Hulk Hogan has been ordered to pay more than $180,000 to his ex-wife’s lawyer after a Florida judge said he deliberately created a succession of legal hurdles in a bid to stop her getting her hands on 40 per cent of his earnings.
Wrestling champ Hogan – real name Terry Gene Bollea – and ex-wife Linda Bollea, 60, split in 2008 after an alleged former mistress went public about their affair.
As part of their 2009 divorce settlement, which was hashed out over a year, Hogan, 66, agreed to hand over 70 per cent of their liquid assets plus properties worth $3m and a 40 percent stake in his earnings – which total more than $68,000 per month, according to court papers.
But according to Bollea’s lawyer, Hogan has repeatedly failed to cough up the cash – including a slice of the $115m payout he won after suing website Gawker over a sex tape they published in 2012.
Hulk Hogan has been forced to pay ex-wife Linda Hogan’s legal bill after a judge ruled he was responsible for the the ‘vast escalation of fees and costs’ incurred in their ongoing court battle. Above they are pictured in 2005
Linda has claimed Hogan repeatedly failed to pony up the cash he is required to give her as part of their 2009 divorce settlement which included 70 per cent of their liquid assets plus properties worth $3m and a 40 per cent stake in his earnings
Court documents obtained by DailyMail.com reveal he now has 30 days from August 28 to cough up $170,331.67 plus another $10,260.25
Now a judge has sided with Bollea, handing down an order to force Hogan to pay her legal fees after deeming him responsible for ‘the vast escalation of fees and costs in this case’.
Judge Peter Ramsberger also noted: ‘His early compliance or good faith efforts to timely comply with petitioner’s discovery requests would have avoided a considerable amount of time having to be spent by petitioner’s counsel in doing what they have had to do in order to accomplish their rightful discovery requests, and properly represent his client.’
Hogan now has 30 days from the date of the order, filed on August 28, to pay the $170,331.67 legal tab plus another $10,260.25 to cover the cost of the battle over fees.
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Bollea’s Miami-based lawyer Raymond Rafool said: ‘We were rightly awarded 100 per cent of our fees, costs and travel expenses and fees requested incurred just to that point in combating Hulk Hogan and his controlled Entities obstructive and costly discovery prevention.
‘Consistently, Hulk Hogan and his controlled Entities did all they can to prevent Linda from obtaining the discovery proving his failure to comply with their marital settlement agreement and diverting of money Linda should be receiving.
‘Quite frankly, Judge [Peter] Ramsberger had enough and justifiably ordered Hulk Hogan to pay all of Linda’s then incurred fees and costs he required her to spend to obtain the information she is clearly entitled to.
‘Hopefully, this is a lesson to prevent any future obstruction of the truth.’
Bollea and Hogan initially signed a financial settlement to divide their assets but the 60-year-old says her husband soon reneged on his pledge to play her 40 per cent of his earnings
The former couple have been slugging it out over finances since their messy split in 2008 when Hogan’s daughter’s friend Chantelle Plante claimed she had an affair with the wrestler
The former couple have been slugging it out over finances since their messy split in 2008 when Hogan’s daughter’s friend Chantelle Plante gave an interview to the National Enquirer claiming to have had an affair with the wrestling star while the family were shooting their reality show, Hogan Knows Best.
Bollea and Hogan initially signed a financial settlement to divide their assets but the 60-year-old says her husband soon reneged on his pledge to play her 40 per cent of his earnings.
Speaking to DailyMailTV in January, Bollea said Hogan’s ‘serial legal game playing’ had taken its toll on their family, which includes daughter Brooke, 31, and son Nick, 29.
She added: ‘His serial legal game playing is worse than his serial cheating. Trying to keep what we had left of a family that he destroyed has been impossible.
‘In his attempt to humiliate and control this ex-wife and children, he has only made us stronger.
‘I should have known his integrity and commitment in our Marriage Settlement Agreement would have been no different than our wedding vows. Thank God for the wheels of justice. Let them roll.’
In court filings obtained by DailyMail.com in June 2018, Bollea claimed her ex-husband was hiding his earnings in seven different shell companies and was refusing access to their accounts.
She also insisted that she and Hogan created his lucrative wrestling persona together and that she was ‘instrumental’ in his success, while also raising their two children.
One of the divorcee’s biggest claims is to a slice of Hogan’s $115 million payout from his court case against news site Gawker. Hogan sued the site for invading his privacy when it published his sex tape. Pictured: Hogan in court during his trial against Gawker in 2016
Speaking to DailyMailTV in January, Bollea said Hogan’s ‘serial legal game playing’ had taken its toll on their family
Bollea also accused him of having ‘multiple adulterous affairs in or around September 2007’ and claims he ‘began a scheme and shell game to conceal and tie up the parties’ assets and income’.
Hogan has since remarried and lives with his second wife Jennifer McDaniel in a lavish property in Clearwater, Florida, where he also runs a chain of beachwear stores called Hogan’s Beach Shop.
But his life since divorcing Bollea hasn’t been entirely without controversy, including the battle over the Gawker sex tape, published in 2012, which showed him in flagrante with the wife of a DJ friend.
In 2015, he was dropped from WWE after it emerged that the sex tape also included a racist rant in which he repeatedly used the n-word and expressed disgust at the idea of his daughter dating a black man.
Hogan was dropped from the wrestling federation and had all ties cut in 2015 when it emerged that his sex tapes also included a racist rant.
The wrestler admitted to being a ‘racist, to a point’.
More racist slurs were revealed from a 2008 recorded telephone conversation with his then-imprisoned son, Nick, who had pleaded no contest to felony reckless driving charges.
Hogan later apologized, saying he used ‘language that is offensive and inconsistent with my own beliefs’.
The wrestler has since made a comeback in the wrestling world, after being readmitted to WWE in July 2018.