Court document outlines $400,000 payment to Zion Williamson’s stepfather
Zion Williamson’s stepfather requested and accepted a $400,000 payment from a marketing agent in October 2018, prior to his Duke career, according to a sworn affidavit.
The affidavit was filed by attorneys for Gina Ford, Williamson’s former marketing agent, in a federal court in Greensboro on Thursday and obtained by the News & Observer. Ford is in a contract dispute with the NBA star and alleges she was not the agent who made the payment.
If the payment happened, it would violate NCAA amateurism rules and would have rendered Williamson ineligible to compete as a college athlete.
In a statement to the News & Observer, Williamson’s attorney, Jeffrey Klein, denied the allegations and said the documents filed are fraudulent.
“The alleged ‘agreements’ and driver’s license attached to these papers are fraudulent,” Klein said in an email, “and neither Mr. Williamson nor his family know these individuals nor had any dealings with them. We had previously alerted Ms. Ford’s lawyers to both this fact and that we had previously reported the documents to law enforcement as forgeries, but they chose to go ahead with another frivolous filing anyway. This is a desperate and irresponsible attempt to smear Mr. Williamson at the very time he has the opportunity to live his dream of playing professional basketball.”
The affidavit outlines sworn testimony by Donald Kreiss, a West Hollywood, California man who says he has helped marketing agent Slavko Duric in his dealings with Williamson. Thursday’s filing includes a copy of a marketing agreement Williamson signed with Duric and Maximum Management Group on May 2, 2019.
In Thursday’s court filing, Ford’s attorneys claim Kreiss contacted her, saying he had knowledge of Williamson’s NCAA rules violations. They said Kreiss provided the proof to her on July 1.
Williamson also signed a marketing agreement with Ford’s Miami-based Prime Sports Marketing agency in April 2019. A month later, he signed with Creative Artists Agency to represent him in marketing deals and his NBA contract negotiations.
Ford claims Williamson owes her $100 million for breaking their contract to sign with CAA. Williamson sued her in Greensboro federal court, saying that contract was never valid since she was not registered with the state of North Carolina to operate as an agent in the state.
Ford countersued in a Florida court saying North Carolina’s Uniform Athlete-Agent Act doesn’t apply to Williamson since he had violated NCAA rules and never should have been eligible to play at Duke.
The Florida court ruled last month that the federal case in Greensboro should be allowed to play out before Ford’s case in Florida proceeds.
In Kreiss’ statements in the court filings, he describes himself as “an entrepreneur who engages in activities such as fundraising, deal-making and investing.”
“In past years, I have worked with athletes and agents in marketing relationships,” Kreiss said in his statement.
In the court filings, 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 once his Duke career had ended. Kreiss said Duric sought help because he had never represented a No. 1 NBA Draft pick before and needed “professional assistance and money.”
- Duric told him the payment 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 earnings MMG received from Williamson’s marketing deals.
- Duric said he reached an agreement with Anderson in which Duric and MMG would receive $500,000 as repayment for the money provided to Anderson in 2018, plus an additional $7-10 million. This allegedly happened after Williamson had signed with CAA. As part of that agreement, CAA requested Duric shred any records of the 2018 payment to Anderson 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 waiting on payment from Williamson and his family.
- By December 2019, Duric had missed several loan payments and Kreiss demanded they be brought up to date. Duric told him he would “get Lee Anderson to speak to you about it.” Later that same day, Duric called back with Anderson, who told Kreiss he would “make it right” with money that would be coming in January 2020.
- On Dec. 8, 2019, Kreiss said, he received a “Letter of Declaration” signed by Williamson and Anderson saying they would pay Duric $500,000 by Jan. 7, 2020, as repayment for “monies Zion Williamson and his family received on or about Oct. 10, 2018.” A color photo of Zion Williamson’s driver’s license was included with the contract, Kreiss said, although a copy of that license in the court filing lists his height as “284” and his weight as “6-06” — reversed — which calls its validity into question. A copy of the agreement is included in the court filing, where the 2018 payment Anderson received from Duric is referred to as a loan.
This story was originally published July 9, 2020 at 2:14 PM.