Floyd Mayweather, Mayweather Promotions, boxing executive Al Haymon and eight others have been sued for nearly $6 million over ticket sales from Mayweather's exhibition bout vs. Logan Paul in June of last year. The lawsuit was filed in California state court and the plaintiff is an entity named Yogi Securities Holdings LLC acting through its executive, Joseph Englanoff. None of the other eight defendants are familiar names in the boxing world. The Yogi executive, Englanoff, claims to be personal friends with Mayweather "for over three years, often socializing with each other both in Los Angeles at Englanoff's home and in Las Vegas at Mayweather's home." Mayweather is accused, along with another defendant, Jona Rechnitz, of soliciting Englanoff to invest in tickets for the Mayweather-Paul exhibition, which took place in Miami Gardens, Florida on June 6th. Boxingtalk has reviewed the lawsuit, and although Mayweather and Haymon are accused of improperly profiting from the scam, they do not appear to have dealt personally with Englanoff in the alleged conversion of the $1.4 million investment made through Englanoff's company. However, the lawsuit shines an unflattering light on a hidden industry where tickets to live boxing events are resold to fans at prices well above face value with fans receiving little opportunity to purchase at the listed price.
One of the other defendants allegedly involved with Mayweather in selling the tickets has an unsavory past. According to the New York Times, in 2019, Jona Rechnitz was arrested on corruption charges in New York and became a cooperating witness. His testimony led to the conviction of several officials, but he was sentenced to five months in prison plus five months of house arrest in 2019. The Times report indicated Jona Rechnitz also received three years of parole, so this lawsuit could expose him to charges of a parole violation. A separate Times story reported that in 2016, Jona Rechnitz plead guilty to fraud conspiracy charges over his role in a government corruption case.
The lawsuit alleges breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, negligent misrepresentation and conversion.
According to Englanoff's complaint (which is merely his side of the story, not evidence):
Englanoff was offered the right to invest in a large quantity of Mayweather-Paul tickets at face value, which were to be resold to boxing fans at higher prices. A deal was reached and Englanoff invested a total of $1.4 million, which he claims to have wired to Mayeather and Mayweather Promotions. The deal, according to Englanoff, was that when the tickets were resold, Englanoff's money would be returned off the top, and the profits then split 75/25 between Mayweather and Haymon on the 75% end and Englanoff on the 25% end.
The Complaint alleges that by "June 13, 2021 [a week after the fight], no money was paid by any defendants in spite of [Englanoff's]’ demands and queries [...] Consequently, defendants were in breach of the agreement. When Englanoff continued to demand his money, he was told it had been reinvested in a similar deal for the Manny Pacquiao vs. Yordenis Ugas fight scheduled for August 21, 2021. Englanoff was promised by Rechnitz (not Mayweather of Haymon) that because they were late with his money, Englanoff would receive at least $5 million back. The excuses continued, and the defendants kept changing the deal, alleges the lawsuit, with Englanoff receiving only $100,000 back in late July.
By August, Englanoff says he was provided with an e-mail that promised him $4.88 million, plus further profits from Ugas-Pacquiao ticket sales that he would receive in September. After Ugas-Pacquiao revenues were calculated, the full amount promised to Englanoff was allegedly $5,743,000, and Englanoff was told (again by Rechnitz) that the money would be coming from Haymon. Another $100,000 was paid to Englanoff, but not the balance. When Englanoff complained, he was told his money was being re-invested in ticket sales for Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder III, which was held in October.
Eventually, Englanoff got tired of the delays and broken promises of repayment, so he hired an attorney and filed suit in California state court. The full list of defendants is: Floyd Mayweather, Mayweather Promotions, Al Haymon, Jona Rechnitz, Robert Rechnitz, JSR Holdings, LLC, Alan "Avi" Golombeck, Abraham Zev Golombeck, Agol Holdings, LLC, Ayal Frist and Stateland Brown, LLC.
