Textual content messages unveiled throughout discovery within the contentious authorized battle involving Advantage Avenue Media reveal executives of the Dr. Phil McGraw-led firm trying to hide a chapter “scheme” with the intention to shift belongings and employees over to a brand new media enterprise, based on current court docket filings.
Per week after Trinity Broadcasting sued Advantage Avenue and Dr. Phil for conducting a “years-long fraudulent scheme” in an effort to “fleece TBN” in a scuttled $500 million deal, the Christian broadcaster filed an emergency movement looking for sanctions towards Dr. Phil’s manufacturing firm Peteski Productions for failing to supply discovery materials in Advantage’s chapter case.
TBN was joined within the movement by Skilled Bull Riders, the TKO-owned sports activities league that claims Advantage Avenue owes it $181 million after reneging on a four-year deal by failing to make funds. In its separate joinder submitting, PBR included textual content messages from Advantage Avenue’s chief working officer Joel Cheatwood that it claims show Advantage Avenue and Dr. Phil orchestrated the chapter as a part of a plot to launch a brand new media firm.
“The paperwork produced up to now reveal that this chapter was conceived as a scheme to divert the Debtor’s staff and mental property to Envoy, a competing enterprise Dr. Phil based the day earlier than this case was filed, and go away the Debtor’s enterprise as a shell with nothing greater than a repeated loop of re-runs,” PBR’s attorneys acknowledged in its submitting late Tuesday night.
This newest flare-up within the dramatic authorized drama comes lower than two months after Advantage Avenue filed for chapter barely a yr after the “anti-woke” cable channel launched, whereas concurrently suing its distribution companion TBN for allegedly attempting to “sabotage and seal the destiny of a brand new however already nationally acclaimed community.”
In current court docket filings, Dr. Phil’s firm was accused of concocting a ‘problematic’ and brazen ‘scheme’ to file for chapter with the intention to shift employees and belongings to a brand new media enterprise. (AP)
Whereas Advantage has insisted that it was left $100 million in debt by Trinity Broadcasting, the Christian media large has fired again and accused Dr. Phil and accused him of “reprehensible conduct” by making a “false sense of urgency” with the intention to strong-arm TBN into paying the MAGA-boosting TV psychologist and his firm tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} – all whereas delivering little return on their funding.
Having already objected to the chapter proceedings, PBR filed an emergency movement earlier this month asking the court docket to compel additional doc manufacturing in discovery whereas additionally accusing Dr. Phil of a “unhealthy religion” Chapter 11 chapter submitting.
In that submitting, during which PBR contended that Peteski and Advantage Avenue have been stonewalling to keep away from discovery, the professional league additionally claimed Dr. Phil had “orchestrated” the chapter to keep away from “menacing litigation” over its monetary obligations and “jumpstart” a brand new media firm. Lower than two weeks after Advantage filed for chapter, Dr. Phil publicly introduced he was launching Envoy Media, which the movement notes was based a day earlier than the Chapter 11 submitting.
Searching for a listening to Wednesday afternoon over its name for monetary sanctions, TBN stated in its emergency submitting this week that Peteski’s failure at hand over discovery materials and paperwork had left it woefully unprepared for its deposition of Dr. Phil, which was scheduled for Thursday. Whereas the court docket had but to determine on the motions as of Thursday morning, McGraw did seem for his scheduled deposition.
“By its personal admission in a meet-and-confer between counsel on August 26, 2025, Peteski nonetheless has not produced all of Phillip C. McGraw’s emails and textual content messages (regardless of his deposition being scheduled to start in lower than 48 hours from the time of such convention), nor has it produced the entire paperwork regarding Envoy,” the Christian broadcaster famous. “Peteski’s identical delay ways persist. The sample is so placing that it’s greater than mere déjà vu; it’s a deliberate rerun, scripted by events who’ve determined that the Courtroom’s orders are non-obligatory steerage moderately than binding directives.”
TBN additionally accused Dr. Phil of “exerting his management over Peteski and strategically limiting his manufacturing within the hope that Trinity and PBR will cancel or postpone his deposition, including that he had “delayed and restricted manufacturing of key paperwork immediately related to his testimony, making it unattainable to query him absolutely except the deposition is moved.”
Based mostly on what it described as Dr. Phil’s discovery gamesmanship, TBN and PBR have been additionally looking for a “temporary adjournment” of the upcoming September 2 chapter listening to and a potential rescheduling of McGraw’s deposition, together with attorneys’ charges.
Though TBN and PBR accuse Dr. Phil and his attorneys of deliberately blocking and delaying discovery, the bull-riding league highlighted in its Tuesday joinder submitting that the textual content messages they’ve acquired involving Advantage Avenue executives are extremely revealing.
Simply earlier than Advantage Avenue filed for chapter, Cheatwood texted different Advantage staff that “the present considering, simply accredited by our attorneys and chapter advisors,” was to scale back the community’s enterprise to “no reside information, no new manufacturing of any type. Simply the playlist—8 hours that repeats—comprised of present programming.”
Including that Dr. Phil would love it “if someone can simply push play and be carried out with it…that will be good,” Cheatwood went on to elucidate {that a} small group of Advantage staff can be “left behind” to hold out the community’s operations. In the meantime, he famous that they “intend to standup newco [i.e.,Envoy] instantly after the submitting so the ‘chosen’ will resign MSM and be a part of newco on the time.”
Dr. Phil, seen right here with Donald Trump, has been accused of stonewalling the invention course of forward of his scheduled deposition. (Getty Photos)
Cheatwood additionally famous {that a} small group of staffers would technically stay staff with Advantage so long as it “was working,” however they’d concurrently signal “consulting settlement[s]” with Envoy. “The way in which it will in all probability work is as soon as MSM is wound down there might be an public sale of belongings and newco will bid to purchase the MSM program library,” he texted.
“The Debtor and its executives knew the Envoy scheme was problematic and tried to hide it by utilizing solely private emails and texts,” PBR famous in its submitting. “On June 30 (two days earlier than the chapter), Mr. Cheatwood instructed a colleague that ‘any communication involving timing of occasions, methods, and so on. we have to not use the advantage road e-mail system. Use textual content as a substitute.’”
Moreover, the day after Advantage filed for chapter, Cheatwood reiterated that instruction, telling one other colleague that any “emails that embody dialogue of newco or associated methods let’s use everybody’s private e-mail.”
Within the ensuing weeks, Cheatwood acknowledged that he and Advantage Avenue Chief Government Officer Ken Solomon needed to “be very cautious with our public actions related to Envoy since we’re nonetheless full and lively staff” of Advantage, including that any “[a]ctivities that will point out we’re extra centered on Envoy might be problematic if known as into query.”
He additionally stated in a single textual content in regards to the “dilemma” he confronted that he’d “been suggested to not do something to point an attachment to Envoy,” since he was the lone remaining officer at Advantage.
“That is nothing greater than the continuation of a clear and extremely coordinated technique of attempting to leverage media curiosity on this case to wreck the worth of Advantage Avenue Media by salacious false claims,” a spokesperson for Peteski advised The Unbiased. “Peteski has supplied substantial and full info by the pre-trial discovery course of referring to the TBN and PBR claims however every time we do they demand extra more and more marginal materials. The technique is designed to extend the price of this chapter and starve it administratively and has already triggered Advantage Avenue Media’s counsel to hunt to stop. We stay up for the September 2-3 listening to the place Peteski can current proof which is able to refute these allegations.”
The Unbiased has reached out to the attorneys and representatives for Cheatwood, Dr. Phil, Advantage Avenue, TBN and PBR for remark.