Dr. Phil countersued by business partner Trinity Broadcasting Network in $500 million deal

Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) on Tuesday countersued Dr. Phil McGraw and his company Peteski Productions for alleged "reprehensible conduct" during its $500 million production and distribution deal with the network.

McGraw's television network, Merit Street Media, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy last month and sued Trinity for breach of contract in a subsequent filing. McGraw's company claimed Trinity forced the company to file for bankruptcy after it was left to pay third-parties $100 million because the other network reneged on its obligations.

Trinity accused McGraw and his company of fraud, claiming McGraw lied about his company's viewership, ad revenue, library ownership, and production costs in early 2023 in order to land a fast and lucrative deal, per Deadline.

“The response to TBN legitimately and lawfully defending itself from Peteski and McGraw’s bad-faith attacks is to cry foul because they do not like the true facts that they themselves now regretfully put at issue before this Court, revealing McGraw’s true illicit intent and wrongful conduct which he self-described as a ‘gangster move’ and as ’11th-hour poker,'” the lawsuit states.

"TBN now asserts its affirmative claims against Peteski and McGraw related to the years-long fraudulent scheme that they developed and executed to fleece TBN, a not-for-profit corporation, to enrich McGraw, his associates and affiliates,” it continued. “TBN is confident that the truth will set it free, and result in Peteski and McGraw being held accountable for their reprehensible conduct.”

A spokesperson for McGraw's Peteski Productions pushed back on the latest lawsuit in a statement shared with Just The News, claiming the lawsuit is "riddled with provable lies."

"[The lawsuit] is part of a lawfare litigation strategy designed to distract people so no one notices when TBN ultimately is held accountable for walking away from its commitments here," the spokesperson said. "Among other things, they claim we didn’t create any episodes. A simple check of IMDb tells the real story -- we created more than 200 episodes. 

"People lost their jobs and Peteski Productions has incurred millions of dollars of losses because of TBN’s bad behavior. We will continue to fight for justice in this case," the spokesperson added. 

The lawsuit comes a day after McGraw attempted to cancel his bankruptcy case, after it found it couldn’t pay the legal fees needed to stay under court protection, according to the Wall Street Journal.

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