David Beckham has filed a lawsuit against actor and businessman Mark Wahlberg after his company fitness He used it as an image for an advertising campaign and never received the money promised in the contract. The Hollywood actor and businessman owns a 36% stake in F45 Training, the company in question. According to official published documents exclusively by the British newspaper The Sun, The former soccer player and now also a businessman was “tricked” into accepting that collaboration and they point out that he lost more than the nine million euros that were part of the deal with the sporting goods company and a gym franchise that focuses on high-intensity functional training. in sessions of only 45 minutes. Beckham's lawyers allege that F45 promised to share shares in the company in 2022, but did not receive them until months later, when its price had plummeted on the stock market from 11 euros to 2.50.
Beckham, 48, and Wahlberg, 52, became friends when the then-footballer moved with his family to Los Angeles in 2007. They lived in the same neighborhood, met on multiple occasions and became inseparable until their legal confrontation. According to the documents in the lawsuit for damages, the Briton confirms that he was brought in as a global ambassador for the brand due to his enormous celebrity status, accumulating more than 87 million followers on their social networks. Then, Beckham and F45 published a series of photos in which the soccer star advertised these sports and training products, taking advantage of the fact that he had just signed a contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy. Both parties have removed those images from their profiles.
Wahlberg's attempts to avoid the lawsuit have remained mere aspirations. The actor and his co-defendants call the Briton's accusations “baseless” and have asked the courts to dismiss the lawsuit. A request that has finally been rejected by the judge, who has ruled that the case will continue. In addition to the actor, Beckham is also suing his investment firm (Mark Wahlberg Investment Group) and the founders of F45, Adam Gilchrist and Rob Deutsch.
The story comes from afar. The English footballer and also the golfer Greg Norman already tried to jointly sue F45 Training in October 2022, claiming that they had never received the money they had been promised. The judge then ruled that they had to file the lawsuits separately. In the joint complaint, both requested compensation of 17 million euros, and, according to the documents which was then published by the British newspaper Daily Mail, The company “benefited substantially from the agreements,” after the presence of both “improved its public profile and credibility.”
Beckham and Norman are not the only people who have sued F45 Training for damages. In 2017, American soccer player Terell Owens was immersed in the same situation as Beckham, alleging that the brand did not pay him 650,000 euros that it owed him.
F45 Training was founded in Sydney, Australia in 2011, and offers its clients training programs and sports equipment. After a few successful first years, in the summer of 2022 the meteoric growth slowed and the value of its stock shares fell by more than 60%, driven by macroeconomic circumstances, lack of liquidity and uncertainty about its viability. Its shares are currently worth no more than 15 cents, according to the most recent stock market data, and the company has also been forced to close many of its franchises in Europe.
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