Mega agent Rich Paul, who represents LeBron James and is dating Adele, and his Klutch Sports Group are being sued for allegedly not paying at least $4.9 million owed to a former agent, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Veteran sports agent Mark Termini filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Ohio district court alleging Paul breached his contract by not paying him the multi-million dollar sum for deals he negotiated, including James’ $154 million contract with the Lakers in 2018, per the report.
Termini’s website claims he “ran the contract negotiations for Klutch Sports Group and all of its NBA clients” and generated more than $1.4 billion in deals while working with Paul.
A Klutch Sports Group spokesperson downplayed the lawsuit to Sportico.
“This lawsuit is inaccurate and misguided and will be addressed in the proper forum,” the individual told the outlet.
The lawsuit alleges that Termini had been asked in 2012 to aid Klutch Sports as it started, aiding in contract negotiations and other services as an independent contractor, per The Hollywood Reporter.
Termini claims on his website to have negotiated more than $2 billion in contracts in his career, including pacts with Ben Simmons, Draymond Green and John Wall.
He writes that he came up with the “one plus one” contract strategy upon James’ return to Cleveland in 2014, which allowed him to earn $19 million more than if he had signed a longer contract.
The parties outlined a deal where he would receive 25 percent of their fees for NBA or marketing deals, and he would be paid “upon the signing by the Client of the underlying playing or endorsement,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Termini conducted all details of the contractual monetary discussions with the NBA teams and instructed KSG and Paul in every aspect of the execution of the negotiations, including when to release information to the media, what to explain to Clients regarding negotiation strategies, and when to engage or not engage with a Team,” the lawsuit alleges.
Paul is alleged to have started shorting Temini on owed fees in 2018, along with hiring third-party services that should have been assigned to Temini, hiding certain contracts to avoid having to pay and inaccurately calculating certain fees regarding extensions and renewals, according to the report.
The Klutch head “refused to accept the reduced rates,” per Sportico.
This is not the first time Klutch has been faced with a lawsuit, with former veteran center Nerlen Noels suing in 2021 for allegedly not providing full services, per The Hollywood Reporter.
