In this instance and the instance with Roc Nation
Jay Z’s Roc Nation Sports hit with $20 million lawsuit as boxing promoters claim agency tried to steal client
$20M suit claims Jay Z's agency tried to steal client
BY
Mitch Abramson
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Saturday, August 1, 2015, 1:54 AM
Demetrius Andrade (r.) hasn’t fought since last June’s bout at Barclays Center.
(Ken Goldfield/(Ken Goldfield for Ny Daily News)
Mitch Abramson
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Saturday, August 1, 2015, 1:54 AM
Jay Z and his new boxing agency attempted to lure away a rising young boxing star with promises of fame and fortune even though he was signed with rival promoters, a new lawsuit claims.
The Bronx-based promoter Joe DeGuardia of Star Boxing and Artie Pelullo of Banner Promotions filed a $20 million suit on Wednesday in New York State Supreme court alleging that Jay Z’s Roc Nation Sports “intentionally interfered with an Exclusive Promotional Agreement” it has with world champion Demetrius Andrade.
According to a copy of a complaint obtained by the Daily News, Jay Z’s Roc Nation Sports offered to give Andrade $550,000 to reject a fight DeGuardia and Pelullo had negotiated with Showtime under the guise that Roc Nation would buy out his contract and become his new promoter.
The suit adds that Andrade pulled out of the Showtime deal, but the former WBO junior middleweight champion never received the money he was promised by Roc Nation, which also never purchased his contract from DeGuardia and Pelullo. Making matters worse, Andrade was stripped of his WBO title on Friday for inactivity.
Roc Nation Sports declined comment on Thursday.
The suit also names D.C. attorney Jeffrey Fried, alleging he is a former consultant with Roc Nation and was involved in the power play to help Roc Nation sign Andrade.
Sold on the vision of Jay Z and thinking he would become a crossover star like other Roc Nation clients, Andrade rejected the fight deal that DeGuardia and Pelullo worked out with Showtime for him, according to the complaint.
Desiree Perez, one of Jay Z’s confidants, was allegedly part of a group selling Demetrius Andrade on opportunities outside of the ring with Roc Nation Sports.
(Corey Sipkin/New York Daily News)
Rhode Island’s Andrade (21-0, 14 knockouts) has not fought since June of last year at Barclays Center.
The suit says that Roc Nation and Fried “acted willfully, maliciously, recklessly, wantonly and with intent to injure Star Boxing and Banner Promotions,” which co-promotes Andrade.
They are seeking two causes of actions totaling “at least” $20 million in damages as well as punitive damages, the suit says.
“Roc Nation’s promise to Andrade was made under false pretenses, namely, that Roc Nation was negotiating to purchase Andrade’s contract from the promoters and thereafter would negotiate a more lucrative bout for Andrade on HBO,” the lawsuit says. “Ultimately, Andrade agreed to Roc Nation’s false inducements and spurned the professional boxing match the promoters had negotiated with Showtime.”
According to the suit, Roc Nation rolled out a full-court press on Andrade to get him to leave his promoters.
On Sept. 23, 2014, Roc Nation’s higher-ups — Jay Z confidante Desiree Perez, president of Roc Nation Sports Juan Perez, head of marketing/branding Michael Yormark, Fried and head of Roc Nation boxing David Itskowitch — allegedly met with Andrade and his father, as well as manager Ed Farris, at their ritzy Manhattan offices.
At the meeting, Roc Nation tried to impress upon Andrade his untapped out-of-the-ring potential in the areas of a clothing-line endorsement, advertising sponsorships and even modeling assignments, the suit says.
Jay Z's Roc Nation Sports boasts a roster of some A-list talent.
(Gregory Pace/FilmMagic)
The suit alleges that Roc Nation officials told Andrade they wanted to make him the first signing of their newly created boxing division, which opened in the summer of 2014.
“We look forward and would be honored to work with him and have him be the boxer to bless our boxing division by being first,” Desiree Perez allegedly wrote in an email to Farris on Sept. 24, 2014, according to the suit.
When told Andrade already had promotional representation, Fried said he planned to contact DeGuardia and Pelullo about purchasing his promotional rights and it was represented to Farris that up to $2 million would be paid to accomplish this, according to the suit.
Then, sometime in November of 2014, the suit alleges, Fried told Harris that Jay Z had personally signed off on giving Andrade $550,000 to reject an offer by DeGuardia and Pelullo for Andrade to fight Jermell Charlo on Dec. 13, 2014, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas as part of a lucrative four-fight deal with Showtime.
The suit alleges that Fried informed Andrade’s manager that Roc Nation was already “negotiating with senior HBO executives” about Andrade fighting on the rival network and that once Roc Nation became his full-time promoter a deal would be worked out allowing Andrade “a lesser opponent for more money” on HBO.
Farris and Andrade ended up passing up the Showtime deal as a result of his dealings with Roc Nation, the complaint says. The suit claims that neither Roc Nation nor Fried ever tendered Andrade the $550,000 even after he pulled out of the Dec. 13 fight. Moreover, no serious efforts were ever made to purchase his promotional contract from DeGuardia and Pelullo, the suit says.
$20M suit claims Jay Z's agency tried to steal client
You know Demetrius, most people probably haven't seen you and don't know why you've been gone for so long. I mean, I heard kind of what happened and I think the last thing people heard was you and Jermell Charlo were trying to fight last December and it didn't happen. Can you just explain to everybody just what were some of the circumstances that prevented you from being in the ring the last 16 months?
DA: Yeah, I mean, you can read everything on the lawsuit and everything about that is true. I was going to fight Jermell or Jermall, whichever one of them it was, it doesn't matter. I was going to fight one of those guys. I did agree to fight them, but then a situation came up with Roc Nation where I was going to be bought out and for me not to take that fight. I'm looking at it like, I'm talking to the billion dollar man now. I'm talking to a man that his caliber of celebrity and promoting things is everywhere. So me as a person, knowing that I'm here with Jay-Z, the face of Roc Nation, and he's telling me he wants me to be on his squad and his team. And all the opportunities that come with it, like I said, the marketing and exposure and him putting his own cards up, I'm looking at it like, "Yeah, that's a good move. Why not?" He does do shows and has plugs with networks like HBO. He had just done the Kevin Durant special on HBO [The Offseason]. That avenue brings more than just boxing. It brings you the level that's going to make you a superstar.
But I don't know what happened. Things ain't go through. And after that, I went ahead and told Showtime and my promoters, "Let's make that [Charlo] fight happen," and I signed the contract. I showed proof that I signed it in January and he ran off and didn't sign it. So who really pulled out the fight? When people mention pulling out, they know why I refused to take the fight in December, but it wasn't because I didn't want to fight the kid. It was because of the situation at hand and it didn't go well, so I was like, you know what, let's just make the fight happen. He went and fought Vanes Martirosyan, which I thought was a close fight. It probably could've went either way, but I thought Vanes won the fight. My promoters then weren't able to get the Mundine fight I was trying to get. The Liam Smith fight, before he fought John Thompson, that was another option, but that didn't go through. I think there was a story about me moving up to 160 and that wasn't true. So just a lot of bullshyt that went on out there that's not true and someone had to take the blame for it, so of course that had to be me. We're just happy to get back in the ring and let them know why I'm the best 154-pounder out there. Why these other guys at 154, so called the best, haven't made an offer or stepped to me and make the fight happen just like they do with everybody else. Like [Erislandy] Lara goes on to go fight Delvin Rodriguez, but he can't fight Demetrius Andrade when I called him out.
DEMETRIUS ANDRADE OPENS UP ON RING RETURN, ROC NATION LAWSUIT, AND MORE: "A SETBAK IS ANOTHER DOOR OPENING" || FIGHTHYPE.COM
Just a lot of bad luck for him outside the ring. He just needs to sign to either GBP, TR, PBC, or About Billions and call it a day imo. At least he will get more fight opportunities and bigger money
....Khan was agressive af... Suffering Succotash please fight like Khan 
playbook....talk all that real Walterweight shyt tho but dance on the small guy....judges will love that
