Winklevoss twins: Porn mag owner used $1.3M investment to fund 'extravagant lifestyle'
The Winklevii are returning to their natural habitat: the courtroom.
Page Six has learned that the twins are suing a buzzy Hollywood porn magazine, claiming that the owner used part of the $1.3 million they invested in it to support his “extravagant lifestyle.”
In happier times, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss partied at Treats! magazine’s famed Halloween party with celebrities and topless models.
But now the bitcoin billionaires say that owner, publisher and editor-in-chief Steve Shaw mismanaged the company and used it as a personal ATM — then attempted to “strong-arm” them into selling their shares to Shaw for “pennies on the dollar” when they complained.
The magazine publishes fully nude pictures, and has featured sexy shoots with Emily Ratajkowski, Dylan Penn, Joanna Krupa and Lydia Hearst, while its fans include Leo DiCaprio, Paris Hilton, Halle Berry, Olivier Martinez, Gerard Butler and Matt Bellamy.
Treats! is supposed to be a quarterly, but the twins say Shaw bungled the operation and got only a couple of issues out a year.
In the suit, the brothers claim that they started sinking money into the magazine in 2012, but that, five years after they invested, they discovered that Shaw had “mismanaged [their] investment and squandered the funds that were entrusted to the company, under Shaw’s direction.”
They claim that when they confronted him, Shaw “made frivolous legal threats” against them and “falsely claimed [they had] made promises to undertake specific acts to market and promote Treats!”
They also allege that Shaw “used company resources for personal expenditures and to support Shaw’s extravagant lifestyle.”
A rep for the magazine said, “We have no comment, as we are reviewing the case and will respond accordingly.”
Reps for the Winklevoss twins did not get back to us.
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