A former longtime Bowlero executive asked a federal court for permission to countersue the company, alleging extortion and retaliation.
The allegations by Bowlero's former chief information officer, Thomas Tanase, filed Wednesday in a proposed countersuit in Virginia federal court, come after he and dozens of others filed discrimination claims with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging they wereThe company, which went public in late 2021 through a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, was among the select successful stocks to emerge from the SPAC boom.
"If you come clean there is a path where you are our friend ... You tell us everything that's transpired ... You tell us everything you know about Dowe everything that's ever happened with respect to Dowe ... With respect to the CNBC," Parker said during the conversation, according to the transcript.
"I'm not going to be able to fight this internally, and you're going to be trying to explain to the FBI that some device did this and I don't want you to be in that position," Parker said, according to the transcript.In response, Tanase repeatedly told Parker he didn't share any information with anyone and had been in the hospital when Shannon's email account was allegedly breached, according to the transcript.
"Indeed, what Tanase suggests is 'extortion' is obviously no such thing. Hence, even if Tanase had a private right of action for an extortion claim, the elements of such a claim are not met here," the company said. "Tanase has so seriously impeached his own credibility that no testimony he can offer in his defense will rehabilitate him, and, in these circumstances, default judgment is appropriate in order to protect the integrity of the judicial process," Bowlero said in a memorandum in support of its request for sanctions.
In response, Tanase's attorney Scott Pickus told CNBC if the court doesn't permit Tanase to move forward with his counterclaim in the case, the suit can and"likely will" be filed as a new action. He said he"very much" disagrees that the assertions made in the proposed counterclaim are frivolous.
The EEOC previously tried to settle the complaints with Bowlero for $60 million in January 2023, but those efforts failed last April, CNBC previously reported. The agency now has the ability to file a federal lawsuit against the company, but it's unclear if it will. Before the agency can sue Bowlero in federal court, the EEOC's commissioners need to vote on the matter.