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Episode 148 - Roundup on the Roots
PodcastAnalysis updated yesterday1 hr 5 min listenBy Dennis Kriesel & Tony Kurkowski
Pinball: The guys briefly discuss Chicago Gaming Company and its now-confirmed Cactus Canyon Remake, but spend most of their time on the SEC's complaint against deeproot Funds and how it impacts...
Highlights
- SEC is charging Robert Mueller and Deep Root Funds with operating a fraudulent scheme misappropriating $58+ million from investors
- Mueller funneled over $30 million from investor funds to other businesses he controlled
- Mueller used at least $820,000 of new investor money to make Ponzi-like payments to earlier investors
- Mueller paid himself approximately $1.6 million in undisclosed salary and misappropriated another $1.5 million for personal expenses including private school tuition, vacations, weddings, and a Hawaii condo
- Deep Root Pinball LLC is named as a relief defendant with no legitimate claim to funds it received
- Chicago Gaming Company's Cactus Canyon remake consulted with original Williams team to complete the game as Williams had envisioned it
- Chicago Gaming has a slower development cycle than typical for the industry, taking over two years between releases
- Jersey Jack Pinball cannot put out a game every 12 months and Steve Ritchie's game is unlikely before 2025
Notable quotes
“The SEC's complaint alleges that Robert J. Mueller and his company, Deep Root Funds LLC, were investment advisors to two pooled investment funds that Mueller created...Mueller funneled more than $30 million of the fund's assets to other businesses he controlled and used at least $820,000 of new investor money to pay earlier investors.”
“It's DOA. It's gone. It's done. It's over.”
“Everything that they put out on that last update is just so different now and so much worse than what we thought.”
“It seems like the way Mueller operated with most of this was very much in the Mafia style. 'Oh, that's a nice house. It'd be a shame if something happened to it.' He threw around being a lawyer. He threw around threats of lawsuits and litigation constantly and just kind of bullied his way through.”
“This is arguably the biggest scandal pinball has ever faced since Bally and the Mafia working together, which was never clearly proven. Wink wink. But in terms of dollar amounts, it's just tremendous.”
“People are hungry for anything pinball, so it's hard to say that anything is a good or bad move. It's just a move and it will sell because everything sells now.”
“It's a great time to be a pinball manufacturer... you could deliver a stinker and it's not going to matter. It's going to sell. People have no taste anymore. It's all about acquisition.”
Entities
- Chicago Gaming Company· company
- Deep Root Funds LLC· company
- Deep Root Pinball· company
- Jersey Jack Pinball· company
- Policy Services, Inc.· company
- Attack from Mars· game
- Cactus Canyon· game
- Guns N' Roses (GNR)· game
- Monster Bash· game
- Pentasia· game
- Raza· game
- SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission)· organization
- Blueberry Johnson· person
- Dennis· person
- Eric Menier· person
- Jeremy Packer· person
- Pat Lawler· person
- Robert Mueller· person
- Steve Ritchie· person
- Tony· person
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