Zion Williamson case: NCAA violation in alleged payment

Zion Williamson’s stepfather demanded and accepted a payment of $ 400,000 from a marketer in October 2018, ahead of his career Duke, according to an affidavit under oath.

The affidavit was filed Thursday by attorneys for Gina Ford, Williamson’s former marketing agent, in federal court in Greensboro and obtained by the News & Observer. Ford is in a contractual dispute with the NBA star and alleges that she was not the agent who made the payment.

If the payout did occur, it would violate NCAA rules of amateurism and render Williamson ineligible to compete as a college athlete.

In a statement to News & Observer, Williamson’s attorney Jeffrey Klein denied the allegations and said the filed documents were fraudulent.

“The so-called ‘agreements’ and the driver’s license attached to these papers are fraudulent,” Klein said in an email, “and neither Mr. Williamson nor his family know or have had any dealings with these people. We previously alerted Ms Ford’s attorneys to this fact and that we previously reported the documents to law enforcement as fake, but they still chose to go ahead with another filing. This is a desperate and irresponsible attempt to smear Mr. Williamson just as he has the opportunity to live out his dream of playing professional basketball.

The affidavit describes the sworn testimony of Donald Kreiss, a man from West Hollywood, California, who says he assisted marketing agent Slavko Duric in his dealings with Williamson. Thursday’s file includes a copy of a marketing agreement signed by Williamson with Duric and Maximum Management Group on May 2, 2019.

In Thursday’s court file, attorneys for Ford say Kreiss contacted her, saying he was aware of Williamson’s NCAA rule violations. They said Kreiss provided him with the evidence on July 1.

Williamson also signed a marketing deal with Miami-based Ford’s marketing agency Prime Sports in April 2019. A month later, he signed with Creative Artists Agency to represent him in marketing deals and negotiations for his NBA contract. .

Ford claims Williamson owes him $ 100 million for breaking his signing contract with the CAA. Williamson sued her in federal court in Greensboro, claiming the contract was never valid since she was not registered with the state of North Carolina to operate as an agent in the state. .

Ford sued in a Florida court, claiming that the North Carolina Uniform Athletes and Agents Act did not apply to Williamson because he had broken NCAA rules and should never have been allowed to play at Duke.

The Florida court ruled last month that the federal case in Greensboro should be allowed to proceed before the Ford case in Florida does.

In Kreiss’ statements in court records, he describes himself as “an entrepreneur who engages in activities such as fundraising, closing deals and investing.”

“Over the past few years, I have worked with athletes and agents in marketing relationships,” Kreiss said in her statement.

In documents filed in court, Kreiss also said:

• He was introduced to Duric in March 2019, when Duric said he had a verbal agreement with Lee Anderson, Williamson’s stepfather, to represent Williamson after his Duke career ended. Kreiss said Duric asked for help because he had never represented an NBA No.1 pick before and needed “professional assistance and money.”
• Duric told him that the payment had left Duric in a difficult financial situation. Kreiss agreed to pay Duric $ 35,000 in exchange for 16% (later increased to 22.5%) of the revenue MMG received from Williamson’s marketing deals.
• Duric said he made a deal with Anderson in which Duric and MMG would receive $ 500,000 in reimbursement for money provided to Anderson in 2018, plus an additional $ 7-10 million. This allegedly happened after Williamson signed with the CAA. As part of that deal, CAA asked Duric to destroy any record of Anderson’s 2018 payment and the marketing agreement.
• When Duric threatened to sue Williamson and his family for breach of contract, Anderson agreed to pay Duric $ 10 million.
• Duric obtained a number of personal loans to cover his expenses while awaiting payment from Williamson and his family.
• By December 2019, Duric had missed several loan payments and Kreiss demanded that they be updated. Duric told him he “would make Lee Anderson tell you about it.” Later that same day, Duric called Anderson back, who told Kreiss he would “make things right” with the money coming in January 2020.
• On December 8, 2019, Kreiss said, he received a “letter of representation” signed by Williamson and Anderson saying they would pay Duric $ 500,000 by January 7, 2020, as reimbursement for “the amounts that Zion Williamson and his family received on or about October 10, 2018. “A color photo of Zion Williamson’s driver’s license was included in the contract, Kreiss said, although a copy of that license on the court file indicates its size as “284” and its weight as “6-06” – reversed – which calls for its validity. in question. A copy of the agreement is included in the court file, where the 2018 payment Anderson received from Duric is called a loan.