Michael Ledwitz Denver Magazine Rippped off advertisers and subscribers Denver, Colorado

Denver Magazine, owned by Luxury Media Group, owned by Michael Ledwitz, ripped off and possibly stole (TBD) from hundreds or thousands of subscribers and advertisers of Denver Magazine. It was recently announced that Michael Ledwitz sold all the "key assets" of the company to rival magazine 5280, but 5280 would not be taking on any of the debt from Luxury Media Group: http://www.9news.com/news/local/article/194307/346/5280-buys-Denver-Magazine.

As a "former" subscriber and acquaintance of Michael Ledwitz I was deeply disturbed by the events, particularly how the "sale" happened. Up until now I had always viewed Michael Ledwitz and Denver Magazine with respect, but now it's obvious he is only interested in himself and willing to cause harm to others to fulfill that interest.

After first hearing the news my first reaction was sort of just a bit surprised because there was no indication that Denver Magazine was in trouble, but business is business so I figured this was a simple   business deal between Denver Magazine and 5280. My view drastically changed after reading some other news posts and user comments to those posts because it made me realize that this was not a simple business transaction between two companies.  This was MICHAEL'S exit strategy which only considered his personal best interest: http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2011/04/denver_magazine_folds_5280_daniel_brogan.php

If you read into the articles and comments it is now clear that Michael structured his deal with 5280 in order to either profit, or at least avoid potential losses or having a bankruptcy on his record. They key  here is how he sold the "key assets" (9 news) of the company to 5280, he didn't sell the actual company. By doing this he sold them everything that had any value but did not pass on any debt or obligations the magazine had to advertisers or subscribers. This means everyone that is now owed money from Denver Magazine has no way to collect it other than suing him personally. Clearly it makes no sense to sue someone over a magazine subscription, but maybe there are some advertisers that are out larger sums of cash, or maybe collectively we can all sue him personally for the total sum of the outstanding debts and possibly get punitive damages awarded.

The assets he sold to 5280 he obviously received money for (unless he and 5280 lied in their interviews) -Denver Post- and that money should have gone to all the subscribers and advertisers that now stand to lose money they paid to the magazine, but instead it went directly into Michael Ledwitz's personal bank account I assume. I don't know that as a fact but I am sure if he had done the moral thing and actually refunded people's money he might have mentioned that to show everyone he had some respect for others.

Maybe 5280 has plans to compensate advertisers and subscribers for their losses but there was no mention of that other than from 9 News who said 5280 was going to give former Denver Magazine subscribers "a discount" for a subscription to 5280. In general it doesn't appear 5280 did anything  wrong buy purchasing the assets offered to them by Michael Ledwitz but you would think they might do more than offer a discount? That is almost a slap in the face in my opinion, like a free year subscription to 5280 is going to hurt them? Apparently according to 9 news they still "need" to get $7 per issue from these former Denver Magazine subscribers. Maybe they spent too much paying Michael Ledwitz for the "key assets" so they need to make up the money buy charging everyone that got screwed by Denver Magazine more money to re-subscribe to 5280. Could it be any more of a joke?

Hopefully this information serves two purposes:

First, as a warning against working with or doing business with Michael Ledwitz because it may be a risky proposition.

And two, maybe it will open the eyes of everyone else that lost money and should have been repaid by the sale of these "key assets" instead of that money cushioning Michael Ledwitz's bank account for his next scheme.