MediaLink founder Michael Kassan sues UTA attorney for defamation amid heated legal battle
Wendy Lee March 29, 2024
The legal battle between
the
United Talent Agency and its
former
partner Michael Kassan intensified this week, with Kassan filing a defamation lawsuit against the
Beverly Hills
agency’s legal counsel.
Kassan
sued accused
UTA’s attorney Bryan Freedman
of
libel and slander, citing Freedman’s quote in a Deadline article
where in which
he called Kassan “a pathological liar.”
Kassan
is seeking monetary damages of at least $125,000, as well as punitive damages and other costs.
To render a statement such as he did
,
illustrates the fact that all Mr. Freedman and UTA are doing are trying to block Mr. Kassan from competing by hurting him in the press as alleged in Mr. Kassans demand to arbitrate,” said Kassan’s attorney Sanford Michelman in a statement.
In response,
Freedman on Thursday hit back against Kassan, saying
“facts are not defamation.”
Michael Kassan’s continuous baseless filings and statements are nothing more than an attempt to create a false media narrative and divert attention from his fraudulent activities,” Freedman said in a statement.
Both
Kassan and UTA are in a
bitter legal dispute that has captured the entertainment industry’s attention, with each accusing theeach
other of breaching a contract related to the $125 million sale of media and market advisory firm MediaLink
, which Kassan founded,
to UTA.
UTA contends that it thought it was striking a partnership with a reputable businessman. But over the last two years, the agency said, it had learned that
Kassan’s
spending was out of control and accused
him
of “wasting millions of UTAs dollars on his lavish personal lifestyle.”
Kassan, for his part, said that UTA was well aware of his spending habits and that his firm has continued to be profitable during its tenure within UTA. He alleges that UTA did not follow the terms of the deal, such as a promise that UTA
‘s
marketing
group
would report to him.
Michelman, Kassan’s attorney, alleges that while UTA was benefiting from MediaLink by getting free media consulting and introductions, MediaLink was not benefiting from the relationship.
“The integration just wasn’t working,” Michelman said in a press briefing on Monday,
referring to MediaLink’s acquisition by UTA
. “Michael Kassan was realizing this was not a two
–
way street.
,”Michelman said in a press briefing on Monday.”
This was a bike path and a highway. UTA was a highway to grab the benefits of MediaLink and MediaLink was getting none in reverse. The integration was a disaster.”
Kassan said he resigned on March 6 and waived his $10 million severance package as part of his contract to have the right to compete
after leaving the firm
.
“Knowing that Kassans 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 Kassans 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,” Kassan said in his defamation lawsuit against Freedman.
In legal documents, UTA has said that Kassan would not be able to exercise
his stated right to competethat
if he was terminated with cause.
Kassan would execute an agreement with UTA, the agency said in a legal filing.
Freedman said in an earlier statement to
T
he Times that UTA fired Kassan on March 7 and “made aware well before that UTA had grounds to fire him.”
“He has neither signed a release nor acted in a manner consistent with having released Plaintiffs,” UTA said in a legal filing.Times staff writer Meg James contributed to this report.
