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Talent agency UTA has parted with veteran Hollywood power broker Michael Kassan, sparking a bitter legal battle over differing allegations about the use of a $950,000 “special expenses” fund.
The international agency acquired Kassan’s strategic advisory firm MediaLink in 2021 for $125mn from UK-based Ascential, and made Kassan a partner.
UTA said in a statement that Kassan had been fired “following a thorough and exhaustive third-party investigation into misappropriation of company funds”, adding that it had filed a lawsuit against Kassan this week.
However, Kassan has rejected this position, and is demanding damages claiming a breach of contract and fraud. A claim filed in a court in Los Angeles on Tuesday said the use of a “special expenses” fund of $950,000 after tax was an agreed part of his contract.
Kassan is a well-known Hollywood adviser and has close ties with the media and advertising markets. He is a regular attendee at Cannes Lions, the marketing festival run by Ascential, where last year he threw an exclusive party in a lavish hotel featuring musical artist Lizzo.
Kassan’s claim in Los Angeles says that he resigned on March 6 before he was fired because UTA chief executive Jeremy Zimmer was not honouring the contract the two sides agreed during the MediaLink buyout.
A UTA spokesperson said that “Kassan was terminated by UTA on March 7 and made aware well before that UTA had grounds to fire him. His claim against UTA has no merit and is an attempt to divert attention from the misappropriation of company funds that led to his termination.”
UTA’s complaint — which has been seen by the Financial Times — alleges “constructive fraud” and breach of fiduciary duties among other allegations. It alleges that Kassan showed “utter disregard for his fiduciary obligations [and] has run rampant with his business expense accounts — wasting millions of UTA’s dollars on his lavish personal lifestyle”.
It cites examples of Kassan using the fund to pay for an apartment for his personal driver, and allowing his wife to have a company credit card “so she could shop for extravagant luxury goods”.
Kassan charged UTA for private jet flights, it said, that were “personal in nature and had no rational business purpose . . . in short, Kassan erased any line between his personal and business expenses”.
However, Kassan’s claim said that UTA had breached an agreement that he would oversee the day-to-day operations and long-term strategy of its UTA marketing division, and would be given the $950,000 special expense budget to create new business opportunities.
Kassan’s claim alleges that “Zimmer (and his wife) were on the very plane rides (there were numerous)”, which the chief executive complained had not been approved.
“Kassan is so well-known and transparent about his level of spending that Zimmer would often comment about how Kassan ‘rolls’,” it added.
The claim said that, by resigning, Kassan had elected to waive his nearly $10mn severance payment in order to be able to compete with MediaLink.
It said: “After two long years of Kassan battling Zimmer’s repeated broken promises, and UTA and MediaLink’s long line of employees complaining about Zimmer, Kassan had enough and submitted his resignation.”
Sanford Michelman of Michelman and Robinson, counsel for Kassan, said: “Michael Kassan agreed to sell MediaLink, the company he founded, to UTA because he was led to believe it would be a great partnership for both companies. However, it became clear that Jeremy Zimmer had a secret plan to not honour the contract, and when Michael confronted him, Zimmer refused to honour the deal.”
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