ECR given chance to amend claims in $8.4 million lawsuit against former sponsors
Ed Carpenter Racing’s ongoing lawsuit against Milton “Todd” Ault and VForward2 continued this week, with the Court of Appeals of Indiana re-examining the lawsuit, which was dismissed by the Marion County Superior Court in October.
The lawsuit stems from an unsigned contract in 2024, in which ECR argues that Ault and his various companies, along with V-Forward, agreed to a deal worth $10 million for sponsorship in the 2024 IndyCar season. Despite no contract being signed — which ECR acknowledged through court procedures — the team placed logos from RiskOn, one of Ault’s companies, on its cars throughout the season with the belief that payment was on the way. ECR is suing for $8.4 million.
How ECR got here
ECR partnered with Ault’s companies, primarily Bitnile, for sponsorship during the 2022 and 2023 seasons. But in 2024, despite ECR alleging that Ault agreed to partner with the team again via emails, Ault provided no signature for a new contract that season.
“I sponsored the team for a couple years, and in 2024 I didn’t think I could really do much for that year,” Ault told Racer Magazine in May 2025 after the lawsuit was filed. “It was important to me that, ultimately, I had a path to ownership, and in its most simplistic form, they sold the team to someone else. And my deal was tied to the idea that I would have naming rights and I would have ownership, and basically, the team was sold to someone else.”
In September 2024, ECR announced that Ted Gelov had joined the team as a co-owner along with Ed Carpenter, Tony George and Stuart Reed.
ECR also sued VForward2, an LLC representing V-Forward, an Indianapolis marketing and advertising agency. V-Forward is owned by Fishers residents John and Suzanne Stewart, although ECR alleges that Ault had some ownership or control in the company, which Ault denied, and the court said ECR “offers no evidence to support its contention that Ault had some ownership or control of VForward2.”
The case was originally dismissed, with the Marion County Superior Court ruling that it had no personal jurisdiction over Ault, since he’s a Nevada resident and didn’t sign a contract with the Indianapolis-based team, and his companies were not “unjustly enriched” by ECR displaying their logos in 2024. It was dismissed on V-Forward’s behalf as the company was never contractually bound to ECR.
Monday’s ruling
Exactly eight months after the initial dismissal of the lawsuit, the Court of Appeals of Indiana corrected parts of the Marion County Superior Court’s ruling.
On Monday, the court confirmed that it has a lack of personal jurisdiction over Ault, as ECR “has failed to offer any evidence of minimum contacts or substantial connection of Ault to this state” and Ault “has met his burden of proving lack of jurisdiction by a preponderance of the evidence.”
However, the court ruled “a dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction is not an adjudication on the merits,” and felt that the trial court dismissed ECR’s complaint with prejudice. For that reason, the case was remanded for entry of the dismissal without prejudice.
The court affirmed that ECR failed to plead plausible claims against VForward2 under Trial Rule 12(B)(6), agreeing that ECR failed to “state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” But the court remanded the case to give ECR a chance to amend its claim against VForward2.
ECR, represented by Richard Kaufman, will have the chance to alter its claims against Ault and VForward2 as it seeks compensation for the 2024 season. The team declined to comment on Monday’s ruling.
Aftermath of 2024 mixup
Over the past two years, ECR’s primary sponsors on its full-time entries have been Splenda and Java House, which are both owned by Gelov’s Heartland Food Products Group.
The team has gone through a complete rebranding with a new logo and color scheme. The team also styles itself as ECR, rather than completely spelling out Ed Carpenter Racing, as it did in the past.
In early 2027, ECR is set to move from its northwest Indianapolis location to Westfield. ECR’s new 76,000-square-foot home will be in the Grand Park Sports Campus.
Ault’s business has remained in IndyCar following the 2024 dispute. Ault Blockchain, BitcoinMax, Only Bulls and askROI sponsorships have been on Dale Coyne Racing cars over the past two seasons. Ault Blockchain, BitcoinMax and Only Bulls are sponsors on Meyer Shank Racing cars this year.
Only Bulls is the new title sponsor of the Grand Prix of Portland (it was previously Bitnile, another one of Ault’s brands), and it is also the presenting sponsor of IndyCar Radio. In May, IndyCar announced that Only Bulls, an AI-powered digital wealth platform, is the official digital wallet of the series.
Zion Brown is IndyStar’s motorsports reporter. Follow him at @z10nbr0wn. Get IndyStar’s motor sports coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Motor Sports newsletter. Subscribe to the YouTube channel IndyStar TV: IndyCar for a behind-the-scenes look at IndyCar and expert analysis.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: ECR given chance to amend claims in $8.4 million lawsuit against former sponsors
