Stan Lee’s daughter, J.C. Lee, has settled a multimillion dollar lawsuit she filed against a man who oversaw Lee’s memorabilia dealings in the final years of his life.
In the suit, Lee accused Mac (a.k.a. Max) Anderson of siphoning more than $11.6 million in autograph revenue. He was also accused of taking $10.2 million in revenue from appearance fees at comic book events. Anderson denied the allegations, which also included claims that he took numerous items belonging to Lee, including Marvel figurines and statues and an original Bob Kane drawing of the Joker.
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The suit was originally filed in 2019, and was due to go to trial in Santa Monica on Monday. The parties filed a notice of settlement on Thursday.
“A settlement agreement has been executed and once its terms are satisfied, it resolves all of the issues and disputes between and among the Parties,” the attorneys said in a joint notice.
Lee co-created many Marvel characters, including Spider-Man, Iron Man, Black Panther, the Hulk, the Avengers and the X-Men. He died in November 2018, at the age of 95.
Toward the end of his life, he was surrounded by various associates who would accuse each other of illicitly profiting from their connection to him. In a separate lawsuit, Anderson has accused Jonathan Bolerjack, who was hired as a photographer, of trying to monetize photos and videos he took of Lee at comic book events.
According to J.C. Lee’s lawsuit, Anderson met her father at San Diego Comic-Con in 2006, where Anderson was working security. The lawsuit alleged that Anderson befriended Stan Lee and handled his memorabilia affairs for about a decade, until the latter cut ties in 2017.
Prosecutors charged another associate, Keya Morgan, with stealing $222,480 from three memorabilia signings in 2018. A judge threw out the case after a jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of acquittal.
According to the J.C. suit, Anderson amassed a collection of Lee memorabilia over several years, claiming it would be part of a “Stan Lee Museum.” The suit alleges that the items ended up in storage at Excelsior Collectibles, a comic book store that Anderson co-owned in Fullerton, and that Lee had no awareness of what he was giving away to him.
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