Archie CEOs Settle Lawsuit, Though Drama Continues

Following months of litigation amid a heap of rumors and innuendo, the battle between the two Archie Comics CEOS has ended, with Nancy Silberkleit and Jon Goldwater settling their feud in court.The details of the legal settlement between Silberkleit and Goldwater that ended the publisher's sexual harassment lawsuit against Silberkleit from last July are being kept confidential, but in an unexpected development, the three nieces of Goldwater -- who are beneficiaries of a trust that controls a percentage of Archie Comics -- have complained that both Silberkleit and Goldwater's "hands are dirty," adding that the settlement is little more than the end result of "two directors who have been stealing from the company, or aiding and abetting each other's theft."

Silberkleit and Goldwater are both daughter-in-law and son, respectively, of Archie Comic Publication's two founders, and have been co-CEOs of the company since 2009; Silberkleit controls 50 percent of the company, while Goldwater controls 25 percent, with the remaining 25 percent being held in the trust of Lisa, Taylor and Summer Goldwater, Jon Goldwater's nieces.

Details of the settlement between the two CEOs were kept secret even from the nieces, who urged the court not to accept the deal until they had a chance to approve it themselves; Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Shirley Kornreich rejected the complaint, and suggested that "if the Goldwater estate wants to go forward with its own lawsuit, it can get relief that way." That, it seems, was all that the trust's attorney needed to hear; after that statement was made, Charles W. Grimes, the attorney acting on behalf of the trust, said that he "will be pursuing the requisite steps to protect the interests of the trust and its beneficiaries."

And you thought that the ongoing dramas between Archie, Betty and Veronica were confusing...