Cyclone / Frampton Court Case

[keirw]

Can't really see anyone in the boxing world wanting anything to do with Mcguigan after this , He really has come across as a snake oil salesman , with a familly of leeches , ,,, Frampton , well that poor fella just comes across as being thick has pig poo .

In Frampton's defence, he does get punched in the head for a living

[Ruthless-RKO]

Carl Frampton ticket sales 'were under-declared by £400,000'

Blain McGuigan challenged in court to prove he actually promoted boxer's fights

There are no business or commercial documents to prove that Barry McGuigan's eldest son Blain was the promoter of two of Carl Frampton's big Belfast fights, the High Court has been told.

It was also alleged that ticket sales for the Tiger's Bay boxer's world title win over Kiko Martinez at Belfast's Titanic slipways in September 2014 were under-declared by almost £400,000.

On day 17 of the legal battle between former world boxing champions Barry McGuigan and Mr Frampton, Blain McGuigan was accused of lying to the authorities about takings from the outdoor show.

But the 37-year-old musician turned promoter told the court that under-declaration was commonplace within boxing, adding that he'd already agreed to pay the British Boxing Board of Control a £10,000 fixed sum in estimated taxes.

He also denied ever concealing income or offering a 30% share of profits to Mr Frampton, who is also known as The Jackal.

Mr Frampton (33), a dual-weight world boxing champion, is suing Barry McGuigan and Cyclone Promotions for £6m alleged withheld earnings.

In a counter-suit, Barry McGuigan (59) is counter claiming against his one-time protege for breach of contract when he ended their partnership in 2017.

Both men deny the respective allegations against them.

Acting on Mr Frampton's behalf, Gavin Millar QC accused Blain McGuigan of being unable to produce any documentation which showed that he had acted as promoter for the north Belfast boxer's fights with Hugo Cazares and Kiko Martinez in 2014.

"You can't show me any document at all that shows you acting as promoter," Mr Millar said regarding the Cazares bout.

Blain McGuigan replied: "If we were to go to the Board of Control I'm sure we could get the relevant documents."

Mr Millar later said: "Can you show me a single document in relation to the Martinez 2 fight that identifies you as the promoter?" to which Blain McGuigan responded: "Again there would be a lot of documents with the Board of Control. I did a lot of work around that event... there would be a lot of documentation that highlights my work as a promoter."

Referencing Mr Frampton's victory over Mr Martinez for the super bantamweight world title at a purpose-built stadium in 2014, Mr Millar told the court that just under £900,000 worth of tickets were sold for the fight, while a figure of £509,000 in takings was reported. "The total is just under £900,000 - that's your case for the value of sales," Mr Millar said. "You reported the takings to the British Board of Boxing Control as being £509,000."

Blain McGuigan replied: "We may well have done but we'd a pre-agreed agreement with the Board to pay £10,000 so it didn't require us to give the numbers."

Mr Millar said: "It's a huge under-declaration, nearly half of the ticket sales."

Referring to another document, Mr Millar said: "What you've described it as in your letter to the board was 'net takings' - that the net takings were £509,000."

Blain McGuigan replied: "But there's no other correspondence Mr Millar about how the Board would have calculated any tax because it was pre-agreed that I pay them £10,000."

The barrister said: "If you've got an agreement with the Board why do you need to lie to them about what the takings were?"

Blain McGuigan responded: "Whatever happened it's not relevant because we had a pre-agreed fee with them. And as I've said before under-declaration does occur a lot. Every promoter does it."

Costs and expenses for the Martinez fight included £34,000 in cash entries, which Blain McGuigan said would've been commissioned for boxers and managers who sold tickets to the show. Travel and subsistence of £18,000 included reimbursing foreign fighters, ring announcer and additional staff for taxi and flight fares.

Blain McGuigan rejected claims that Mr Frampton was kept out of discussions about purse fees and financial arrangements.

"Carl wouldn't have been satisfied just to have got a number plucked out of the sky," he said.

"Boxers never do that, they don't go in and put their neck on the line without knowing their value."

Another central part of Mr Frampton's case, that he was allegedly promised a 30% share of profits as a director of a Northern Ireland-based Cyclone Promotions company, was also disputed.

"The first time I head about that was when these proceedings started," Blain McGuigan said.

When Mr Millar suggested that income from Mr Frampton's career went through another "secret" Cyclone Promotions UK company, Blain McGuigan said everything was explained during informal meetings.

When also asked about a US dollars account associated with Cyclone, that Mr Millar said was used by members of the McGuigan family to hide earnings from his client, he said: "We did not conceal anything. He knew about it, he was paid from that account. It's a pretty strange way of concealing things."

The hearing continues.

[spudder56]

Sounds like frampton has been robbed and stitched up well and proper tbh

[TopGun]

Does anyone on here know how much roughly all these legal costs will be costing Barry and Carl?

Assuming the winner will also have to pay the other persons legal costs too?
This could be very serious money?

Any lawyers on here???

[THEBUTCH]

The court decides if the loser has to pay the other parties legal costs....a good result for the winner might be the loser having to pay 75% of the winner's legal costs. You've done very well if you get 100%.

[Black Sam Bellamy]

Are there any fighters still with Cyclone ?

Chris bilam smith

Poor fella, he must be terrified.

[cam2010]

Does anyone on here know how much roughly all these legal costs will be costing Barry and Carl?

Assuming the winner will also have to pay the other persons legal costs too?
This could be very serious money?

Any lawyers on here???

It will be in the 100s of thousands,I know one boxers bill to deal with little legs was 5 figures

[cam2010]

Are there any fighters still with Cyclone ?

Chris bilam smith

Poor fella, he must be terrified.

Shane will give him a little hug

[liamlion]

Chris bilam smith

Poor fella, he must be terrified.

Shane will give him a little hug

Jokes aside, but the McGuigans have actually done a brilliant job for Chris Billam-Smith, certainly in terms of an environment for him to really develop as well as title opportunities and Sky tv coverage. Whether, that amounts to proper cash reward for the fella is highly unlikely judging by some of their practices in the above case.

I’d say that for certain novice fighters like CBS, who was desperate for Shane McGuigan to train him and had a trial to “get-in” the gym, signing for Cyclone and Barry would be part of the arrangement.

[handsofstone]

Aye it's a shame Cyclone have been exposed like this, they're matchmaking was always good, Taylor has been one of the best managed boxers we've produced, only Joshua comes close in recent times

[high tower 1]

If cyclone didn’t promote and just did training and management I think they’d do very well. And that is if they did it ethically.

They’ve handled their boxers brillaintly fight wise.

It’s just a shame they got greedy.

[cam2010]

Blain McGuigan denies Cyclone deleted thousands of emails that may have aided Frampton’s case

Blain McGuigan denied thousands of emails, that would have helped Carl Frampton’s case against former manager Barry McGuigan and Cyclone promotions, were deliberately deleted by the promotional outfit.

Blain McGuigan, son of former world champion Barry McGuigan and Cyclone Promotions director, claimed the emails were deleted as part of a move by Cyclone Promotions to free up space on their system.

Under cross examination McGuigan was pressed on ‘tens of thousands of emails’ deleted in June 2017.

The musician turned promoter told the court the company decided to switch it’s online systems and as a result were advised to delete emails no longer relevant to future events.

McGuigan told the court it involved getting rid of huge amounts of correspondence from previous shows to free up space.

“I think I had tens of thousands of emails at that point,” he said.

He also confirmed it included emails with reference to eight Frampton fights going back to 2013 because they were “not relevant moving forward”.

Challenged by Gavin Millar QC, for Mr Frampton, about the consequences for dealing with any subsequent commercial disagreement, he replied: “I wasn’t anticipating a dispute in June 2017.”

QC for Frampton questioned how true the evidence was, prompting McGuigan to declare: “It’s absolutely true.”

Frampton’s legal team went to query why Barry McGuigan didn’t explain the migration and deletion of mails when he was cross examined last month. McGuigan told the court his father wasn’t technically literate and pointed to some personal family issues when responding.

However, Frampton’s legal team argued: “What you have done since that earlier testimony and cross-examination in the case, is come up with an account of why there’s been no disclosure of any emails relating to my client’s fights from your side in the case.

“It avoids the problem that the migration exercise didn’t result in any irretrievable emails. You have come up with a different account, haven’t you?”

McGuigan responded: “No, that’s not true.” He added: “There was a process, it was not just a simple transfer of emails, it was the process around it.”

The barrister put it to him: “The reason those emails haven’t been disclosed is because they would assist our case, isn’t it?”

Again, however, McGuigan maintained: “No, that’s not true.”

The eldest of three brothers who were involved in Frampton’s career before a 2017 split, Blain McGuigan, was also questioned with regard to £220,000 he earned as director of Cyclone Promotions.

He confirmed that, in 2014 he was paid over £41,000 by the company.

“Some of it was income from the company and some of it was directors loans which would’ve remained payable until a point when they would’ve been written off. I would’ve paid tax on those personally,” he said.

Asked if he regarded the payments as salary, he replied: “I didn’t necessarily see it as salary. I saw it as my payment for working for the company.”

Frampton is suing former manager Barry McGuigan for withheld earnings of up to £6m.

McGuigan has a separate counter claim.

Both men deny any wrong doing.

It seems that the emails may have been retrieved so should make for interesting viewing on Monday

[Ruthless-RKO]

Blain McGuigan denies on the side selling of comp tickets as financial details of Frampton vs Quigg come out in court.

Cyclone Promotions sold complimentary tickets for the massive Carl Frampton versus Scott Quigg clash on the side, it was alleged in court today.

During day 18 of proceedings and mid the continued cross examination of Blain McGuigan, Counsel for Carl Frampton suggested the promotional company had tried to maximise profits via the sale of complimentary tickets.

QC Millar argued Cyclone sought out the high end comps because of their value and sold them rather than handed them out.

According to box office records from Manchester Arena for the February 2017 mega fight, Cyclone received 124 complimentary tickets for the fight, including 82 in the highest value category.

Blaine McGuigan was adamant that no money was ever handed over for any of those tickets.

However, based on an alleged lack of records, counsel for Frampton claimed Cyclone had been selling them on the side.

“You were selling complimentaries, and the reason you were getting complimentaries in the high value ticket brackets is they were the most valuable to sell,” he put to McGuigan, who responsed: “No, we did not.”

The court also heard the purse for the contest split 57.5-42.5% in Frampton’s favour.

Millar argued $100,000 from US TV money paid into a Cyclone account was supposed to go into the joint venture as a “quid pro quo” for not getting his client a higher 60% split. However, Mr McGuigan described this as “absolute nonsense”.

“If you ask Eddie Hearn and Scott Quigg about that they would be very clear they felt it was a 50-50 fight,” he said.

“We did a great job to get it up to 57.5%, and Carl was not expecting to get 60. That absolutely was not the case at the time.”

Counsel also queried £215,000 from ticket sales which lodged into Barry McGuigan’s account.

Blain McGuigan explained it was for the convenience of Northern Ireland-based ticket sellers, including Frampton’s father.

“Everything was obviously reconciled in correctly,” he said.

Challenged about management fees deducted from Mr Frampton’s eventual pay, McGuigan said: “Carl never disputed that, he was absolutely happy to pay my father 20% gross because my father had not charged him any training camp costs or any expenses since he turned professional in 2009.”

“Absolutely industry standard,” was his response when asked about his 10% promotional cut.

Earlier in proceedings the Cylcone Promotions director denied expenses for the lucrative fight were “inflated” to £75,000.

“You have inflated the expenses beyond what can be justified,” counsel alleged.

The promoter responded: “I completely disagree with you.”

Questions were also asked with regard to the time frame the former two weight world champion was paid within.

Under a joint venture with co-promoter Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom organisation, Cyclone received just over £1.5m in July that year.

A further £580,000 came through ticket sales and overseas television deals, the court heard.

QC Millar questioned why Frampton had to wait until December 2016 before he was paid just over £1m.

McGuigan told the court certain arrangements with Matchroom had to be sorted out first, a situation the boxer was “completely relaxed about”.

Frampton is suing former manager Barry McGuigan for withheld earnings of up to £6m.

While his fellow Irish fight legend, McGuigan has a separate counter claim lodged for breach of contract.

Both men deny any wrong doing.

The case continues.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Frampton waited 10 months for £1m payout, court is told

Boxer 'switched to a Belfast-based accountant to look after his money'

Carl Frampton had to wait nearly 10 months for his promoters to hand him a million pound payout from one of his world title fights, the High Court has heard.

On day 18 of the legal battle between former world champions Barry McGuigan and Mr Frampton, questions were raised as to why it took the Belfast boxer so long to receive his cut from the £2m generated by the lucrative bout with Scott Quigg in 2016.

Promoter Blain McGuigan, Barry's eldest son, however, defended the delay in payment, putting it down to accounting problems on Mr Frampton's part.

He also could not account for items of expenditure in upmarket New York fashion stores after another fight later that year, when questioned by Gavin Miller QC during the hearing.

Mr Frampton (33), a dual-weight world boxing champion, is suing Barry McGuigan and the family-owned Cyclone Promotions for £6m in alleged withheld earnings.

In a counter-suit, Barry McGuigan (59) is counter claiming against his one-time protege for breach of contract when he ended their partnership in 2017.

Both men deny the respective allegations against them.

As Blain McGuigan's cross-examination continued yesterday, Mr Millar, acting for Mr Frampton, demanded to know why it took so long for money from the Quigg fight - which the Tigers Bay boxer won to add the WBA super-bantamweight title to the IBF crown he already owned - to be paid when the Manchester bout was in February.

Cylone, in conjunction with co-promoters Matchroom, received just over £1.5m in July of that year, with a further £580,000 coming through ticket sales and overseas television deals, the court heard.

Blain McGuigan said arrangements with Matchroom had to be sorted out first, a situation Mr Frampton was "completely relaxed about". According to the barrister, however a disagreement had been developing throughout 2016, with Mr Frampton eventually switching to a Belfast-based accountant to look after his financial interests.

"This is all a complete cover for the fact that you wanted to hold on to that money for as long as you could to have the benefit of that money," Mr Millar suggested.

But Mr McGuigan insisted Cyclone had no need to withhold any earnings when it had other successful shows and TV deals at the time.

During the hearing it emerged that £75,000 had been allocated as expenses for the Quigg fight in Manchester's Arena.

Mr Millar said that this was part of an attempt to reduce the level of profits, without supporting invoices. "You have inflated the expenses beyond what can be justified," he alleged, to which Mr McGuigan replied: "I disagree. There were a huge amount of expenses around this fight, it was a massive event, a 19,000-seater indoor arena with a huge amount of build-up, promotional work around that, multiple press conferences in different countries."

Amid claims that Cyclone tried to maximise deductions before paying Mr Frampton, he replied that the company "fought tooth and nail" to cut costs submitted by Matchroom.

"Carl would have lost a large amount of money, £175,000 of the overall income, if we hadn't done that," he said.

Mr Justice Huddleston was told the boxer's training camp expenses and fees of up to £42,000 for sanctioning the Quigg contest were "knocked off".

Referring to another Mr Frampton fight in 2016, the featherweight title bout with Mexican Leo Santa Cruz in New York, the barrister questioned expenses incurred on that trip.

Mr Millar said: "They include for example, on July 25, 2016, expenditure at La Perla (an up-market lingerie store). How could that be a fight expense?" to which Mr McGuigan replied: "I don't know".

Mr Millar continued: "And then on August 2, Bloomingdales New York £170.66. This is after the fight. How could that be a fight expense?"

Mr McGuigan replied: "I don't know. This wasn't charged to Mr Frampton, just to be clear about that".

In response Mr Millar said: "We don't know because he was never given an itemised breakdown in December 2016 of what made up the sums on that document. We didn't get a breakdown of these figures".

Mr McGuigan replied: "We do know. There would have been legitimate expenses in there - travel, cost of his strength and conditioning trainer, his coaches, a lot of obvious expenses."

Mr Millar added: "August 11, 10 days after the fight, Stuart Weitzman... a high end women's shoe retailer in New York."

To which Mr McGuigan replied: "I'm not familiar with that".

Mr Millar then queried another expense item from the document in evidence, saying: "August 12, Sunspan tanning £23. Any idea what that is?"

Mr McGuigan again replied that he didn't.

The case continues.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Blain McGuigan denies withholding £640k Leo Santa Cruz fight payment from Frampton

Carl Frampton’s promoters had $850,000 (£648,000) that they hadn’t told him about when the relationship between boxer and manager broke down, the High Court was told on Friday .

On day 19 of the multi-million pound legal battle between Mr Frampton and Barry McGuigan, counsel for the Belfast fighter put it to Blain McGuigan that the family’s promotions firm had held on to the money “hoping things would be left” following the parting of the ways in 2017.

Blain McGuigan, oldest son of former world champion Barry, told Gavin Millar QC that such an allegation was “not true”.

Mr Frampton (33), a dual-weight world boxing champion, is suing Barry McGuigan and Cyclone Promotions for £6m alleged withheld earnings.

In a counter-suit, Barry McGuigan (59) is counter claiming against his one-time protege for breach of contract when he ended their partnership in 2017.

Both men deny the respective allegations against them.

Acting for Mr Frampton, Mr Millar examined a document detailing the finances from the Tigers Bay native’s second fight with Leo Santa Cruz in January 2017.

Addressing Blain McGuigan the barrister said: “At the point the relationship broke down, you had the $850,000, you hadn’t told Mr Frampton about that.”

Mr McGuigan replied: “We told him that we received our part of the payment. He was aware of that. He’d already received his purse.”

Mr Millar countered: “He’d received that sum of money representing the net value of the $1m purse, and that was where you were hoping things would be left. He’d leave the arrangement with that, and you’d keep the $850,000.”

Mr McGuigan said: “That’s not true. We were working on the overall income after the event.”

Mr Millar replied: “But you wanted to make sure that he didn’t know about the $850,000, because that would become an issue as indeed it is in these proceedings.”

But Mr McGuigan, who was on the stand for a fifth successive day, insisted: “No we were completely clear with Carl about how we were still settling the event.”

The previous day, Mr Justice Huddleston heard Barry McGuigan's 37-year-old promoter son deny that expenses from one of Mr Frampton biggest contests had been “inflated” to £75,000.

Blain McGuigan also rejected High Court allegations that high-value complimentary tickets for the fighter's world title showdown with rival boxer Scott Quigg were being sold on the side.

He insisted all financial figures for the event at Manchester Arena in February 2016 were completely legitimate.

The hearing continues.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Carl Frampton's wife and his trainer 'rowed in Vegas after title fight'

Carl Frampton's wife Christine and his trainer Shane McGuigan had a row in Las Vegas, which was followed by a threat of legal action over unpaid money, the High Court has heard.

On day 19 of the multi-million pound legal battle between Mr Frampton and his former manager Barry McGuigan, promoter Blain McGuigan said his younger brother and Mrs Frampton had exchanged words after the Belfast boxer lost to Mexican Leo Santa Cruz in a WBA super-bantamweight world title rematch in January 2017.

Mr Frampton's barrister, Gavin Millar QC, told the court his client only got paid for the first Santa Cruz fight (which he won in New York in July 2016) after emails were sent by his accountant advising the McGuigans that legal action would ensue.

Mr Frampton (33), a dual-weight world boxing champion, is suing Barry McGuigan and Cyclone Promotions for £6m alleged withheld earnings.

In a counter-suit, Barry McGuigan (59) is counter claiming against his one-time protege for breach of contract when he ended their partnership in 2017.

Both men deny the respective allegations against them.

Blain McGuigan, Barry McGuigan's eldest son, told the court: "After the Santa Cruz fight on January 28 I knew that there had been argument between my brother and Carl's wife and then the next time I heard of any dealings between Carl and his accountant and us... there was a threatening letter."

Mr Millar asked: "A threatening letter or email?" to which Blain McGuigan replied: "Email."

The barrister then read out an email claiming that Mr Frampton was annoyed because he still hadn't been paid for his fight with Leo Santa Cruz in July 2016.

It also said that the Tigers Bay native had been advised to allow one week for this payment to be made before taking legal advice.

A second email was read to the court that said "should this payment not be forthcoming in the next seven days he should take immediate legal advice".

Mr McGuigan replied that after "these emails and following probably a heated phone call, which is probably what he was referring to, he was paid his money. That's what I know".

Mr Millar said: "He was paid his money after those two emails were written saying it was going to be directed towards his lawyers to get his payment for the Santa Cruz 1 fight."

As cross-examination drew to a close, Mr Millar said that alleged breaches of duty entitled his client to terminate the International Promotional Agreement (IPA) with Cyclone to which Mr McGuigan replied: "I disagree."

Mr Millar said: "You betrayed his trust in you". Mr McGuigan replied: "No, I did not".

Mr Millar said: "You failed to conduct the financial arrangements surrounding the rights you say you promoted for him in a transparent and open manner".

But Mr McGuigan insisted: "Carl was always paid exactly what we discussed and he always knew the workings of each deal".

The barrister then put it to Blain McGuigan that he had concealed facts from Mr Frampton regarding the true income from the fights, to which Mr McGuigan replied: "Nope. Everything was discussed with Carl. He was completely informed and he never made any complaint throughout his whole time with us".

Mr Millar said: "You concealed the true profits and misrepresented his fees by inflating expenses and the cost of fights".

Mr McGuigan responded: "That's not true".

Mr Millar then asserted: "And you deliberately delayed large payments to him for lengthy periods so that you could retain the benefit of these monies".

Mr McGuigan replied: "I've explained the whole process. Carl didn't make any complaints at the time".

Mr Millar said: "Those were serious breaches of the trust he imposed in you as the son of his manager in these promotional arrangements".

Mr McGuigan replied: "I disagree. He knew me as a promoter. We were friends throughout and we'd a very good relationship and discussed pretty much every detail of every show". Earlier Mr Justice Huddleston heard that Mr Frampton's promoters had $850,000 (£648,000) that they hadn't told him about when the relationship between boxer and manager broke down.

Mr Millar put it to Blain McGuigan that the family's promotions firm had held on to the money "hoping things would be left" following the parting of the ways in 2017.

Blain McGuigan replied that such an allegation was "not true".

Mr Millar examined a document detailing the finances from the boxer's second fight with Leo Santa Cruz in January 2017.

Mr Millar said: "At the point the relationship broke down, you had the $850,000, you hadn't told Mr Frampton about that."

Mr McGuigan replied: "We told him that we received our part of the payment. He was aware of that. He'd already received his purse."

Mr Millar countered: "He'd received that sum of money representing the net value of the $1m purse, and that was where you were hoping things would be left. He'd leave the arrangement with that, and you'd keep the $850,000."

Mr McGuigan said: "That's not true. We were working on the overall income after the event."

Mr Millar replied: "But you wanted to make sure that he didn't know about the $850,000, because that would become an issue as indeed it is in these proceedings."

But Mr McGuigan, who was on the stand for a fifth successive day, insisted: "No we were completely clear with Carl about how we were still settling the event."

The hearing continues.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Apologies if some of these articles are repeating the same thing.. Don't want to miss anything.

[maverick23]

Apologies if some of these articles are repeating the same thing.. Don't want to miss anything.

Don’t worry about it. Thanks for posting them - really interesting!

Goes to show how poorly the McGuigan camp dealt with everything. No records to justify anything, bullshit expenses and holding on to funds for ages.

So Carl got $1m for the Santa Cruz fight and the McGuigans got $850k - really sad and Barry/Blaine/Sandra should be banned from promoting and managing.

[high tower 1]

Keep it coming. Thanks for posting.

Someone was in La Pearla buying some naughty knickers.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Keep it coming. Thanks for posting.

Someone was in La Pearla buying some naughty knickers.

Yeh, and shopping in Bloomindales.

[handsofstone]

Fcking rats

[Noxy]

Apologies if some of these articles are repeating the same thing.. Don't want to miss anything.

Not a problem and thanks for posting!

[cam2010]

Keep it coming. Thanks for posting.

Someone was in La Pearla buying some naughty knickers.

What’s worse Barry the thief or Barry the perv,

[jameswilson]

Keep it coming. Thanks for posting.

Someone was in La Pearla buying some naughty knickers.

What’s worse Barry the thief or Barry the perv,

Barry the thief and perv.

[spudder56]

Sounds like Carl has been robbed tbh