Key Takeaways
- Floyd Mayweather withdrew his $175 million fraud lawsuit against former business manager Jona Rechnitz and the other defendants without prejudice, leaving him free to refile the claims.
- Mayweather had accused Rechnitz of diverting money through real estate, loans, jewelry deals, settlements, and the $1 transfer of his private jet, including nearly $100 million in jewelry allegedly pledged for about $13 million.
- Rechnitz denied wrongdoing and said Mayweather ignored repeated warnings about his spending, while the boxer’s attorney offered no explanation for dropping the case.
Floyd Mayweather has pulled the plug on his blockbuster $175 million lawsuit against former business manager Jona Rechnitz—but he has left himself room to return to court.
In a notice filed Thursday, Sept. 24, in New York County Supreme Court, attorneys for Mayweather and his companies voluntarily discontinued their claims against Rechnitz, Ayal Frist, Frist Apex Ventures, LLC, and several unidentified defendants. The action was withdrawn “without prejudice” and without costs to either side, according to the one-page filing.
Because the claims were discontinued without prejudice, Mayweather generally retains the ability to bring them again. A separate notice filed the same day discontinued the action against attorney Alexander Seligson, the other named defendant.
Mayweather’s attorney, Leo Jacobs, previously said the alleged conduct “demands a full judicial accounting” and pledged to pursue “every dollar.” The Sept. 24 notice, which Jacobs signed, offers no explanation for the reversal.
“At this time, our client has decided to withdraw its claim without prejudice,” Jacobs told ESPN on Thursday.
The original complaint painted Rechnitz as far more than a casual associate. It alleged he became Mayweather’s de facto investment manager, real estate adviser, banking liaison, and dealmaker after gaining the boxer’s trust.
Among the alleged transactions was a $7.5 million wire for what Mayweather believed was a 12-month investment. The lawsuit also claimed that roughly $8.8 million from a $16.4 million loan and approximately $15 million in settlement proceeds were routed to Frist Apex without Mayweather’s authorization.
The most eye-popping allegation involved nearly $100 million in jewelry allegedly pledged to two Miami dealers for about $13 million. Mayweather also claimed Rechnitz arranged the transfer of his 1996 Gulfstream G-IV, with the bill of sale listing “$1.00 & OVC” as consideration, and that the boxer received none of the proceeds.
Rechnitz denied the allegations and previously said he had repeatedly warned Mayweather about his spending.
“I do not want to litigate this issue through the media, nor do I want to embarrass Floyd publicly,” Rechnitz said after Mayweather filed the lawsuit. He accused Mayweather of ignoring financial warnings and “looking to blame others.”
Their relationship had once looked very different. In a 2023 letter supporting Rechnitz during federal sentencing proceedings, Mayweather wrote, “We became friendly, and I supported him when he was going through the process of being sentenced in 2019.”
He also urged the judge to consider his belief that Rechnitz “is a good person.”
Court records show Rechnitz pleaded guilty in 2016 to honest-services wire-fraud conspiracy and later cooperated with federal prosecutors in several corruption cases. Mayweather’s lawsuit claimed the boxer had not known about that history when he placed his trust in Rechnitz.
