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Alvin Valley Lawsuit Over Palm Beach Couple’s Investment Drags On
Rosemary Feitelberg
5 min read
More than six months after a Palm Beach, Fla., couple filed a lawsuit against the designer Alvin Valley for allegedly duping them out of a $640,000 investment, the designer still has not been served court papers.
In a complaint that was filed in the 15th Judicial Circuit Court in Palm Beach County, Johnna and Lauro Pomasan alleged that Valley “induced” them to lend approximately $640,000 through a series of convertible promissory notes to Alvin Valley Ltd. between May and November 2023. The Palm Beach-based AVL is owned and operated by Valley.
Semi-retired from the electronics manufacturing company that she co-owns with her husband, Johnna Pomasan met Valley while shopping in his Palm Beach store. Earlier this year, the designer described his partnership with her as “a friendship that turned into a business relationship” in an interview with Dan’s Papers.
The plaintiffs, who had never invested in a fashion company before, claim that Valley and AVL “had no intention of honoring the convertible promissory notes,” according to the complaint. The couple is also seeking an additional $110,000 for additional money that was advanced, default interest for the loss of the money and as compensation for products that Johnna Pomasan allegedly never received, according to their attorney John Agnetti of Hoffman, Larin & Agnetti.
“It is our position that he is purposefully evading service. He is constantly not answering the door. He is traveling to various locations. We’ve had processors in New York try to serve him. We’re diligently trying to get him served,” Agnetti said.
An Alvin Valley look that was once featured in the Palm Beach atelier.
In an email Thursday, Valley acknowledged a media request and deferred comment to his attorney Barry Postman, and a company spokesperson Nick D’Annunzio. The designer, who also serves as chief executive officer of his company, said he was in Paris.
Referencing a recent article in The New York Post about the dispute, in which an unidentified source “close to the designer” claimed that Valley was not evading being served “by any means,” Agnetti said, “If he’s not evading, all he has to do is contact my office to tell me where he’d like to receive the papers.”
A processor has been to Valley’s atelier on Worth Avenue on “multiple occasions,” according to Agnetti, who said, “it was not operating over the summer to my understanding.”
Alvin Valley had a pop-up at the Ritz-Carlton South Beach at one point.
Valley was in the Hamptons for “multiple months and he travels a lot,” according to D’Annunzio. “He’s very easy to track down. He continually shares on his Instagram where he is at. His client[s] seems to find him. It’s really unfortunate that they are creating something that is not true.”
Should a processor not be able to serve Valley, there is a process in Florida under the substituted service statute that you can obtain service, if someone is purposefully evading service, Agnetti said.
The lawsuit alleged that Valley falsely stated to the Pomasans that there was value in the “convertible” nature of the notes, “when in fact there was no value in the convertible nature of the notes since AVL’s common stock was of limited value and because there was no likelihood of a ‘qualified financing’ event as had been described in the promissory notes.”
In a statement issued Thursday, Postman said the allegations are “false” and that Valley will be “fully vindicated in a court of law.” He described the Pomasans as customers, “who liked the brand so much that on their own initiative they decided to invest in the business. After pledging significant amounts of money to help the thriving business continue to grow, a minor dispute arose between Ms. Pomasan and the other business partners of the company about its vision on expansion. As opposed to working this dispute out as business partners generally do — Ms. Pomasan and her husband decided to file a lawsuit,” Postman said.
A look by Alvin Valley.
Like many designers, Valley’s business has ebbed and flowed over the years. In January, the designer revealed plans to venture into denim, which Postman said is expected to have more than $10 million in sales next year. He described the company as “a thriving fashion brand that will celebrate its 30th anniversary next year.”
After dropping out of the University of Miami, Valley opened his first atelier and shop in Coconut Grove in 1995. He chose a location near a few all-girls private schools, having predicted that many students would shop in his store instead of eat at lunch time. Valley later relocated to New York to attract a wider audience.
Earlier on in his career, the sportswear designer created a loyal following for the flattering fit of his silhouettes especially pants. After celebrity fans of his brand — Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Lopez, Halle Berry and Madonna — helped to raise awareness of the label and broaden distribution to 400 doors, Valley sold a 50 percent stake in his company to The Moret Group in 2006. That half-stake of about $23 million was bought from Valley’s former business partner Richard Rosenthal.
After the recession took hold and the business faltered, Valley bought the company back to reposition it as a direct-to-consumer brand and launched an e-commerce business Alvin Valley Direct. In 2013, he had secured $4 million in financing, which had been led by Forerunner Ventures. By 2015, Valley had turned away from direct-to-consumer e-commerce in favor of trunk shows and pop-up shops in Palm Beach, Park City, Utah, and Los Angeles.
In January 2021, he opened a small atelier on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, Fla., to sell made-to-measure items and accessories.
