LIV Golf is facing fresh legal trouble after a new lawsuit claimed the breakaway circuit was built on ideas that did not belong to it. According to ESPN, lawyers representing World Golf Group (WGG) and Premier Golf League (PGL) have sued LIV Golf, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), along with several individuals and entities, alleging breach of confidence and unlawful means conspiracy.

The lawsuit also names former WGG founders Richard Marsh and Jed Moore, accusing them of breaching their fiduciary duties by allegedly helping Saudi Arabia launch LIV Golf in June 2022. The claimants are seeking damages ranging from $210 million to $630 million.

“The Claimants conceived the idea for a new golf league called the Premier Golf League,” court documents say. “Over the course of several years, the Claimants refined the format of this league and produced business plans, contracts, financial models, and other intellectual property belonging to the Claimants, which provided the blueprint for its launch and success.

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“The Defendants conspired together to use the Claimants’ confidential information without the permission of the Claimants to launch the LIV Golf League.”

Although the complaint, which was filed in a Commercial Court in London on April 16, wasn’t available publicly, ESPN claims to have obtained a copy. And they also verified its authenticity through two unnamed sources with knowledge of the lawsuit. Taking a deeper dive into court documents, it lays out how everything unfolded. 

As per the complaint, LIV Golf is allegedly a one-to-one copy of what PGL’s core concept was. That includes shotgun starts, team and individual competition, four-player franchises, and knockout formats. As is widely known, the lawsuit alleges corporate finance attorney and golf obsessive Andy Gardiner came up with the concept in 2009. 

Gardiner then brought in  Richard Marsh and Jed Moore, among 30 founders, to form the WGG, and it launched in March 2018, per the lawsuit. The company then secured backing from global merchant bank Raine Group, who were willing to pay $100 million in stages to cover startup expenses. The lawsuit alleges that during the 2019 Saudi International, Moore met Golf Saudi CEO Majed Al Sorour.

After that, Moore and Gardiner also met PIF Gov. Yasir Al-Rumayyan to discuss investment in the PGL. The lawsuit states that Al Sorour and PIF were given access to confidential business plans, promotional materials, operational guides, financial models, evaluations, and golfer contracts. This followed a term sheet between PGL and Raine Mulligan Co., where the latter would provide $1 billion for a 40% share in PGL. 

And PIF would fund $490 million of the $1 billion for 49% of Mulligan Co.’s capital. However, the funding will only go through if PGL can secure elite players. However, the players were reluctant to sign because of the threat of bans from the PGA Tour and the inability to gain OWGR points. So, PGL was seeking to partner with the DP World Tour to solve the issue.

However, the PGA Tour ended up partnering with them. After this, the lawsuit says, PIF sought full control of PGL. Yet they could not reach a compensation deal with PGL. So, they launched LIV Golf using PGL’s ideas and tried to recruit Marsh and Gardiner. 

While Gardiner reminded them of the confidential nature of their past dealings, Marsh resigned from PGL and joined the Saudis on May 24, 2024. In the aftermath, LIV Golf recruited several top golfers with the help of Phil Mickelson and Greg Norman. The offers that were made were worth over $100 million and purses of $25 million. 

LIV Golf held its first tournament in June 2022, as the PIF invested $5 billion. In recent months, however, Saudis have refused to fund the league going forward. And LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil is seeking $300 million in funding to stay afloat in 2027.