Ice Cube’s BIG3 Basketball League is reportedly suing the Champion Basketball League (CBL) for defamation. The suit comes roughly two weeks after the CBL filed a $250 million lawsuit alleging BIG3 of stole their proprietary ideas.
BIG3’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, filed court documents claiming CBL posted false accusations on its website.
“The issue is that Big3 violated the agreement that players would be able to play in both leagues even though all the players had prior agreements with the Champions League,” they wrote.
BIG3 denies there was an agreement between the two leagues in the first place.
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The BIG3 league says the head of the CBL is “a serial con-artist, fraudster and ponzi-schemer.”
It’s suing for unspecified damages.
(The original version of this article was published on September 2, 2017 and can be found below.)
Ice Cube’s BIG3 basketball league is reportedly facing a $250 million lawsuit, according to the New York Daily News. Fellow 3-on-3 league, The Champion Basketball League (CBL), is accusing the N.W.A legend of jacking its proprietary ideas.
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Filed by CBL founder Carl George at the Manhattan Supreme Court on Friday (September 1), the lawsuit alleges Cube and BIG3’s co-founder Jeff Kwatinetz only warmed up to the CBL players to steal their ideas after CBL’s 2014 launch.
Initially, the CBL and BIG3 were partners and had the goal of creating a symbiotic business startup that would eventually compete with the NBA.
CBL reportedly recruited at least 20 players, but decided not to require them to sign exclusive contracts, which would allow them to compete in the BIG3. According to the lawsuit, Cube and Kwatinetz signed the same players to exclusive contracts instead, and were allegedly aware of the slick move they were making.
Court documents state, “When certain players expressed their desire to participate in the CBL games, Mr. Cube confronted the players personally about playing in the CBL and threatened the players that they would be fined, not allowed to participate in the 52 percent of revenues bonus pool, or replaced on their teams. These threats were also shared with the CBL.”
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The BIG3 championship was held last Saturday (August 25) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and featured a halftime performance from Cardi B.
Cube has not yet replied publicly to the lawsuit.
