Joyride Brewery says it filmed thieving co-owner

Joyride Brewing operates on the corner of Sheridan Boulevard and 25th Avenue in Edgewater. (Provided by Joyride Brewing)

A bankrupt Edgewater brewery says it has audio recordings in which its former chief executive brags about stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the company.

Joyride Brewing, located at 2501 Sheridan Blvd., has been suing minority owner Grant Babb since December. He accuses him of misappropriating or misappropriating $1 million, including by transferring money to his other companies: Live Slow Brewing and Herman’s Hideaway.

Babb has denied doing anything wrong and is seeking $170,000 that he claims he loaned to Joyride. The case, which is scheduled to go on trial for five days in November, took a turn on June 5 when Joyride revealed the existence of two audio recordings.

“I mismanaged Joyride’s finances, I colluded between two companies, I supported Live Slow with Joyride’s finances, no one at Joyride knows about it,” Babb was quoted as saying in one of them.

In a second recording, Babb allegedly said he expected Joyride to keep quiet about the thefts because “it looks bad” and that the brewery had no money to file a lawsuit. justice.

The recordings were supposed to be attached as supporting documents to a motion filed by Joyride on June 5. But when BusinessDen obtained the 13 supporting documents for this request as part of a records request, the records were not among them. Joyride’s lawyers declined to answer questions about the matter.

“Mr. Babb denies any theft,” said Babb’s attorney, Reid Allred of Cambridge Law in Denver.

“The evidence, including the recordings mentioned in the motion, speaks to various loans to and from Joyride,” he said. “The motion misrepresents the content of the audio recordings, which were made without Mr. Babb’s knowledge of the conversations during which the parties attempted to resolve their differences. The truth will be demonstrated during the preliminary examination and during the trial.

Allred did not respond to a request Friday for the recordings or a more complete transcript of what was said.

At the fall trial, Joyride would like to ask jurors to award it punitive damages since “Babb shamelessly admitted to plundering Joyride’s accounts.” First, he must convince Judge Andrew Poland to allow him to seek punitive damages. The judge has not yet ruled on the motion.

“The scale, scope and repetition of his conduct illustrate that he made these transfers deliberately or recklessly with only himself in mind and with clear disregard for the consequences to Joyride and its rights,” lawyers for Joyride wrote. Joyride Brewing about Babb in their request.

“He knew he could get away with it, and he did – for nearly two years,” the motion states.