US boxing chief sues Daniel Kinahan under crime laws

Case: Daniel Kinahan is alleged to have signed a contracted boxer

Robin Schiller and Ken Foy

December 21 2020 09:03 AM

CRIME boss Daniel Kinahan is being sued by a boxing manager in the US under organised crime laws.

He and sports management company MTK Global are alleged to have signed champion boxer Joseph Diaz (28) earlier this year while he was still under contract and offered him $100,000 (€82,000) up front.

The boxer’s former manager, Moses Heredia, has now filed a civil cause of action over the signing, along with his company Heredia Boxing Management.

A number of allegations are made in the claim including that MTK are “using and abusing US law” to continue an alleged “money-laundering operation” while receiving funds from Kinahan.

Several defendants are named on court records filed last Friday in California including Kinahan, MTK Global, and boxing promotion firm Golden Boy Productions Inc.

In its claim, Heredia Boxing Management has identified nine separate cause of actions that includes four alleged civil breaches under organised crime law.

It is alleged the company suffered injury under the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisation) Act.

The plaintiffs state that Kinahan “continues to arrange boxing matches involving MTK fighters” and these matches are “steeped in money obtained from drug-trafficking proceeds” laundered through a legitimate business.

They accuse MTK of “using and abusing US law in an attempt to gain a foothold in a lucrative market to continue their money-laundering operation” and claim it continues to receive funds indirectly or directly from Kinahan.

They also state that MTK is still part-owned and controlled by Kinahan. He is described as a “member of Ireland’s notorious Kinahan cartel, also known as the KOCG by law-enforcement officials”.

The court filings also say that Daniel Kinahan, and 26 others associates of his crime group, were banned from entering the US in September 2016 due to narco-terrorism.

Kinahan and MTK are alleged to have violated federal law while “flooding the US market place with illegal funds”.

In recent years, MTK has repeatedly claimed Kinahan has stepped away from the company. MTK, Kinahan and the other defendants have not yet indicated their defence to the claims.