Floyd Mayweather‘s insatiable desire for a luxurious lifestyle has put him in a fix. After rumors about him being detained in Dubai over unpaid dues, Mayweather finds himself front and center of another non-payment-related controversy. This time, in his own country. A Miami-based jeweler, Leonard Sulaymov has filed a lawsuit against Floyd Mayweather over alleged non-payment of dues amounting to $4 million over the purchase of multiple jewelry items and watches, dating back to June 2021.

Interestingly, even the Hip Hop artist Tyga has been dragged into the lawsuit. The lawsuit does beg the question—Is Mayweather’s extravagant lifestyle fueled by unpaid debts? Will Mayweather be able to win the lawsuit? So, without further ado, let’s get into the details of the lawsuit and the accusations that have been made against the 50-0 boxer.

Leonard Sulaymanov: The owner of Lenzo and Co. Who is he?

Leonard Sulaymanov is a Miami-based watch, and jewelry collector/dealer. He owns an online marketplace called Lenzo and Co. which “buys, sells, and trades the finest high-end preowned luxury and never-used luxury watches in the world”. According to the company’s website, Lenzo and Co. was founded by a community of watch enthusiasts who used to share pictures of exquisite timepieces but later transformed into a platform that buys, sells, and trades “watches and other valuable goods”.

Now, the businessman’s meeting with a Mayweather associate at Miami Beach in late June 2021 turned into a three-year-plus dispute. Let’s get into the details of the lawsuit to understand the gravity of the charges pressed against the five-division champion.

Tyga also roped in as part of Floyd Mayweather’s lawsuit

The businessman claims that after a series of meetings with members of Mayweather’s TMT at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach in late June 2021, he agreed to sell the boxer an Audemars Piguet watch, two Richard Mille watches, a Patek Philippe watch, and a rose-gold Rolex Presidential Day-Date, along with a diamond ring and a necklace. However, according to Sulaymanov, he hasn’t received full payment for the transaction yet. The lawsuit filed by the Miami-based watch collector and jeweler, under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act, includes charges of fraud, racketeering, civil conspiracy, breach of contract, civil theft, and various other counts.

“This action arises out of a pattern of predatory, unfair, improper, fraudulent, and unscrupulous practices through which defendants used the plaintiff’s reputation, business, and inventory to systemically steal and convert the plaintiff’s watches and jewelry to their own without paying the full and fair price,” the lawsuit stated.

Reportedly, the jeweler had received $267,000 in two down payments from the former world champion before he left the city. However, there is still a whopping total sum of  $3,883,657.00, almost $4 million, left to be paid to the jeweler for the total purchases Mayweather made, even after making multiple attempts to talk to Mayweather’s agents.

The plaintiff, Sulaymanov, stated in the lawsuit that one of the defendants, a TMT member, asked him to put away his phone to conduct the completion of the transaction privately, but he was able to secretly film the meeting with another phone. Furthermore, rapper Tyga, Mayweather’s friend, was also named in the lawsuit for allegedly agreeing to pay for a $79,000 Rolex Day-Date from LenZo and Co but failing to do so.

What is the RICO Act? 

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act is a law that is specifically targeted toward organized criminal activity and racketeering. Originally passed in 1970 to crack down on the crimes committed by the Mafia, it imposes a maximum criminal penalty of 20 years in prison for violations of the statute. A sentenced individual under the RICO Act has to forfeit all proceeds obtained while engaging in racketeering activity to the government. 

For a person to be implicated under the RICO Act, he has to show a clear pattern of being involved in racketeering activities. What’s more, the plaintiff is indebted to recover “treble damages suffered by the wrongful activity of the offender”.

All these are very serious charges. But the veracity of it all remains unconfirmed. In the meantime, let’s look at his expensive watch collection.

Floyd Mayweather’s watch collection

Mayweather is renowned for his diverse taste in timepieces. His extravagant watch collection boasts pieces from Jacob & Co., Richard Mille, the “Rolex Sky-Dweller Ref. 326938,” Hublot, Audemars Piguet, Rolex, and Patek Philippe.

The most expensive watch in his collection is “The Billionaire Watch,” an exclusive timepiece by Jacob & Co. The dial, bracelet, and case of this prominent 49-millimeter watch are all encrusted with baguette-cut diamonds. The price of this model is estimated to be around $18 million.

Will Floyd Mayweather’s love for expensive watches land him trouble? Well, that’s for the lawyers and the courts to decide. Only time will tell if the 50-0 boxer will get penalized for the accusations that have been hurled against him.

Nonetheless, for more developments on the lawsuit filed against Mayweather keep following EssentiallySports!