Professional Bull Riders desires to know whether or not Dr. Phil led his Merit Street Media to file for bankruptcy in a “dangerous religion” transfer — whereas shifting property right into a newly created firm, Envoy Media Co. — with a view to keep away from repaying PBR and different collectors monies owed.
PBR filed an emergency movement with the U.S. Chapter Courtroom within the Northern District of Texas in search of to compel manufacturing of paperwork from Benefit Road and McGraw’s Peteski Productions to find out whether or not Benefit Road filed the chapter case “in dangerous religion.”
“All proof presently means that Phillip C. McGraw (‘Dr. Phil’) orchestrated this Chapter 11 Case to keep away from menacing litigation in opposition to PBR and jumpstart Envoy Media Co. (‘Envoy’), a brand-new media enterprise he based the day earlier than Debtor filed this case, with the Debtor’s remaining property free and away from any legacy encumbrances and obligations he made on the Debtor’s behalf,” PBR stated within the Aug. 6 submitting.
McGraw’s Merit Street filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection July 2 and sued former accomplice Trinity Broadcasting Community. The grievance alleges that TBN, the Christian broadcasting firm that was Benefit Road’s distribution accomplice, reneged on its obligations and as a substitute “abused its place because the controlling shareholder.”
PBR inked a content agreement with Merit Street final 12 months however pulled the programming in November 2024, alleging Benefit Road did not pay PBR contractually assured rights charges. PBR is now part of TKO Group, guardian firm of WWE and UFC, after Endeavor (TKO’s majority proprietor) swapped PBR and different property into TKO final fall.
PBR, Benefit Road’s largest creditor with a $181 million debt claim against McGraw’s company, argued that changing the Benefit Road case to Chapter 7 chapter — by which an organization’s property are liquidated to repay collectors — “is within the collectors’ finest pursuits and has formally requested that aid from this Courtroom.” Below the Chapter 11 reorg petition, McGraw’s Peteski Productions is the designated debtor-in-possession lender.
“Peteski and Dr. Phil can’t untangle themselves from this case and the invention PBR seeks. They’re inextricably intertwined, participated in key conduct that led to the Debtor’s insolvency, and finally determined to file for chapter,” PBR stated within the submitting.
McGraw on July 14 introduced a brand new firm: Envoy Media Co., “centered on information, leisure and citizen journalism,” which he stated will present reside information and authentic programming with an emphasis on user-generated content material on a nationwide scale. “As at all times, my dedication and that of the Envoy community crew is to give attention to actual folks, dealing with actual challenges, in search of actual options,” Dr. Phil stated in a press release announcing the company’s formation. PBR alleges that McGraw shaped Envoy Media Co. on July 1, instantly previous to Benefit Road’s Chapter 11 chapter submitting.
Leisure regulation agency Manatt, with a crew led by Manatt Leisure group accomplice Christopher Chatham, dealt with the technique and negotiations for Dr. Phil’s Envoy Media Co., the agency said in a July 16 assertion.
Among the many supplies PBR seeks are “all paperwork and communications” referenced by TBN’s legal professionals in a courtroom listening to together with “the emails the place Dr. Phil referenced his ‘eleventh-hour poker technique’ and ‘gangster transfer’ to take over Benefit Road Media.” In keeping with PBR’s movement to compel, so far Benefit Road has produced simply over 1,600 pages of paperwork whereas Peteski Productions has produced none. PBR’s 116-page submitting is offered at this link.
PBR stated documentation it has requested might reveal that Benefit Road engaged in “depleting, diverting, siphoning, or fraudulently transferring property, overspending, abandoning its enterprise, leaving no property to guard, protect, or reorganize, breaches of fiduciary duties on behalf of its director(s) or shareholder(s), and/or submitting the chapter with out the requisite company authority.”
Attorneys for Benefit Media didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The chapter courtroom has scheduled an Aug. 19 listening to within the matter to find out whether or not to transform the case to Chapter 7 as PBR requests, dismiss it as requested by TBN (Benefit Road’s former majority shareholder) or approve debtor-in-possession financing as Benefit Road requests.
On Thursday (Aug. 7), legal professionals for Benefit Road filed an opposition to PBR’s movement to expedite the listening to on PBR’s emergency movement to compel manufacturing of paperwork from Benefit Road. The submitting stated PBR’s movement to compel “is untimely as a result of PBR filed it with out assembly and conferring with Benefit Road. Certainly, PBR’s movement to compel seeks quite a few paperwork that Benefit Road had already produced earlier than PBR filed its movement — one thing Benefit Road might have defined if PBR had correctly met and conferred with Benefit Road.” In keeping with Benefit Road, the events “proceed to fulfill and confer relating to PBR’s doc requests” and “no listening to ought to happen till that course of has a possibility to run its course.”
Dr. Phil rose to fame as a visitor on Oprah Winfrey’s speak present earlier than launching his personal daytime present with the backing of Winfrey’s Harpo Productions. He officially launched Merit Street Media in April 2024 with TBN as its key distribution accomplice. In August 2024, Benefit Road laid off 38 staff, representing greater than one-third of its workers, and in June 2025 had positioned an extra 40 staffers on “summer time hiatus,” in line with a report by WFAA, an ABC affiliate within the Dallas-Forth Price metro space.
PBR’s submitting was reported earlier by Debtwire.
Pictured above: Dr. Phil speaks at a marketing campaign rally for Donald Trump at Madison Sq. Backyard on Oct. 27, 2024 in New York Metropolis
