Ric Flair's Former Manager Suing Him For Defamation

Melinda Morris Zanoni and Legacy Talent & Entertainment, LLC announced they have filed a civil lawsuit against Ric Flair for remarks he recently made in a YouTube video that alleged the company had embezzled money from him.

Zanoni is Ric Flair’s former manager and CEO of Legacy Talent. Flair accused of stealing money from him in the video, (which has since been removed), and said she put trademarks he owned in jeopardy, and Flair said he had legal proof of her alleged actions. Legacy’s statement is below:

“Today we have taken the first step and filed a Civil Lawsuit against Richard M. Fliehr a/k/a as Ric Flair and certain unnamed (for now) defendants for defamation per se and look forward to proving the falsity of every wrongful allegation contained in his video that was posted on YouTube on June 3, 2019. Ric Flair having taken down the video is not enough.

We will vigorously use the court system to protect our good names and reputations, and obtain damages due to Ric Flair’s defamatory comments contained in the video. We intend to amend the lawsuit to include all involved parties and hold all involved accountable.

We completely stand behind our client’s well known reputation for truthfulness, professionalism, honor, and integrity.”

Flair had previously sued Zanoni in 2017 after he accused her of stealing $46,000 from him, including money tied to his ESPN ’30 For 30′ special. Flair had been represented by Zanoni and Legacy Talent between 2009 and 2017.

In the video, Flair said WWE ‘saved’ his trademarks because Zanoni let them nearly lapse. He went on to say “she stole money from me, she actually embezzled money from me” and said he had everything documented and spoke with an attorney prior to recording the video.

“You took money for me when I was down, you gave out incorrect social media—which thank God my friends shut down and thank God my wife who has two Masters degrees is smarter than you any day of the week was able to jump in and save this. So be advised when you’re talking about me, I finally have someone by my side, John Vuric…that’s guiding me through every word I say.

“How dare you let my trademarks go. Thanks to the WWE I still have them, not because of you. And now I have paperwork to prove that you were reminded by the trademark people, six different times over three months to renew my trademark or they had to let it go, really. That’s you. I don’t know, this is so overdue. I’m telling you, Melinda, I don’t know how you live with yourself. 20 years friendship, ten years my agent, not a text, you didn’t drive down to the hospital, you just didn’t give a shit and you assumed I was going to die, like a lot of people that did, and you just grabbed all the money you could run with, and you did. And then imagine that, I got to hire a lawyer when I’m not working and attempt to get it back. Well that law firm was frail, they didn’t do a good job. I got a law firm now that’s gonna stand tall.”

Flair also said he regretted sending colleagues to Zanoni for representation, naming Sting, Mick Foley and Kurt Angle as some of the people he had to apologize to for sending them to a ‘thief.’