Conor McGregor ordered to reveal how much he made from sale of Proper No. Twelve whiskey brand

Conor McGregor has been ordered to make discovery of documents revealing how much he received from the proceeds of the sale of his whiskey brand Proper No. Twelve.

The order, made by John Glennon, deputy master of the High Court, came following a contested application in the case being taken against the mixed martial arts star by his former friend and sparring partner Artem Lobov.

McGregor is reputed to have earned $130m (€119m) when he and two other shareholders sold their stakes to Proximo Spirits, owners of Jose Cuervo tequila, for $600m (€551m) in 2021.

In his lawsuit, retired Russian-born fighter Lobov maintains he was the initial creator and co-founder of the concept to launch an Irish whiskey brand associated with McGregor.

His lawsuit is aimed at enforcing an alleged oral agreement made in a gym in 2016 that he would receive 5pc of the proceeds.

McGregor later offered to pay him $1m (€918,000) for what his side claims was Lobov’s “limited involvement in prior events” but denies any such agreement existed.

Lobov refused to take the money.

In a decision today, the deputy master directed discovery of documents relating to McGregor’s share in the proceeds of the sale, as well as records relating to McGregor’s interest in the whiskey brand held through any interest or holding he may have had in US firm Paradigm Sports Management.

However, Mr Glennon refused to make orders for the discovery of other disputed areas of discovery, including documents relating to dealings between the two other shareholders in the whiskey brand, Paradigm CEO Audie Attar and US businessman Ken Austin.

While the proceeds received by McGregor related to the central issues in Lobov’s claim, the deputy master did not believe the items he refused were central.

After the hearing, Mr Lobov said: “I am very happy with the decision and I now look forward to the case going to trial.”

McGregor is to make discovery within 12 weeks.

Barrister Liam Bell, for Lobov, told the deputy master his side needed information about what McGregor received. “It is a relatively simple application. We need this for our case,” he said.

The court heard that while many categories of discovery had been agreed, this was one of two areas where there had been disagreement.

In the proceedings, Lobov claims he suggested in late 2016 that McGregor develop a whiskey and that he was authorised by McGregor to investigate potential deals.

This, Lobov said, culminated in him identified West Cork Distillers and Malone’s Whiskey as potential partners in a deal that would have seen McGregor retain 100pc ownership of the brand and a company incorporated to sell the whiskey, with profits split on a 50/50 basis with the distillers.

However, McGregor instead incorporated a company called Eire Born Ventures with Attar and Austin which entered a joint venture with Proximo Spirits.

Mr Bell told the court that that his client’s case was that he was “in essence my client was muscled out by the parties and wasn’t paid what he was due”.

In the application heard today, Lobov was seeking an order for the discovery of documents evidencing or recording an approach by Austin to Attar in September 2017, as well as subsequent negotiation terms in relation to McGregor creating an Irish whiskey brand.

He said this was correspondence “from a time my client was being taken out of the matter”.

Barrister Shelley Horan, for McGregor, opened an affidavit filed by McGregor’s solicitor Michael Staines SC which argued there was “no basis” for why his client should agree to discover the documents.

The affidavit said the category was “extremely broad and would extend to commercially sensitive documents”.

The deputy master sided with McGregor’s legal team in relation to this category.

However, he agreed to make an order for two parts of a second disputed category, relating to how much McGregor made from the brand sale.

In an affidavit, Lobov’s solicitor Dermot McNamara said the disclosure of these documents was relevant and necessary in circumstances where McGregor had refused to pay his client 5pc of the proceeds of the sale.

The solicitor claimed McGregor had “undervalued” the share of the sale Lobov was entitled to and had concealed relevant information in relation to Lobov’s entitlement.

Mr Bell said McGregor’s side had pointed his client to media reports regarding how much McGregor had made. But he said he could not rely on these in the litigation.

The discovery application comes just over a year after Lobov’s proceedings were initiated.

McGregor and Lobov were previously close. They have known each other since 2008 and Lobov became one of McGregor’s sparring partners in 2011.

In a legal filing, Lobov said he had always been confident McGregor would honour the alleged 5pc agreement.

But he sought legal advice and ultimately filed a lawsuit after receiving a voice message from McGregor denying the existence of any such deal.

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