The former owner of the Riverfront Times is poised to pay $168,000 to settle a lawsuit stemming from his 2023 purchase of Sauce Magazine.
That’s according to a consent judgment filed last week in the suit brought by Sauce founder Allyson Mace against local media operator Chris Keating. In October 2023, Mace sold the food monthly to Keating, who at the time owned the Riverfront Times as well as a number of other alt-weeklies throughout the country. Keating agreed to pay Mace $479,000 for the magazine. After several payments, however, the checks to Mace stopped coming. In July 2025, she sued him for the remaining $168,000.
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That lawsuit was filed just weeks after Keating sold Sauce to a third owner, the local media company STL Bucketlist.
Court filings indicate that the parties agreed to meet for mediation in September. Whatever happened in that meeting is confidential, but last week both sides signed onto the judgment awarding Mace the full amount she had said she was owed.
“There are some occasions when those who don’t pay, not only have to pay, but the courts will make them pay,” says Mace’s attorney Al Watkins.
The consent judgment has not been signed by a judge, but that is expected to happen given that all parties in the case have already signed on. Once the judge does as well, Keating has 30 days to fork over the $168,000.
In addition to selling the Riverfront Times to its current, adult content-enthused owners in May 2024, Keating’s Big Lou Holdings more recently sold Cincinnati CityBeat—though its new owner appears to publish significantly more local news and less Only Fans-related material than the current riverfronttimes.com.
Keating’s attorney declined comment.
