Alkiviades David (born May 1968; pronounced ) is a Greek-British businessman and actor. In 2008 he was the majority shareholder of Leventis-David Group, which owns
Coca-Cola Hellenic bottling plants in 28 countries. His companies include the Internet-based television provider
FilmOn
FilmOn is an Internet-based television provider owned by FilmOn.TV Networks Inc. FilmOn.TV Networks is owned by Alki David, who founded the company in 2006.
Programming
FilmOn is a subscription-based Internet-based television service allowi ...
, the
home-shopping website 9021go.com, the streaming-video site BattleCam.com, and the modelling agency Independent Models. He has also appeared in feature films and on television. In a 2021 interview with
The Daily Beast
''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008.
It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...
about an $80 million judgement against him for sexual battery, David claimed to be "completely exhausted" of cash resources, and added prior claims he was a billionaire were "complete fiction" he had manufactured. Following judgements levied against him in multiple suits, David alleged the California court system was part of a corrupt conspiracy and publicly refused to comply with court ordered payments. After failing to appear at multiple court-ordered appearances, David's lawyer reported there were discussions underway to place him into conservatorship as his client was suffering from "downward spiralling mental health" issues.
Early life
Alkiviades David was born in May 1968,
in
Lagos
Lagos ( Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 f ...
, Nigeria, to a trading and shipping family of
Greek Cypriot
Greek Cypriots or Cypriot Greeks ( el, Ελληνοκύπριοι, Ellinokýprioi, tr, Kıbrıs Rumları) are the ethnic Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest ethnolinguistic community. According to the 2011 census, 659,115 ...
origin.
His father, Andrew A. David (1934–2000), was born in
Petra
Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to the mountain of Ja ...
, Cyprus and went on to study business at
Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. In 1957, Andrew A. David joined the family business, the Leventis-David Group in Ghana, where he managed Coca-Cola Bottling Plant in
Accra.
David attended high school in Switzerland and studied film at the Royal College of Art.
Career
In 1998, he co-founded the London modelling agency Independent Models, whose models included
Helena Christensen
Helena Christensen (born 25 December 1968) is a Danish model and photographer. She is a former Victoria's Secret Angel, clothing designer and beauty queen. Christensen was also the co-founder and original creative director for ''Nylon'' magazine, ...
.
In 2006, David partnered with veteran film producer
Elliott Kastner
Elliott Kastner (January 7, 1930 – June 30, 2010) was an American film producer, whose best known credits include ''Where Eagles Dare'' (1968), '' The Long Goodbye'' (1973), ''The Missouri Breaks'' (1976), and ''Angel Heart'' (1987).
Early lif ...
to launch 111 Pictures Ltd., a UK-based independent production and international sales company. Also that year, David started
FilmOn
FilmOn is an Internet-based television provider owned by FilmOn.TV Networks Inc. FilmOn.TV Networks is owned by Alki David, who founded the company in 2006.
Programming
FilmOn is a subscription-based Internet-based television service allowi ...
, an online streaming site.
He has appeared in films, including a 2008 motion picture, ''
The Bank Job
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...
'', in which David played a tunneling expert hired by
Jason Statham
Jason Statham (; born 26 July 1967) is an English actor. He is known for portraying characters in various action-thriller films who are typically tough, hardboiled, gritty, or violent.
Statham began practising Chinese martial arts, kickbox ...
to help with a bank heist.
According to The ''
Sunday Times Rich List
The ''Sunday Times Rich List'' is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families resident in the United Kingdom ranked by net wealth. The list is updated annually in April and published as a magazine supplement by British national Sunday n ...
'' in 2020 his net worth, combined with the Leventis family, was estimated at £2.35 billion. However, various news reports in 2021 quoted David as noting billionaire claims were his own fabrications, and following multi-million-dollar judgements against him claimed he was "exhausted" of any funds.
Personal life
David has been married three times and divorced twice,
and has two sons, Andrew and Alexander, with his first wife.
He met second wife Emma McAllister in 2004, marrying her in 2007, and separating in 2009.
As of 2011 he is married to Jennifer Stano, a swimsuit designer and former model who founded Have Faith Swimwear with David in
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ...
, in 2010.
In May 2019, it was reported that David was arrested in
St. Kitts
Saint Kitts, officially the Saint Christopher Island, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis con ...
after US$1.5 million of
cannabis
''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternativel ...
was found on his private plane.
Business
David's projects include:
*
FilmOn
FilmOn is an Internet-based television provider owned by FilmOn.TV Networks Inc. FilmOn.TV Networks is owned by Alki David, who founded the company in 2006.
Programming
FilmOn is a subscription-based Internet-based television service allowi ...
, a video on-demand website and mobile service which is an extension of his 111Pix distribution venture.
*BattleCam.com, a peer-to-peer video streaming website and community
whose offerings including Fight Night and other
pay-per-view
Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast.
Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program g ...
tournaments built around mixed martial arts, gaming and comedy.
David advertised for this venture by offering cash to the first person who
streaks in a legal manner in front of US President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
,
and by hosting a faked assisted suicide.
*9021go.com, a
home shopping Home shopping is the electronic retailing and home shopping channels industry, which includes such billion dollar television-based and e-commerce companies as Shop LC, HSN, Gemporia, TJC, QVC, eBay, ShopHQ, Buy.com and Amazon.com, as well as ...
site founded in 2011
*Hologram USA Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard.
Litigations
CBS,
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
,
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...
,
Fox Broadcasting
The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations and ...
and their studios won a temporary restraining order against David's FilmOn in November 2010 to prevent unlicensed use of their broadcast signals. David sued CBS, dropped the suit, and sued
CBS Interactive
Paramount Streaming (formerly CBS Digital Media Group, CBS Interactive, ViacomCBS Streaming), a division of Paramount Global, oversees the company’s streaming technology and offers direct-to-consumer services, free, premium and pay. These inc ...
in November 2011, alleging copyright infringement due to the
CNET website having editorially covered infringing uses of peer-to-peer file-sharing software.
In June 2013, David filed a countersuit against the four networks seeking a ruling that providing Internet technology for receiving over-the-air broadcast signals at no charge does not violate broadcasters' copyrights.
In April 2019 a jury decided David should pay $11 million in damages to a woman who accused him of sexual assault, including $8 million in punitive damages and $3 million in compensatory damages. The woman accused David of firing her after she turned down his sexual advances and alleged he groped her in the workplace. Her complaint also accused him of showing lewd photos to employees and hiring a stripper in the workplace.
In 2019 the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...
filed complaints claiming David "engaged in a fraudulent scheme to induce the investing public to buy securities of Hologram and its subsidiary in unlawfully unregistered offerings, through materially false and misleading representations" in violation of the Securities Act of 1933. David was ordered to pay $100,000 in fines and was enjoined from being an officer in publicly held companies for a period of five years.
In 2019, David was arrested at the airport in St Kitts and Nevis for possession of over EC$1.3 million worth of cannabis after a search of his private jet.
["Arrested billionaire investor wanted to start cannabis business in Dominica," DNO, 15 May 2019 https://dominicanewsonline.com/news/homepage/news/arrested-billionaire-investor-wanted-to-start-cannabis-business-dominica/ See also: https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2019/05/jonathan-rhys-meyer-alki-david-cannabis-plants-private-jet-st-kitts]
Filmography
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:David, Alki
1968 births
Alumni of Institut Le Rosey
Greek billionaires
Living people
People from Lagos
People from Beverly Hills, California
People educated at Stowe School