Exclusive: WWE legend Ric Flair claims ‘influencer talent agency' duped him into handing over his digital life: lawsuit

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Legendary pro wrestler Ric 'Nature Boy' Flair is suing a digital talent agency he claims duped him into signing away the rights to his own image and likeness while promising him a six-figure monthly revenue stream that allegedly never materialized. The 77-year-old Flair, whose real name is Richard Morgan Fliehr, spent four decades 'building something… through his body, his blood, his pain, his persona, his craft, and his commitment to excellence at a level that only sixteen world championships can describe,' according to a $10 million lawsuit obtained by The Independent. But, Flair's complaint says, FAM Networks, a 'cutting-edge talent-first management agency and media company representing some of the most unique and impactful influencers around the world,' pounced on an opportunity to rook the elderly performer out of what was rightfully his. 'What FAM did was simple: it waited until he needed help managing the digital legacy of everything he had built, presented him with a document he was not equipped to understand, told him he had lawyers when he did not, gave him fourteen minutes to read it, and walked away with a perpetual license to his identity,' the complaint contends, adding that the pending legal action is only 'the beginning.' 'The Nature Boy is not finished,' the complaint states. 'The case has just begun.' open image in gallery WWE icon Ric Flair says in a new lawsuit that he was rooked by an online talent agency ( Getty Images ) Reached by phone at his home in Hillsborough County, Florida, Fliehr, who last wrestled in 2022, told The Independent that he 'wants to bury' the people at FAM Networks, and said he lost out on at least $250,000 in revenues so far. Messages sent to five different departments at FAM Networks were all returned as undeliverable. A contact form on the company's website was inoperable on Tuesday; it does not have a publicly listed phone number. As Ric Flair, Richard Fliehr 'electrified arenas across the world,' his complaint explains, calling him 'one of the most celebrated, decorated, and recognizable professional athletes in the history of his sport.' His career transcended the ring and became an indelible part of American pop culture, it goes on. 'A name, a likeness, and an identity that carries commercial value precisely because generations of fans have given it meaning through their devotion,' the complaint states. 'That identity – the product of a lifetime of work, sacrifice, and sacrifice again – is what FAM Networks, LLC came for.' open image in gallery Ric Flair, seen here with rap superstar 50 Cent, claims he was tricked by an online talent agency and is now seeking at least $10 million ( Getty Images ) FAM, which maintains offices in New York City and Los Angeles, purportedly defrauded Fliehr by quietly taking control of his social media accounts, recategorizing them to make recovery near-impossible, and milked his persona for profits he never saw. At 5:57 PM on December 5, 2025, Fliehr opened an email from FAM, which came with a contract attached, according to the complaint, which was filed September 5 in Manhattan Supreme Court. 'At 6:11 PM – fourteen minutes later – he signed it,' the complaint continues. 'In those fourteen minutes, without the benefit of legal counsel, without a single attorney reviewing a single word on his behalf, and in direct contradiction of a contractual recital FAM itself drafted declaring that the agreement had been negotiated with counsel, Mr. Fliehr surrendered an irrevocable, perpetual, sublicensable license over his name, image, likeness, voice, accounts, and commercial identity – throughout the universe, without restriction, in all languages, formats, and media now known or later developed.' FAM 'knew he had no lawyer,' the complaint alleges. 'FAM wrote the clause saying he did anyway.' (Fliehr has trouble discerning AI-generated content from reality, and often gets confused about things he sees online, according to his daughter Charlotte.) open image in gallery Ric Flair, seen here during his final pro wrestling match in 2022, is suing an online talent management agency over a deal he called a 'trap' ( Getty Images ) The company, which promotes online influencers and pairs them up with corporate deals, offered Fliehr a full slate of speaking engagements and appearances with 90 percent of the proceeds going to him, the complaint states. It says FAM pledged 50 percent to Fliehr for 'collaborative projects,' and 10 percent for 'passive content.' FAM would also restore Fliehr's 'hacked, demonetized' Facebook page, which it claimed would throw off six figures on a monthly basis. 'These were not aspirations,' the complaint argues. 'They were contractual obligations.' However, it alleges, 'FAM delivered none of them. It sourced not one speaking engagement. Not one in-person appearance. Not one personal project at the ninety percent royalty tier. It reposted existing content.' At the same time, FAM enriched itself by as much as $20,000 a month by monetizing Fliehr's Facebook page, while paying him 'next to nothing,' according to the complaint. open image in gallery Pro wrestling legend Ric Flair says in court papers that he was duped by an online talent management agency and is now seeking a minimum of $10 million ( Getty Images ) It then transferred Fliehr's Facebook page to itself, effectively locking Fliehr's existing team out and blowing a potential advertising deal they already had in the works, the complaint states. By taking 'operational control' of Fliehr's digital life, FAM was allegedly able to 'entrench itself in a position from which it could demand a ransom for his own property's return.' When Fliehr signed the contract with FAM, the company was already embroiled in an almost identical case involving ufologist Steven Greer, according to the complaint. Yet, FAM 'disclosed none of this to Mr. Fliehr before he signed,' because, the complaint argues, '[d]isclosure would have ended the transaction.' The complaint contends that the contract that FAM convinced Fliehr to sign and later 'weaponize[d],' should be declared null and void. It describes the agreement as 'not a contract,' but, rather, 'a trap,' giving FAM the right to act in Fliehr's name without his involvement and erecting practically insurmountable barriers preventing him from extracting himself from the deal. 'New York courts of equity do not enforce traps, and they do not enforce perpetual licenses extracted from elderly men in fourteen minutes without counsel on the basis of false recitals and undisclosed litigation,' states the complaint. open image in gallery Ric Flair, seen here with fellow pro wrestling icon Hulk Hogan, is suing FAM Networks over an online deal he now says was a 'trap' ( Getty Images ) Last year, Fliehr sued a cannabis company he was involved in promoting, along with iconic prizefighter Mike Tyson, for $50 million, alleging fraud, self-dealing, and civil RICO conspiracy. Fliehr is now asking a judge to rescind the agreement with FAM, to order control of his Facebook page returned to him, a declaratory judgment stating that FAM has no right to his name, image, or likeness, and for a 'complete accounting of revenues generated in his name.' He is also demanding compensatory damages, among other things, of at least $5 million for breach of contract; compensatory and punitive damages of at least $5 million for fraudulent inducement; compensatory damages to be determined at trial for violations of New York Civil Rights Law; compensatory and punitive damages for tortious interference with prospective economic advantage, also to be determined at trial; and disgorgement of all amounts by which FAM 'has been unjustly enriched at [Fliehr's] expense,' plus attorneys' fees and court costs. A trial date has not yet been set.