It seemed like a classic American success story. An unknown inventor with a great name — Storm Sondors — and a mysterious past raises millions of dollars overnight to fund his dream: an affordable electric bicycle for the masses.



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(Indiegogo)

When the Storm Sondors eBike campaign finally closed on April 2, it was the second most successful in Indiegogo history, raising nearly $5.3 million from more than 12,000 funders, most of whom paid between $500 and $750 in the hopes of receiving a low-cost electric bicycle.



But the Storm Sondors saga has taken more twists and turns than a dime-store novel.

Crowdfund Insider has revealed that Ivars “Storm” Sondors is being sued by the PR firm that built and managed his crowdfunding campaign. Papers filed on April 9 in Los Angeles Superior Court accuse Sondors, his crowdfunding partner Jon Hopp, and the company he created, Pacific Storm Inc., of “contractual fraud” with regard to Agency 2.0.

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(Agency 2.0)

The case docket is available via a paid search of the Los Angeles Superior Court Web site; documents filed with the court were not available at press time. However, in an emailed statement, Agency 2.0 CEO and founder Christopher Olenik wrote that his agency has yet to be paid for the work it did on the campaign for the bike, which was originally called the Storm eBike.

“The contractual fraud stems from the fact that Team Sondors hired Agency 2.0 for its services,” wrote Olenik. “An agreement to pay for services on a set percentage at a set time should be honored. Agency 2.0 has done its part in raising $5.28 million and has not been compensated as per agreed upon contract. Team Sondors actions to date have shown that he did not ever intend to honor their contractual obligations.”

Olenik adds that he’s hoping to resolve the issue without a protracted lawsuit. Sondors did not respond to email requests for comment by publication time.

Storm brewing

The Storm eBike campaign had already generated more than the usual share of controversy. Shortly after it launched, Yahoo Tech contacted ebike experts who questioned many of the claims made for the bike, its relative safety, and the company’s ability to fulfill thousands of orders with little or no room for profit. Specs provided for the bike on the Indiegogo campaign -- such as battery life, charging times, and range -- changed several times over the course of the crowdfunding campaign.

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