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But all was not well at SHAiR. By the end of 2022, several employees had quit or been laid off.
Some contemplated taking legal action against their former employer, according to employees and court documents. Two employees said they were fired for speaking out against a toxic workplace that included micromanaging by Martel’s chief operating officer.
A call centre employee filed a claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the U.S., alleging racial discrimination, but the case was closed without investigation.
Sales manager Corey Firth was fired for “failure to adhere to the company’s time clocking policies,” according to his termination letter, after he said he showed up to work a few minutes late the Monday after a family member had died.
Firth said he was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and ended up publishing a book that offers advice to others dealing with stress.
“Now I can look back at it and laugh at it … but at the time it was rough,” he said.
Other employees told the CBC there were widespread payroll shortages within the company, which PwC cited as one of the reasons SHAiR ultimately ceased to operate.
In early 2023, Delafuente, Martel and another partner agreed to buy 50 per cent of Royalty Exotic Cars, a Las Vegas car rental company owned by Houston Crosta, according to Crosta.
SHAiR would get access to Crosta’s client base of 100,000 renters, and Crosta would get access to Martel’s technology.
Delafuente said he spent months working out the deal, which Martel seemed to want to prolong.
According to Crosta, on the day all three executives were supposed to wire their portion of the down payment, which totalled $500,000, only Delafuente sent his, which Delafuente said came from real estate and other ventures.
According to Crosta, the other executive’s third was supposed to come from money Martel owed them, which is why it was never sent. Crosta said he and Martel continued to text into the spring.
“He started to try to put the blame on Garrick,” Crosta said, rereading his text messages with Martel. “Just bullshit from there.”