For a company with extreme wealth, it seems odd that they are going to significant lengths to avoid California management agency laws. Unruly Agency states they are a “marketing” company. However, its business model is commission management.

According to the Talent Agencies Act (“TAA” or the “Act”) was enacted in California ostensibly to regulate talent agencies in the state and to ensure that individuals and companies that were functioning as the state’s Labor Commissioner properly licensed talent agencies.

Entertainment lawyer Edwin McPherson who tackles fraud agencies, stated, “The Act was arguably designed to require anyone who wanted to open a talent agency, or at least engage in the profession of a talent agent, to obtain a license from the State of California. However, the Act has been construed to prohibit any unlicensed person – typically a manager – from doing anything a talent agent does.”

In FACTZ’s research, we found that noncompliance with the statute exposes unlicensed personal managers to significant liability.

The Labor Commissioner’s enforcement of the law led to personal managers forfeiting an estimated $500,000,000 in commissions. These forfeitures are based on the authority given by a 1967 case, Buchwald v. Superior Court, 254 Cal. App. 2d 347, a suit initiated by the Jefferson Airplane founder to remove the contractual rights of its manager. Buchwald found that “Since the clear object of the Act is to prevent improper persons from becoming artists’ managers and to regulate such activity for the protection of the public, a contract between an unlicensed artists’ manager and an artist is void.”

So … not to help Sarah Stage in her legal battle, but any talent under the Unruly Agency umbrella has a pot of gold waiting for them. Under the TAA, they owe all talent earned OnlyFans commissions paid to Unruly Agency. This accumulates to millions of dollars if the talent is in a commissioned agency agreement.

Which they all are. Story developing.