Dr. Phil to appeal bankruptcy bid

Television star Dr. Phil McGraw on Tuesday lost his latest bid to declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy for his media company Merit Street Media and the multi-million dollar deal he had with Trinity Broadcasting.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Scott Everett ruled that McGraw needs to transfer the Main Street Media proceedings into chapter 7 and that assets would need to be sold to pay off his debts, Deadline reported.

Everett also accused McGraw of not being truthful to the court after crucial communications were erased and specific creditors to McGraw’s Merit Street Media were being paid over others. 

McGraw's company, Peteski Productions, vowed to file an immediate appeal in the case, declaring that it "respectfully disagrees" with the judge's ruling and claimed it did not destroy evidence. 

"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," Peteski said in a statement. "Today’s ruling found that Dr. Phil became the sole director of Merit Street long after the company became overwhelmed by debt thanks to Trinity Broadcasting’s mismanagement. 

"Dr. Phil is proud of his efforts to help Merit Street through this process but is also pleased that he can now devote his time and energy to his new network, Envoy," it added.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.