Hollywood actor and fitness guru Mark Wahlberg is being sued by David Beckham after a deal that saw the footballer promote the star’s fitness brand turned sour – and allegedly left Golden Balls more than £8million out of pocket.
Becks, 48, is suing the actor and his business associates after the partnership with F45, which saw the midfielder promote his own range of personalised workouts, went south in a row over shares he claimed to have been promised.
The case has rumbled on for several years after Beckham and golfing legend Greg Norman filed cases against F45 in Californian courts in October 2022 – before a judge reportedly ruled they had to file separate lawsuits.
Beckham’s firm, David Beckham Ventures Ltd (DBVL) had earlier sought damages of as much as $18.85million (£15.2million) from F45, according to filings made last year.
But the new case now seeks damages directly from Wahlberg’s Mark Wahlberg Investment Group as well as F45’s founders Adam Gilchrist and Rob Deutsch, according to reports.
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David Beckham is suing Mark Wahlberg and his business associates over an alleged loss of £8.5million in shares in fitness firm F45
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Hollywood actor Wahlberg bought a minority share in F45 in 2019 via his investment company
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Beckham’s tie-up with F45 saw him launch an array of themed workouts – with glossy photos showing him working out with F45-branded fitness gear
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He also promoted F45 on his personal social media accounts – with one post made days after the deal was signed (above)
Becks and Wahlberg became friends after the footballer and his family relocated to Los Angeles in 2007 when he signed a deal to join Major League Soccer side LA Galaxy.
He then agreed to become the global ambassador for Australian brand F45 in November 2020 – with glossy photographs showing him working out using branded equipment at one of its fitness centres.
He also shared some posts on his Instagram promoting F45 to his millions of followers as part of the deal. The posts have since been deleted.
As part of the deal, DBVL alleges shares in the company were promised to be shared in early 2022 – but the shares were not divulged until months later, by which time the share price had plummeted from around $12 a share to $3 a share.
Beckham’s lawyers claim this cost him as much as £8.5million in potential profit as a result of the delay in issuing his firm with the shares promised in the deal.
The Sun reports that Wahlberg and his co-defendants are seeking to dismiss the allegations of ‘fraudulent conduct’ as baseless and lacking in merit.
F45’s share price in the US has never recovered from its early price of $16.
Shares in the firm are now worth just 15 cents, according to the most recent market data, and the company has been plagued with closures at franchises in several countries including its native Australia, the US, the UK and Ireland.
Wahlberg became a minority shareholder in F45 in 2019 after buying a stake in the company through his investment group.
Representatives for Beckham and Wahlberg have been contacted for comment.
