With a second season of LIV Golf just days from the starting line, a federal judge has dealt a blow to the group that financially supports the upstart league, one that could radically change the fledgling circuit’s anti-trust lawsuit against the PGA Tour.
Although LIV Golf attorneys have been attempting to shed light on the PGA Tour’s organizational structure and financial dealings, the head of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund tried to avoid the same fate, claiming “sovereign immunity” during a November filing.
But a federal judge ruled on Thursday that the PIF and its governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan must provide the same information, a move that’s expected to slow the aggressiveness of any suit, and might even halt it completely. It’s uncertain if Saudi officials will want to divulge such information.
According to the Wall Street Journal:
Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen, in the U.S. District Court of Northern District of California, rejected the argument in an order that was made Feb. 9, but which remained under seal as LIV and the PGA Tour fought over proposed redactions of confidential information. A redacted copy of the order was included in a filing released late Thursday.
The original suit, which was filed back in August by Phil Mickelson and 10 other golfers, was taken over by LIV Golf, which is under the PIF umbrella.
However, officials for the Saudi-run firm have insisted they only have high-level oversight over LIV Golf and don’t deal with day-to-day operations. The request also stated the move could set a “dangerous precedent” if PIF had to reveal its books, as the company has investments in major corporations like Walmart and Starbucks and could be ripe for similar requests over any suits filed against companies it holds.
The wealth fund, which was organized in 1971 as a means for the Saudi Arabian government to invest in various projects and companies, has been estimated to be worth over $650 billion.
But Thursday’s filing stated that PIF and LIV are too entangled to separate them for legal purposes.
“The Court DENIES the motion of PIF to quash the subpoena directed to PIF on the grounds of sovereign immunity because it finds that PIF’s conduct falls within the commercial activity exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act,” the order read. “It is plain that PIF is not a mere investor in LIV; it is the moving force behind the founding, funding, oversight and operation of LIV … PIF’s actions are indisputably the type of actions by which a private party engages in trade and traffic or commerce.”
LIV attorneys have claimed that the PGA Tour is using monopoly power, illegally suspending players and hanging the possibility of those players to play in future major tournaments, but the Tour filed a countersuit, claiming LIV is using players, “and the game of golf to sportswash the recent history of Saudi atrocities and to further the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s Vision 2030 initiatives.”
PGA Tour lawyers highlighted a text exchange between Al-Rumayyan and Bryson DeChambeau as a shining example of the official’s depth of involvement, noting that Al-Rumayyan reached out to a TV executive in an attempt to secure a media agreement.
“This isn’t what a government does. This is what somebody that is running a golf league does, LIV is pretty much a shell and the financial consequences, be they good or bad of the investment, flow through to PIF,” Tour lawyer Elliot Peters said during a January hearing.
LIV Golf attorneys have already filed an appeal to Thursday’s ruling.
LIV Golf has long been criticized as a way for the Kingdom to sportswash its human rights record with guaranteed money and multi-million dollar deals. Saudi Arabia has been accused of wide-ranging human rights abuses, including politically motivated killings, torture, forced disappearances and inhumane treatment of prisoners. And members of the royal family and Saudi government were accused of involvement in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist.
