Interest in photo archives mounts

NLR business part of 10 suits

Several companies are researching buying the photo-archive businesses built by John Rogers, the receiver appointed to watch over Rogers' properties said.

Rogers, 42, is the North Little Rock photo archivist and sports-memorabilia collector who acquired more than 60 million photos from 50 newspapers. Ten lawsuits have been filed against him in the past year.

"We do have people coming in this week doing due diligence, and we're going to have people coming in next week doing the same," Michael McAfee, the court-appointed receiver, said this week. "There is a cloud surrounding [the businesses], but the cloud doesn't concern the ongoing affairs of the business."

Last month, an Atlanta investment group, Red Alert Media Matrix Inc., offered $59 million for almost all of Rogers' photo archives. If it succeeds in buying the archives, the firm said, it will continue Rogers' operations in central Arkansas.

Red Alert Media set a deadline of Feb. 27 to close on its offer.

"We are waiting for more documentation from the Atlanta firm," McAfee said.

The claims in the lawsuits involving Rogers total more than $70 million.

A summary of the lawsuits, including the date each was filed:

Feb. 20, 2014, Mark Roberts v. John Rogers et al: Roberts and his 33 Collections LLC sued Rogers in San Francisco. Roberts bought from Rogers almost 3,000 photographs of early baseball memorabilia from the 19th to early 20th century for more than $2 million. Roberts said that Rogers represented the photos as originals, but Roberts claimed he later discovered some were not authentic.

July 11, 2014, Mary Brace v. John Rogers et al: Brace, whose father photographed Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox games for 65 years, sued Rogers for failing to make a payment in a $1.35 million purchase of baseball photographs. Rogers paid $500,000 and the first of 10 $85,000 annual payments but none after that. Rogers argues that he stopped payments on the advice of his attorney when he discovered that the pictures weren't copyrighted. Rogers' firm, Sports Cards Plus, consented last month to a judgment against it of $765,000.

Sept. 5, 2014, First Arkansas Bank & Trust v. John M. Rogers: First Arkansas sued Rogers, seeking more than $14.2 million in unpaid loans. The Jacksonville bank received a default judgment against Rogers last month for about $14.6 million, including almost $2,300 a day in interest, because Rogers failed to respond timely to the bank's lawsuit. First Arkansas filed writs of garnishment on 14 banks that are believed to have Rogers' accounts.

Nov. 14, 2014, First Arkansas Bank & Trust v. Sports Cards Plus et al: First Arkansas sued Rogers, five of his businesses, nine former owners of photos and memorabilia sold to Rogers, and two other banks that loaned Rogers money. First Arkansas claimed it loaned Rogers more than $29.5 million that has not been paid. Rogers denied First Arkansas' claims in a filing last month. The bank filed a motion for summary judgment this month against Legends in Time, a Rogers firm.

Nov. 21, 2014, David Hoffman v. John Rogers et al: Hoffman, a documentary filmmaker in California, sued Rogers, saying he sold Rogers a collection of photos and negatives of President John F. Kennedy in 2012 for $325,000. Rogers is delinquent by $80,000, Hoffman said. Hoffman claimed he is entitled to receive the Kennedy collection. Rogers denied Hoffman's claims in a filing last month.

Dec. 17, 2014, John Rogers v. Mark B. Roberts: Rogers sued Roberts of San Francisco over several transactions concerning baseball memorabilia. One deal, involving the "Chadwick Collection," includes memorabilia from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Rogers sold the collection to Roberts for $1.8 million, but Roberts debated whether some items were originals. Rogers bought back $700,000 of the items.

Dec. 19, 2014, Fairfax Media Management v. Sports Cards Plus et al: Fairfax, which owns newspapers in New Zealand and Australia, sued Rogers' businesses, saying it had an arrangement wherein Rogers would get only 50 percent of the revenue for sales of photos from its archives. Fairfax claims several terms of the agreement were not followed.

Jan. 14, 2015, John L. Conner Jr. et al v. John M. Rogers: John Conner of Jackson County and two of his businesses -- Holden-Conner Farms Inc. and Newport Archives Inc. -- seek almost $9.6 million in unpaid debts from Rogers. The lawsuit lists six loans to Rogers that the plaintiffs claim have not been repaid.

Jan. 14, 2015, William Hogan v. John M. Rogers et al: Hogan, a former partner of Rogers, claimed Rogers committed fraud in a "Ponzi Scheme type setup." Hogan said he helped fund the purchase of several memorabilia collections. In one case, Hogan said he paid for half interest in Rogers' purchase of the Billy Sims 1978 Heisman Trophy, but he believed that the trophy was never acquired. Hogan claims Rogers owes him about $12 million.

Jan. 30, 2015, George Demos et al v. John Rogers et al: George and Steve Demos, residents of Kenosha, Wis., sold a 1924 Babe Ruth bat to Rogers for $3 million and a 50 percent ownership in the Minneapolis Star Tribune photo archive, which Rogers said was appraised at $16 million, as well as ownership stakes in other newspaper archives. The payments haven't been made on the purchase, and the Demoses claim Rogers owes them more than $5 million.

Business on 02/07/2015

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