Judge rules Saudi Public Investment Fund governor can be deposed by PGA Tour lawyers in LIV suit
A federal judge ruled on Thursday that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan can be deposed by PGA Tour lawyers and documents related to the PIF's backing of the LIV Golf League must be turned over.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen denied arguments by PIF that Al-Rumayyan and the relevant documents were protected on sovereign immunity grounds.
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Judge van Keulen said in a 58-page ruling in the U.S. District Court for Northern California that Al-Rumayyan's status as agent of a foreign government was within a commercial exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act.
The story was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
PIF lawyers claimed Al-Rumayyan didn't deal with the daily operations of LIV golf. The fund is valued at more than $650 billion, with $2 billion pumped into LIV Golf.
The original anti-trust suit was filed in Augusta by Phil Mickelson and 10 other former PGA Tour members who are now playing in the LIV Golf League. LIV Golf accused the Tour of using its “monopoly power” to stifle competition and prevent TV, sponsors and vendors from doing business with LIV Golf.
Mickelson led a group of eight golfers who have since removed their names from the lawsuit, with only Bryson DeChambeau, Matt Jones and Peter Uihlein remaining as plaintiffs.
The PGA Tour has filed a countersuit, claiming LIV Golf has interfered with the Tour’s contracts with players.
PIF lawyers quickly filed an appeal of van Keulen’s ruling. U.S. District Court Judge Beth Labson Freeman has scheduled a hearing for Feb. 24.
“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,” van Keulen wrote. “PIF’s actions are indisputably the type of actions by which a private party engages in trade and traffic or commerce.”
The Tour cited in the court filing two examples of Al-Rumayyan engaging in hands-on dealings with LIV Golf, a text exchange had had with DeChambeau and then making contact with a TV executive.
Information from Golfweek was used in this report.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: PGA Tour goes 1-up on LIV Golf: Judge rules Fund governor can be deposed
