A Canadian marketing representative who allegedly had an agreement to represent Zion Williamson and allegedly paid his stepfather $ 400,000 while Williamson joined Duke says he was deceived by someone who acted as if they were in the inner circle of the pelicans star of New Orleans.
Last week, in a courtroom, Gina Ford’s attorneys included documents that they believe show that Williamson’s stepfather Lee Anderson solicited and accepted a $ 400,000 payment in October 2018 from Slavko Duric, a marketing representative. Canadian.
Duric told Sports Illustrated on Monday that he had been contacted by someone in 2018, who allegedly would have acted as an intermediary for Williamson’s family and friend James “Chubby” Wells. Duric said he was offered a percentage of Williamson’s future earnings in exchange for a $ 100,000 payment to the Williamson family.
“I tried to do something that I would call out of line,” Duric told SI. “Presumably I was involved early. I was in the front row through a person who said he knew the family. Someone who said he was [Williamson’s stepdad] Lee Anderson spoke to me. Someone who claimed to be Chubby Wells spoke to me a dozen times. “
Duric told SI that after receiving a marketing agreement signed by Williamson, along with a copy of the Williamson South Carolina driver’s license, he sent the money to a family representative. He told SI that he had never had a face-to-face meeting with anyone associated with Williamson.
“I was intoxicated by the opportunity,” Duric told SI.
Court documents showed that Duric raised around $ 400,000 from investors to finance the alleged scheme. After making the payment, according to Duric, the phone numbers he had for the people allegedly in the inner circle of Williamson were disconnected.
“I was a victim of a scam from someone who acted like he was in the inner circle [with Williamson]”, Said Duric, according to SI.” I never spoke to Sion Williamson and anyone who declared himself a member of the inner circle of Zion was an impostor.
“Honestly, I’m in a fog. I know 100,000 are out.” Last week, Williamson’s attorney Jeffrey Klein contested the authenticity of the documents that were attached to Ford’s filing with the federal court of North Carolina.
“The alleged” agreements “and driver’s license attached to these documents are fraudulent and neither Mr. Williamson nor his family know these people or have had any relationships with them,” Klein said in a statement to ESPN. “Previously we had warned Ms. Ford’s attorneys both of this fact and of having previously reported the documents to the police as false, but they still chose to proceed with another frivolous filing. This is a desperate and irresponsible attempt to smear Mr. Williamson at that moment has the opportunity to live his dream of playing professional basketball. “
Williamson’s attorneys asked a North Carolina federal judge to cancel his marketing agreement with Ford and Prime Sports Marketing, claiming that it was not valid because Ford was not a state-registered agent and the contract did not include a warning that it was required by state law designed to protect amateur athletes from unscrupulous agents.
Ford and Prime Sports Marketing sued Williamson and the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) for $ 100 million in Florida state court for alleged violation by Williamson of their marketing agreement and signing with the CAA.
Last month, a state appellate court in Florida granted Williamson full suspension of a civil lawsuit filed by Ford, which means that he will not have to respond to requests for discovery if his parents received improper benefits before or during a season at Duke, or at least not until after a federal case involving the same problems has been resolved.
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