UPDATE, APRIL 17, 2:11 PM: Les Moonves has settled his debts with the City of Los Angeles, at least financially.
29.03.2024 - 02:15 / deadline.com
In all of the exorbitant fallout from Michael Kassan’s exit from UTA earlier this month even the lawyers are getting shrapnel now.
Following aarticle of March 25 in which the agency’s outside counsel Bryan Freeman called the ex-MediaLink CEO a “pathological liar,” Kassan is now aiming his ire at the Hollywood heavyweight attorney to the tune of $125 million. If the sum sounds familiar, it’s because it is the exact amount that UTA bought strategic advisory firm MediaLink for in a handshake deal back in December 2021.
The jury trial seeking defamation suit (read it here) filed today in LA Superior Court cuts pretty fast to the chase, as you can see here:
Knowing that Kassan’s profession consists of providing important strategic advice to the largest companies in the world, on behalf of his clients, Freedman took aim at the heart of Kassan’s livelihood and profession and engaged in a sharp-shooting character assassination plan to further the scheme of trying to create a non-compete by defamation. Specifically, Freedman “proclaimed2” to a reporter at Deadline that Kassan compulsively and repeatedly lies because Kassan has the clinical pathology of a mental disease – a “pathological liar.” This statement was made as if it was relaying a fact. This statement by Freedman was malicious and intentional. Stated another way, a non-compete by defamation. Freedman did not just say this to a few people, he said it to countless people via Deadline article so he could inflict maximum damage. Freedman is not just a sophisticated lawyer and knew what he was doing was illegal but has also been a party to litigation in the past and understands what this strategy could do to a person’s reputation. Freedman broke the law by defaming
UPDATE, APRIL 17, 2:11 PM: Les Moonves has settled his debts with the City of Los Angeles, at least financially.
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