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Dr. Phil McGraw’s newest enterprise enterprise isn’t going in response to plan.
The truth is, the once-beloved TV character is now coping with authorized drama that would have main ramifications.
In April of 2024, McGraw launched a media firm and tv community referred to as Benefit Avenue Media, which filed for chapter lower than a yr later.
Dr. Phil McGraw visits SiriusXM at SiriusXM Studios on February 27, 2024 in New York Metropolis. (Picture by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Pictures)
Now, a decide is accusing Phil of trying to deceive the court docket throughout chapter proceedings.
Choose blasts Dr. Phil amid chapter proceedings
Benefit Avenue Media filed for Chapter 11 chapter, however this week, Choose Scott W. Everett of the U.S. Chapter Court docket for the Northern District of Texas dominated that the corporate solely certified for Chapter 7 liquidation and would due to this fact have to liquidate its belongings.
In line with The Hollywood Reporter, a trustee will oversee each the sale of Benefit Avenue Media’s media library and litigation over whether or not broadcast companion Trinity Broadcasting breached its contract with the corporate.
The decide particularly singled out Phil for his alleged deletion of a textual content message that was a part of discovery within the case.
Speak Present Host Dr. Phil McGraw visits SiriusXM Studios on April 24, 2019 in New York Metropolis. (Picture by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Pictures)
Everett claims that McGraw deleted an “unflattering” textual content message, a tactic he described as a “gangster move.”
“Mr. McGraw’s actions violated not only the discovery order…but also a broader principle that the debtors, board members, or de facto officers or agents should not destroy property of the estate to help them in pending litigation,” Everett stated.
With a Chapter 7 trustee, he added, “Creditors can have faith that the process will play out fairly and neutrally.”
“Dismissal, on the other hand, would allow Mr. McGraw to pay his favored creditors and not pay his unfavored creditors, as his own deleted text makes clear he wants to do,” the decide continued, including:
“Dismissal would also allow the debtor or friendly creditors to file another bankruptcy case in a different jurisdiction to try to get different rulings that favor Mr. McGraw and his interests, including on the pending sanctions motion that I’ve yet to rule on,” he stated.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks alongside Dr. Phil McGraw throughout a Nationwide Day of Prayer occasion within the Rose Backyard on the White Home on Might 1, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Picture by Alex Wong/Getty Pictures)
What’s subsequent for Dr. Phil?
A spokesperson tells THR that Phil and his firm intend to enchantment the decide’s choice:
“We take great exception to the court’s improper assertions regarding the alleged destruction of evidence, which simply did not happen,” the assertion learn.
“We will not let this stand given all that Dr. Phil and Peteski Productions have done to protect Merit Street employees, distributors, and other interested parties and to resolve this unfortunate situation.”
We may have additional updates on this creating story as new data turns into obtainable.
