Whyte Bikes threatens to have Rich Energy wound up

Whyte Bikes has threatened to have Haas title sponsor Rich Energy wound up, as it has not been paid the £35,416 as ordered by the Intellectual Properties Courts.

Rich Energy lost a legal battle with Whyte Bikes over its logo, with a following court order demanding that Rich Energy, Williams Storey (CEO) and Staxoeb (logo designer) pay the money previously outlined.

The deadline for the payment was Thursday, July 11th, and Whyte Bikes has confirmed that it has not received the money from the energy drink producer.

Whyte Bikes released a statement in which it voiced its disapproval over Rich Energy and its lack of compliance with the due payment.

“On 27 June 2019 the High Court in London made various orders against the Defendants, Rich Energy, William Storey and Staxoweb," the statement read. 

"One of the orders was that they should pay to Whyte costs totalling £35,416 by 11 July 2019. The Defendants have failed to pay any of the costs award. Each of the Defendants is jointly liable for the whole amount of costs awarded.

“ATB will now be forced to take appropriate action to recover the costs that they have been awarded. This may include applications to the Court to wind up both Rich Energy and Staxoweb and to petition for the bankruptcy of Mr Storey.”

This week has seen Rich Energy in the spotlight as prior to the British Grand Prix weekend, its Twitter account claimed it had split from Haas as its title sponsor.

However, shareholders clarified on Thursday that the two remained very much in partnership, and condemned the actions of one "rogue individual" behind the Twitter account.

On Friday, the Rich Energy twitter page posted a letter which seemed to indicate that Storey remains the CEO of the company.

However, Jeremy Courtenay-Stamp, a lawyer of Haas, indicated that Haas would be willing to continue with Rich Energy if it saw "clear and unambiguous evidence that Mr Storey has been removed as a director of the company and that a new CEO has been validly appointed in his place".