My name is Brian Bowers and I have been a part of Sunfood since 2002. With nearly 10 years at the company I believe I am the most qualified person in the world to address some recent internet rumors about Sunfood, David Wolfe and Monsanto. I am writing this to defend the honor of dedicated, hard working people who have been hurt by misinformation, to set the record straight and to get out the truth about our company.
Sunfood is not involved with Monsanto in any way, it never has been and never will be. Sunfood is anti-GMO and anti-pesticide. Sunfood has never had money that came from Monsanto. No Monsanto lawyers, employees or agents have ever supported, represented or been involved with Sunfood in any way shape or form. In 2006 David Wolfe brought Doug Harbison into Sunfood to help restructure the company and buy out David’s original partner in the business. Doug’s father had worked for Monsanto more than 20 years prior to Doug’s involvement and David was fully aware of this when he brought Doug into Sunfood. Doug’s original role was as David’s business coach and they appeared to be friends. Doug never worked for Monsanto and no “Monsanto agents” were ever at Sunfood. Doug was never more than a minority share holder in the company and has never been “the owner” of Sunfood. Doug played a limited role in the operations of the company and always relied on our management team of raw food veterans (which included me) to make decisions regarding products. Doug Harbison is no longer with Sunfood and we wish him well in his future endeavors. Monsanto is a publicly traded company. If they owned Sunfood, had in investment in Sunfood or had any influence whatsoever, it would be public record.
Sunfood was not using David Wolfe’s name without permission. After his original partner (who managed the business) left David insisted the company be called “David Wolfe’s Sunfood Nutrition”. Every Sunfood product, logo, banner, etc. eventually included this name. When David signed an agreement and voluntarily left the company in mid 2009 he was well aware that we had thousands of these labels on hand, which is why the agreement allowed Sunfood to use up the old labels which bore his name. We quickly moved to rebrand the company as just “Sunfood”. Both David and his attorney were aware of exactly how many labels we had left, which products they were on and when we expected to use them up. They were nearly all gone when David made his first accusation that we were using his name without his permission (we have an agreement to the contrary). Later David took a photo of some products at a health food store and posted them on the internet as supposed proof that we were using his name illegally. Those products were sold to that store when we had full, written, legal permission from David to do so. From the moment David left we began removing his name from hundreds of labels, logos and from Sunfood.com. There was never a plan or intention to get sales using his name. It was only a mutually agreed upon effort to reduce waste and not send perfectly good labels, products and packaging to a landfill.
How did these rumors start? These rumors were started on David’s Facebook page. Despite what appears to be efforts on David’s part to damage the company, Sunfood has continued to thrive and grow. What could be more damaging than suggesting that an organic food company has a secret association with Monsanto? I believe it is about the worst thing someone could say. In my opinion these statements were designed to drive customers away from Sunfood.
Since the first posts appeared we have tried to communicate cordially with David and negotiate settlement in good faith with no success. David has since filed a lawsuit against us, in it he claims he was coerced into signing his exit agreement, and also makes other claims that I believe are not accurate. After many attempts to resolve the issue we have decided to file a counter suit for slander against David based on his original Facebook posts that have since spread to many places on the internet.
The rumors have morphed from Sunfood being involved with Monsanto to Sunfood being owned by Monsanto and selling GMO foods. In reality, all of our foods are non-GMO, all raw and all organic. We can prove it with our organic certifications. I hope that anyone reading this would be more careful about their role in spreading gossip and mis-truths. I saw many well intentioned people copying and pasting messages around the web, completely unaware that they were spreading rumors.
This situation has hurt more than just Doug, it has hurt everyone that worked at Sunfood. These are good-hearted people who are working toward the same goal, to spread the benefits of healthy eating to an ailing world. Despite all the rumors we continue to grow and thrive and provide the best foods in the industry. I’m sure we lost some customers over this. Why didn’t we respond sooner? We believed we could work things out with David and that this would not be necessary. However because David will not retract his statements I feel forced to respond to defend our dignity and integrity.
Sunfood is run by a dedicated team of passionate raw food enthusiasts. We look forward to continuing to share the benefits of including introducing more raw foods, superfoods and fresh foods in one’s diet. Our raw food team members (the same ones that have been here for many years) continue to scour the planet for the best products and run a green business. Our company is well run, is on a more solid financial foundation than it has ever been and is growing faster than it has ever grown. For more information about Sunfood go to http://www.sunfood.com/pages/about-sunfood
I'm not knowledgeable enough to know who to believe, however, I thought it "odd" when David Wolfe asked something like "What should I do?" on Facebook--it sounded like "propaganda" on his part.
It'll be interesting to hear how this all works out in court --while the lawyers make money on the whole thing.....Sigh.
The following is the page David Avocado Wolfe posted on Facebook and which was taken down due to Sunfood and Brian Bowers' complaining:
July 15, 2011
Dear Friends, Family, Fans, and all interested parties. You wanted more details about my conflict with Sunfood, here is more for you to review. My former company Nature's First Law (now known as Sunfood) has been fraudulently using my name and intellectual property on their products and websites amongst many other crimes. Sunfood (Sunfraud) has attempted to respond to the statements I have made exposing them on the Internet. They have tried to be clever by posting these responses around the Internet on various websites.
Here is my update on the current situation with Sunfood using my name illegally on their products as well as my response to Sunfood Executive’s Brian Bowers Internet Posts about Sunfood’s assocation with Monsanto. Below you will find statements by Sunfood Exec Bowers and then my response to each.
Sincerely,
David Wolfe
David Wolfe
The Best Day Ever Longevity Membership
Bowers: My name is Brian Bowers and I have been a part of Sunfood since 2002. With nearly 10 years at the company I believe I am the most qualified person in the world to address some recent internet rumors about Sunfood, David Wolfe and Monsanto. I am writing this to defend the honor of dedicated, hard working people who have been hurt by misinformation, to set the record straight and to get out the truth about our company.
Wolfe: These “dedicated hard working people” most of whom I hired have confided to me personally, that they believe that Brian Bowers is a tyrant with his barking orders and impersonal connection to these “dedicated hard working people.” They have also told me they believe I was defrauded out of the company.
Bowers: Sunfood is not involved with Monsanto in any way, it never has been and never will be. Sunfood is anti-GMO and anti-pesticide. Sunfood has never had money that came from Monsanto. No Monsanto lawyers, employees or agents have ever supported, represented or been involved with Sunfood in any way shape or form. In 2006 David Wolfe brought Doug Harbison into Sunfood to help restructure the company and buy out David’s original partner in the business. Doug’s father had worked for Monsanto more than 20 years prior to Doug’s involvement and David was fully aware of this when he brought Doug into Sunfood. Doug’s original role was as David’s business coach and they appeared to be friends. Doug never worked for Monsanto and no “Monsanto agents” were ever at Sunfood. Doug was never more than a minority share holder in the company and has never been “the owner” of Sunfood. Doug played a limited role in the operations of the company and always relied on our management team of raw food veterans (which included me) to make decisions regarding products. Doug Harbison is no longer with Sunfood and we wish him well in his future endeavors. Monsanto is a publicly traded company. If they owned Sunfood, had in investment in Sunfood or had any influence whatsoever, it would be public record.
Wolfe: Brian Bowers has stated a categorical lie that actually applies to him. This is the lie: “In 2006 David Wolfe brought Doug Harbison into Sunfood to help restructure the company and buy out David’s original partner in the business. Doug’s father had worked for Monsanto more than 20 years prior to Doug’s involvement and David was fully aware of this when he brought Doug into Sunfood.” Brian knows that I didn’t know Doug Harbison had any relationship to Monsanto when he came into the company. Bowers was there with me the day we found out Doug’s shocking family association with Monsanto corporation. However, Bowers was fully aware when he sided with Harbison of the Monsanto connection and yet threw me under the bus in favor of Harbison.
Bowers has been pushed into making the statements he is making to “to set the record straight and to get out the truth about our company” by Robert DeuPree, one of the owners of Sunfood who currently owns the company (disguised as a bunch of dummy companies) with Doug Harbison and Chad Robley. In various e-mails to me personally, Robert DeuPree has repeatedly threatened to slander me if I do not do what he wants me to do. I have the e-mails saved and he will not be able to deny this. I will post these e-mails online for all to see, if his slander continues.
My team has made it very clear to Bowers and DeuPree that if they sue me for telling the Monsanto tale and the fraud that was perpetrated against me by Bowers, Harbison, Robley, and DeuPree they will be prosecuted for filing a malicious and frivolous lawsuit. It is clear that Sunfood is digging themselves into a deeper legal hole and Bowers is desperate to save the dying company.
Bowers is probably unaware that Dan Kreher and Mike Thaman, who were involved in manipulating me out of the company and in helping to organize funding for Sunfood have ties to military defense contractors, pharmaceutical companies, the Bush family and to Monsanto. Consider the following:
Daniel E. Kreher
Dan Kreher has served as a Managing Director of Warson Capital Partners and previously Frontenac Financial Group, Inc. since joining the Firm in 2008. Drawing on his background in the defense and distribution sectors, Dan’s focus has been defense contractors and distributors of products to both business and consumer segments of the market.
Prior to joining Warson Capital Partners, Dan served as Senior Vice President with Engineered Support Systems, a $1.1 billion publicly-held defense contractor based in St. Louis, where he directed mergers and acquisitions activities and managed investor relations for this high-growth public company. At Engineered Support, Dan completed the successful acquisition of nine separate privately-owned businesses with aggregate annual revenues of $650 million representing an aggregate transaction value approaching $500 million. In his investor relations role, Dan spearheaded significant growth in the company’s institutional shareholder base and sell-side analyst coverage contributing to sustained advancement in share price from its previous micro-cap classification to a $1.8 billion market cap upon its eventual sale to a competitor in 2006.
Prior to Engineered Support, Dan served as Vice President of Finance & Administration with D&K Healthcare Resources, a publicly-traded pharmaceutical distributor serving the central United States. At D&K, Dan was responsible for all aspects of financial management and reporting, financing, and treasury management during a period of rapid growth in revenues and shareholder value.
Dan is a certified public accountant and began his career in practice for nine years with PriceWaterhouseCoopers in St. Louis where he served the diversified business needs of small to mid-sized privately-owned and publicly-traded companies as part of the Firm’s Middle Market Services Group. Dan received his Bachelor of Science in Accounting from St. Louis University.
Dan Kreher, vice president of industrial relations for ESSI, said Bush was one of several people added to the company board about five years ago, and that he was selected because he had "a long history of involvement in the local business community. We've known him for a long time."
"Having a Bush doesn't hurt," said Kreher, who acknowledged that the company was routinely engagedin Washington lobbying efforts. But, he said, Democrats, including a party fundraiser, also serve on the panel.
"It certainly doesn't hurt to have people who know who to talk to," Kreher said, adding that the president's uncle played no role in winning the firm's government contracts.
Mike Thaman
Michael E. Thaman is the managing director and CEO of the same company as Dan Kreher, he has been involved with a certain E. Douglas Harbison of Monsanto, a Earle H. Harbison, Jr. (co-owner of Sunfood), and also William HT Bush in “community projects.”
**
Bowers has not done his homework and does not know who he is working for. Bowers will do ANYTHING to save his job/salary. He will lie, backstab, and he even sided with Doug Harbison (son of Monsanto) against me while I was out on the road working as hard as any human could work for the company. Brian Bowers is the Benedict Arnold of the situation. He is a traitor who I hired years ago and nourished and supported with an amazing job only to be terribly backstabbed.
Bowers: Sunfood was not using David Wolfe’s name without permission. After his original partner (who managed the business) left David insisted the company be called “David Wolfe’s Sunfood Nutrition”. Every Sunfood product, logo, banner, etc. eventually included this name. When David signed an agreement and voluntarily left the company in mid 2009 he was well aware that we had thousands of these labels on hand, which is why the agreement allowed Sunfood to use up the old labels which bore his name. We quickly moved to rebrand the company as just “Sunfood”. Both David and his attorney were aware of exactly how many labels we had left, which products they were on and when we expected to use them up. They were nearly all gone when David made his first accusation that we were using his name without his permission (we have an agreement to the contrary). Later David took a photo of some products at a health food store and posted them on the internet as supposed proof that we were using his name illegally. Those products were sold to that store when we had full, written, legal permission from David to do so. From the moment David left we began removing his name from hundreds of labels, logos and from Sunfood.com. There was never a plan or intention to get sales using his name. It was only a mutually agreed upon effort to reduce waste and not send perfectly good labels, products and packaging to a landfill.
Wolfe: I didn’t “voluntarily” leave Sunfood. I was threatened, lied to, abused and forced into departure from the company by the collective actions of Bowers, Harbison and Robley and then eventually DeuPree. Inevitably, I became aware of the fraud and officially, legally and repeatedly requested that Sunfood stop using my name. They cheated, lied, and deceived me consistently on this issue and have at this moment STILL NOT STOPPED USING MY NAME on their products. I was in Calgary, Alberta, Canada (May 8, 2011), Lexington, South Carolina (May 27, 2011), New York City (June 14, 2011) shopping at various healthfood stores and continued to see my name on Sunfood products — I do not endorse and have nothing to do with these products. I took more pictures as proof.
Bowers’ attempt to spin Sunfood’s illegal use of my name by trying to state that Sunfood is acting in everyone’s best interest by being “green” and saving “perfectly good labels, products and packaging” from landfills is proof positive of the way they have consistently justified their illegal use of my name.
And AGAIN…they still have not stopped illegally using my name on several of their products and certain websites they control as well as illegally using certain aspects of my intellectual property for profit. Also, they continue to use my name in Internet marketing campaigns in order to continue associating me with their company.
Certainly, continuing to use my name on product labels online could have been changed instantly without any damage to the environment, yet this too, was not done. Hmmmmm.
Bowers: How did these rumors start? These rumors were started on David’s Facebook page. Despite what appears to be efforts on David’s part to damage the company, Sunfood has continued to thrive and grow. What could be more damaging than suggesting that an organic food company has a secret association with Monsanto? I believe it is about the worst thing someone could say. In my opinion these statements were designed to drive customers away from Sunfood.
Wolfe: These are not rumors, but facts that anyone can validate for themselves. Sunfood is being sued over these facts and is going to lose for clearly and repeatedly lying and deceiving me as it concerns the illegal use of my name and other issues. Doug Harbison is a current owner of Sunfood Corporation. His family’s association with Monsanto is something anyone can validate by a quick Internet search.
Bowers himself will not deny that he sided with Doug Harbison to drive me out of the company that I believe tells you much about Bowers.
Bowers: Since the first posts appeared we have tried to communicate cordially with David and negotiate settlement in good faith with no success. David has since filed a lawsuit against us, in it he claims he was coerced into signing his exit agreement, and also makes other claims that I believe are not accurate. After many attempts to resolve the issue we have decided to file a counter suit for slander against David based on his original Facebook posts that have since spread to many places on the internet.
The rumors have morphed from Sunfood being involved with Monsanto to Sunfood being owned by Monsanto and selling GMO foods. In reality, all of our foods are non-GMO, all raw and all organic. We can prove it with our organic certifications. I hope that anyone reading this would be more careful about their role in spreading gossip and mis-truths. I saw many well intentioned people copying and pasting messages around the web, completely unaware that they were spreading rumors.
Wolfe: There is nothing “cordial” about the way Sunfood has treated me. The treatment I have received from the owners of Sunfood has been a non-stop barrage of trickery, fraud, deception and threats.
I am protected by the letter of the law in everything I have said about Sunfood.
Bowers: This situation has hurt more than just Doug, it has hurt everyone that worked at Sunfood. These are good-hearted people who are working toward the same goal, to spread the benefits of healthy eating to an ailing world. Despite all the rumors we continue to grow and thrive and provide the best foods in the industry. I’m sure we lost some customers over this. Why didn’t we respond sooner? We believed we could work things out with David and that this would not be necessary. However because David will not retract his statements I feel forced to respond to defend our dignity and integrity.
Wolfe: Sunfood is interested in making money by using my name illegally. That much is clear by their actions. The reason Sunfood didn’t respond sooner is because they were too busy lying about stopping the use of my name on their products and websites. Sunfood exists in it current form based on fraud, and I am entitled to investigate that fraud and litigate against that fraud which I am doing now. If that “hurts” Doug Harbison and Bowers who have repeatedly tricked, lied to and deceived me then so be it.
Bowers: Sunfood is run by a dedicated team of passionate raw food enthusiasts. We look forward to continuing to share the benefits of including introducing more raw foods, superfoods and fresh foods in one’s diet. Our raw food team members (the same ones that have been here for many years) continue to scour the planet for the best products and run a green business. Our company is well run, is on a more solid financial foundation than it has ever been and is growing faster than it has ever grown.
Wolfe: Sunfood’s traffic is down. The company is in trouble. Otherwise, why would Bowers have even posted the above statements all over the Interent? I have caught them numerous times engaged in fraudulent behavior and deception. Now that Bowers has been named in a lawsuit to investigate this fraud he is trying to put the “dedicated team of passionate raw food enthusiasts” (most of whom I hired when I was there) in between himself and the fraud he has been involved in.
By the way, David Avocado Wolfe HEARTILY recommends Longevity Warehouse as having top-quality products.
Avocado would REALLY appreciate it if as many people as possible would re-post this all over the Internet – THANK YOU!
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