14 DAY TRIAL // Mike Tyson and his wife are taking a former financial advisor and his ex-employer to court over claims that he embezzled them for over $300,000 (€227,289), while also making them lose $5 million (€3.7 million) more by giving them unsound advice.
The lawsuit names SFX Financial Advisory Management Enterprises as defendant, with Brian Ourand as the advisor in question, TMZ reports.
SFX is owned by Live Nation Entertainment but, as of this moment, Ourand no longer works with the company, but has his own firm in Miami, in the same business as before.
“According to the suit, Ourand has quite the pedigree – having represented several other superstar athletes like Allen Iverson, Dikembe Mutombo, and Juwan Howard,” TMZ reports.
“Tyson, and his attorney Mark Geragos, claim Ourand's scheme, which they discovered in 2011, has stopped Tyson from digging out of the bankruptcy he filed 10 years ago – and set him back $5 mil,” the e-zine notes.
“For example, in the lawsuit, Tyson claims the embezzlement forced him to mortgage his house to pay bankruptcy lawyers – and he also had to borrow money to pay the IRS,” TMZ further says.
Tyson explains in the court documents that, after he discovered what Ourand was up to and confronted him, he returned part of the $300,000 he embezzled but only because he was hoping that would lead to an agreement that would get him off the hook.
He then took off when he saw that things weren’t going according to (his) plan.
“The Tysons turned down that offer... and are now suing SFX and Ourand for the $5 mil,” TMZ reports.
Contacted by the media for comment, Live Nation says it’s yet to be served with the papers, while SFX and Ourand are conveniently unavailable.
Neither Tyson nor his wife has released a statement on the litigation yet.