{"id":446987,"date":"2026-02-26T16:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T16:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/446987\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T16:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T16:51:10","slug":"manny-pacquiao-files-bombshell-lawsuit-after-being-accused-of-sending-waiter-photos-of-dismembered-bodies-in-terror-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/446987\/","title":{"rendered":"Manny Pacquiao files bombshell lawsuit after being accused of sending waiter photos of dismembered bodies in ‘terror campaign’"},"content":{"rendered":"

By JOSH BOSWELL, CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published: 07:15 EST, 26 February 2026 | Updated: 07:28 EST, 26 February 2026 <\/p>\n

Star boxer Manny Pacquiao<\/a> is suing a top law firm and their client for allegedly fabricating a case against him, falsely accusing him of a \u2018terror campaign\u2019 and covering up evidence proving the \u2018extortion\u2019 ruse.<\/p>\n

Gabriel Rueda, a waiter at celebrity hotspot Craig’s restaurant in West Hollywood, sued Pacquiao in 2016 claiming he was owed an $8 million fee for connecting the boxer\u2019s coach with then-CBS president Leslie Moonves to arrange his blockbuster May 2015 fight against Floyd Mayweather<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rueda claimed Pacquiao reneged on the deal and terrorized him into submission by texting him photos of dismembered bodies and had his tires slashed, demanding $42 million in damages.<\/p>\n

But the case was thrown out last year, with the judge finding no evidence for the claims.<\/p>\n

Hitting back with his own lawsuit filed in Los Angeles<\/a> on Tuesday, Pacquiao says he found a bombshell email allegedly proving the waiter admitted his entire case was baseless just days after it began.<\/p>\n

\u2018Gabriel did it from his heart and asked for nothing in return. No finder’s fee, no compensation,\u2019 Rueda allegedly wrote in an email to his publicists at the time.<\/p>\n

\"Manny <\/p>\n

Manny Pacquiao is suing a law firm and their client for allegedly fabricating a case against him<\/p>\n

The message never came to light despite a judge ordering Rueda\u2019s messages be turned over in 2018, and was only uncovered from a forensic analysis by Pacquiao\u2019s team in 2023.<\/p>\n

Pacquiao\u2019s lawyers say they traced the gruesome texts of body parts back to a mass-distributed cartel scam.<\/p>\n

Records cited by his new lawsuit allegedly show identical threats were sent to more than 100 other people unconnected to the case.<\/p>\n

After losing the case, Withers Bergman tried to withdraw as Rueda\u2019s lawyers, and his attorney Amman Khan\u2019s profile was removed from the firm\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

Over a decade on from their first encounter, Pacquiao is set for a stunning rematch with Mayweather in Las Vegas later this year.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A Hollywood waiter sued Pacquiao in 2016 after claiming he was owed an $8million fee for helping to arrange his blockbuster May 2015 fight against Floyd Mayweather (pictured)<\/p>\n

The fight icons will meet again in September in the first ever boxing match at ‘The Sphere’ off the strip in Sin City, it was announced earlier this week.<\/p>\n

The bout is set to be globally broadcast on Netflix<\/a>\u00a0as part of the streamer’s growing investment into live sports.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mayweather, 49, first has to take on\u00a0Mike Tyson<\/a>, 59, in an exhibition bout this spring. A date and location has not yet been confirmed.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile Pacquiao, 47, has a warm-up fight against Ruslan Provodnikov on April 18, almost a year after his draw with then-WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios.<\/p>\n

Share or comment on this article:
\n Manny Pacquiao files bombshell lawsuit after being accused of sending waiter photos of dismembered bodies in ‘terror campaign’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By JOSH BOSWELL, CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER Published: 07:15 EST, 26 February 2026 | Updated: 07:28 EST, 26 February…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,97,6748,162180,99,6100,217,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-446987","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-floyd-mayweather","11":"tag-les-moonves","12":"tag-los-angeles","13":"tag-manny-pacquiao","14":"tag-sport","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}