Last Wednesday, a Federal District Court Judge in Southern California signed off on a $9.7 million judgment against MTK Global, Daniel Kinahan and others to boxing manager Moses Heredia.
The lawsuit dealt with claims that MTK had taken away Heredia’s client, boxer Joseph “JoJo” Diaz. I talk about it here in The Legal Submission 43. I also discuss the lawsuit here and in The Legal Submission 37.
From the Report and Recommendation filed and adopted by the Court in July 2024:
As most that following the boxing world know, the US cracked down on Daniel Kinahan and prohibited US citizens from “doing business with Kinahan or the Kinahan Organized Crime Group.” Kinahan’s attorneys did not respond to the lawsuit and as a result, the Court adopted Heredia’s position. Default hearings were held where the threshold question was whether the parties were served (the lawsuit notifying them of the right to respond) properly. The Court deemed that they were. The only wrinkle was the law behind serving MTK Global in the United Arab Emirates. Notably, Heredia’s lawyers attempted to serve MTK Global with the lawsuit at “its last known address but did not locate the business there.”
Obviously, this is a win for Heredia but collecting on the judgment will be a whole other job. While the over $9 million judgment is real, trying to collect from a foreign entity will be difficult. Moreover, with Kinahan and MTK Global nowhere to be found, it will be hard to enforce the judgment, let alone see any money spent on the lawsuit.
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