Glen Jensen Sues Agel

Seeks $1 million-Plus in Damages, Agel's Dissolution

As previously I reported in Alert #166, Agel's Board of Directors attempted to terminate founder and CEO Glen Jensen last November, and filed suit against him on December 22nd. The allegations against Jensen include:

1) Planning competing opportunities with team members and other Agel employees; 2) Refusing to follow directives by Agel's Board of Directors; 3) Making unauthorized market licensee and product royalty commitments; 4) Making unauthorized use of company funds. After what appeared to be a considerable backlash over Jensen's departure, especially in some key Asian markets, there was an attempt at reconciliation where Jensen would supposedly return in some capacity. In the mean time Boyd Matheson was appointed the new CEO. This was made public by Agel in early December, while Glen Jensen's CEO profile remained online. Today his photo and bio have been removed, although he is still cited, by name, as the "visionary" who developed Agel's "Suspension Gel Technology". On March 14

th Glen Jensen filed a lawsuit against Agel as well as 26% co-owner Ash Capital, Agel

managers James Savas and David Harkness, employee Jeff Warwick, along with Matheson and leading distributor Randy Gage. According to the complaint, Jensen is charging Agel and certain corporate and field leaders with (among other things); 1) Wrongful Termination and Breach of Contract; 2) Violation of the Amended Operating Agreement by "offering Agel stock and share of Agel's profits to prospective employees and existing Agel Distributors; 3) Withholding Agel products from Asia markets, causing Agel to sustain damage to its profitability and reputation; 4) Arbitrarily paying shut down costs in some markets and not paying shut down costs in other markets, refusing to pay employees severance and leaving excess, unsold inventory; 5) Requiring Agel to make large payments... for unauthorized and unnecessary work; Glen Jensen also charges each party named in the suit with defamation, which is the only Cause of Action against Randy Gage. Jensen alleged that they defamed him by "each communicating to key Agel sales leaders that Jensen's resignation/termination was due, in large part, to illegal and dishonest conduct on the part of Jensen, accusing Jensen of stealing money from Agel". Glen goes on to charge that these defamatory statements publicly exposed him to "hatred, contempt and ridicule", and "were willfully made with malicious intent to harm Jensen's reputation and good name, and to impair Jensen's relationship with Agel sales leaders." Jensen is seeking damages of at least $1 million, the repayment of a $200,000 note he made to Agel, and back pay from his interest in three highly placed distributorship positions. However, he is not going for reinstatement as CEO of Agel or as a board member. Instead, he is seeking the dissolution of Agel, and that it be placed in receivership. The Complaint can be viewed here: http://www.marketwaveinc.com/docs/Jensen_Complaint.pdf In what they are now calling "Agel 2.0", Senior VPs Jeff Higginson and Jeremiah Bradley have been promoted as "Co-CEOs" for the company. According to the Agel website, ex-CEO Boyd Matheson is now being positioned as a "special adviser to the Board of Directors."

Commentary:

During an Inside Network Marketing podcast last month I predicted that Agel's lawsuit against Glen Jensen would likely be dropped and Jensen would return to Agel in some capacity. About four hours later Glen posted the comment "I am Agel - Always!!!" on his Facebook page which was followed by a confirmation, from someone I considered to be a very reliable source, that Agel and Glen Jensen had indeed worked out an agreement, Glen was back on the Board of Directors, and the lawsuit would be dropped within the next few days. As it turns out, that was premature and a bit overly optimistic. According to Jensen, who I interviewed in preparation for this Alert, he and Agel were working on a resolution and reinstatement agreement. "In principal," he claims, "I thought we did have things worked out. However, once they got the written legal documents to me, it did not even resemble what we had agreed to." He goes on to say, "I seriously tried my best to get it worked out, but was unsuccessful - not from lack of effort on my part. Watching Agel being systematically dismantled over the past four months has been extremely troubling to me. They have destroyed in four months what took years to build." I should also clarify that "dissolution" does not necessarily mean Agel is dissolved and goes away. According to Glen he is seeking only the dissolution of Agel's management team and board in lieu of new management. I in no way intend to judge the veracity of any claim within the lawsuit (that's what juries are for), but do feel compelled to mention that I did interview Randy Gage at length following the first Agel lawsuit against Jensen. Randy's comments regarding Glen were not only not defamatory, they were, as I recall, generally complementary. Agel has now lost not only some key field leaders, such as Eric Worre, but they also recently lost their Director of Software Development (the top IT guy) Moy Chambers, as well as two CEO's within the last five months. I also have reason to believe that Agel's sales have dropped considerably in the last four months. Considering the generally fickle, flighty nature of network marketers, and how easily they can be spooked, the last thing Agel needs right now is for this dirty laundry airing drama to be playing out in any court - state, federal, or public opinion. The key to Agel's survival is twofold: 1) Settle with Glen Jensen and take the discovery process out of play, and; 2) Keep Randy Gage very, very happy. I'm guessing that the achievement of #1 will go a long way to achieving #2. Len Clements Founder & CEO (and, fortunately, the entire Board of Directors!) MarketWave, Inc.