A Maryland couple has sued a Boca Raton vending machine company and its chief executive, alleging the firm sold them an unregistered security disguised as a turnkey business opportunity, then failed to deliver most of what they paid for. Matthew and Laura Labovich, of Montgomery County, Maryland, say they handed over $135,000 for five NekoDrop vending machines but received only two, while the company that promised to run everything for them now says the venture is no longer financially viable.
The Laboviches filed suit against Alexander Pirrie and DFY Vending, LLC on August 25 in the Circuit Court of the 15th Judicial Circuit in and for Palm Beach County, according to a review of the complaint by Boca Post. The case, titled Labovich v. Pirrie and numbered 50-2026-CA-009608-XXXA-MB, has been designated to the streamline track and assigned to the circuit civil central division, with a non-jury trial order already entered and no answer or other defense filing yet on the docket, which currently lists five entries. A $401 filing fee was collected the same day the complaint was filed.
A $135,000 Pitch for Passive Income
According to the complaint, the relationship began in December 2025, when DFY Vending representative Tyler Dick pitched Laura Labovich on what he called white-glove service for NekoDrop machines. Days later, on December 30, the couple signed a vending services agreement listing five NekoDrop machines at $27,000 each, a total that court records describe as $135,000, though the same filing elsewhere references the machines as priced at approximately $150,000. DFY Vending required a minimum purchase of five machines and told the couple, per the lawsuit, that the company would do everything for them under its stated motto, “You invest. We execute.”
Court filings describe DFY Vending as a Delaware limited liability company that markets smart vending machines to customers it describes as investors, placing and managing the machines on their behalf. The agreement the Laboviches signed guaranteed a minimum of $2,500 net on a cumulative 90-day average or a full refund, and set a 31 percent royalty on gross revenue for DFY Vending. Court records show the agreement was signed on DFY Vending's behalf by David Bateman. Alexander Pirrie, also known as Ben Pirrie, is identified in the complaint as DFY Vending's chief executive officer, and the filing alleges, on information and belief, that the company's principal place of business is in Boca Raton, Florida.
Only Two of Five Machines Installed
DFY Vending installed just two of the five machines, placing them in two different shopping malls, and never installed the remaining three, according to the complaint. The Laboviches say they kept paying rent, inventory costs, Wi-Fi, and insurance for the two operating machines even as the rest of the deal stalled, obligations the lawsuit says extended to third-party leases the couple had signed on DFY Vending's word. The suit alleges that Pirrie and DFY Vending knew the company could not perform on its promises while the couple continued covering those expenses.
The complaint further alleges that the defendants failed to disclose DFY Vending's financial condition during the December 2025 solicitation that led to the deal. Pirrie is quoted in the filing as having said, in December 2025, that DFY's royalty structure gave the company a financial stake in machine performance. By July 22, 2026, Pirrie emailed customers that DFY Vending had begun winding down, and the company has since stated that the venture is no longer financially viable.
The Unregistered Security Claim
At the center of the lawsuit is a legal argument that the vending agreement was not simply an equipment purchase but an unregistered security. The complaint alleges that DFY Vending and Pirrie sold the Laboviches an unregistered security and that it was sold without registration or an applicable exemption. That theory rests on the Howey test, the U.S. Supreme Court standard from SEC v. W.J. Howey Co. holding that a contract qualifies as an investment contract, and therefore a security, when an investor puts money into a common enterprise expecting profits generated primarily by someone else's managerial efforts, according to Cummings & Lockwood.
If the agreement is found to meet that standard, Florida Statute Section 517.211 entitles purchasers of unregistered securities to full rescission of the transaction, recovery of the money paid plus legal interest, and a mandatory award of reasonable attorney's fees to the prevailing party, according to the Online Sunshine statutory text. The lawsuit includes a rescission claim under that statute alongside a fraud-in-the-inducement claim, and the complaint contains no jury demand. The Laboviches are seeking the full $135,000 plus interest, unwinding of the agreement, and compensatory damages, attorney's fees, and costs. They are represented by Eric N. Assouline and Andres J. Caldera of Assouline & Berlowe, P.A., a Boca Raton firm.
Foreign Registration and Broader Scrutiny
The complaint separately alleges that DFY Vending is not registered to do business in Florida despite its Boca Raton operations. Under Florida Statute Section 605.0902, any foreign limited liability company must obtain a certificate of authority from the Florida Department of State before transacting business in the state, a requirement that leaves unregistered foreign LLCs facing administrative penalties and restricted access to Florida courts. Separately, the Federal Trade Commission's Business Opportunity Rule, found at 16 CFR Part 437, requires sellers of turnkey business opportunities like vending machine operations offering location assistance to give buyers a standardized disclosure document at least seven calendar days before any contract is signed or payment accepted, according to the federal regulatory record.
Florida law imposes a parallel state-level requirement: under the Florida Sale of Business Opportunities Act, sellers marketing business opportunities in the state must register with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and provide detailed pre-sale disclosures on costs, earnings claims, and refund policies, a framework that also allows purchasers to cancel contracts within three business days of signing if the seller falls short. It is unclear whether DFY Vending had registered under that framework at the time of the Laboviches' purchase.
The Palm Beach County case is not the only legal fight facing DFY Vending. A separate lawsuit, DFY Vending LLC v. David Bateman, case number 2026-07478, was brought in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas in Pennsylvania, though the dossier does not detail its claims. Public posts on Reddit from December 2024 alleged that third-party contractors hired to service DFY Vending machines were owed unpaid debts, including a reported $35,000 balance owed to one service contractor, suggesting operational strain well before the company's July 2026 wind-down email to customers.
A Marketing Pitch Built on Scale
DFY Vending's own website in 2025 promoted a much larger operation than the Laboviches' experience would suggest, claiming more than 380 successful machine installations, 45 commercial partners, and an internal team of over 30 industry experts handling location analytics, delivery, profit-and-loss monitoring, and product sourcing for items like Hot Wheels and NekoDrop collectibles. That scale of promised passive-income infrastructure fits a broader pattern regulators have flagged for decades; the Federal Trade Commission's historical “Operation Vend Up Broke” sweep resulted in more than 40 enforcement actions against deceptive vending machine business opportunity promoters nationwide.
Florida lawmakers have also moved to tighten oversight of unregistered securities offerings. Amendments to Chapter 517 of the Florida Statutes that took effect in late 2024 lowered the registration threshold for investment advisors to six Florida-resident clients and refined institutional investor definitions to better align state oversight with federal standards, according to DarrowEverett LLP. Demand for turnkey vending has nonetheless kept growing; a July 2025 market research report projected the global retail vending machine market to reach $104.8 billion by 2034, even as high startup costs and regulatory compliance remain persistent challenges for independent operators.
As it stands, the allegations in the Laboviches' complaint have not been proven in court, and DFY Vending has not filed an answer or other response. The outcome may hinge on whether a judge agrees that the couple's five-machine purchase functioned less like buying equipment and more like investing in a fund managed entirely by someone else.
