Sevan Matossian (00:02):
I am. We live two minutes early.
Mattew Souza (00:06):
I gotta figure out how to get my headphones off
Sevan Matossian (00:09):
<laugh>. I was, uh, I was, I was, oh, whoops. I was looking at, uh, YouTube comments and someone said, the show without the sev podcast, without sev on is better. And it has 38 likes.
Mattew Souza (00:22):
<laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (00:23):
Doesn’t anyone think I have feelings,
Mattew Souza (00:26):
<laugh>
Sevan Matossian (00:28):
Feelings? Nothing more than
Mattew Souza (00:33):
Feelings,
Sevan Matossian (00:35):
Man. I, I made this, uh, post, I made this post where Trump’s saying, um, I, I, I don’t know when he said it. I think it’s recently, but he basically said he’s expressing concerns about how the Biden administration is hiring people based on their skin color and sexual orientation and all that instead of merit. And so I recorded it, you know, I just pointed the camera at my TV set while I was on my assault bike. And I recorded, and I posted it. And man, it’s really triggered this one guy. He’s going fucking nuts. P people, um, if, if, uh, two wrongs don’t make a right. Like if your argument is like, well, Trump did the same thing. Like, I I, you sound like a, uh, like a 13 year old, but you did it. By the way, if you have a mate that does that to you, like, if you’re like, Hey dude, you left the garage door open for the third night in a row, and then your mate’s like, well, well, you leave the back door open, run from that person,
Mattew Souza (01:34):
<laugh>, you left the windows unlocked.
Sevan Matossian (01:35):
Ru they, they only get two days a month to, to act like that. Yeah. Just run from that person.
Mattew Souza (01:41):
I saw hot dogs of beer,
Sevan Matossian (01:43):
<laugh>. Yeah. Just run from that person. Like, their argument is always that two wrongs make a right. Uh, just run it’s idiot world. It’s fucking idiot world. Well, you know, uh, uh, tr Trump hired, I mean, they have Steve Booty. They, uh, he, he’s the, uh, ga he, he’s the ga Look, look at the people in the cabinet. They got Steve Bootie, they got the, uh, house presser secretary who’s, she’s the, like, I’m the first black lesbian. Steve Bootie is the first gay guy. They got the assistant secretary to Health, who’s the first, uh, trans. They got Kamala Harris, who’s the first black woman. I mean, it’s like, hey, uh, can I just get someone who’s there on merit, just one
Mattew Souza (02:27):
<laugh>, like they, their way up. Here’s their pedigree
Sevan Matossian (02:29):
Here. And, and don’t conflate the issues. There’s nothing wrong with like, I’m all for the president of the United States, uh, being a gay black woman, blah, blah. Like you could add, but can I just get one with merit? I just want one with Merit Hired on Merit. I see, I see. Uh, is it hotty or hairy? I see him there, but I don’t see his video, so I can’t bring him in. I
Mattew Souza (02:52):
Know. I’m, uh,
Sevan Matossian (02:54):
It’s not Mr. Saying, if you hear us just turn on your video and we’ll bring you in or not.
Mattew Souza (03:01):
I was thinking the other day when you were like, Hey, it’s the same thing as if you’re like, Hey, we hired this chick because she has big boobs. Yeah. She was like, based off aesthetics. And I was like, wait a minute. We gotta, we got it wrong a little bit. That part is right, but also you have to think exactly like us, because you could be one of those colors of those other things, but if you have a different opinion, oh wait, now you’re the enemy. So two qualifications, we base it off aesthetics and, and the diversity, but then at the same time, you have to think exactly like us. If not,
Sevan Matossian (03:28):
If you wanna get hired in the Biden administration, you not only have to have giant tits, but you must also because we hire based on tits, that’s the criteria. But then we also, um, will also, uh, you have to think exactly like us and think it’s okay for 12 year old kids to snip their penises off. You know what’s crazy too, is this person in the comment said the reason that they’re, that they’re making these requirements, um, for, uh, they’re, they’re putting these like the diversity czars in like Deis ares in every single department. Now in the government, they’re trying to do that. That’s what, um, uh, Biden is trying to do. And someone argued to me, it’s not to make sure that they hire people who check the boxes, the black Jew lesbian, one-legged pig me. It’s that they wanna make sure that those people aren’t excluded.
(04:18):
And I’m like, holy shit dude. Does this person really think, believe that what they just said, they think that they’re putting these people in to protect it. Okay. They think that there’s people in the government who are like, okay, uh, we’re not gonna hire that woman Uhoh. She’s qualified, but she’s black. I get rid of her. And the diversities are, is like, wait a second. They think that, that they’ve actually, the liberals have actually told themselves that. What’s weird is every day you can see 20 examples where, where they actually openly are racist or sexist or homophobic, and hire people based on those qualities. Like, lemme give you an example. They just lowered the running standard for New York City police officers for the mile and a half time, so that more women would be hired. And I was, I was arguing this with someone and they’re like, well, they should have a man’s time and a woman’s time. No, they should have a police officer’s time. And they kept pushing it. So finally I said to the person, listen, you’re trapped under a car. It’s on fire. Do you want it to be a woman or a man? And, and it’s a trick question. You don’t want it to be either, you want it to be the most qualified person.
(05:29):
Hey, they’re doing it with surgeons. It’s crazy. Yeah. Well, of course more fat men would get hired. I’m just saying that the article said, Audrey, the article said, uh, that it was to get, allow more women to get hired. It was in the New York Post yesterday. But, but what’s cra I see that every single day. They’re not even hiding it. These d e i councils don’t, they’re they’re lying to you. They’re not to protect, um, uh, what they call marginalized minorities or whatever. They’re not. They’re not, they’re not there to do that. They’re there to exclude qualified. They’re specifically, they’re there to exclude qualified white people. Everyone knows that. They’re not even hiding it. They’re not even hiding it.
Mattew Souza (06:12):
<laugh>, you can now walk the mile and a half and still be qualified to be a cop. What happens if you have to run? Well?
Sevan Matossian (06:19):
Well, there should be a woman’s time and a man. No, there shouldn’t, there should be a cop time. Hey,
Mattew Souza (06:24):
Do you feel that same way with like pull-ups and stuff?
Sevan Matossian (06:27):
Uh, women do have better Dexter when it comes to surgeries though. Yeah. So, so, so if that’s true, then they’ll be, maybe they’ll be more women, uh, surgeons. Yeah. It, it, it does. Yeah. Exactly. Like, fine. I don’t care if every single person who did surgery was women because they were better. I’m, oh, I, I, I endorse it. <laugh>. I would love a, I would love a, oh my God, look somewhere over here in South America, there’s actually a male surgeon. This is incredible. And then you find out he is not really a male. Cuz women are just so much better at it. <laugh>
Mattew Souza (07:03):
Good higher success rate in surgery. That’s what we should be going after,
Sevan Matossian (07:06):
Right? Uh, same with, uh, same with, uh, um, birthing children. The people who do it should be the best at it. Well, I don’t know what’s going on with Harry.
Mattew Souza (07:15):
I I think he tried to get the video up because I saw it click off, like turning the video off and then it clicked back to the screen that we’re, and he’s gone.
Sevan Matossian (07:25):
Yeah. Um, someone, uh, I guess, uh, someone sent me a dm, I guess when I had Michael, uh, Kajuan. They’re like, dude, Trish was so funny in the comments. You missed one of the best comments. Trish was talking about breastfeeding off your stepmom. I would. And I, I just, I’ve never felt le like, I’ve never like, um, oh my God, I’m missing out. The comments are so good and I’m stuck with this guest. But when I heard that, I, I felt a little like, what, what’s that? What’s fomo? Stand for?
Mattew Souza (08:03):
Fear of Missing Out.
Sevan Matossian (08:04):
Yeah. Yeah. It’s something like that. A little fomo. Oh, shit. Tristan, how was, how was hosting the show? How was that, how was it doing the show?
Mattew Souza (08:15):
Uh, it was good. It’s definitely like, like I was making the analogy that I’m like watching. You’re like, ma O’Brien doing that last workout. And I’m like, sitting there and then I see you do it and I’m like, oh, I got this. That was so easy. I’m not gonna be as good as him, but I’ll, I’ll, I’ll still be, I’ll still be up there. And then it starts and you’re like, two minutes in and you’re like, oh, shit, this was way harder than I thought it was gonna be. He made it look too easy. But it was, it was good. It was a, it was a good opportunity to, to just give it a try. But it’s different when you’re sitting co-pilot versus when you got the controls in your hands. I’ll tell you that.
Sevan Matossian (08:46):
Interesting. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Well, you know what’s funny is I, I, about 40 minutes into the show, I came home and I asked my wife, I’m like, do you think I should log in? She goes, no, you’ll fuck up the hole. It’ll fuck everything up. Then there’ll be like two dudes holding the steering wheel.
Mattew Souza (09:00):
No, I would’ve, I would’ve let go of it so quick and be like, oh,
Sevan Matossian (09:03):
Like,
Mattew Souza (09:04):
Moved you in and dropped me off. And how about
Sevan Matossian (09:07):
<laugh>? But I liked it. Uh, SevOne, you even pulled up the comment that she, I did pull up the comment where Trish said that Damn damnit <laugh>, uh, Matt did a good job. Six. Oh, now, oh, good. Music to my ears. I’m, if you go to YouTube, they’re talking about him like he’s some sort of fucking God.
Mattew Souza (09:22):
She did a 69
Sevan Matossian (09:24):
<laugh>. Uh, Matt did a good job. 6.9 outta 10. Good. Uh, I feel better. People were like, tell him like he’s an 11 and shit over there in YouTube land. <laugh>.
Mattew Souza (09:33):
I was too afraid to look at the cons,
Sevan Matossian (09:35):
<laugh>. Oh, they’re so good. Everybody. I
Mattew Souza (09:36):
Figured somebody would, would give me a good bashing at some point.
Sevan Matossian (09:40):
That show probably has, um, the most, uh, haters
Mattew Souza (09:49):
Because it’s just the wild west of people that are watching live. You mean it’s not like our familiar group.
Sevan Matossian (09:53):
Yeah. Familiar. Like, like those are the ones who are probably like, um, the, the, the, the vaccines only killed us three people. The vers is completely wrong, and those three people deserve to die. They were, uh, do you know what I mean? Yeah. Like, that’s that group.
Mattew Souza (10:10):
I recomme his horse war.
Sevan Matossian (10:12):
My grandmother lived three more days, isn’t it? If some teenagers had to die, that, uh, that’s fine. I mean, it that you, it’s for the greater good
Mattew Souza (10:20):
<laugh>. If we just save one life and a few others die. Okay. If we save the lives we wanna save.
Sevan Matossian (10:26):
Yes. So those people were fucking glad I was gone.
Mattew Souza (10:31):
<laugh>. I still got a back joke in there
Sevan Matossian (10:34):
When Brian,
Mattew Souza (10:35):
Are you good? Yeah. When Brian came on, I was like, he just popped on, right? And I go, Brian, what’s up buddy? How you doing? And he goes, good. And first I made a joke about him being held hostage, but then I get into it and I’m like, Hey, how’s the event? What’d you see? What was it like, you know, what was the crowd like? And he kind of gives a short answer like, okay, do you see anybody clap? And the athletes and the athletes just fall over? And he kinda weird. I was like, we had to get one vax joke in there, guys. Come on. Come on. Thank
Sevan Matossian (10:57):
You, <laugh>. Hey, um, uh, do you wanna text Harry?
Mattew Souza (11:01):
I did. I, I texted him and I said, try to, he asked if we could see him and I said, no, try logging out and logging back in. So I’m waiting to see if he pops back up and logs back in.
Sevan Matossian (11:11):
Okay.
Mattew Souza (11:12):
Let me, um, let me resend the link in that thread and just see
Sevan Matossian (11:15):
If Okay. And we could reschedule him. Oh, look, uh, there he is.
Mattew Souza (11:19):
Device is not connected.
Sevan Matossian (11:24):
We could tell him. We could always reschedule him too.
Mattew Souza (11:28):
Oh, Chris felt that,
Sevan Matossian (11:31):
Uh, there was a nice tension between Susan and friend. Oh, good.
Mattew Souza (11:34):
Yeah, I think he was kinda like, who the, when
Sevan Matossian (11:36):
Did he come on? I didn’t even know he was coming on
Mattew Souza (11:38):
Like last 10 minutes. Last 15 minutes. Hmm. He was at the, when he got back to the hotel, he jumped on.
Sevan Matossian (11:48):
I I, I got this book. Greg gave me this book the other day. Did you see it? Did I show it to you?
Mattew Souza (11:55):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (11:56):
It’ll, it’ll be at his, it’ll be at his house today when we’re over there.
Mattew Souza (11:59):
Awesome.
Sevan Matossian (12:00):
It’s so funny. I, I made a post on my Instagram and someone’s like, uh, that guy was a, that guy was a heavy drinker and he had heart conditions already, and how dare you put him up there? You don’t even know what you’re talking about. And I’m like, uh, yeah. That, that’s what’s kind of cool about the vaccine. It kills the people with heart conditions already. And, and, and the perfectly healthy people. Like I don’t understand people’s logic. Well, that the, that person was sick already. Like the, the vaccine didn’t kill them. They were all, they’d already had three heart attacks. Uh, okay, well how does that disprove my point?
Mattew Souza (12:34):
It’s funny that they found that logic now, but not when they were doing that with the Covid death. Right,
Sevan Matossian (12:39):
Right.
Mattew Souza (12:39):
Not a motorcycle accident. Oh, not a
Sevan Matossian (12:41):
Covid <laugh>.
Mattew Souza (12:42):
Right. Nobody questioned it. But now when we have these weird shit happening to people that it should not happen to a demographic of people that you would presume being very healthy, now all of a sudden it’s like, oh, well, the, you know, did you guys see he had a soda? And there’s something weird going on.
Sevan Matossian (12:56):
We have some very, we have some very bad, um, thinkers.
Mattew Souza (13:02):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (13:02):
They weren’t in the world hot
Mattew Souza (13:04):
To think. I feel like we weren’t talk
Sevan Matossian (13:05):
To think I saw two. I saw two hair. Is is his name Harry or Hottie? Howie Sing? Howie Sing. It’s one R.
Mattew Souza (13:12):
Yeah. That’s gonna be our first question.
Sevan Matossian (13:15):
I keep seeing his window trying to log in.
Mattew Souza (13:19):
Yeah. It keeps popping up. That last one popped up, popped away.
Sevan Matossian (13:22):
Ask him if he wants to reschedule and then we could run a test.
Mattew Souza (13:26):
Okay.
Sevan Matossian (13:28):
I wonder if he’s not on Chrome. I
Mattew Souza (13:30):
I asked him to, uh, I’d double check that. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (13:36):
Oh, uh, Jason Waddell. I’d rather listen to Jason run around his apology and talk like a politician than listen to Taylor. No shit. Well, that’s an, that’s an incredible comparison.
Mattew Souza (13:47):
Yeah. He’s on Chrome.
Sevan Matossian (13:49):
That’s an incredible comparison. Hey, Brandon, I’d love to talk to you. Uh, isn’t it a, I’d love to talk to you about the, um, the comments, the shit people write. Uh, Philip Kelly, uh, Jason couldn’t answer anything. It, it’s so interesting. I read the YouTube comments sometimes and I’m like, did these people like listen to the show, <laugh>? Were these people, like, uh, were they not listening to the same show that I I was listening to? It’s a, it’s a trip. Uh, Kenneth Dap applying for the executive producer role. Uh, three more minutes, Harry. And, uh, then we’re calling it
Mattew Souza (14:25):
<laugh>
Sevan Matossian (14:27):
Guys. We, I, I’m, I’m so nervous. I, and all kidding aside, Caleb Caleb’s about to get his hours all switched up. Oh, but there he is. I see him. He heard, he heard the, uh, he heard the three minutes and you’re out now. He, there he is. How do, oh, my. Yes, brother. God, I love technology. How are you?
Mattew Souza (14:47):
Okay,
Sevan Matossian (14:48):
Nevermind. Nevermind. <laugh>. Oh, that’s it. Jodi Lynn. That’s a, a fine line from Jodi, the oldest affiliate with the oldest technology. It did look like my, um, uh, it did look like my four 80 camera. Let me see if I, can
Mattew Souza (15:07):
We get a little further each time? Okay, here we
Sevan Matossian (15:11):
Go. It, it did look like my, uh, let me see if I can, let me see if I can add my, uh, there you go. There’s my, there we go. Look. Oh, <laugh>. There
Mattew Souza (15:22):
We go. Oh man. We need to get those chairs filled. We made that nice table and those chairs That looks good in there. And then Sue, we got those cameras pointed at ’em too, right?
Sevan Matossian (15:34):
Uh, yeah, yeah. Sort as sort of it’s a still a shit show. Hey, you know what’s weird? You can’t hear me like you can hear me now, right? Yep. But if I re
Mattew Souza (15:44):
Yeah, no, definitely can’t hear you.
Sevan Matossian (15:45):
Okay. Interesting.
Mattew Souza (15:47):
I felt as I, if I’ve grown in the past, that would’ve made me nervous being on here myself. The big screen. So the video, I vanished.
Sevan Matossian (15:52):
Yeah. Stop camera. Hi.
Mattew Souza (15:56):
Boom.
Hari Singh (15:57):
Can you hear me?
Sevan Matossian (15:58):
I can. Oh, you sound so good, brother. How are you?
Hari Singh (16:01):
I’m good. How are you?
Sevan Matossian (16:03):
Good.
Hari Singh (16:03):
What a mess. Nothing works, <laugh>, nothing. Fuck. Actually, I mean, I was freaked out. I thought, you know, I’ll send you the link 10 minutes before the show. I figured this will never work,
Sevan Matossian (16:15):
<laugh>. And you were right. It didn’t work.
Hari Singh (16:17):
Yeah. Sorry, I can’t,
Sevan Matossian (16:19):
Hey, it’s our, but think if we would’ve sent it 26 minutes before it would’ve worked. It was our fault. Yeah,
Hari Singh (16:24):
Exactly. Yeah. Sorry.
Sevan Matossian (16:25):
Because now 26, it’s not a problem at all. This show’s so fun. Good to have you. Where are you? Are you, are you in your library? You’re den Yeah,
Hari Singh (16:33):
I am. I’m home. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (16:35):
Yeah. Nice. Um, do, do you Pronou Pronou is, is that a typo in your name right there?
Hari Singh (16:40):
Yes. It’s h a r i and it’s just pronounced Harry.
Sevan Matossian (16:43):
Harry,
Hari Singh (16:44):
I’m Ty. I’m on a cell phone that’s tiny. I couldn’t type it.
Sevan Matossian (16:50):
Are you, um, uh, Harry, I, I remember meeting you in New York. I was with Greg maybe four or five years ago.
Hari Singh (17:02):
We’ve met, we’ve met a couple. I think we met, um, at, we’ve met a couple times. Yes.
Sevan Matossian (17:09):
Do do you remember the last time? Because it was a pleasant experience. I remember, and I remember we exchanged phone numbers.
Hari Singh (17:14):
I remember it was at Glassman’s house. It was either, uh, met at old, uh, cert or some, it was something at Greg’s house.
Sevan Matossian (17:22):
Oh,
Hari Singh (17:23):
Okay. I remember your wife was there.
Mattew Souza (17:25):
Um,
Sevan Matossian (17:26):
God, for some reason, I feel, I thought I felt like it was in New York and we went out to dinner. I must have it. I have
Hari Singh (17:32):
Complet. Yes. No, now I think, I think you were in New York with Greg and we tried to look him up and he was in for the night, and maybe you came out for dinner. That might be
Sevan Matossian (17:43):
It. It’s, it’s, it’s a, it’s a little blurry. Are you, and you own CrossFit New York City?
Hari Singh (17:48):
I do.
Sevan Matossian (17:49):
Yeah. Isn’t that crazy? Hey, you could never get that name today, right? If you give that name up, it’s gone forever.
Hari Singh (17:54):
That’s right. I’ll never give that name up.
Sevan Matossian (17:56):
Hmm. Yeah. What if, if you sold that, could someone keep it or does do names like that transfer?
Hari Singh (18:03):
I think I can sell the affiliate to someone and the name would transfer, but I, I couldn’t sell the name. Cro CrossFit owns the name
Sevan Matossian (18:11):
And, and, and the deal is for people who don’t know, um, back in the early days, you could, um, you could get a CrossFit gym and you could name it either after yourself or after the city you’re in. And then after a while they stopped it. So like, I couldn’t do a CrossFit seven Matossian. And you can’t do a CrossFit if it’s, uh, the city if it’s a big city. Right. Like New York City.
Hari Singh (18:31):
Correct.
Sevan Matossian (18:32):
Yeah. How crazy is that? How cool is that? And how long have you had the gym?
Hari Singh (18:37):
We affiliated? The date is July 4th, 2005.
Sevan Matossian (18:42):
Holy shit. I hadn’t even found CrossFit. Oh, maybe I just found it. Maybe I just found it. 2005. That is incredible. And um, and Harry, how did you find it? How did you come across CrossFit? How did it cross paths with you?
Hari Singh (18:58):
I came across it on a couple of blogs. I think Art Devaney, his paleo blog. And I came across it on like twice in a week. And, um, you know, I went to the website and I don’t even know if CrossFit NYC quite existed. We were the 16th affiliate in the world, but as soon as an affiliate popped up in New York, I went and joined. And, um, they weren’t even, they didn’t even have their own space then. They were in the corner of a gym and, you know, the old story getting kicked out. And, um, I bought out one of the four partners in 2007, and it’s down to just me now.
Sevan Matossian (19:40):
You’re serious. You’re the only one now.
Hari Singh (19:42):
Yes. There only partner in Crossword M Y C. Yes.
Sevan Matossian (19:45):
And how many, how many partners have there been in totality?
Hari Singh (19:49):
There were four original. Um, then I bought out one and there were still four.
Sevan Matossian (19:56):
So that’s five.
Hari Singh (19:57):
No, I bought one out,
Sevan Matossian (19:58):
But I mean, that’s five total, right? Right. That there’s been,
Hari Singh (20:02):
There’s been five total in the history of CrossFit New York City. Mike Palming,
Sevan Matossian (20:07):
Who? Oh, I remember him.
Hari Singh (20:08):
He owns CrossFit Gotham. After I bought him, I, he, uh, I didn’t buy him out. I bought out, I bought out Keith Wittstein who’s on the, um, level one circuit and uh, circuit. And then I guess then it was the four of us. And then the three of us bought Al Mike Palmer Ring. And then it was Harry George, Harry Josh Newman, and Court Wing. And, uh, Josh Newman was evicted, went to jail. It’s a special story in the CrossFit NYC history. And, um, I recently bought out Court Wing a couple years ago.
Sevan Matossian (20:46):
Is is, is Josh Newman out of jail?
Hari Singh (20:49):
He is.
Sevan Matossian (20:50):
He is. Um, I heard he was just a good dude, but just with the bad, that bad business ethic, I, I never got to meet the guy.
Hari Singh (20:58):
I mean, he didn’t go to jail for having bad business skills.
Sevan Matossian (21:01):
Oh, okay. <laugh>. Alright,
Mattew Souza (21:04):
Alright. That’s what I was worried too after you said that. It’s like,
Sevan Matossian (21:07):
Oh, um, how is it, um, is it better just being a sole owner?
Hari Singh (21:14):
Yes, it is. I mean, I, I was running a midsize company when I bought into CrossFit and I thought, you know, I’m running this company all alone. It would be nice to have partners. And it turned out to be very difficult to have partners over the years
Sevan Matossian (21:31):
Because w w why is that? I, is it because like people can’t agree on what kind of toilet paper to put in the bathroom? Or is it because people are stealing from the company?
Hari Singh (21:40):
Um, in Josh’s case, Josh was stealing from not stealing from the company. Josh, um, was convincing outside investors to buy his stock. Sort of, I’m guessing it, I don’t have all the details, but sort of like in the producer scheme where he was selling his stock over and over again, um, to hedge funds to very sophisticated investors, um, without us knowing and without
Sevan Matossian (22:07):
Stocks and stocks and CrossFit, um, uh, uh, New York,
Hari Singh (22:11):
He, his shares, he was telling people that it’s really difficult. Each one got told a different special story. Um,
Sevan Matossian (22:20):
But he was selling something that you guys owned?
Hari Singh (22:22):
Yes.
Sevan Matossian (22:23):
Wow. That’s that’s amazing.
Hari Singh (22:25):
<laugh>. Yeah. And I we’re talking to the tune of millions.
Sevan Matossian (22:30):
Wow. So this, so he was a good, so he was a good salesman.
Hari Singh (22:34):
He was a good salesman. Yeah,
Sevan Matossian (22:37):
That, so I, I just wanna see if I understand this right. I had no idea it was like this, you, you, like I could see stuff like, um, let, lemme just give you an example. Like, um, uh, supposedly one of the reasons why they, uh, got mad at, um, James, there’s a, a company called Project Veritas that it’s a report. It’s, you know, it’s a bunch. He’s a report. There’s a reporter there, James O’Keefe. And one of the reasons they’re claiming they kicked him out is cuz he was using the company credit card to buy DJ equipment. And I’m, and, and I’m like, I don’t give a fuck. Like, he, like, he’s a star employee. Like,
Hari Singh (23:05):
Yeah. That’s not, that’s not what we’re talking about. <laugh>.
Sevan Matossian (23:09):
<laugh>. Yeah.
Hari Singh (23:12):
You know, so this is amazing how this went down because, you know, part of the process involved me spending an entire day with the fbi.
Sevan Matossian (23:23):
Wow. Oh shit.
Hari Singh (23:24):
Which, which you don’t do without being seriously lawyered up because being factually innocent is, is just the starting point that you want. So it was a very expensive process, but, you know, I explained early on, I knew that Josh sort of, I didn’t want him touching the money. Okay, let’s just say that. So I set up the company and the partnership, you know, with a white shoe law firm and a long agreement. And the way we ran the company since the day I came in, I wrote every single check, but I didn’t have check signing privileges. Court Wing signed every single check, right? Uhhuh <affirmative>, Josh had neither, no access to the checkbook and no access to the bank accounts, right? So you would figure, how could you possibly manage to do any sort of corporate, you know, malfeasance with a uncla system like that. He convinced people that the shares were in a fund that he owned and they should write a check to the fund.
(24:32):
And, and, and, and you know, there, this was in litigation for seven years. You know, there are emails where people would say, wait, I don’t understand. Don’t you need the consent to the other partners? He’d say no. Yeah, well, I made a D thing, uh, I sold the stock twice to myself so I could transfer it to you. Uh, the of the sketch font sketch of the final 12 litigants, they had 17 Ivy League degrees in top. Okay. Experts, degrees, CFAs, MBAs, jds people, partners in white shoe law firms, because those were the easiest people to swindle. He was a Yale kid, and I don’t know, he convinced them. I I just, I, there, there there’s stacks of public documents in litigation that would make your hair, you know, if your hair crawl,
Sevan Matossian (25:27):
I just, the part, I’m the part I’m tripping. Oh, there he is. Okay. Oh, his girlfriend’s pretty or his wife? Uhoh Uhoh. Hey, hey. Um, so this guy was basically just share sharing, selling shares of a gym that you own. Did he sell other stuff too? Like was he involved in It just seems like it would be like, if you’re gonna do, um, sell stuff, I just can’t imagine selling a Jim being the smartest way to make money. But why didn’t he sell fake diamonds or something?
Hari Singh (25:54):
It was at the high end of the CrossFit craze. He, you know, we were the biggest in the world. Um, you know, we, we had 500 people in the open in 2012. Wow. Those are big deal, great space. Um, and it was really taking off and you know, I, I don’t know how he did it. I don’t know how he did it, but, you know, the New York Times wrote four or five articles on his background in, um, deal book and he’d done a series of adventure, uh, ventures old, uh, since he was a student at Yale and, and they all involved people getting massively burned, it seems.
Sevan Matossian (26:36):
How, how much time did he spend in jail, do you know?
Hari Singh (26:40):
I was there at the sentencing. He got sentenced I think to 39 months, but I think he got out after 21 months or 24 months. I’m I about two years.
Sevan Matossian (26:50):
So for you it was a headache and cost you a shitload of money.
Hari Singh (26:53):
Yes.
Sevan Matossian (26:54):
How was his cro? Was he a good CrossFitter <laugh> <laugh>? What was his Fran time?
Hari Singh (26:59):
<laugh>. Yeah, he was, he, he, he was fit. He wasn’t, you know, none of us were going to the games, but he, he, he, he was a competent coach and a and a good CrossFitter. Yeah, sure.
Sevan Matossian (27:11):
God. What a trip. Okay. And then so some, did you want to end up owning the whole thing or was it just people were just bailing?
Hari Singh (27:20):
Um, nobody quote bailed. I mean, there was lit, there was legal stuff with, with getting Josh out because of, um, you know, the agreement had had clauses for if you do fraud or that sort of thing, you’re, you’re out. Right. Um, and it was tough buying out court at the end, but, um, you know, there was a lot of pressure with the lawsuit and, and, and, and, and expenses and that sort of stuff. And, and, um, it got easier
Sevan Matossian (27:49):
To do. How about, how about like Keith though and Mike and um, and, and and Court eventually they just wanted to sell and you’re like, okay, I’ll buy Keith.
Hari Singh (27:56):
Keith, Keith was the first one I bought Keith out, and that was very pleasant. Uhhuh <affirmative>. Keith went on to, um, found CrossFit Virtuosity, which is still one of the oldest, uh, affiliates. And, um, Mike Palming, the three of us bought him out and we agreed on the price. Those two things were simple. Um, the Josh thing was a shit show that went on for years and involved a lot of litigation and, and, and, and there’s, there’s this criminal, um, investigation and him going to jail and court, you know, at the end it was a fight over, you know, the last partner buying him out. And I think we’ve reached a reasonable agreement.
Sevan Matossian (28:38):
Uh, and, and, and the Jim, the Jim’s, uh, open, uh, 5, 6, 7 days a week now.
Hari Singh (28:44):
Yeah, we’ve been open, um, for a while. You, you, you mean post Covid?
Sevan Matossian (28:49):
Well, that too, but I just mean since 2005 it’s going, it’s up and running like you have clients. It’s, you’re not just holding onto the name, running this thing outta your garage. It’s a, it’s a gym. We
Hari Singh (28:57):
Run, we run 120 classes a week.
Sevan Matossian (29:00):
Holy cow. Holy cow. And so in this, so if you were the 16th gym, you literally are now the oldest gym in in, I,
Hari Singh (29:09):
I think that’s right. I I don’t wanna, um, um, misstate it on the list of affiliates. We moved from 16 to number four before they took down the list. And when I looked at one, two, and three, their websites weren’t active. And so I assumed that they’re not an active affiliate. Maybe they were saving the name. I don’t know. So if I’m wrong, someone should definitely correct me if I’m number three or two or whatever.
Sevan Matossian (29:35):
But I I’m gonna give it to you until someone says different. Okay. I’m gonna give it to you. That’s crazy. 2005. Holy shit. The only one. Wow. Uh, I think Curtis Bowler was for a long time at the top of that list with his gym in Washington and then I think he closed his gym down but didn’t get rid of the name. I think he moved it to his garage or something. I think
Hari Singh (29:55):
That that’s correct. I think if, uh, you go to that website, it’s.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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