PLATINUM EQUITY is a Beverly Hills-based private equity firm run by Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores. The firm owns Securus, one of the largest prison telecom corporations in the country. Securus extracts more than $700 million every year from millions of people struggling to maintain contact with loved ones behind bars, much of which is funneled by into law enforcement through corporate kickbacks. It also employs threatening surveillance products and practices, including call recording and voice biometrics, and has, in past, illegally location tracked incarcerated people and the loved ones they communicate with.
CAMPAIGN History
Platinum Equity acquired Securus in November 2017 for $1.6 billion. Almost immediately, Platinum Equity sought to acquire another major prison telecom corporation: ICSolutions. But in April 2019, the acquisition was blocked by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) after it agreed with Worth Rises and other criminal justice advocates who argued that the deal was not in the public’s interest.
The blocked deal pushed Platinum Equity to engage with Worth Rises. We spent ten months in meetings and calls, discussing operational reforms with little progress to show. At the same time, Platinum Equity was fundraising its next flagship fund, so we met with their investors too. We focused on three of their largest investors and made headway with each. Eventually, the Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System denied Platinum Equity a $150 million investment due to their ownership of Securus.
By fall 2019, amid an onslaught of bad media, Securus’ valuation plummeted with its first lien debt trading at a 32 percent discount at its low and second lien debt trading even lower. Platinum Equity responded desperately with an aggressive public image campaign, including a corporate restructuring under a new holding company: Aventiv Technologies.
In November 2019, our conversation continued and Platinum Equity founder and CEO Tom Gores agreed to meet with directly impacted families facilitated by Worth Rises. But after months of planning, in January 2020, he cancelled the meeting. Shortly after, Aventiv announced a vague transformation agenda and Platinum Equity abruptly ended conversations with advocates. We were left with no choice but to escalate our advocacy against Aventiv, Platinum Equity, and Gores.
Things took a turn in March 2020, when the pandemic changed the world. Media attention was diverted and the suspension of visits at prisons and jails drove the use of Aventiv’ products and services. The pandemic helped Aventiv bounce back, driving a 10 percent increase in revenue year-over-year. In other words, as families were struggling financially and emotionally, Aventiv and Platinum Equity were raking it in.
So, in September 2020, we called on the board of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) to remove Gores in light of his prison profiteering. Hundreds of renown artists, collectors, art journalists, and others from the art world joined the effort by issuing their own demand letter for his resignation. Despite his protest, in just 29 days, the board forced Gores to resign.
Shortly after, in December 2020, we called on the National Basketball Association (NBA) to force Gores to sell the Detroit Pistons unless he divests from Securus. Gores is now fighting to retain his ownership, asking for patience and pushing the same lies he gave the LACMA board to league executive.
Then, in October 2021, Bloomberg leaked the news that Platinum Equity is looking to offload Aventiv in a SPAC merger with Atlantic Avenue Acquisition Corp (NYSE: ASAQ). We are in the process of meeting with the SPAC managers and major investors.
Who is Tom Gores?
TOM GORES is the Detroit Pistons owner and billionaire founder and CEO of Platinum Equity, a private equity firm that owns one of the largest, most predatory prison telecom corporations in the U.S. — Securus.
Through Securus, Tom Gores exploits millions of incarcerated people and their loved ones by routinely charging as much as $15 for a 15-minute phone call. Securus price-gouges families struggling to stay in touch with an incarcerated loved one, who are disproportionately Black and Brown, causing one in three into debt. The pandemic and economic fallout has worsened this abuse as prisons and jails have suspended visits, limiting family contact to costly calls.