read a great story about John Gray (which apparently he got from Blogspot) and well, to put it bluntly, his bull shit stories that he has been putting out over the years as well as some implications of fraud and even some building inspection violations. Reading this does further prove that something isn’t right with this whole Michael Ninn ordeal but it makes you wonder if this bitter outrage is just going to lead to more trouble for Michael Ninn than it’s worth? For those who aren’t keeping up this is in regards to Ninn Worx_SR, and owners or former owners Micahel Ninn and John L. Gray, which you can read up on by clicking here.
Ten Questions the Media Needs to Ask Mr. Gray
1.) In your interview with AVN, (By: Wade Garrett Posted: 07/30/2007) you stated: Among the company’s resources are: in-house a legal team; a large IT staff which maintains in-house web services and programming; a graphic arts department; and a full film studio with state-of-the-art equipment headed by Carl Wachter, the longtime Penthouse staff photographer. Mr. Ninn states he never saw an in house legal team that you claim exists. You also claimed in that same interview you had a large IT department but again Mr. Ninn says he never saw more than two people in it. So in your opinion is two people a large IT department?
2) In your interview with AVN, (By: Peter Warren Posted: 02/07/2008) you stated: “The new division is set up as a full-scale movie factory. you were quoted as saying “We have built our own film studio, a 30,000 square-foot building, that is everything that Playboy had at their studio.”
From what we could gather from people that have worked in your SR studio said the studio is closer to 1600 sq.ft and that it had little or no equipment in it. You also stated in the same interview “we have our own editors and replication and sound people, and all the rest of it.” But everyone who has been to your Norco Headquarters say there are no editors, no replication or sound people? Any comments?
3.) In your interview with AVN, By: David Sullivan Posted: 10/09/2007 you stated: “One of the things I’ve always found in porn in general was that perception is very powerful in this industry,” Gray continued. “There’s an incalculable, intangible benefit of sweeping AVN awards and not being just another film company, but being a premiere film company in this industry, and we can afford to do a $250 or $300 thousand budget movie and not make a penny on it, kind of like Bob Guccione did with Caligula, and it has a certain inalienable benefit to us in a long shelf life… but you later stated in a more recent interview you blamed Ninn for making expensive, impractical choices that led to disagreements on everything from color correction to contract girls, public relations, trailers and investing in an Internet presence. What is your real opinion?
4.)In your interview with AVN, By: David Sullivan Posted: 10/09/2007 you stated: )”The Vegas [Spearmint Rhino] club alone does a million dollars a week in gross sales, so it’s easy for us to get a return on the initial investment,” This statement would lead me to believe and others that you own Spearmint Rhino in Las Vegas but in fact you do not. Why would you make such an untrue statement?
5.) In a statement given to Xbiz by your COO Kathy Vercher she stated “We invested in Michael and we invested in Michael’s vision” I could not find any statement of Michael’s vision but I could find yours and I quote “We want to throw enough money at it to be able to do something very, very special. I will spend $25,000 on three minutes, because if it doesn’t look and feel exactly like the 300 movie, I guarantee you it will never hit the street and I will scrap it. What I’m out for is mainstream quality production in the porn arena, and I haven’t seen anybody in history ever do that. We’re gonna do the exact same thing that a DreamWorks studio would do, and we’ve got the money to be able to throw at it.” Who are we to believe here and why is there no money to finish The Four properly now?
6.) Mr. Ninn’s statement to AVN Posted: 06/16/2008 said “He had a problem with your business ethics.” but did not really elaborate. What do you think he meant by this statement?
7.) Mr.Gray, given the fact that you were sued and settled cases out of court in lawsuits brought against Spearmint Rhino by 4 US women for using their pictures on billboards and in literature about striptease without their permission. It is also common knowledge that a world famous Penthouse photographer also sued you for copyright infringement and that you settled out of court. Why would you decorate your Norco office with over 30 Michael Parkes paintings you do not have permission to use?
8.) Is it true the office and the stage you built for Ninn Worx_SR in your corporate office in Norco, never received the proper building inspections and permits and that when the Norco city building inspector arrived at the office all NWSR employees had to run from their offices and hide in the back, because the offices were being occupied illegally?
9.) You have stated in a few of your interviews that “Michael is more of an artist than a businessman and you are more businessman than artist.” including some of the very first interviews you gave to AVN and Luke Ford. So, as the businessman in this relationship how could both you and the COO of SR, Kathy Vercher, blame Michael for any of the failed business decisions when he neither signed the checks or handled the business decisions of NWSR?
10.) Do you think your convictions in the US for offences ranging, from carrying a concealed weapon to writing bad checks and the multiple other lawsuits filed against you will have any effect on your case with Michael Ninn?