Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. is looking to add some zeros to his bank account.
The legendary boxer has filed a $100 million defamation suit against Business Insider, according to a report by Ben Horney in Front Office Sports. The suit alleges that Business Insider reporter Daniel Geiger, who is also named as a defendant, “embarked on a campaign of harassment and defamation, characterized by aggressive and misleading journalism that not only distorts the truth but seems driven by a deep-seated bias against Mr. Mayweather’s success.”
At the center of the lawsuit is reporting that Geiger published in March that suggested Mayweather, who had publicly discussed an agreement to buy a 62-building Manhattan apartment real estate portfolio, had not actually made such a purchase. Geiger stated “there is no evidence there has been a sale” in his original report.
Mayweather’s lawsuit alleged that Geiger “refused” to review documents that prove the deals did, in fact, happen, and that Geiger was motivated to defame the champion boxer due to his race.
In a statement provided to Front Office Sports, Business Insider said, “we will vigorously defend against this meritless attempt to discredit our reporting and smear our reporter.” Mayweather’s attorneys did not reply to a request for comment.
Business Insider was recently the subject of another high-profile defamation lawsuit from a sports media figure. In 2022, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy sued the publication after it published a report containing sexual assault allegations against him. The suit was later dropped.