A lawsuit against famed boxing promoter Don King seeks more than $3 billion, alleging King falsely denied being involved in an anniversary event for his historic "Rumble in the Jungle."
BYD Sports and BYD Management, two limited liability companies, filed the complaint in federal court against King, 93, last month, alleging defamation, tortious interference and fraud.
According to the complaint, BYD CEO Cecil Miller alleges he was working with King for more than a year on a "Rumble in the Jungle 2" before Don King Productions issued a cease-and-desist letter claiming no affiliation with the event.
Don King Productions did not immediately respond to a request for comment. An attorney for King or the company is not listed in the court record.
The "Rumble in the Jungle" is King's most famous events, a 1974 matchup between legendary boxers Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Africa. The event took place in Zaire, which is now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The lawsuit alleges that BYD had worked with Don King Productions on various events beginning in 2021 and that King had spoken to Miller about his intention to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the match. Miller believed King needed help coordinating "Rumble in the Jungle 2," and BYD sent a proposal on the matter in August 2023, the suit says.
"Although the receipt was acknowledged by DKP’s team, there has never been a written response to the proposal to date," the suit says.
NBC News obtained a copy of a "deal memorandum" filed with the court documents.
According to the suit, Miller and King continued to discuss the anniversary event in detail and Miller proposed Nigeria as a potential venue for the match.
Miller alleges that at one point in May, he spoke to King about information that King's daughter was interested in holding a similar event and insisted that he would back out if King's daughter was handling it. The suit alleges that King told Miller at the time that his daughter "had a bad history and was not to be trusted," as she previously misrepresented him.
BYD continued to work on arrangements for "Rumble in the Jungle 2," the suit says, but Don King Productions was "avoiding all communications." The suit also alleges that King misrepresented his rights over the "Rumble in the Jungle" trademark in discussions about the matter.
Don King Productions posted a cease-and-desist letter to its Facebook page on Nov. 1 addressed to BYD from an Ohio-based law firm. The letter said it had come to the attention of King and the production company that BYD was "falsely representing" to the Nigerian government that they had authorized the "Rumble in the Jungle 2" event.
The lawsuit says that BYD had secured licenses for the event and that tickets were set to go on sale the day the cease-and-desist letter was posted. According to the suit, Miller got a call from King a few days before in which King said he had "no idea" what Miller was doing.
Miller alleged that King gave his "blessing" for the event on video. One of the exhibits in the court records includes an image of King with the words "it's go time and Don King cosigned." The image appears to be a screenshot of a video posted to BYD's verified Instagram account on Dec. 3, 2023, in which a man pans the camera to King and says "we're going to get down to business" and King smiles at the camera.
There is no mention of "Rumble in the Jungle 2" in the video, and King does not say a word.
Electronic summonses were issued to King and Don King Productions on Dec. 19 after, it appears, there were multiple filing errors in the request for summons.
A judge also ordered BYD to refile its complaint in December, saying the suit fails to identify the plaintiffs' citizenship. An amended complaint was filed Dec. 18, but it failed to rectify the issue.
A judge's order was issued last week to clarify the citizenship of the LLC members by Jan. 17 or risk the suit's dismissal, according to court records.