[asdfasgasdgasdg]

Article says that the former CEO was sidelined by new ownership and claims that investors were misled. But it doesn't actually say what happened. If the existing shops were making money, why would they have been closed? The actions ascribed to the investment firm do not make any rational sense.

I understand the journalist tried to get comment from them and it's not their fault they couldn't, but ultimately the story is unsatisfying because the picture is so incomplete.

[gwern]

Best article seems to be https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/business/article270574632...

It's a very confusing mix of what sounds like neglectful incompetent management followed by overexpansion, control fraud, stock-pumping through affinity fraud, and possibly naked embezzlement/theft at the end.

[JackFr]

It seems like there was a huge gap in the reporting in this article.

Fraud? Hubris? Too much leverage? Pandemic? Pathological mismanagement? No idea what actually caused the failure.

[xhkkffbf]

I think the reporter is mainly a features writer not a business reporter and so any gap might be understandable. The basic message in the piece is that the so called investment company didn't have the money. They would pretend to "invest" but really strip the money out of the ice cream shop to cover up their losses. At least that's my guess.