Celebrity Justice
Firm Claims Employee Screwed Them at Sundance

TMZ has learned that a big New York PR shop hired P. Diddy's former chief of staff to be their marketing point man in Sundance -- only to see the guy totally ditch them on the first day of the festival!
5W/Sunndance
In a lawsuit filed in New York, 5W Public Relations alleges that Akil Rucker took the post of Director of Marketing -- and a $250,000 budget -- to get the party started for several of the firm's clients at the Sundance Film Festival.

He was supposed to "attract and book corporate sponsors and celebrities" to head to Sundance- on their dime. 5W says after eight months of prep, Rucker abruptly bailed on the job the very day that Sundance started, without any warning, and after he'd already been given checks to give to vendors! As a result, 5W had to scramble to get their Sundance on -- though they still managed to get the Hiltons, Mary-Kate Olsen, and other celebs to come to their parties.

"Akil Rucker has tremendously damaged 5W Public Relations and will be held responsible. We can't comment any further on legal matters," said Ronn Torossian, CEO of 5W Public Relations. Akil Rucker wasn't immediately available for comment.

Tags: 5W Public Relations, 5wPublicRelations, Akil Rucker, AkilRucker

Reader Comments

(Page 1 of 2) | 1 | 2 | Most Recent | Next 15 Comments

1. Ronn is an angry, litigious and dangerous man. Also just a jerk.

Posted at 11:16AM on Mar 10th 2008 by Ann

2. Gillian Sheldon and Katie Daryl are hot... FIRST!

Posted at 11:17AM on Mar 10th 2008 by John

3. Who gives a rats ass?

Posted at 11:21AM on Mar 10th 2008 by Deliman in the 206

4. P. Diddys PR man---that was their first mistake...their second was getting anyone with a first name like this clowns to be in charge of money without supervision.

Serves them all right...

Posted at 11:25AM on Mar 10th 2008 by Jack Offe

5. Hey Jack Off,
you sound really dumb and ignorant. What does his name have to do with anything? And just a reminder, P Diddy is probably more of a business than a business man and anyone who was ranked highly in his organization is probably so much more qualified than your backwards ass could dream of. Hopefully you realize that you are not very bright and refrain from making any more comments. Better to stay quite and let people think your stupid than to speak and confirm their beliefs.

Posted at 11:41AM on Mar 10th 2008 by the don

6. omg you are ignorant Jack off

Posted at 1:06PM on Mar 10th 2008 by curlylocks6879

7. What in the hell does a name have to do with anything? Do us all a favor crawl back in your hole and turn on 'hee haw' or better yet save your comments for your like minded, ignorant friends at the clan rally

Posted at 1:10PM on Mar 10th 2008 by curlylocks6879

8. This guy stole something---he promised to deliver and did not. That is theft, whether by money, commitment, time, people or things. It was a dirty thing to do at the last minute. he should never work in that field again. Oh maybe he did it because its mainly white people at Sundance and he has no feeling for them but if it was a hip hop thing he wo9uldnt do it, cause he'd probably get shot if he didnt. Stupid White people, getting taken by this guy. let the courts determine his guilt and the degree to which he should pay both in civil and criminal.

Posted at 1:29PM on Mar 10th 2008 by Color blind to Theft

9. To the don(ald) : Who was the General who said, " There are men in the Ranks, who will STAY in the Ranks, SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY HAVEN'T THE ABILITY TO GET THINGS DONE. " This applys here, doesn't it ? Thought so, you Pompous windbag.

Posted at 8:33PM on Mar 10th 2008 by Bill O

10. Hey you- the don, How could the guy be "highly qualified " because he worked for Sean Combs, when he did not deliver on the task at hand at SUNDANCE. You are really a certified NUT ! Just like everyone says !

Posted at 8:37PM on Mar 10th 2008 by Martha

11. I like how he is being sued for quitting. An at will employee can quit at anytime, just like they can be fired at anytime. Seeing how he treats his employees, I am not that surprised: http://gawker.com/366549/ronn

Posted at 4:00PM on Mar 11th 2008 by Seriously?

12. How could you NOT QUIT with all the bs and mistreatment that goes on in that company??? This is not the first time this guy has sued an employee for leaving his firm. I find the fact that he published this information disgraceful. I would hire this guy just for dealing with Ronn Torossian. Good for him for getting out while he could.

Posted at 2:41PM on Mar 12th 2008 by notafan

13. Who cares

Posted at 1:24PM on Mar 13th 2008 by geneven

14. i've dealt w/ both the plantiff & defendant for different projects in the past and have found mr. torassian a complete idiot, while mr. rucker has been nothing but professional, going beyond what he's expected in order to deliver amazing results. if anyone were to track the histories of both parties it's apparent who is accustomed to treating their people like crap (ronn) and who works their ass off to produce (akil). i also call think it's pretty low that tmz would publish this because of their relationship to ronn simply to try & run mr. rucker's name through the mud. a note to jack-off, why would you comment on the name akil while seemingly agreeing that it makes sense to add a second "N" to a name like Ron? stupid.

Posted at 7:44PM on Apr 2nd 2008 by notsurprised

15. Ronn Torossian is a complete idiot. He pretends that he is much more than he actually is. His firm represents all the flashy titles he says, Evian, McDonlads, Bad Boy etc, I just sourced how many PR companies represent Evian, over 32, and over 8 represent bad Boy and over 12 represent Mc Donalds in America alon. Ron Torossian is a broke, full of crap cheap pr man that is abusive to everyone around him. He is just a hype and nothing more than a night club promoter.

Posted at 9:12AM on Apr 9th 2008 by 6wpr

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