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Escobar Inc

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Escobar Inc
Company typePrivate
IndustryConglomerate
FoundedMay 1, 1984; 40 years ago (1984-05-01) in Medellín, Colombia
Founders
Headquarters
Medellín
,
Colombia
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
ProductsDiversified investments, Restaurants, Apparel, Toys, Media, Consumer products, Internet, Real estate
Websiteescobarinc.com

Escobar Inc is a Colombian multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Medellín, Colombia. It was established on May 1, 1984[1][2] by Pablo Escobar, a day after the assassination of the Colombian Minister of Justice Rodrigo Lara Bonilla[3][4] as a means of funneling large sums of cash outside of Colombia with the help of his brother Roberto de Jesús Escobar Gaviria. The company is known for its control and leadership by Roberto de Jesús Escobar Gaviria, who serves as Founder,[5] and Olof K. Gustafsson, the company's chief executive.[6]

History

Originally established on May 1, 1984[7][8] by Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria, the day after Colombian Minister of Justice Rodrigo Lara Bonilla's assassination,[9][10] the company was used as a means of funneling large sums of cash outside of Colombia with the help of his brother Roberto de Jesús Escobar Gaviria. It aided the money laundering of over $420 million in profits made by Pablo Escobar per week.[11] The company and its activities were stopped when Roberto Escobar surrendered to authorities on October 8, 1992.[12]

2014 reincorporation

The company was reincorporated by Roberto Escobar, Pablo Escobar's older brother, in 2014 in Medellín, Colombia[13] with CEO Olof K. Gustafsson in an effort to acquire and maintain control of the Pablo Escobar brand and the Escobar family brand. The company successfully registered successor-in-interest rights for his brother in California, United States.[14] The company also successfully registered and obtained ten trademarks with the USPTO.[15]

Conflict with Netflix

On July 1, 2016, Escobar Inc sent a letter to Netflix, Inc. regarding the series Narcos demanding $1 billion in payment for unauthorized usage of content.[16] On September 11, 2017, Carlos Muñoz Portal, a location scout from Netflix, was found assassinated in his car in Mexico.[17] Roberto Escobar denied any involvement and offered to provide hitmen as security for Netflix.[18] Escobar Inc, on November 6, 2017, abandoned the dispute.[19][20]

Donald J. Trump

On April 11, 2016, prior to the 2016 United States presidential election, it was reported by The Washington Post, with the help of Zignal Labs that Escobar Inc Olof K. Gustafsson had helped Republican candidate Donald J. Trump obtain social media followers[21] resulting in Trump's social media presence spiking. On January 8, 2019, Gustafsson launched a $50 million GoFundMe fundraiser under his name on behalf of Escobar Inc in an effort to impeach President Trump.[22] After raising $10 million in 10 hours, the page was removed.[23]

Elon Musk and The Boring Company

In July 2019, Escobar Inc started selling a propane torch made to look like a flamethrower and accused CEO of The Boring Company Elon Musk of intellectual property theft, alleging that The Boring Company's promotional Not-a-Flamethrower is based on a design that Roberto Escobar discussed in 2017 with an engineer associated with Musk.[24] Via media, Escobar Inc publicly offered Musk a settlement of $100 million[25] in cash or Tesla shares, or otherwise they would use the legal system to take over Tesla.[26]

PabloEscobar.com

On August 28, 2019, Escobar Inc filed a UDRP complaint regarding cybersquatting of the domain PabloEscobar.com with the then-National Arbitration Forum.[27] The prior owner demanded $3 million for the domain name[28] and on October 7, 2019, the case was ruled in the favor of Escobar Inc with the domain name ordered to be transferred to the company.[29]

Smartphones

On December 2, 2019, Escobar Inc released its Escobar Fold 1 smartphone featuring a flexible screen,[30] a rebadged Royole Flexpai.[31] Two months later, on February 10, 2020, the Escobar Fold 2 was released, which is reportedly a Galaxy Fold with poorly-added Escobar branding.[32][33]

Daniel Reitberg

On April 24, 2020 Escobar Inc filed a lawsuit against its former Chief Operating Officer Daniel Reitberg for siphoning money, changing the password to the company's Youtube account, holding it ransom as a means to extort significant sums of money from the company[34]. The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada and the Presiding Judge of the case is Richard Franklin Boulware II[35].

References

  1. ^ "Escobar Inc - History". Escobar Inc. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
  2. ^ Giangrande, Antonio (December 22, 2018). La Mafia in Italia - Volume 200 of L’Italia del Trucco, l’Italia che siamo (in Italian). Italy. p. 585. ISBN 9781792154652.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^ "El Asesinato de Rodrigo Lara Bonilla" [The Assassination of Rodrigo Lara Bonilla]. Semana (in Spanish). August 7, 1987. ISSN 0124-5473. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2010.
  4. ^ Associated Press (May 1, 1984). "Justice Minister slain in Bogota". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 24, 2015. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  5. ^ Anderson, Jon Lee (February 26, 2018). "The Afterlife of Pablo Escobar". The New Yorker. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  6. ^ Gonzales, Sandra (October 22, 2017). "Killing of 'Narcos' scout resurfaces Escobar trademark feud". CNN. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  7. ^ "Escobar Inc - History". Escobar Inc. Retrieved August 21, 2019.
  8. ^ Giangrande, Antonio (December 22, 2018). La Mafia in Italia - Volume 200 of L’Italia del Trucco, l’Italia che siamo (in Italian). Italy. p. 585. ISBN 9781792154652.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  9. ^ "El Asesinato de Rodrigo Lara Bonilla" [The Assassination of Rodrigo Lara Bonilla]. Semana (in Spanish). August 7, 1987. ISSN 0124-5473. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2010.
  10. ^ Associated Press (May 1, 1984). "Justice Minister slain in Bogota". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 24, 2015. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  11. ^ Macias, Amanda (December 29, 2017). "10 facts reveal the absurdity of Pablo Escobar's wealth". Independent. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  12. ^ Fulleda, Federico (October 8, 1992). "Colombian drug cartel leaders surrender". UPI. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  13. ^ Dowling, David (December 22, 2018). Immersive Longform Storytelling: Media, Technology, Audience. Routledge. ISBN 9780429948466.
  14. ^ "California Business Portal: Successor-In-Interest". April 28, 2015. Archived from the original on December 8, 2016. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  15. ^ "Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS)". August 22, 2019. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  16. ^ Ingram, Matthew (July 7, 2016). "Real-Life Drug Kingpin Wants Netflix to Pay Him $1 Billion for 'Narcos'". Fortune Magazine. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  17. ^ Lotito, Thomas (September 17, 2017). "'Narcos' Location Scout Found Dead in Mexico". New York Times. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  18. ^ Scott, Katie (September 19, 2017). "Pablo Escobar's brother says 'Narcos' should 'provide hit men' for crew after location scout killed". Global News. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  19. ^ "Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS)". August 22, 2019. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  20. ^ Nattrass, JJ (January 15, 2018). "Pablo Escobar's brother abandons his battle with Netflix over Narcos". Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  21. ^ James Hohmann (April 11, 2016). "The Daily 202: Is Trump a choke artist? Continuing unforced errors bode poorly for his hopes in a contested Republican convention". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 26, 2019.
  22. ^ Scott, Katie (January 8, 2019). "Pablo Escobar's brother launched $50M GoFundMe to impeach Donald Trump". Global News. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  23. ^ Martinez, Jose (January 11, 2019). "Pablo Escobar's Brother Reportedly Raised $10 Million for His Impeach Trump GoFundMe Page". Complex. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  24. ^ Villasanta, Arthur (July 17, 2019). "Pablo Escobar's Brother Wants $100M Tesla Shares, Claims Musk Stole Flamethrower Design". International Business Times. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  25. ^ Price, Emily (July 11, 2019). "Pablo Escobar's brother pours fuel on the flamethrower feud with Elon Musk". Digital Trends. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  26. ^ Greene, Tristan (July 11, 2019). "Pablo Escobar's brother escalates flamethrower feud with Elon Musk, threatens Tesla takeover". The Next Web. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  27. ^ Mihov, Dimitar (October 10, 2019). "Pablo Escobar's brother wins $3M website lawsuit, vows to take down Elon Musk and Apple". The Next Web. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  28. ^ Khanna, Monit (October 11, 2019). "Pablo Escobar's Brother Threatens Apple, Accuses Elon Musk Of Stealing Flamethrower Idea". India Times. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  29. ^ "PabloEscobar.com, la revancha digital del capo colombiano". Forbes. October 10, 2019. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  30. ^ "Pablo Escobar's Brother Unveils Folding Smartphone with Help of Hot Models". TMZ. December 2, 2019. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  31. ^ Hughes, Matthew. "Escobar Fold 1 snort all it's cracked up to be: Readers finger similarity to slated Chinese mobe". The Register. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  32. ^ Smith, Chris (March 12, 2020). "The $399 Escobar Fold is actually a Samsung Galaxy Fold with a sticker". BGR. Retrieved March 17, 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  33. ^ Brownlee, Marques (March 10, 2020). "The Truth About the Escobar Folding Phones!". YouTube. Retrieved March 17, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  34. ^ "Pablo Escobar's Family Co. Sues Former Exec Over Money, Passwords". TMZ. April 24, 2020. Retrieved April 25, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  35. ^ "Escobar Inc. v. Reitberg". Justia. April 24, 2020. Retrieved April 25, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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