Denial of Royalties, Attempted Return, and Ouster
73.
It soon became clear to Mr. Benzies that the “sabbatical” was actually an expulsion – the commencement of Defendants’ campaign to oust Mr. Benzies. By September 2014, Sam Houser had ceased all communications with Mr. Benzies. Mr. Benzies’ company Blackberry was remotely disabled without notice and his company email account was locked, over Mr. Benzies’ objections. Mr. Benzies requested access to the account during the sabbatical, which was wholly rejected.
74.
During Mr. Benzies’ sabbatical, Sam Houser terminated or forced-out some of Mr. Benzies’ key support staff. Mr. Benzies was not consulted about those decisions or any other business decisions during his sabbatical.
75.
During the sabbatical, Mr. Benzies had infrequent contact with Rockstar through Ms. Kolbe. He was not allowed to speak with any other colleagues at Rockstar, and was not allowed access to any data. Long-time colleague Andy Semple refused to meet with him. Mr. Benzies was now completely cut-off, including from colleagues he had worked with for up to twenty years.
76.
While Mr. Benzies was on his sabbatical and through the date of this Complaint, Sam Houser and Dan Houser (through the “Allocation Committee” comprised of the Housers, and one Take-Two representative) awarded themselves at least $93,000,000 in profit sharing distributions derived from the exploitation of GTA 5, and potentially as much as $523,000,000. During that period, Sam Houser awarded Mr. Benzies no shared profits, a violation of the 2009 Royalty Plan, his own fiduciary duty to Mr. Benzies, and the long-standing actual practice of treating the Rockstar Principals identically with respect to royalties. Mr. Benzies also failed to receive quarterly reports describing the “royalty pool” (as was his contractual right, and Take-Two’s contractual obligation, under the 2009 Royalty Plan), until March 2015. He received no notice that any Plan profit shares were distributed to his fellow Rockstar Principals.
