Court filing reveals investors in Egolfs' juice company venture
May 7—A former state GOP chairman, a brewery owner and a company tied to a man who once owned naming rights to The Pit are among the members of a firm at the center of a legal battle involving former state House Speaker Brian Egolf.
A recent court filing in a civil case from several high-profile investors in Santa Fe against local attorney Egolf, his wife, Kelly Egolf, and Invictus Unlimited LLC lists the company's nine members and their shares. Brian Egolf is named as majority owner, with just over 32%.
The investors allege the Egolfs created Invictus to defraud them out of their more than $3 million investment in a juice company Kelly Egolf launched in 2018.
The Egolfs' attorneys contend the couple developed Invictus and used it to purchase the assets of the now-defunct New Mexico Fresh Foods in a foreclosure sale to save Kelly Egolf's Verde juice brand after the investors blocked an effort to raise capital when the company could not make loan payments.
The couple have filed a motion asking the state District Court to dismiss the lawsuit and quash subpoenas for a law firm that might have helped them transfer some of New Mexico Fresh Foods' assets to Invictus before the foreclosure sale. The Egolfs argue the contract between the investors and New Mexico Fresh Foods requires disputes to be resolved through arbitration.
Judge Francis Mathew is scheduled to consider that argument at a hearing Thursday.
"The plaintiffs still have not identified any way they were hurt by anything other than their own decision, and we are optimistic the judge will send the case to arbitration where it belonged in the first place," attorney Mark Baker, who represents Brian Egolf and Invictus, said Tuesday.
The plaintiffs, meanwhile, filed a response to a brief in the case this week opposing the quashing of subpoenas. The filing alleges the Egolfs began orchestrating Invictus' takeover of some of New Mexico Fresh Foods' assets — including economic development funds to be paid to the company for job creation — months before what the investors call a "sham" foreclosure sale.
The response includes an "Operating Agreement of Invictus LLC" that lists the nine members and their ownership shares.
In addition to Brian Egolf, the document lists the following:
* Susan Owens: 15.3%
* SC3 Franchise Services LLC: 15%
* Skye Devor: 14.7%
* Robert Mang: 11.7%
* John Tomes: 6.1%
* Kevin McDonald: 1.8%
* Ryan Cangiolosi: 1.8%
* GAYVID LLC: 1.2%
Cangiolosi, a former New Mexico Republican Party chairman, also is one of the owners of El Rito Media group, which purchased the Rio Grande Sun newspaper in 2022 and the Artesia Daily Press in 2023 and announced Tuesday it had acquired the Alamogordo Daily News, Carlsbad Current-Argus and Ruidoso News. Cangiolosi confirmed in an interview Tuesday he is an investor in Invictus but declined to comment further.
Devore — who owns Tractor Brewing Co. — did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Attempts to reach Steve Chavez — the registered agent of SC3 Franchise Services, whose company WisePies Pizza previously owned the naming rights to the University of New Mexico's basketball arena, known as The Pit — could not be reached for comment.
GAYVID LLC is a New Mexico company whose registered agents David Perez and Elizabeth Gay Dillingham live in Santa Fe, according to the Secretary of State's Office website. Attempts to reach them for comment were unsuccessful.
Attempts to reach Owens, McDonald and Tomes also were unsuccessful.
Robert Mang said in an interview Tuesday he invested in both New Mexico Fresh Foods and Invictus because he believes in "impact investing" — prioritizing social and environmental effects rather than profits — and he felt the company fit the bill because it provides in-state processing of New Mexico-grown produce. The company has a production facility in Bernalillo County.
"My interest in investing here was because the company is providing not just jobs for the work it does but is a critical part of the supply chain in terms of food that is produced off of our farms," Mang said. "We need more processing [in New Mexico] and this is a processing company, so it has the potential of actually making a big difference in how our farms work."
Mang, who said he's lived in Santa Fe since 1991, declined to say how much he invested in the two companies or to comment on the pending litigation. He said he didn't want to interfere with the process ahead of Thursday's hearing.
Kelly Egolf's former partners in New Mexico Fresh Foods made up a who's who of Santa Fe's art, business and philanthropy worlds. The plaintiffs in the February lawsuit include Vladem Contemporary museum namesake and businessman Bob Vladem and his wife, Ellen Vladem; real estate mogul Ed Berman; oil and gas attorney Dan Perry; philanthropist Gail "Peaches" Gilbert; restaurateur Charles Dale; and Jessie Groothuis and Steven Lustig. They accuse the Egolfs of secretly planning to cut them out of the business by organizing a foreclosure sale of its assets to Invictus.
In addition to the investors' money, New Mexico Fresh Foods received $700,000 in public funding and was the beneficiary of government-sanctioned tax breaks on equipment purchases. It also obtained a $375,000 loan from the Santa Fe Community Foundation.
