'Money, muscle and power': U.S. sanctions target Daniel Kinahan, boxing figure accused of organized crime

Daniel Kinahan escaped attempted murder by members of a rival gang family during a boxing weigh-in six years ago.

The accused Irish cartel leader — undeterred by the hitmen's AK-47s — continued to rise in the boxing world. He has since assembled a world-class stable of champions and elite contenders routinely showcased on ESPN.

This week, however, Kinahan returned to the crosshairs when the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced a $5 million bounty on him and six others accused of organized crime. The department also introduced sanctions for those conducting business with Dubai-based Kinahan, who has influenced the careers of heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, undisputed 140-pound champion Josh Taylor and former super-middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders.

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During a Tuesday news conference, the U.S. ambassador to Ireland and the Irish police commissioner painted Kinahan as a powerful drug trafficker running the day-to-day operations of the Kinahan Organized Crime Group.

"Each member of the KOCG reports to Daniel Kinahan,” the U.S. Treasury reported in an accompanying news release. “Kinahan has instructed KOCG members to send money to a variety of individuals serving prison sentences, including … an individual imprisoned for murder on behalf of the KOCG.

"Daniel Kinahan, who sources large quantities of cocaine from South America, plays an integral part in organizing the supply of drugs in Ireland, and is attempting to facilitate the importation of cocaine into the United Kingdom."

The news resulted in a widespread chill among those in boxing business with Kinahan, including veteran promoter Bob Arum — the co-promoter of Fury. Arum also promotes several fighters managed by the boxing management company Kinahan co-founded, MTK, which includes Taylor and recent featherweight title challenger Michael Conlan.

“We broke off from him about three or four months ago, and now it’s clear you can’t deal with him or his people because of U.S. sanctions,” said Bob Arum, 90, chairman of Las Vegas boxing promotion company Top Rank. “You will run afoul of U.S. law if you deal with him.

"It’s serious stuff.”

The U.S. Treasury said during the news conference its multimillion-dollar reward is for information leading to the “financial destruction” of the Kinahan crime gang or the arrest and conviction of its leaders.

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Kinahan, the son of alleged cartel head Christy Kinahan Sr., built connections with an impressive collection of boxers during the past decade.

Kinahan relocated to Dubai after escaping the apparent hit on his life by a rival gang that left a Kinahan family associate shot dead at a Dublin hotel in February 2016. According to a BBC documentary last year, a member of the rival Hutch family was shot and killed two days later.

While an MTK official said previously Kinahan separated from the company in 2017, Kinahan attended the MTK fight card in Dubai last month. It featured boxers managed by MTK and promoted by a company that was formed in September, Probellum, which multiple people in the boxing industry believe is now Kinahan's promoter of choice.

Probellum’s Richard Schaefer, who previously chaired Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, told USA TODAY Sports+ Wednesday that Kinahan is not financially connected to the company.

In a statement posted on Twitter, Probellum wrote, "We have retained counsel in the U.S. to ensure that we fully comply with all rules, regulations and requirements related to this matter, including not working with any individual or company that has been placed under the sanctions. This includes Daniel Kinahan, and we can confirm that we will not have any business relationship or communication with him whatsoever."

Schaefer said Probellum will pause further involvement with a Kinahan-connected fighter Sunny Edwards, until it receives legal clarification on the matter from its attorneys.

"We need to take these sanctions extremely serious. We will never do anything to undermine them, and we will remain 100% in compliance with the law," Schaefer said. "Anybody who thinks I would attach myself to a company under the influence of an organized crime group is out of their minds.

"The fighters advised by Kinahan are the ones who are going to have to make a decision because they have contractual relationships with him. We at Probellum don't."

What does this mean for heavyweight champion Tyson Fury?

World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Fury defends his belt next weekend at Wembley Stadium in England. Fury publicly praised Kinahan in 2020 for successfully negotiating a deal to fight countryman Anthony Joshua. That fight never happened for other reasons, including a Joshua loss.

Attempts to reach Fury through his spokeswoman were unsuccessful.

Arum said Fury "has nothing to do with MTK.” A European boxing industry individual, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of dealings with Kinahan and Arum, said Arum’s attempt to downplay Fury's tight relationship with Kinahan is “100% B.S.”

Arum and British promoter Frank Warren are co-promoting Fury-Whyte, which will be seen in the U.S. on ESPN pay-per-view.

ESPN+ originally scheduled to show a Friday card from Wales headlined by MTK-managed lightweight Gavin Gwynne, but will no longer stream the event, an official told USA TODAY Sports+.

How ESPN’s parent company, Disney, responds to maintaining future business with MTK- and Kinahan-connected fighters is unknown. Spokespeople for Disney and ESPN did not immediately return requests for comment.

Irish police commissioner Drew Harris said at the Dublin news conference, “What was implicit before, and what some individuals could choose to ignore, is absolutely explicit. If you deal with the individuals who are sanctioned as part of the Kinahan organized crime gang, you are dealing with criminals engaged in drug trafficking. And, indeed, as we have seen here very tragically in Ireland and also in Spain, murderous feuds, who will resort to vicious actions up to, and including, murder.”

Asked specifically about Kinahan’s link to sports, Commissioner Harris said: “If you deal with these individuals who have been sanctioned, or these entities who are being sanctioned, you are involved in a criminal network."

State athletic commissions would likely be charged with enforcing any sanctions applied in the boxing business, according to legal experts contacted by USA TODAY Sports+. The U.S. Treasury has the ability to freeze funds, such as broadcast and purse money. Harris said those conducting business with Kinahan should consider that.

“I’d ask them to look to their own business, at the probity of their own business and the relationship with their fans and, really, is this something they want to be involved with in terms of their legitimate business? I think the answer to that is a resounding no.”

Business as usual

The U.S. Treasury identified three businesses, including Hoopoe Sports, a Dubai-based sports management advisory company, with known ties to the Kinahan Organized Crime Group. MTK and Probellum were not on the list.

At least one individual who has worked with Kinahan said they viewed Tuesday’s law-enforcement announcement as “grandstanding."

That boxing industry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of business ties with Kinahan, said it’s no secret Kinahan’s “money, muscle and power” attracted boxing talent to MTK and shaped financial deals in his fighters’ favor.

BBC reported in its documentary that former super-featherweight world champion Carl Frampton was lured to MTK with the offer of not having to pay one penny of the standard management fees other require, which have been known to reach 30% of a purse.

The MTK stable also includes unbeaten welterweight Vergil Ortiz Jr., former super-featherweight champion Joseph Diaz Jr. and super-lightweight female champion Chantelle Cameron.

"Nobody’s up in arms. They’re going on with business as usual," said a boxing industry official who has negotiated with Kinahan. “There’s no extradition treaty. Nothing has happened on U.S. soil. The Muhammad Ali Act says a fighter can be represented by whoever he wants. I think he will be fine as long as he stays (in Dubai). They know where he is. He’s not hiding. He was there at those (March) fights, shaking hands, taking pictures, smiling.”

But another boxing industry official who observed Kinahan’s rise from a distance said Tuesday’s announcement rebrands the rebranding effort Kinahan sought from his boxing investment.

“We’ve heard, ‘He’s really a nice guy.’ Well, international crime authorities aren’t saying he’s a nice guy,” said the individual, who spoke on the condition of anonymity given the crimes alleged against the Kinahan organization.

MTK fighters remained mum about Kinahan through Wednesday.

“You’ve obviously heard things, but when the U.S. government takes the position it has with these sanctions, it’s really shocking,” said Arum, who in the 1960s worked for then-Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. “It behooves all of us to respect that decision because we know they don’t do that lightly. I think they could go after any of us for supporting an illegal enterprise now.

“We won’t work with Probellum, and we’re working to cut whatever ties we have with MTK.”

Top Rank and its promotional partner in Japan, Teiken, previously struck a deal for a June 7 rematch between its two-belt bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue and Probellum's world bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire.

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Donaire's manager and wife, Rachel Donaire, told USA TODAY Sports+ she is not worried about any financial repercussions.

Meanwhile, boxing's littered history of attaching itself to sordid characters continues. In the 1940s and 1950s, mafia figures influenced outcomes and manipulated the activity of entire weight classes.

Veteran promoter Don King has been involved in the deaths of two men.

Among the people Kinahan posed with for pictures in Dubai last month was World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman, who downplayed the significance of his meeting as a guest of Probellum and said no business ventures were undertaken.

“I am not the police. I am not a judge," Sulaiman told USA TODAY Sports+. "I meet with many people across the world during my travels and I’m always happy to talk to someone interested in strengthening boxing."

Sulaiman described the talk with Kinahan as brief.

“Many people in this sport have had many negative things to say about many people — from Don King, to Oscar De La Hoya to Bernard Hopkins — but if the opportunity presents itself to speak to a boxing advocate, I’m never going to shy from that,” Sulaiman said. “That’s all this really was.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Daniel Kinahan sanctioned by U.S. Treasury, accused of organized crime