The last paragraph of this morning’s Bicycle Retailer update on the ongoing Trek Bicycles v. Greg LeMond case caught my eye. After discussing the status of the legal proceedings and how the case will probably only go before a judge in 2010, the author describes this curious development:
In an odd twist, an inmate at a federal prison in Williamsburg, South Carolina filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit in July, alleging that he and other inmates produce bikes for LeMond under the Federal Prison Industry Unicor Program for 12 cents an hour, a violation of minimum wage laws. The inmate also claimed LeMond bicycle are shipped to Iranian troops for training purposes, violating the “Training with Enemy” Act.
The article ends by saying that the judge denied the motion. This incident seems so random, though, that I’d love to hear how this inmate came to insert himself into this process. While I’m not an expert in federal prison labor law, his second claim about the Iranian troops seems plausible. Totally.
Would love to hear Mr. BikeSnobNYC‘s take on this.
News of the weird! wow, talk about random.
That IS odd.
But, it looks like snobby picked this up!
Federal contracting (DoD) type here. the center I work at buys food, clothing, medical supplies an some hardware items for troop issue. UNICOR aka FPI is huge, they make uniforms that our troops wear in Iraq. But is it April Fool’s Day? Wouldn’t that be ‘trading with the enemy?’ Inmate pun?
I have a feeling that this is coming from a certain Jonathan Lee Riches who is notorious for this kind of thing. If you think this lawsuit is weird, check out some of his others.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Lee_Riches
Why would the Iranian Troops buy LeMond Bikes when their National Team has a contract with Giant,and they get them for free? Always check the fact before you get carried away.