Floyd Mayweather claims in a new lawsuit that his former investment manager and real estate adviser scammed him out of $175 million. The former boxing champion says Jona Rechnitz engaged in a series of unauthorized transactions using his money to purchase assets, including real estate and jewelry, over several years.
In a 23-page complaint, Floyd Mayweather accuses Rechnitz of financially defrauding him and breaching his fiduciary duty by covertly transferring a significant amount of his assets to Frist Apex Ventures, a Florida real estate and investment company that Ayal Frist runs, who is also named as a defendant.
Mayweather claims that when he first met Rechnitz in 2017, Rechnitz presented himself as “a sophisticated real estate investor” and that he developed a relationship with him over several years. He then allegedly transferred Mayweather’s funds without authorization using his advisory position.
“The conduct alleged in this pleading — including the diversion of settlement proceeds, refinance proceeds, and recurring real estate distributions to accounts controlled by Jona Rechnitz through Frist Apex Ventures — demands a full judicial accounting,” ESPN reports Floyd Mayweather’s attorney, Leo Jacobs, said in a statement. “We look forward to obtaining that accounting and to recovering every dollar to which our client is entitled.”
Among the accusations made in the lawsuit are a $7.5 million wire transfer for a 12-month investment to Frist Apex Ventures, where no investment was made, and the initial funds were never returned. Another allegation is that a loan, with over $8.8 million of a $16.4 million loan on four of Mayweather’s properties, was sent to First Apex without explanation.
The lawsuit accuses the defendants of a $7.5 million wire transfer for a 12-month investment to Frist Apex Ventures, where they made no investment and never returned the initial funds. The lawsuit also alleges that they sent over $8.8 million of a loan on four of Mayweather’s properties to First Apex without explanation.
The lawsuit also alleges that $2.1 million of an $8.2 million refinance of one of Mayweather’s Las Vegas properties was sent to Frist Apex “at Rechnitz’s direction, and without Mr. Mayweather’s authorization.”
Another allegation is that Rechnitz pledged nearly $100 million in Mayweather’s jewelry to two Miami-based jewelers for only $13 million, and a “substantial portion of the pledged jewelry” still remains with the jewelers.
The defendants respond to the Mayweather lawsuit
“We have thoroughly reviewed Mr. Mayweather’s lawsuit,” the defendant’s attorney Morris Missry said in a statement. “His claims against our clients are utterly baseless and refuted by substantial documentary evidence, including Mr. Mayweather’s own correspondence.”
“Our clients intend to vigorously defend against these claims and are confident that once all of the facts are presented in court, not only will our clients be vindicated, Mr Mayweather’s gambling issues, prolific spending habits, monies owed to third party creditors and IRS tax liens and levys, as well as other unseemly behavior will be exposed and we believe that Mr. Mayweather will be the one paying significant damages to our clients.”
This is the latest in a laundry list of legal and financial issues Floyd Mayweather is facing
In April, the IRS put a lien on Floyd Mayweather’s properties due to him not paying over $7 million in taxes. The IRS threatened to revoke Mayweather’s passport and prevent him from fighting overseas until he pays the outstanding balance.
In May, a court reportedly ordered Mayweather to pay $33,000 a month in addition to $1 million in child support to a dancer at his Las Vegas strip club.
The boxer also filed a lawsuit in February seeking to “recover hundreds of millions of dollars in misappropriated funds and damages resulting from a long-running and elaborate scheme of financial fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and conspiracy orchestrated by Floyd J. Mayweather’s former manager and advisor, Al Haymon, with the knowing and substantial participation and aid of Defendants Showtime Networks Inc. and Stephen Espinoza, among others