Regarding the case of “The One Pioneer LLC (T.O.P) and Its CEO Alexis Song (Dandan Song) Involving in Serious Complaint and Breach of Agreements”, we now provide the following updates.
On June 22, 2022, Golden Ivy Marketing (“Golden Ivy”) and American Financial Alliance Corp. (“AFA”) (collectively the “Plaintiffs”) initiated a lawsuit against Defendants One Pioneer LLC, its CEO Dandan Song (Alexis), and others (collectively the “Defendants”).
On December 19, 2022, Defendants filed a Demurrer and Cross-Complaint.
On January 12, 2023, Defendants voluntarily removed several allegations in their Cross-Complaint.
One April 14, 2023, the Court overruled the Demurrer in part.
Please refer to the following content for more information.
A. The Court Overruled the Demurrer in part
Defendants demurred to the Second (Unfair Business Practices), Third (Breach of Fiduciary Duty), Sixth (Breach of Fiduciary Duty), and Seventh (Interference with Economic Advantage), causes of action because they are preempted by the California’s Uniform Trade Secrets Act (“CUTSA”). Defendants demurred to the First (Misappropriation of Trade Secrets) Second (Unfair Business Practices) Third (Breach of Fiduciary Duty), Fourth (Breach of Contract), Fifth (Breach of Contract), Sixth (Breach of Fiduciary Duty), and Seventh (Interference with Economic Advantage), causes of action for failure to state sufficient facts to adequately state a cause of action. Defendants demurred to all causes of action on grounds of uncertainty.
The Central Justice Center at Superior Court of California, County of Orange determined that the Demurrer is OVERRULED as to the First, Fourth and Fifth causes of action.
The Court found that Plaintiffs sufficiently pled facts to assert these claims.
B. Several Parts of The Cross-Complaint were Voluntarily Withdrawn by Defendants
1. Original Cross-Complaint
On December 19,2022, Defendants filed a Cross-Complaint against Plaintiffs adding additional AFA agents and team leaders who were not a part of the initial complaint. Defendants also added in additional Cross-Complainants as part of the Cross-Complaint.
The Cross-Complaint allegations include accusations of several violations of labor codes, defamation, trade libel, and tortious interference with prospective economic advantage.
After Defendants filed the Cross-Complaint, the One Pioneer LLC quickly released “Company Announcement” on their official website and aggressively spread marketing materials regarding the Cross-Complaint among major media platforms and many agents.
2. Defendants Voluntarily Withdrew Several Claims from the Cross-Complaint
On January 12, 2023, which is less than a month of filing the original Cross-Complaint, Defendants voluntarily amended their cross-complaint and withdrew several allegations and removed parties from both the Cross-Complainants and Cross-Defendants’ sides. Defendants removed One Pioneer LLC, Atlas Creative Group LLC, Lishi Ji, and Shuxun Li from their Cross-Complaint, while also removing the AFA agents that were not a part of Plaintiffs’ initial Complaint.
The allegations of defamation, trade libel, and tortious interference with prospective economic advantage were withdrawn, left with only labor complaints within the cross-complaint case.
These actions show that the parties that were added to the Cross-Complaint are not involved in the case. Additionally, it also suggests that the One Pioneer LLC could not present any evidence regarding the allegations of defamation, trade libel, or tortious interference.
However, despite having voluntarily made changes to their Cross-Complaint, the One Pioneer LLC did not disclose any information in any channel, nor did they make any changes or updates to the original company announcement about their Amended Cross-Complaint.
C. (Our Opinion) Signs of Conducting Misleading Actions with Malicious Intent
The One Pioneer LLC quickly released “Company Announcement” on their official website and aggressively spread marketing materials that including misleading information and obvious biased descriptions regarding the Cross-Complaint among major media platforms and many agents right after they filed the original complaints. Besides, the company immediately withdrew parts of the allegations as well as removed parties from the case without any other disclosure about these facts or updates on the case. Thus, we think that it is very likely that the Cross-Complaint case was a preparatory act for widespread deceiving information in order to mislead the public.
Regarding the “Company Announcement” published by the One Pioneer LLC,
1. The case is a lawsuit filed by the plaintiff Golden Ivy and related companies and individuals against the defendant the One Pioneer LLC and its CEO and shareholders of the company. The allegations include but not limited to Misappropriation of Trade Secrets and Breach of Contract. Even though the One pioneer LLC filed a cross-complaint, it is NOT a “multi-million-dollar lawsuit” launched by the defendant. We believe that this statement is suspected of deliberately misleading the public into thinking that the One Pioneer LLC is the plaintiff of the case.
2. The One Pioneer LLC Stated that the case is based on “claims it is meritless, frivolous and retaliatory”, and the plaintiff has “wrongfully and unlawfully retaliated against” the defendant. We believe it is the legal right of any natural person or legal entity to file lawsuits against suspected illegal or even criminal acts. There is no “wrongfully” or “unlawfully” nature of such acts. Besides, before the case has been ruled or determined by the court, we believe that the case could NOT be defined as wronged or retaliated, and clearly should NOT be described using biased words with strong tendency in misleading the public to misjudge the nature of the case.
3. Other than those deliberately misleading actions, the One Pioneer LLC also brought in parties that were not related to the case, and complicated the case by adding allegations of labor complaints and defamation that were not originally involved in the case. We believe that these actions are also suspected of containing malicious intent to confuse the public.
*Disclaimer: Section C reflects our own opinion pending future discovery and judicial findings.
D. Updates on the Case
The case of “The One Pioneer LLC (T.O.P) and Its CEO Alexis Song (Dandan Song) Involving in Serious Complaint and Breach of Agreements” is still currently under trial. Golden Ivy will only speak for the facts and seek legal justice through proper channels. At the same time, we are determined to fight against any similar illegal actions within the industry that pursue profits by misappropriating of trade secret, conducting defamation, breaching contracts, or other unethical methods, and we take real actions to defend the industrial justice.
If there are any updates of the case, the company will continue to disclose information on the company website. We truly appreciate and welcome any public supervision and attention of the case progress.
*For detailed allegations and parties involved in the case, please click here.
**For original court ruling of the Demurrer, please click here.