Performer Tyler Faith, president of TeamTyler, former JKP contract model and a friend of Kelly’s, told XBiz that the company had been going downhill since it went public three years ago as one of the only adult studios to have a stock exchange listing.
“When Bob Friedland screwed up our residuals, a lot of people lost faith in the company,” Faith said.
JKP was founded in 1999 by Kelly and Friedland. At the time it was written into many contractors’ deal memos that they would receive 10 percent residuals after profits. Faith said that only a few performers ever saw residual payments “because Bob never managed our TV deals," she said.
Being a co-founder of the company, as well as the name on the door, Kelly couldn’t just quit, Faith said. She needed to resign in writing with 60 days’ notice. So the resignation was long in coming. It can be assumed that Friedland resigned in a similar fashion, taking leave of the company two weeks ago.
Faith left the company last month and various other contract performers have been departing since, including, most recently, Jenna Haze. JKP’s website still lists Haze, Faith and “Shane’s World” star Calli Cox as company performers. Calli Cox left the adult industry in 2004.
Speculation about JKP’s solvency has played out on web pages and message boards since the first residuals lawsuits began cropping up in 2003. Friedland, whose rented house is now locked up, Faith said, could not be reached for comment, nor could Kelly or Dan Ice, JKP’s new CEO.
Portfolio PR, JKP’s New York-based investor relations company, refused to comment for this article.
Jill Kelly Productions Holding, Inc. (JKXJ) was formed in 2003. Its stock is listed with most services under a “Hold” suggestion and it is currently “pink-sheeted,” meaning that for reasons pertaining to its Board of Directors makeup, its capitalization value and/or its trading risk, it cannot be listed with the major American stock exchanges.
As both Kelly and Friedland possessed between them 72 percent of JKP’s stock when the company was formed and there were no non-employees on the Board of Directors, the company could not be listed with NYSE or NASDAQ. A single share of stock was never capitalized higher than $1.15, and the stock is currently trading for nine cents.
Further speculation that JKP’s entire warehouse stock was sold to a distributor could not be confirmed, although the allegation was supported by several sources.
