By Shaun Murphy-
Tyson Fury’s promoter Bob Arum has decided to sever all ties with the heavyweight champion’s advisor and close pal Daniel Kinahan.
The 90-year-old promoter, who was once an attorney for the U.S. Justice Department during the Kennedy administration, has ended all business dealings with Kinahan, a manager and adviser who has been the most controversial figure in boxing over the past several years.
The dramatic move comes after Irishman Kinahan, who has worked with Fury and Billy Joe Saunders was named as part of an organized crime group accused of smuggling cocaine. Sanctioned by the U.S government, the founder of MTK Global in 2012 has been openly labelled as part of a dangerous criminal gang all individuals, organizations, and banks must avoid working with.
Bob Arum and Tyson Fury Image: Getty ImagesLargest Organized Crime Group
The Kinahan crime gang, which emerged in Dublin in the 1990s has been called one of the world’s largest organized crime groups by the US Drug Enforcement Agency, blowing away their disguised world of status, wealth, and respect. All entities who have previously worked with the former highly influential boxing advisor have been ordered to turn their backs on him and his associates or be seen to be involved with a criminal network.
In a statement announcing new sanctions against the cartel overnight the US under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, Brian E Nelson, said the gang “smuggles deadly narcotics, including cocaine, to Europe, and is a threat to the entire licit economy through its role in international money laundering”.
“Criminal groups like the KOCG prey on the most vulnerable in society and bring drug-related crime and violence, including murder, to the countries in which they operate,” he added.
The US also sanctioned three businesses identified as “Kinahan associates”, including Hoopoe Sports, based in the United Arab Emirates.
After recently being spotted with Fury during a recent trip to Dubai, where the pair toured gyms in the region and posed for photos, Fury and his team have been warned to steer clear of the man said to be a ring of drug pushers.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) placed Kinahan on a list with the US Treasury Department along with his father, Christopher Kinahan Senior, his brother, Christopher Kinahan Junior and four others of its key members. And after the announcement today, Top Rank Boxing boss Bob Arum has insisted that the relationship was strained, and their ties will be severed
“We are not going to deal with Daniel,” Arum told the Daiy Mail. “We will respect the sanctions. We will deal directly with Tyson [Fury] or his lawyer… I wasn’t pleased with a number of things he [Kinahan] was doing in boxing. I was looking to sever ties anyway.”
At a press conference in Dublin, the US ambassador to Ireland, Claire Cronin, revealed that the department of the treasury is now offering a reward of $5m for information that will lead to the “financial destruction” of the Kinahan organized crime group (KOGC) or the arrest and conviction of its leaders..
Kinahan was recently praised by the World Boxing Council president, Mauricio Sulaiman, for “improving boxers’ lives in a special way”. However the Irish police commissioner, Drew Harris, said anyone in boxing who deals with Kinahan should be in no doubt they were involving themselves with serious criminals.
“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 organised crime gang, you are dealing with criminals engaged in drug trafficking,” he said. “And, indeed, as we have seen here very tragically in Ireland and also in Spain, murderous feuds [and people] who will resort to vicious actions up to and including murder.”
“If you deal with these individuals who have been sanctioned, or these entities who are being sanctioned, you are involved in a criminal network,” he replied.
Daniel Kinohan
Harris proceeded to send a message to broadcasters, such as BT Sport, Sky, the BBC and TalkSport who have continued to show Fury’s fights and other boxers associated with MTK. “I’d ask them to look at 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,” he said. “I think the answer to that is a resounding no.
Kinhan’s public association with the drug world is not new, but this is the most direct and public announcement against him by the authourities.
In 2018, he was named in the Dublin high court as the head of a £1bn drugs and weapon smuggling cartel. And yet, at the same time, his power and influence in boxing only grew.
Speaking at a press conference, the Garda Síochána commissioner, Drew Harris, issued a direct warning to those in sport who have ties to Kinahan.
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“In respect of individuals, and very prominent sporting individuals, who are obviously in some way connected with this grouping. I would say you need to look to your sport, you need to look to your fans and you need to think of your own reputation, because this is a very serious announcement,” he said.
Kinahan, he said, “couldn’t “hide from justice forever”.
Fury, the WBC champion, is defending his title against Dillian Whyte in an all-British fight in London on 23 April, to be televised on BT Sport and aired by TalkSport. It will be Fury’s second defense of his world title, and White’s first shot after a long wait of many years.
The Kinahan crime gang, which emerged in Dublin in the 1990s has been called one of the world’s largest organised crime groups by the US Drug Enforcement Agency.