“Duped Into Signing Away My Identity’
Ric Flair has filed a $10 million lawsuit against FAM Networks, accusing the influencer talent agency of deceiving him into signing away rights to his name, image and likeness.
According to court documents obtained by The Independent, Flair claims FAM promised to generate a six-figure monthly revenue stream by managing his digital presence, but those earnings allegedly never materialized.
“What FAM did was simple: it waited until he needed help managing the digital legacy of everything he had built, presented him with a document he was not equipped to understand, told him he had lawyers when he did not, gave him fourteen minutes to read it, and walked away with a perpetual license to his identity,” the lawsuit states.
Flair alleges that he has already lost at least $250,000 in revenue under the agreement.
The lawsuit also accuses FAM of quietly taking control of Flair’s social media accounts and recategorizing them in a way that made them difficult for him to recover. The company allegedly continued profiting from Flair’s persona without sharing those earnings with him.
“FAM pledged 50 percent to Flair for ‘collaborative projects,’ and 10 percent for ‘passive content,’” the lawsuit states.
FAM also allegedly agreed to restore Flair’s “hacked, demonetized” Facebook page, which it claimed could generate six figures each month.
“These were not aspirations. They were contractual obligations. FAM delivered none of them,” the filing states. “It sourced not one speaking engagement. Not one in-person appearance. Not one personal project at the ninety percent royalty tier. It reposted existing content.”
The lawsuit alleges that FAM generated as much as $20,000 per month through Flair’s Facebook page while paying him nothing.
Flair is asking the court to rescind his agreement with FAM and order the company to return control of his Facebook page. He is also seeking a declaratory judgment that FAM has no rights to his name, image or likeness, along with a “complete accounting of revenues generated in his name.”
The WWE Hall of Famer is seeking at least $5 million in compensatory damages for breach of contract and another $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages for fraudulent inducement.
Flair is additionally pursuing damages for alleged violations of New York Civil Rights Law and tortious interference with prospective economic advantage. He is also seeking the return of any money through which FAM was allegedly “unjustly enriched at [Fliehr’s] expense,” plus attorneys’ fees and court costs.
