The following e-filed documents, listed by NYSCEF document number (Motion 006) 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 127, 130, 143, 145, 146, 147, 148, 160, 170 were read on this motion to/for DISMISS. The following e-filed documents, listed by NYSCEF document number (Motion 009) 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 129, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 159, 171 were read on this motion to/for DISMISS. The following e-filed documents, listed by NYSCEF document number (Motion 010) 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 144, 161, 168, 169, 172 were read on this motion to/for DISMISS. DECISION + ORDER ON MOTION The court consolidates motion sequences numbered 006, 009, and 010 for disposition. This action involves a dispute between the owners of a chain of women’s luxury retail clothing stores and the people and entities that produce and present The Profit, a business-themed reality television series that appears on CNBC.1 Defendant Marcus Lemonis (Lemonis) is the host (amended complaint, 4). Plaintiff Nicholas Goureau (Goureau) is a cofounder and majority shareholder of plaintiff Gooberry Corporation (Gooberry) (id. 17). Plaintiff Stephanie Menkin (Menkin) is a cofounder and minority shareholder of Gooberry (id. 8). Gooberry is a privately held New York corporation that maintains its principal place of business in Manhattan (id. 19). Plaintiffs allege that nominal defendant ML Fashion, LLC (ML Fashion) is a privately held Delaware limited liability company that maintains its principal place of business in Manhattan (id. 20). Plaintiffs allege that Lemonis is a domiciliary of Illinois, an investor, the owner of defendants Marcus Lemonis, LLC (ML, LLC) and ML Retail, LLC (ML Retail), and the “featured business fiduciary advisor of CNBC’s reality show, The Profit” (id. 21). Lemonis is the manager, chairman, and chief executive officer of ML Fashion and owns a 33.34 percent interest in ML Fashion through his wholly owned entity, ML Retail (id.).2 Defendant Roberta Raffel, also known as Bobbi Lemonis (Raffel), is a resident of Illinois (id. 24) (Raffel, with Lemonis, ML Retail, ML, LLC, and MLG Retail, are collectively referred to as ML Defendants). Machete Corp. (Machete) is a California corporation that maintains its principal place of business in California (id. 26). Plaintiffs identify Machete as the company CNBC hired to produce The Profit. Plaintiffs allege that Machete, as NBCU’s coconspirator, was engaged “to create a show wherein they direct their employee, Marcus Lemonis, to run roughshod over unsuspecting business owners” (id. 33). Background Underlying Allegations Goureau and Menkin opened their first women’s clothing store, named Courage.B, in 2008 (id. 1).3 By 2014, plaintiffs had grown their business, opening six more stores in affluent, competitive markets (id. 2), and had begun looking for outside investors to help them “take the next step as a company” (id.
3-4). During their search for investors, plaintiffs learned about The Profit, a show that claimed to put “small, struggling businesses in touch with a business guru who could change their lives,” and applied to appear on the program (id.
