On the heels of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, which concluded last February 28, is a ticket scam which reportedly involves Filipino-Hungarian David Bunevacz (main photo) and American Gene Hammett (inset).
PART I: David Bunevacz dragged into Winter Olympics ticket scam
Sunday, March 7, 2010
01:08 AM
Rating
David Bunevacz's name once again hits the news, this time in The Seattle Times, a 120-year old publication that's presently tagged by Wikipedia as "the largest daily newspaper in the state of Washington."
In The Seattle Times article headlined "Broken rules, a failed deal and a frenzy over Olympic tickets" (February 27, 2010), a businessman named Gene Hammett implicated Bunevacz and his father Joseph for allegedly "paying huge kickbacks" to unidentified officials of the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of Spain and Hungary to collect tickets illegally for the recently-ended 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Hammett, who owns ticket dealership Action Seating in Alpharetta, Georgia, told The Seattle Times, that the Bunevaczes led him to believe that the tickets would be delivered to him before the Olympics. He claimed he was defrauded of nearly $3 million when he bought 17,000 tickets from them, and the purchase "never materialized."
However, the e-mail forwarded by Bunevacz's camp to Karen A. Pagsolingan, managing editor of PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal), on March 4, stated that Hammett's statements "were untrue and merely an attempt to divert attention from his own misdeeds, namely that he sold non-existent tickets to unsuspecting consumers."
The official press statement of Atty. Michael M. Amir—Bunevacz's lawyer, who also co-owns the law firm Doll Amir & Eley LLP in Los Angeles, California—related that a lawsuit was filed last March 4 in L.A. County Superior Court, "to correct and remedy the accusations leveled at him [Bunevacz] by a disgruntled ticket broker in a recent Seattle Times article concerning Vancouver Olympic tickets."
Attached to the lawyer's "press release" was a 25-page affidavit, which underscored the Bunevacz complaint for: "Breach of Contract, Fraud, Defamation, and Declaratory Relief."
It also stated that Hammett's statements in The Seattle Times were "false," that Hammett's problems were "his own doing" and that he "did not have sufficient funds to purchase the tickets."
The complaint said Hammett's allegations constitute a "breach of contract" because he allowed the publication of "confidential information" in The Seattle Times, which published copies of several documents that Hammett provided to the publication, including contracts, e-mails, and purchase orders.
But while Bunevacz has declared Hammett's statements against him to be only "a tale of mystery and greed," one issue that remains unsolved is: Who made the commitment to deliver the thousands of tickets for the Winter Olympics?
PLAYERS IN THE STORY. David Bunevacz, 41, is a former decathlete for the Philippine team.
He became the subject of controversy when he represented the country in the 1997 SEA Games, and brought home silver medal—which, according to the tabloids, did not sit well with some sports officials because the team budgeted huge training fees for him and expected gold in return.
From sports, David Bunevacz gave showbiz a shot.
In 1997, he became known as the athlete-boyfriend of former beauty queen Anjanette Abayari who starred with big-name action stars like Cesar Montano for Silakbo, Phillip Salvador for Hangga't May Hininga, and Fernando Poe Jr. for Ang Syota Kong Balikbayan. In 2001, Bunevacz himself made it to the movies with Buhay Kamao and Tusong Twosome.
In 2007, Bunevacz stirred another controversy when he and wife Jessica Rodriguez were accused of misappropriating the funds of high-end beauty clinic Beverly Hills 6750. PEP was the first to break the story (CLICK HERE). The following year, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court released a warrant for Bunevacz's arrest in connection with the Estafa case filed by Tyrone Ong, one of the Beverly Hills 6750 investors (CLICK HERE). To date, the case is still pending in court.
The Seattle Times also reported that Bunevacz was jailed in the early 1990s after being convicted of "burglary, grand theft and obtaining less than $400 under false pretenses" in the Los Angeles area. (But Bunevacz said in the complaint that this statement is "false" and also "defamed" him.)
On the other hand, the 39-year old Gene Hammett owns Action Seating Inc., a company that sells tickets to several online brokers in the secondary market, which is not sanctioned by the official Olympics organizing committee to distribute tickets.
Hammett's public profile in Plaxo.com, a social networking website, indicates that he resides in McDonough, Georgia. He describes himself as a "fun loving, hard working, dependable entrepenuer (sic)."
The profile also states that Action Seating Inc., which started in 2008, sells "tickets and packages to the world's largest sporting events, such as The Masters, Olympics, World Cup Soccer, Super Bowl, and Kentucky Derby."
Readers of the article in The Seattle Times called Hammett a "ticket scalper" and not a legal broker. Wikipedia (accessed at 10:10 p.m., March 4) says ticket scalpers, or resellers, "use several different means to secure premium and previously sold-out ticket inventories" to sell them at a higher price.
Many event organizers, like those of the Vancouver Olympics, prohibit ticket scalpers. Unauthorized selling of tickets is even illegal in some countries—in the United Kingdom, for instance, resale of football tickets is illegal under section 166 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.
- PART II: David Bunevacz dragged into Winter Olympics ticket scam
- QC RTC issues warrant of arrest for David Bunevacz on three cases of estafa
- Beverly Hills 6750 affirms PEP's investigation on non-existent U.S. affiliate
- SPECIAL REPORT (PART II): Beverly Hills 6750’s U.S. partner clinic no longer in operation
- SPECIAL REPORT (PART I): Beverly Hills 6750’s U.S. partner clinic no longer in operation
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