Buyers Trapped in Feud with Sunseeker...

SHTF long before Obey announced he was no longer a dealer in March. That was just a chess move on Obey's part as he was already no longer going to be a dealer before that. I know of an owner that bought a Sunseeker in February that was almost finished and one of Obey's spec boats ordered, and was bought through a different dealer at a deep discount as Sunseeker was trying to sell Obey's spec boats any way possible.

Oh no, Obey does a transfer to a company with no assets setup for the purpose of avoiding financial claims by the buyer and Sunseeker. Smells like fraud, muddies the water for the honest operators in the industry.

Well, fraud and violation of many laws have been made as accusations. Kevin's initial suit was made on May 24.

Parties sued are Rick Obey and Associates, Rick Obey, Sunseeker USA and Sunseeker International Ltd. Interesting attempt to pierce the protection of Sunseeker USA and go after Sunseeker International which doesn't do business in FL or the US. 5 months later in Kevin's case and not even close to court.

One thing that repeatedly surfaces is not even knowing really who you're dealing with or fully appreciating that. For instance, you're not dealing with Sunseeker International, LTD, a company with many assets. You're dealing with Obey who is buying from Sunseeker USA, a distributor with no real assets.

On May 1, 2019, Signature Yacht Sales sued Obey over failure to provide spare propellers per a contract. That is still open.

On April 17, 2019, JPC Sea Holdings sued Obey as Obey requested a progress payment but refused to provide any information to verify the progress.

On February 27, 2019 Obey (Marine Consulting) sued Sunseeker USA. This suit was primarily aimed at a Jury Trial and in the meantime Sunseeker, through arbitration, got an injunction to stop Obey from continuing trying to do business as a Sunseeker dealer and then later filed for a contempt order when they claim he didn't. On March 10 sued Sunseeker International for tortuous interference on the dealer agreement.

On April 14, 2019 Obey sued MTU over loss of value of a boat while waiting for repair of a catastrophic failure on a new Sunseeker.

On April 22, 2019, Sunseeker sued Obey, seeking an emergency injunction and compelling arbitration. On July 10, Sunseeker was granted an order to compel arbitration. Obey appealed, got a stay on August 8, awaiting a court decision.

And things are just heating up.

Kevin's filings are most interesting for the information he had gathered in the process. Allegations of a Ponzi scheme are made with Obey using funds from one boat to pay for another. Further allegations are made that Sunseeker was fully aware of those practices and therefore also guilty. Even mention of RICO is made.

The more I read, the more I expect criminal charges to arise.

Priceless!

EXACTLY!!! - Obey also supposedly put liens on over 30 customers boats of various amounts for warranty work. So much for not involving the customer.

Sunseeker's stance has been that as the buyer, Rick Obey and Associates, is in breach of the contracts and hasn't made full payment on any of the boats, then all orders are cancelled and the boats are available. Read Capt J's post #41. They told buyers they needed to get with Obey over the payments.

Kevin Turner (or his attorney) had a great Warren Buffett quote and that was "You only find out who is skinny dipping when the tide goes out." He equated the souring of the relationship between Obey and Sunseeker to the tide going out.

That may be partially true but Obey was applying them to specific boats. Sunseeker delivered when a boat was paid off. Until that point, I'm suspecting they didn't care how he applied payments. They never saw the actual payment from the customer.

Now, how much they knew and when can become important if a DA were to charge Obey and then charge Sunseeker under RICO.

Kevin is getting a great deal on that boat right now! Free freight and the boat is worth $600-700K more now after Sunseeker changed the HIN from a 19 to a 20. But they question remains - Who is going to do the PDI and Warranty work when the tide goes out?

Sunseeker Fort Lauderdale I believe. Capt J can confirm based on up to date information. I would think most would use them only for warranty.

This all reminds me of something I've seen many times over the years. Someone who can really sell can remain employed for a long time regardless of anything else including integrity. Often it comes back to cause extreme problems when it all comes crashing down.

Scott Rothstein?

Ahh, com' on that's not right. If he had used a competent attorney in he first place I guarantee the owner wouldn't be in this mess. Seems to me it's the yacht industry that is the cause of this hustle.

Sunseeker has no idea which customer paid Obey and for which boat, or where the money Obey used to pay for the boat came from. All they know is a payment needs to be made by Obey for 75' XYZ and it is sent by Obey or it isn't sent by Obey.

Wow, someone needs to point this out to Oliver Stone. Popcorn sales would be through the roof.

No, there's no assumption in his post. Sunseeker never sees customer payments. Now what is subject to discovery is did Sunseeker know Roby was comingling and shifting and misapplying customer payments, and, if so, when did they know that. They did attempt to audit him when ending the agreement, per terms of the agreement, but he refused to allow them to do so.