A company co-founded by Mike Tyson is pursuing a $10 million claim against Hulk Hogan’s estate over a celebrity beer brand deal. Carma HoldCo, a celebrity licensing and branding company, filed the breach of contract claim in Florida over Real American Beer, saying it was cut out of the partnership. Those accused of wrongdoing deny all the allegations. If you are searching for clear answers about the Real American Beer lawsuit, this guide explains who is claiming what, how the brand’s story unfolded, what the defendants say in reply, and what the outcome could mean for Hogan’s family and legacy.
How a company co-founded by Mike Tyson came to claim $10 million from Hulk Hogan’s estate in Florida
Carma HoldCo is a holding company that specialises in celebrity licensing and branding, and Mike Tyson is among its co-founders. On 20 January 2026, the company filed court documents in Florida saying Hulk Hogan’s estate owed it $10 million immediately for breach of contract and other claims, according to Us Weekly. The publication reports that Carma says Real American Beer copied its idea, and that lawyers for the estate had yet to respond when the claim was reported. At the centre of the dispute is the brand with which Hogan was associated before he died on 24 July 2025, aged 71. Because Hogan has died, the demand for immediate payment is directed at the estate that now manages the assets he left behind.
What Carma HoldCo alleges about Real American Beer and the earlier federal lawsuit filed in Chicago
The claim in Florida follows an earlier fight. In July 2025, Carma sued a former president and a former chief legal and licensing officer in federal court in Chicago. The company accused them of poaching Hogan by using its ideas for the beer brand. The lawsuit alleges that Hogan was a brand ambassador for Carma when a separate company launched the beer line. Carma says former employees used stolen materials to pitch that rival company, and the complaint seeks damages of at least $10 million. Put simply, Carma’s case is that the Real American Beer concept began with its work and was then taken elsewhere, leaving it without a share of the deal and now looking to Hogan’s estate for payment.
What the people accused in the earlier lawsuit say in reply and how Real American Beer reached the market
Those named in the Chicago lawsuit reject Carma’s version of events. NewsNation reports that the defendants say Carma never developed or contracted for a beer, had no agreement with Hogan, and owned no beer-related trade secrets. They also say they neither solicited Hogan nor interfered with any contract or relationship he had. In plain terms, the dispute turns on whether Carma held an enforceable agreement or protectable ideas, which the defendants insist it did not. The brand is not new: the brand’s website says Real American Beer officially launched in June 2024 and is available in 20 states. That timeline means the product was on sale for more than a year before Hogan died on 24 July 2025, so Carma’s claim asks a court to look back at how an established beer brand came to be tied to the wrestler.
Image(s): Wikipedia
What the $10 million claim could mean for the roughly $5 million estate Hulk Hogan left to his son Nick
The size of the demand matters when set against what Hogan left. Ridley Law reports that his will was signed in 2016 and amended several times through 2023, naming his son Nick as sole beneficiary of an estate that went through probate and was valued at about $5 million. That filing listed $200,000 in cryptocurrency, $799,000 in personal and intellectual property, and a right of publicity valued at $4 million. A $10 million claim would be twice that probate figure, although a probate filing lists only property held in a person’s own name, while trusts stay private. The same analysis found no sign of a dispute over who inherits under the will, so the beer claim concerns what the estate may owe, not who receives it.