CAA Finally Goes After “Unlawful” Range Media For Stealing Confidential Agency Material, Being A Talent Agency In All But Name

EXCLUSIVE: CAA and Range Media are already in arbitration over equity the latter cancelled for the agents who made up the 2020 formed latter, but now the Bryan Lourd-led uberagency is after the  Dave Bugliari, Peter Micelli, and Jack Whigham created management company for alleged theft and some big bucks.

“Range is an unlicensed talent agency built on deceit,” exclaims the four-claim complaint filed on September 30 in Los Angeles Superior Court. “Seeking a shortcut to success, Range’s initial founder, Peter Micelli (a former CAA literary agent and CAA member) found four highly paid CAA leaders to act as his accomplices: posing as loyal CAA members, sitting shoulder to shoulder in confidential CAA meetings about clients and business, all the while covertly working to benefit Range and themselves, and to harm CAA,” the unspecified but big buck seeking suit goes on to say.

“Put simply, Range’s business model is the pursuit of unlawful profit through deception: Range skirts rules that California legislator and artists’ guilds put in place to protect those working in the entertainment industry,” the filing adds. “The core ‘trick’ of Range is that it acts as a talent agency, but labels itself a management company. Range therefore engages in lucrative transactions foreclosed to law-abiding talent agencies.”

A.K.A. – that would be us, CAA. 

If the agency’s attorney’s words in the 28-page filing weren’t clear enough, the lawyers doubled down outside the docket.

“CAA is prepared to prove that Range Media was formed through dishonest conduct and, as reflected in other public, pending legal proceedings about Range’s failure to comply with arbitration subpoenas, has concealed evidence of its founders’ actions,” CAA counsel Elena Baca told Deadline today of the suit filed yesterday. “Peter Micelli, along with his accomplices who were at CAA while founding Range, conducted a lengthy scheme to enrich themselves in ways that violated their contracts and legal obligations to CAA, talent guild regulations, and ethical boundaries, as CAA will demonstrate in court,” the Paul Hastings LLP attorney added. “CAA will fiercely protect the agency against improper market conduct and the misuse of its confidential information.”

Reps for Range did not respond to request for comment from Deadline. If and when they do, this post will be updated.

In point of fact, none of this is unexpected. A number of the accusations in this complaint have come up in the arbitration proceedings, I hear. Actually, in search of a timeline and more, CAA has stepped out of that process in part to seek greater access to documents involving former clients that jumped ship to Range when it was unveiled four years ago.

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