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Talent agency UTA has parted ways with veteran Hollywood broker Michael Kassan, sparking a bitter legal battle over various allegations over the use of a $950,000 “special expenses” fund.
The international agency acquired Cassan's strategic consultancy MediaLink in 2021 for $125 million from UK-based Ascential, and made Cassan a partner.
Utah said in a statement that Kassan was fired “following a thorough and comprehensive third-party investigation into the misappropriation of company funds,” adding that it filed a lawsuit against Kassan this week.
But Cassin rejected this position, and demanded damages, claiming breach of contract and fraud. The lawsuit, filed in a Los Angeles court on Tuesday, said the use of a $950,000 after-tax “special expenses” fund was an agreed-upon part of his contract.
Kasan is a well-known Hollywood consultant with close ties to the media and advertising markets. He is a regular attendee at Ascential's Cannes Lions marketing festival, where last year he held an exclusive concert at a luxury hotel featuring music artist Lizzo.
Kassan's lawsuit in Los Angeles says he resigned on March 6 before he was fired because UTA CEO Jeremy Zimmer did not honor a contract the two sides agreed to during the MediaLink acquisition.
A UTA spokesperson said, “UTA terminated him on March 7, and realized long before that that UTA had grounds to terminate him.” His claim against UTA has no merit and is an attempt to divert attention from the misappropriation of company funds that led to his termination. currency.
UTA's complaint – seen by the Financial Times – alleges “constructive fraud” and breach of fiduciary duties, among other allegations. It alleges that Cassin showed “a complete disregard for his fiduciary obligations.” [and] He ran rampant through his business expense accounts — wasting millions of UTA dollars on his lavish personal lifestyle.
He cites examples of Cassin using the fund to pay for an apartment for his personal driver, and allowing his wife to get a company credit card “so she could shop for expensive luxury items.”
It said Cassin charged UTA fees for private jet flights that were “personal in nature and had no rational business purpose….” . . In short, Cassin erased any line between his personal expenses and his business expenses.”
However, Kassan's claim said UTA violated an agreement stipulating that he would oversee the day-to-day operations and long-term strategy of UTA's marketing department and would be given a special expense budget of $950,000 to create new jobs.
Kasan's claim alleges that “Zimmer (and his wife) were on the same plane (there were several of them),” which the CEO complained was not approved.
She added: “Kassan is known for being so transparent about his level of spending that Zimmer would often comment on how Kassan was doing.”
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By resigning, Cassin chose to forgo his nearly $10 million severance package so he could compete with MediaLink, the lawsuit said.
“After two long years of Kassan’s resistance to Zimmer’s repeated promises, and after UTA and MediaLink employees long complained about Zimmer, Kassan had had enough and resigned,” she said.
“Michael Kasan agreed to sell MediaLink, the company he founded, to UTA because he thought it would be a great partnership for both companies,” said Sanford Michelman of Michelman & Robinson, an advisor to Cassan. “However, it became clear that Jeremy Zimmer had a secret plan.” For not honoring the contract, when Michael confronted him, Zimmer refused to honor the deal.
