A men”™s fashion entrepreneur has sued the Bedford Corners company she co-founded, claiming that her partner shorted her by nearly $250,000 in salary and out-of-pocket expenses.
Kelli Crawford is demanding back pay and expenses from Epiq Custom LLC and her partner, Tomohiro Yamada, in a complaint filed Jan. 13 in Westchester Supreme Court.
In more than a decade of experience in men”™s fashion, including stints at Bergdorf Goodman and other high-end clothiers, Crawford declared, she “dressed and styled senior executives, athletes, and other high net-worth clients.”
Epiq was founded in 2019 after Yamada, Christopher Pfluger and Anthony Mehale ”“ partners in TCA Ventures ”“ proposed working with Crawford. She had a roster of valuable clients and the sales skills, according to the complaint, and the TCA partners had marketing experience.
Crawford says she was supposed to be paid $150,000 annually and compensated for business expenses, under the terms of the company”™s operating agreement.
But in May 2020, Yamada allegedly reduced her salary and later changed her compensation to commissions. She received more than $185,000 from October 2019 through January 2022, Crawford claims, but was entitled to nearly $165,000 more.
She claims that her New York City apartment was used as an office and showroom for meeting clients, discussing styles, taking measurements, making alterations, receiving factory shipments, packaging and shipping orders, billing and holding business meetings.
But Epiq never reimbursed her for $83,963 in apartment expenses, according to the complaint, including rent that eventually cost $5,830 a month.
Crawford also claims that she has been denied access to complete financial records. She received a copy of Epiq”™s QuickBooks accounting records but no bank records, receipts of expenditures or tax filings.
Yamada purportedly attributed Crawford”™s salary reduction to reduced income because of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
She says sales were sluggish because TCA Ventures failed to perform the services it agreed to do, such as creating a website, managing customer service and generating leads.
Regardless of the reason for sluggish sales, the complaint states, “Yamada lacked the authority” to unilaterally change Crawford”™s compensation.
All authority was vested in the management board. Although TCA Ventures owns 60% of Epiq and Kaycee Crawford Enterprises owns 40%, only Yamada, of Fort Lee, New Jersey, and Crawford sit on the board. Each has one vote, so both must agree to management and operational decisions.
Epiq Custom and TCA Ventures are based in Pfluger”™s house on Little Pond Road in Bedford Corners, but neither Pfluger nor Mehale have formal management responsibilities with Epiq, according to the complaint, and they are not named as defendants in the lawsuit.
Crawford charges Yamada, Epiq and TCA Ventures with breaches of the operating agreement and Yamada with breach of fiduciary duty. She is demanding $248,635 in back pay and business expenses and an accounting of Epiq”™s finances. She also wants to be relieved of the non-compete and non-solicitation clauses in the operating agreement.
Manhattan attorneys Michael C. Rakower and Melissa Yang represent Crawford.
