NBA superstar Kyrie Irving is being sued for nearly $400,000 by a health and wellness company that claims he failed to pay for its services.
Irving is said to have hired Elite Mind Solutions and therapist Natasha McCartney for a family retreat he was hosting for friends and family from June 28 to July 2 and had initially told them that it would be roughly 50-60 people in attendance, according to TMZ.
The number ballooned to 115 people in the days before the retreat and the suit alleges that 150 attendees ended up being present for the event.
The suit says that all the therapeutic exercises and sessions it was hired for were performed and when someone died at the event, McCartney provided crisis management services and grief counseling.
Invoices totaling $390,710 were sent to Irving but never paid, according to the lawsuit.
“After making direct contact with Kyrie Irving and his associates, Mr. Irving put it all off on his supporting cast,” attorney Michael Faragalla, who is representing McCartney, told The Independent. “He even failed to pick up the phone and call Natasha McCartney, so he didn’t make any effort to resolve [the situation] prior to the actual filing [of the lawsuit]. Of course, he had an attorney retained, and of course, his manager and his agent got involved and made several insulting offers, but Kyrie Irving himself never personally tried to make amends.”
Additional details about the suit reported by The Independent claimed that on June 30 “the program and retreat came to a stop due to the tragic death of a participant during the event” and that McCartney was retained for “crisis management and bereavement services.”
She “retained the security services of [her] husband… a retired NYPD Internal Affairs Detective 1st Grade from the Internal Affairs Division, to manage the situation and coordinate intervention with state officers,” the lawsuit claims, according to The Independent.
The suit also claimed that she was a “liaison between the family and North Dakota officers to secure the crime scene of the deceased family member.”
“She provided essential information to ensure that guests were not interrogated by [police], promptly facilitated the removal of Kyrie from the scene to avoid media exposure, and assisted the Coroner with preparations for the family viewing and transportation,” the suit also claimed.
Irving played four seasons for the Nets before he was traded to the Mavericks during the 2022-23 season.
He’s averaging 24.8 points per game and 5.6 assists for Dallas this season.
