Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham is suing American actor and fitness enthusiast Mark Wahlberg after a deal between the two allegedly left the football legend more than £8 million out of pocket, Daily Mail reported.
In November 2020, Beckham, 48, became the global ambassador for Australian brand F45 Training for which Wahlberg, 52, became a minority shareholder in 2019 after buying a stake in the company through his Mark Wahlberg Investment Group.
As part of the deal, the former Manchester United star shared some posts on his Instagram promoting F45, which have since been deleted.
However, the former footballer is suing Wahlberg and his business associates as the deal went south in a row over shares he claimed to have been promised but not delivered.
Beckham’s firm, David Beckham Ventures Ltd (DBVL), which previously sought damages of up to $18.85 million from F45, has now filed a separate case directly against Wahlberg’s investment group and F45’s founders Adam Gilchrist and Rob Deutsch.
DBVL alleges that shares in the company were promised to be shared in early 2022 but they were not divulged until months later when the share price had plummeted from around $12 a share to $3 a share.
Beckham’s lawyers claim this cost him as much as £8.5 million in potential profit from the delay in issuing his firm the shares promised in the deal.
According to The Sun, Wahlberg and his co-defendants seek to dismiss the allegations of “fraudulent conduct” as baseless and lacking in merit.
Meanwhile, F45’s US share price has never recovered from its early price of $16.
Shares in the firm are now worth just 15 cents, according to the most recent market data, and the company has faced closures at franchises in several countries including Australia, the US, the UK and Ireland.
