Randy Pitchford, Gearbox’s embattled CEO, has been accused of contempt of court in the latest episode of his ongoing legal saga.
Borderlands 3 arrives in just over two weeks, but hanging over the most hotly anticipated looter-shooter in years is the ongoing legal drama being played out by Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford and the company's ex legal counsel, Wade Callender.
A motion filed in Dallas County Court on Tuesday accuses Pitchford of discovery abuse and failing to produce court-ordered documents. "Callender believes he can prove that GBX (Gearbox), and their lawyers, continue to violate this Court’s order and hide documents," reads the filing.
"Enough is enough and GBX needs to be held in contempt and sanctioned for this behavior."
Callender initially filed his lawsuit against Pitchford last December in response to Gearbox suing the former employee for misusing the company credit card and misappropriation of funds. Callender's countersuit accuses Pitchford of siphoning away $12 million in bonus funds intended for Gearbox employees as well as leaving sensitive company documents in a Medieval Times restaurant.
In addition, the suit alleges the USB drive contained underage pornographic images. Pitchford appeared on the Piff Pod podcast last December, where he said the USB drive contained "barely legal pornography."
Gearbox has been delaying discovery for months as Callender has requested text messages between Pitchford and a member of the press where the USB key was discussed. When asked if the USB stick was still a fresh controversy or "has the internet moved on now?" Pitchford replied, "Internet is fine. All they care about is if my next video game is good or not."
"It is obvious that [Gearbox] intends to continue its clear pattern of discovery abuse for which it has already been sanctioned," Callender says in his Tuesday filing.
The judge agreed. Gearbox’s lawyers will appear before the court on September 25th to explain themselves, and to "determine whether Gearbox Software LLC should be held in contempt and sanctioned for failure to comply with the order entered in this case."
(via The Hollywood Reporter)