UTA Fires & Sues Partner Michael Kassan, CEO Of Agency-Owned MediaLink, Over Misappropriation Of Funds

deadline.com:

Michael Kassan, CEO of MediaLink, the strategic advisory firm acquired by UTA in 2021, is out. “Michael Kassan was terminated for cause by UTA on March 7th 2024, following a thorough and exhaustive third-party investigation into misappropriation of company funds,” an UTA spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday night. “We filed a lawsuit against him today and look forward to presenting the facts in court.” UTA has sued Kassan for fraud in a dense lawsuit filed today in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The agency’s legal action was countered almost immediately by Kassan countering with a $25 million action of his own that seeks to drag the matter behind closed doors into arbitration. “Michael Kassan agreed to sell MediaLink, the company he founded, to UTA because he was led to believe it would be a great partnership for both companies,” Kassan’s lawyer Sanford Michelman of Michelman and Robinson said in part in a statement tonight. “However, it became clear that [UTA CEO] Jeremy Zimmer had a secret plan to not honor the contract, and when Michael confronted him, Zimmer refused to honor the deal.

As one would expect, when Zimmer broke promises and began to impede the success of MediaLink, Michael was left with no other option other than to resign and file this lawsuit against Zimmer and UTA for breach of contract.” (Read the full statement below.) UTA purchased the MediaLink from UK-based Ascential PLC for around $125 million.

As part of the transaction, Kassan became a partner in UTA while retaining his CEO post at MediaLink, the company he founded in 2003.