Who she is

Kristen J. Frohnhoefer is the President of Sea Tow Services International and, with her brother, one of the two principals running the company their father founded. Court documents indicate she has been involved in franchise termination decisions and operational matters, and Florida records list her as an officer or manager of the family entities H2FRO, Inc. and KJF, LLC.

The representation

“She has no knowledge of this case beyond my own, and has had no involvement.”Sea Tow court filing · Document 305-14, page 2

Sit with that for a moment. The President of the plaintiff company — a company that chose to file a $1.5 million federal lawsuit and has prosecuted it for six years — is represented to the Court as having no knowledge of the litigation. As far as we know, one of two things must be true: either that representation was accurate, which raises profound questions about who actually runs Sea Tow and what the office of President means there; or it was not accurate, which raises a different and considerably sharper set of questions. We do not claim to know which. That is what sworn testimony is for.

What the dispatches have reported

Hornswaggled’s reporting, drawn from filings and franchisee accounts, has described allegations that would sit uneasily beside “no knowledge”: participation in franchise terminations; a vehicle title signed as “President” of a company in which, per the filings, she held no office; and the announcement of a credit-card surcharge at a national franchisee meeting that at least one captain stood up to challenge on legality — and, per that account, was removed from the room for his trouble. These are allegations and franchisee accounts, not findings. We frame them, as always, as questions awaiting answers under oath.

Questions we’d ask under oath

Q.01 — Sea Tow’s counsel represented to the Court that you have “no knowledge” of this litigation. Is that representation accurate?

Q.02 — Have you ever signed corporate documents — termination notices, title documents, financial representations — that you now believe may have been inaccurate?

Q.03 — As President of a company a federal judge has found charges what “fits comfortably within” the definition of a franchise fee, what steps have you taken on New York Franchise Sales Act registration?