The Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP law firm has been sued by Big3 Basketball, LLC for allegedly pretending to act on behalf of the Big3 when it was really serving the interests of the State of Qatar, its royal family and its numerous state-owned enterprises.
In a Complaint filed on May 28 in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, the Big3 professional basketball league that was created by musician/actor Ice Cube and entertainment executive Jeffrey Kratinetz characterizes Quinn Emanuel’s act as “an egregious betrayal” by serving a much more lucrative client whose interests were directly adverse to Big 3. In fact, Big3 says it has credible information and belief that Qatar and its royal family pay Quinn Emanuel tens of millions of dollars in legal fees on an annual basis, which includes work tied to the upcoming FIFA World Cup scheduled to take place in Doha, Qatar in 2022.
The backstory to the new litigation seems to begin in 2017 when Qatari agents are alleged to have tried to seize control of the Big3 after promising to provide many millions of dollars to the Big3 by way of investments and sponsorships. The Big3 ended up filing a lawsuit in 2018 and claimed that the investors only paid roughly half of the promised funds. The lawsuit included further causes of action for defamation, libel, and interference with contractual relationships.
Another lawsuit was filed, this time by former NBA player Roger Mason Jr., who served as commissioner of the Big3 prior to being fired, against his former employer. The case, which was transferred to arbitration, included claims that Kratinetz made “horrible racist comments.” The Big3 previously held and maintains that it rightfully fired Mason Jr. for being “corrupted by the Qatari agents” who were attempting to seize control of the league. The new lawsuit against Quinn Emanuel also alleges that Mason Jr. helped the Qatari agents with their efforts to create a three-on-three basketball league in competition with the Big3.
Apparently, Quinn Emanuel’s existing attorney-client relationship with Big3’s outside counsel in the Mason Jr. case is what created the issue in the newly filed case against the global firm. The Big3 says that the relationship between its outside counsel, Mark Geragos of Geragos & Geragos, and Quinn Emanuel allowed Quinn Emanuel to infiltrate the Big3’s legal team in order to redirect it from focusing on the Qatari government’s connection to Mason Jr. Additionally, the Big3 claims that Quinn Emanuel gave the Qataris intelligence about what the Big3 already knew about those connections.
The connection was allegedly created when attorney Robert Raskopf of Quinn Emanuel reached out to Geragos and offered to assist in representing the Big3. The Big3 now says that Quinn Emanuel should have known about its “unwaivable conflict of interest” based on its extensive relationship with Qatar when it offered to assist with the case against Mason Jr. The Big3 thus believes that Quinn Emanuel got involved in the Mason Jr. case based on false pretenses and that its main motivation was to steer the focus of the Mason Jr. case away from its Qatari clients as well as gather intelligence about the Big3 for Qatar.
“In effect, Quinn would become a spy for Qatar, a nation known for supporting terrorism and aligned with Iran,” states the Complaint.
Further in the Complaint it is stated that, “The conflict between Big3’s defense and Qatari interests was inescapable and unwaivable. Indeed, it is hard to imagine a more egregious conflict of interest. Yet, Quinn persisted in representing Big3.”
Interestingly, the engagement of Quinn Emanuel was effectuated by another lawyer at Geragos’s law firm. The Complaint says that attorney Ben Meiselas of Geragos & Geragos signed the engagement letter, purportedly on Big3’s behalf, identifying himself as “attorney,” yet he lacked authority to engage Quinn Emanuel on behalf of the basketball league.
Also stated in the Complaint is that Quinn Emanuel represented the Big3 for less than five months, but ran up a bill of over $1.3 million, including a bill of roughly $778,000 for one month and that much of that time spent was attached to Quinn Emanuel’s losing attempt to obtain a temporary restraining order against Mason Jr.’s effort to sell an ownership interest in the league to a third party. It appears that the Big3 is bitter about the fees as well as that Quinn Emanuel refused to include details of Mason Jr.’s alleged corruption by Qatar in the filing.
“The amount charged should shock the conscience of any reputable attorney, but Quinn has no conscience when it comes to billing,” states the Complaint.
Quinn Emanuel ultimately withdrew from representing the Big3. The league says that it was then able to secure an admission that Mason Jr. was “unwittingly used” by the Qataris. It blames Quinn Emanuel’s conflict for not garnering that admission during the term of its representation.
Darren Heitner is the founder of Heitner Legal. He is the author of How to Play the Game: What Every Sports Attorney Needs to Know, published by the American Bar Association, and is an adjunct professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. You can reach him by email at heitner@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter at @DarrenHeitner.