Pacquiao's Lawyers: Suit For $10 Million Under Control

by Ronnie Nathanielsz

Well known American lawyer David Marroso is handling the case of pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao who is being sued by the RBM Group International for $10 million. The lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County which is regarded as the largest single unified trial court in the United States.

Atty. Marroso  informed the BoxingScene.com/Inquirer that “ At this point, we don't know any of the facts, so I am not in a position to comment.”

According to a story run on the internet site TMZ, Pacquiao is alleged to have signed a contract in 2009 in which he promised to record twelve songs but never actually did.

RBM claimed in documents it reportedly submitted that Pacquiao was paid $40,000 by check in October 2009 which he deposited in return for the first two songs but that he had refused to do the recordings.

The suit claims that RBM Group International was $200,000 out of pocket and that they lost profits estimated to be in the amount of $10 million.

Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz told the BoxingScene/Inquirer that he has been in consultation with Marroso and  said “the situation is under control.”

However, there was concern within Team Pacquiao as to who advised him to sign the contract which was reportedly poorly written and unintelligible. This is not the first time that Pacquiao has been embroiled in such a legal issue. Lawyer Franklin “Jeng” Gacal who is also Pacquiao’s Chief-of-Staff told BoxingScene/Inquirer “I am not privy to the contract. I am checking it out” stressing that he was never consulted about the agreement.

Koncz said that they have to be “prepared for this  kind of sh--” in the wake of Manny’s continued successes.

At the same time Koncz clarified reports on Pacquiao’s earnings from the fight against Antonio Margarito following erroneous reports stating that the pay-per-view income would be added to the guaranteed purse of $15 million.

Koncz made it clear that if the net income from PPV sales and other ancillary income exceeds the guaranteed purse of $15M, he would then receive the higher amount and not the total of both.

The guaranteed income assures a fighter that if PPV sales and all other revenues were less than the guaranteed purse, Pacquiao would still receive $15M.