Daniel Kinahan told to pay $2m to rival boxing boss to make RICO case go away

The exiled drug lord was this week found 'in default' of a California Court summons after he failed to defend himself against allegations that he and the company he founded, MTK, had 'poached' Mexican fighter Jo Jo Diaz.

The case has attracted a huge profile in the US as, in papers filed by rival Heredia Boxing Management's lawyer Eric Montalvo, Kinahan was also accused of of drug trafficking, racketeering and using MTK fights to launder millions of euro in cartel drugs cash.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday World, Mr Montalvo today extends a last chance saloon offer to Kinahan: "Pay what you owe, and we'll go away."

"I'm not a state or country," Mr Montalvo told the Sunday World.

"I'm not here to hold him criminally accountable for all his misdeeds.

"A civil action is about money. And it's not an issue of greed - it's an issue of accountability.

"They stole something, and they could have done it a different way - and they didn't, and that was the choice they made.

"And there's a consequence to that. If you do that, you have to pay. And, you have to pay more because you didn't do it the right way... If they concede and just pay the amount of money we are looking for, then we can all move on.

"He's got to make a determination on how he wants to proceed and what he wants to spend his money on.

"He could easily spend €2 million defending the lawsuit.

"If he's going to spend the same amount of money fighting this, then why not just cut the cheque."

The alternative, said Mr Montalvo, is that Kinahan now tries to lodge a belated attempt in the defence of the claims against him in the lawsuit.

But Mr Montalvo warned that if Kinahan does go down this route, he will seek full discovery relating to links between the cartel chief and MTK. Mr Montalvo also said he feels Kinahan was badly advised in ignoring the official California court summons.

"It is without question in my mind that he knew this lawsuit was moving forward," Mr. Montalvo said.

"And he was in receipt of it (the summons) at his location in Dubai - both himself and the company.

"So, the choice that they made, not to respond to it, looks like a business decision to me.

"It was clearly a decision that they made and whatever advice he was given was clearly bad advice, because the US court system doesn't reward people for ignoring it."

The first official consequence of Kinahan ignoring the legal summons occurred on Wednesday when a 'default' was officially entered in the case against the Dubai-based drugs boss.

The latest development in the legal case means Kinahan is now just 45 days away from having a full default judgement issued against him by Heredia - who are understood to be seeking up to $2 million (€1.75 million) in damages against him.

Mr Montalvo has previously vowed he will seek to have Kinahan's assets in his Dubai bolthole frozen to pay off the judgement.

In legal documents previously filed by the lawyer on behalf of Heredia Boxing Management, he stated that Moses Heredia had a five-year contract to represent Mr Diaz which expired in 2022.

The suit alleged MTK lured Mr Diaz away by offering him a $100,000 advance on his next prize purse which "essentially caused Mr Diaz to mortgage his future away."

The papers also alleged MTK funded a campaign against Heredia to get it to release Mr Diaz as a client.

This included the sending of "threatening" letters and social media posts smearing Heredia.

The suit further alleged Kinahan, who is regarded by Gardaí as the head of the Kinahan organised crime group, still controls MTK, and uses fights and its fighters to launder money from his drugs trafficking operations.

Furthermore, it accuses MTK and Kinahan of breaching the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations (Rico) Act by using money derived from organised crime activity.

The Rico Act was introduced by the federal government to tackle organised crime, but it can also be used in civil suits.

MTK has previously responded to the claims against it, in the Heredia lawsuit, through the firm's US arm.

It denied Kinahan was a noted member of the Kinahan cartel or that he oversees the firm's operations.

The filing went on to say MTK Global USA "lacked sufficient knowledge or information" to admit or deny claims made by Heredia that the Kinahan cartel was allegedly responsible for several murders, drug trafficking and money laundering, and that Daniel Kinahan had fled Ireland after the Regency attack and was now living in Dubai.

MTK Global US said that, on the basis of this lack of knowledge, it was denying each allegation.

The company also denied claims it had engaged in racketeering, and denied it ever transacted in or held funds directly or indirectly derived from racketeering activity.