MAGA-boosting TV psychologist<\/a> lied about viewership numbers, advertising revenues, back catalogs and production costs in order to quickly secure a highly lucrative $500 million, 10-year deal from the network.<\/p>\n\u201cAmong other things, McGraw falsely represented to TBN that CBS would pay him $75 million per year to renew his contract and TBN must (1) immediately sign some form of binding agreement with Peteski and (2) immediately pay him $20 million as a gesture of good faith to show TBN\u2019s ability to pay and commitment to the deal,\u201d the complaint states. \u201cAnything less, McGraw claimed, would be a \u2018deal killer.\u2019 TBN relied on McGraw\u2019s false assurances and proceeded with the requested urgency.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Phil, who had hosted a syndicated television show for roughly 20 years at that point, also told Trinity that he \u201cwanted to change networks because of what he perceived to be CBS\u2019s censorship,\u201d explicitly saying: \u201cI don\u2019t want snot nose lawyers telling me what I can and can\u2019t say on TV.\u201d<\/p>\n
McGraw also allegedly said that he was looking to move his show from California to Texas, where TBN is located, in order to lower production costs by avoiding California regulations and cutting payroll by ridding himself of union-based employees. At the same time, in order to further entice Trinity into a deal, Dr. Phil represented that he owned the entire 21-year media library for his syndicated show and that TBN would have access to it at no additional cost.<\/p>\n
However, according to the complaint, McGraw hired dozens of employees from his previous show despite the agreement to slash production costs. On top of that, TBN alleges, Peteski \u2013 which owned the other 30 percent of Merit \u2013 failed to make payments on its interest in the company. <\/p>\n
While the agreement called for Dr. Phil to produce 160 90-minute episodes of his new primetime show to be aired on Merit Street, TBN claims McGraw never made good on that promise, instead keeping the program in its current hour-long format.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for McGraw, meanwhile, stated that the host recorded 214 new episodes of Dr. Phil Primetime, adding that \u201cto say otherwise is absolutely false.\u201d<\/p>\n
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open image in gallery<\/p>\n
Dr. Phil McGraw, seen here with President Donald Trump, has been accused of conducting a \u2018years-long fraudulent scheme.\u2019 (Getty)<\/p>\n
Elsewhere in the complaint, Trinity claims that McGraw demanded more money \u2013 despite TBN already expending tens of millions of dollars establishing his show on the new network \u2013 after the broadcaster asked to use the library content to fill out airtime on Merit Street.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis, among other things, prompted TBN to press McGraw to live up to his representation that he would contribute the Dr Phil Show library to Merit Street,\u201d the lawsuit states. <\/p>\n
\u201cDespite his previous representations, McGraw and his attorneys at Manatt informed TBN for the first time that McGraw would not contribute any old episodes of the Dr. Phil Show to Merit Street for Peteski\u2019s 30% or otherwise,\u201d the complaint continues. \u201cInstead, McGraw brazenly demanded that TBN pay him $100 million to obtain a 50% interest in the media library.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for Merit Street\u2019s bankruptcy, which was filed last month, TBN says the Chapter 11 proceedings weren\u2019t approved by its board members while accusing McGraw of plotting to use the bankruptcy to start a new media venture<\/a> and snag the license for his show.<\/p>\nMeanwhile, the bankruptcy judge presiding over the case said on Tuesday that the Chapter 11 proceedings will continue for now, adding that the court will decide on September 2 whether to dismiss the filing or convert it to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe judge has initially sided with Trinity Broadcasting Network and Professional Bull Riders, stating that Merit Street is at fault for delaying the case by resisting discovery and it is therefore not going to fund what Trinity and PBR call a \u201cgiant litigation war chest\u201d for the company\u2019s professionals,\u201d Sarah Foss, Head of Legal at Debtwire, explained to The Independent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe discovery resistance may be tied to reputational concerns from Dr. Phil, and what might be revealed in text messages or emails that come out in the discovery process,\u201d Foss continued, adding: \u201cNotably, the judge overseeing the bankruptcy denied a request from Merit Street\u2019s bankruptcy counsel, Sidley Austin, to withdraw from the case before that hearing, despite being owed $3.7m in unpaid legal fees and a lack of funds to pay the lawyers for their work representing the company at the hearing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-81141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81141","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=81141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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