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20th April 2024
04:32pm BST
David Beckham is taking legal action against Mark Wahlberg after he claims a fitness brand deal that the Hollywood actor led him into resulted in a loss of over £8 million.
The former England and Manchester United star's company, DB Ventures LTD, is suing F45, a fitness company that Wahlberg has a minority stake in, for allegedly 'duping' Becks into becoming the brand's global ambassador.
F45 Training is an Australian franchiser of high-end fitness centres. It has over 2,000 studios in over 60 countries and has it's base in Austin Texas.
Beckham signed a deal to become the brand's ambassador when he moved to Los Angeles to join MLS side LA Galaxy in 2007.
52-year-old Wahlberg has been a shareholder in the company since 2019. The pair became friends when Beckham relocated his family to LA, and in 2020, he invested in the company following encouragement from the Ted star.
David and Victoria lived in the same Beverly Hills neighbourhood as Wahlberg when they made the move.
Beckham's case against the global company is a continuation of a previous lawsuit he shared with golfing legend and LIV Golf boss Greg Norman. The pair filed a joint case against F45 in Californian courts in October 2022 - before a judge reportedly ruled they had to file separate lawsuits.
According to The Sun, Beckham claims he lost more than £8.5million when stocks he was promised were withheld until after share prices plummeted.
Wahlberg reportedly took issue with Beckham when he promoted his own range of personalised workouts. What followed was a row over shares Becks claimed to have been promised.
Beckham's firm alleges shares in the company were promised to be shared in early 2022.
However, they were not divulged until months later. By this time, the share price had dropped from around $12 (£9.70) a share to $3 (£2.43) per share.
Wahlberg's representatives on the other hand claim that the allegations are baseless and have asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit.
They claim that the 209 page complaint "tries to make up with length what it lacks in merit."
Beckham had previously shared some posts on his Instagram promoting F45 to his millions of followers as part of the deal. The posts have since been deleted.
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