Saudi Arabia objects to a US federal judge’s ruling requiring the sovereign wealth fund (Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund) and the fund’s judge to provide documents and testimonies in a monopoly lawsuit from the LIV League (a golf tournament funded by Saudi Arabia) against the PGA League ( The organizer of professional golf tournaments in the United States and North America).
Saudi lawyers submitted a letter, Thursday, to challenge the reasons cited by the judge for allowing the issuance of warrants related to summoning officials of the Public Investment Fund and its governor, Yasser Al-Rumayyan.
The letter was sent to US District Judge Beth Labson Freeman, who is overseeing the case in the Northern District of California, according to the Associated Press.
US District Judge Susan Van Keulen said in a February 16 decision that PIF and Al-Rumayyan are not protected under the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act because of an exception for commercial activity.
According to court documents seen by The Associated Press, the Saudi fund owns 93% of LIV, which last year paid signing fees of more than $100 million to players including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau.
The PGA League has banned players who joined the LIV League from competing in its tournaments, according to the Associated Press.
The newborn league (LIV) and the controversial achieved initial success. Despite fierce opposition from the American and European championships and their refusal to allow their players to participate, LIV Golf attracted 16 players from the top 100, according to AFP.
In total, this league gathered 48 dissident players who were inevitably lured by the excessive financial prizes amounting to more than $ 200 million, spread over 8 tournaments around the world, one of which was in Jeddah on October 16th.
