LOS ANGELES – A company that helped Antonio Brown put together a community outreach event in Los Angeles the day before Super Bowl LVI in February has been granted a default judgment of more than $34,000 against the former NFL wide receiver and two other firms to recover a balance allegedly due for the plaintiff’s work in setting up Brown’s program.
Phantom Labs Inc.’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit allegations against the 34-year-old Brown and two companies, Boomin Productions LLC and STB Athletes, included breach of an oral contract and fraudulent inducement. According to documents filed with the Florida Secretary of State, Brown is the sole manager of Boomin.
On Feb. 9, Judge Wendy Chang granted the a default judgment in favor of Phantom Labs for $34,360. Although the judgment named STB Athletes as a party, Phantom Labs’ attorneys had filed court papers a week earlier asking that the company be dropped as a defendant.
According to Phantom Labs’ lawsuit filed last June 7, Brown has “a history of not paying vendors and employees for their services,” despite his promises and assurances.
Brown attended Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium on Feb. 13, 2022, as a guest of Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, the suit stated. A day earlier, Brown, Boomin, and STB had an event in Los Angeles called “Team AB Community Outreach” that was produced by Phantom by Brown, his affiliates and representatives and Brian Davis, a principal for STB who was acting as an agent for Brown, the suit stated.
Brown and his affiliates/representatives, as well as Davis, approved Phantom’s $95,000-$100,000 budget for the event and the plaintiff did what it was required to do, including advancing and contracting for thousands of dollars in expenses in the expectation that prompt payment would come, the suit stated.
Brown promoted the event on Instagram to his 8.2 million followers, stating, “Join us in empowering the next generation of champions! Community first!” along with a large head shot of Brown, the suit stated.
Brown attended the festivities and both signed autographs for and took pictures with dozens of local children present, the suit states. He also made additional positive postings about the event, according to the suit.
Phantom’s expenses and fees for Brown’s event ended up totaling $66,050, the suit states. Davis assured Phantom that he would pay the invoice on, but no payment was made on the day promised, so the plaintiff sent another set of payment instructions, according to the suit.
Finally, after persistent reminders, Boomin wired Phantom $35,000 on May16, but refused to pay the balance due, the suit alleged.
“Defendants knew their representations were false when they made them and/or that they made the representations recklessly and without regard to their truth,” the suit alleges.
During the third quarter of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 28-24 win over the New York Jets on Jan. 2, 2022, Brown took his jersey, shoulder pads, glove and shirt off and ran off the field into the locker room. Brown was officially released four days later and passed through veterans waivers two days later without a team claiming him.
