Rome LLP secured a $9.4 million jury verdict for client Ashtel Studios, Inc. in a fraud case over an unpaid, pandemic-era order of one million boxes of nitrile examination gloves. The Los Angeles Daily Journal covered the win in “Jury awards $9.4M in pandemic-era medical glove fraud case” and logistics journal FreightWaves covered the case in “Jury hits Wyoming logistics broker with $9.4M fraud verdict.”
On October 9, 2026, a Los Angeles County jury found Oak Sourcing & Logistics, LLC and its managing member, Matthew John Sandvig, liable for fraud, and found Oak Sourcing liable on an open book account. The jury awarded Ashtel $9,397,000 in economic damages, found by clear and convincing evidence that Sandvig acted with malice, oppression, or fraud, and rejected Oak Sourcing’s cross-claims. After the verdict, the defendants agreed to waive any post-trial motions or appeal of the fraud and open book account verdict in exchange for Ashtel dropping its pursuit of punitive damages. The case, Ashtel Studios, Inc. v. Sandvig, et al. (Case No. 22LBCV00191), was tried before Judge Nicole M. Heeseman.
At trial, Ashtel demonstrated that in March 2021, Sandvig told Ashtel CEO Anish Patel that Oak Sourcing held an $800 million contract, needed millions of boxes of gloves each month for long-term agreements, and had bank credit lines and a parent company funding its purchases, among other statements. Relying that those guarantees were made in good faith, Ashtel agreed to supply Oak Sourcing with the product and issued an order for the gloves from their own supplier, costing Ashtel millions. In July 2021, Oak Sourcing issued a $9.5 million purchase order, and Ashtel shipped the gloves from China to the Port of Long Beach in 27 containers. Oak Sourcing never took custody of the containers or paid for them. Ashtel later learned the company was a broker selling to another broker, with no long-term contracts, and resold the gloves to limit its losses.
“While large transactions create the prospects of substantial profits, they equally entail traps for the unwary,” Founding partner Eugene Rome shares with FreightWaves.
Ashtel filed suit in 2022. The case involved extensive discovery disputes, the appointment of a discovery referee, and court-ordered sanctions against the defendants for failing to produce documents.
A separate bench trial on alter ego claims against additional parties is expected.
“Our client is finally validated in its nearly five-year effort to achieve justice,” Eugene tells Los Angeles Daily Journal.
“There is nothing more gratifying than seeing our client’s perseverance rewarded with the justice it deserves,” Sridavi Ganesan, Rome LLP partner and Eugene’s co-counsel for this trial, emphasizes.
Ashtel was represented by Rome LLP attorneys Eugene Rome, Sridavi Ganesan, Liz Rocha and Courtney E. Ballard Searcy.
Read full FreightWaves article here.
Read full Los Angeles Daily Journal article here (subscription required).
About Rome LLP
Rome LLP is a boutique law firm in Los Angeles offering a spectrum of legal services to businesses facing complex legal challenges. Our experienced team of attorneys is dedicated to securing excellent results on behalf of clients across industries in a wide range of matters at an international level, from business and commercial litigation, domain name litigation, IP and trade secrets, FTC investigations and enforcement defense, payment processing and fintech disputes, as well as matters involving cryptocurrency and blockchain projects. For more information, visit the Rome LLP website.
