Discovery is doing 'additional due diligence' on Eurosport-Probellum deal that may be because of Probellum's rumored link to an alleged cocaine kingpin. Probellum denies any such link.

• A Discovery source says the company is reassessing Eurosport's "trial" broadcast agreement with Probellum.
• Alleged gang lord Daniel Kinahan took a meeting last month, purportedly representing Probellum. The company denied he is the owner or a shareholder, and recently told the BBC that Kinahan "had at no point any interest whatsoever in Probellum."

Discovery is doing "additional due diligence" on Eurosport's broadcast deal with Probellum because of the boxing company's possible link to Daniel Kinahan, according to a source who works at Discovery.

In a statement sent Wednesday to Insider, Probellum said it "will not have any business relationship or communication" with Kinahan.

It added: "Any suggestions that Daniel Kinahan is a shareholder or owner of Probellum are false and defamatory."

In a BBC story Friday, the president of Probellum, Richard Schaefer, said Kinahan "had at no point any interest whatsoever in Probellum."

The US government sanctioned the wildly controversial boxing figure Monday, saying he "sources large quantities of cocaine from South America" to distribute into Ireland.

The next day, the US announced that it is offering up to $5 million for information that leads to Kinahan's arrest.

Irish police commissioner Drew Harris then told people in boxing that if they deal with Daniel Kinahan they're "involved in a criminal network."

Referring to the alleged Kinahan Organized Crime Group, a UK politician Russell Findlay told Insider: "This ruthless gang built a fortune from dealing in death and then contaminated boxing with drug money in an attempt to buy legitimacy."

Kinahan has never been convicted of a crime. Insider requested comment from his legal representatives in the US but did not receive a reply. His legal representative in the UK told Insider: "I haven't gotten instructions yet."

A source at the $60 billion broadcaster, now known as Warner Bros. Discovery and the parent company of Eurosport, told Insider that it has "no connection with the individual in question or named associates from the news that's come out this week."

Last month, Kinahan took a meeting with a sports minister from Pakistan, which the sports minister documented on Twitter with a post and four accompanying photographs.

Rai Taimoor Khan Bhatti wrote: "Met @probellum on aligning vision on boxing for Punjab & how to make this sport bigger for our youth. Looking forward to hosting Daniel [Kinahan] in Lahore."

Schaefer told the BBC that Bhatti had met a Probellum executive in Dubai but this was separate from the interaction shown, involving Kinahan.

Probellum asked for the government official's "misleading" post to be removed from Twitter. As of Friday, it remains on the site.

Additionally, Top Rank boxing founder and CEO Bob Arum told USA Today sports writer Lance Pugmire on April 12, that following US sanctions on Kinahan, Top Rank "won't have anything to do with Probellum."

Discovery entered into what a source at that company described as "a non-commercial, trial agreement" with Probellum, "which included an option for Discovery to broadcast up to five fight nights on Eurosport."

The current agreement, which the source stressed was experimental, "concludes in May."

Discovery, Insider's source said Wednesday, carried out due diligence "prior to agreements being finalized."

"Based on that due diligence that we'd done, usual assessments based on information provided to us, our understanding is that Daniel Kinahan had no legal or beneficial ownership of Probellum."

Eurosport's Probellum deal was announced March 10, but now, a little more than one month later, Discovery is "reviewing the situation and carrying out additional due diligence checks."

The source said: "We do have clauses in our contracts regarding anti-corruption and reputational damage. So if a contract had been violated, we have the right to terminate a contract."

On Thursday, the source added: "The additional legal due diligence is ongoing."

Insider contacted Probellum regarding the details in this story but did not receive an immediate reply. A Discovery representative also did not reply to requests for official comment.