Was Dana White's iPhone erased by Judge Boulware's court expert?
Eric Wedin of Kroll just set the UFC antitrust evidence spoliation hearings on fire.
2026 was proving to be a hell of a year for the plaintiffs in the UFC antitrust litigation against TKO (and Endeavor).
Hunter Campbell and Dana White played musical chairs about who knew what and when and who does what and when.
Recently, several UFC fighter managers filed Federal court declarations claiming that Hunter Campbell is in the man running the show and that they didn’t negotiate key business matters with Dana White.
UFC matchmakers Sean Shelby & Mick Maynard were probed and prodded about the scope of Dana White’s involvement in UFC fighter negotiations in the Endeavor era over the last 10 years. Both men’s testimony likely helped the plaintiffs on their road to obtaining class certification.
And then… everything went to hell in a handbasket.
In an attempt to avoid dueling experts over deleted digital discovery disputes involving texts and e-mails and phone records, Las Vegas Federal Judge Richard Boulware appointed his own independent court expert.
The reasoning behind Judge Boulware’s appointment? Have an independent arbiter look at various phone images and compile a report. The idea of hiring a court expert is not some brand new concept. Many experts on many subject matters can make a lucrative salary testifying in Federal court cases.
Which brings us to Eric Wedin of Kroll.
Eric leverages more than ten years of digital forensics and incident response experience in complex cybersecurity investigations, including incident response involving email compromise and wire transfer fraud, corporate espionage, insider threats, ransomware and data exfiltration. He has provided over 1,000 hours of testimony at depositions, hearings and courtroom trials. Eric is a peer coach for the International Association of Computer Investigative Specialists.
This individual claims to have previously worked for the US Secret Service. Mr. Wedin’s profile seems to be a perfect fit for the job Judge Boulware needed done.
What would this independent expert determine regarding months, if not years, worth of deleted ESI in the world of UFC? Would there be a smoking gun? Would Mr. Wedin discover a secret that would blow this UFC antitrust case wide open and provide hard proof that spoliation of evidence occurred?
The kind of evidence destruction that would enable Judge Boulware to implement level two Rule 37(e) sanctions against UFC that would create burden shifting should the case(s) go to trial?
Well, last Wednesday we all got an answer — and it was one that nobody was prepared for.
Dana White’s missing iPhone 11 Pro
Remember when Hunter Campbell testified last February that one of the missing UFC phones not turned over to the plaintiffs may have been stolen by a mystery relative of Ari Emanuel?
