Fact Checking Bruce Nahin’s Rebuttal to Fake Co-founder Controversy

We wanted to fact check Mr Nahin’s rebuttal since he was questioning our article.

1. There was no documentation or verifiable proof through news media reports or photographs at the time of Chippendales (1979 – 1994) that Mr Nahin was a partner with Mr Steve Banerjee of Chippendales. There was one mention in a February 15, 1987 L.A. Times listing Mr Nahin only as the Chippendales attorney. California corporate papers and ABC alcohol control board documentation only list Mr Banerjee as the owner of Chippendales. Mr Nahin claims the FBI removed his documentation. We contacted a source with knowledge of FBI procedures. They said this was highly unlikely. Still there is no proof.
2. There was no proof with NBC that Mr Nahin was the inspiration behind the SNL Patrick Swayze / Chris Farley Chippendales spoof. The claim from Mr Nahin appears to be at best anecdotal and not verifiable.
3. Mr Nahin never refuted what Chippendales model, Dan Peterson said nor what Mr Banerjee’s son said about Mr Nahin’s credibility.
4. Mr Nahin never refuted falsely claiming a producer title with Chippendales on IMDb.com.
5. Mr Nahin never refuted his felony conviction for fraud of elderly people. Nor did he explain if this started when he was an attorney for Chippendales.
6. Mr Nahin never refuted that he personally made multiple entries on the Wikipedia Chippendales website page over a 10 year period inserting his own narrative as Steve Banerjee’s partner in violation of Wikipedia’s editorial rules and submissions.
7. Mr Nahin never refuted that he himself described his Chippendales role as “Banerjee’s attorney” in a 1998 British documentary (four years after Mr Banerjee’s death) and never claimed to be a partner nor a co-founder of the iconic brand.
8. Roy Sutton, former Chippendales CFO, wrote us that Bruce Nahin was not Steve Banerjee’s partner. Mr Sutton knew Mr Banerjee since 1979 and worked for him at various times during Chippendales rise.

Lastly, Mr Nahin cries out that titles are unimportant. But titles are statements of fact. They are a way of giving credit to events in history. If Mr Nahin cannot support these statements of fact and does not believe that titles matter – why does he continue to publish and disseminate an unsubstantiated statement that he was the co-founder of Chippendales and partner to Steve Banerjee? Was he really the co-founder of Chippendales or is it fake? If Mr Nahin can provide proof to us, we would like to publish it.