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Alex and Ani’s fraud suit allowed to proceed
A federal judge has ruled that a case of “bungled bangle banditry,” in which jewelry brand Alex and Ani is suing BJ’s Wholesale Club and a group of distributors, can move forward.
In a recent ruling in the case of Alex and Ani v. a group of distributors, the judge observed that three of the defendants, “stack(ed) arguments in support of dismissal ... like so many Alex and Ani bracelets upon the outstretched arm of a
Providence, R.I.--A federal judge in Rhode Island has ruled that Alex and Ani can move forward with a lawsuit accusing BJ’s Wholesale Club and a group of distributors of conspiring to get its jewelry into BJ’s stores, even after the brand said it didn’t want its popular bracelets sold there.
In an amusingly worded 25-page ruling handed down Friday, Chief Judge William E. Smith of U.S. District Court in Rhode Island threw out attempts by BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc. and seven other defendants to have the case--which he described as a “bewildering ballad of bungled bangle banditry”--dismissed.
He allowed most of Alex and Ani’s amended 14-count complaint to proceed, though he did throw out some of the claims.
Filed in September 2013, Alex and Ani’s lawsuit alleged that it sold more than 26,000 pieces of jewelry worth a total of $1 million to a man named Travis Brody and his company, Elite Level Consulting LLC (ELC), for about $250,000, with the understanding it would go in attendee gift bags at the Wellington Classic Fall Challenge, a horse dressage (dancing) competition, and the Austin Film Festival.
Instead, Brody and ELC allegedly conspired with the other defendants to resell the pieces, many of which ended up on the shelves of BJ’s Wholesale Club stores in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, according to the lawsuit.
Alex and Ani, which had rejected an earlier application from BJ’s to begin carrying its jewelry, discovered that their pieces were being sold at BJ’s in September 2013 and filed suit shortly thereafter.
BJ’s Wholesale Club did not respond to request for comment issued late Monday.
Also named as defendants in the suit are J. Jonathan Weiss, Luxury Business Jets LLC, Roxy Inc., Genesis Sales Corp. and JJ & M Corp.
Based in Cranston, R.I. Alex and Ani jewelry is sold at both company-owned boutiques and by independent retailers, including fine jewelry retailers.
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