Sometimes it’s your family that can hurt you the worst.
In a story that is sad and bizarre at the same time, Ryan Howard and his family are embroiled in a struggle over his massive fortune.
The story first reported by Howard Eskins, and further detailed by the Philadelphia Daily News, Howard’s mother, father and twin brother reportedly sued the slugger after he removed him from his corporation.
Sources tell me that family, mother, father, and brother of @phllies Ryan Howard has brought legal action because he took them out his corp
— Howard Eskin (@howardeskin) November 19, 2014
The removal came after Howard learned that his family misued millions of dollars for their own enrichment.
In addition to his struggles on the field, Howard was engaged in a nasty legal fight with his family over control of his finances, a fight that included his twin brother and lifetime confidant suing him for more than $2.7 million – and Howard countersuing with allegations of fraud and mismanagement of the fortune that he had amassed.
The lawsuit was finally settled late last month, with Howard and his family reaching an undisclosed settlement.
Court documents filed in Howard’s home state of Missouri paint a picture of a family in turmoil. Howard’s brother Corey alleged that he had unjustly terminated a consulting agreement between the two, and Ryan in turn alleging that his father, mother and brothers were enriching themselves at his expense. Fox 29’s Howard Eskin first reported on the existence of the suit.
Ryan’s version of events portray his father as taking control of his finances early in his career to guard against outsiders taking advantage of the superstar’s burgeoning fortune.
“Ron Howard is the family patriarch,” Ryan’s response to his brother’s lawsuit states. “When he gave orders, directions or suggestions to family members, they were not to be questioned. It was considered wrong to disagree with him.”
As such, Ryan accepted his father’s advice to put his finances in the hands of his family. After winning the National League MVP award in 2006, Ryan incorporated a company called RJH Enterprises into which, court documents say, he had contributed more than $8 million.
According to report, Ryan’s brother worked for him without contract for years, at almost $100 per hour, plus commission.
Howard says that when he first entered the big leagues, he was convinced by his dad to allow the family to control his finances.
He stated that he didn’t have a clue that his family was trying to get rich until he tore his Achilles during a Game 5 loss to the Cardinals in the 2011 NLDS.
It’s ironic that Howard was watching the ESPN: 30 for 30 ‘Broke,” when the light finally clicked on.
“By late 2011,” according to Ryan’s counter-suit, “Ryan had become concerned with whether Corey and his other family members were really working to protect his financial interests or were attempting to enrich themselves at his expense.”
Howard claimed that he had paid his family at least $2,795,337.38, all based on his mother’s authorization. Howard claimed that he did not know of these payments until he took over financial control of RJH Enterprises in July of 2012.
A few months later, according to court documents, Howard watched a TV show titled “Broke” about “the financial plight of certain star athletes who had entrusted their business affairs to the family.”
With Howard in the first year of a five-year, $125 million contract extension that he signed in the spring of 2010, he decided to turn all of his marketing and promotional efforts over to agent Casey Close, whose Creative Artists Agency was a major player in the entertainment world (Close has since left CAA).
In the court documents, Ryan Howard claimed, “Corey and the other family members provided little to this (marketing) process, other than to conceal matters from Ryan. In fact, some potential sponsors chose not to do business with Ryan and RJH because they found the family members difficult to deal with.”
But when, as it was phrased in Ryan’s counter-suit, he told his father that he wanted to take control of his financial affairs and “have his family just be family,” Ron Howard’s response was that “if Ryan wanted him to walk away from Ryan’s business affairs, Ron should receive $5 million himself and Cheryl should receive another $5 million.”
Howard thus filed a counterclaim against his family members alleging that his twin brother “engaged in a conspiracy with Ron Howard, Cheryl Howard, and Chris Howard to defraud RJH.”
The suit centered around three “consulting agreements” that Howard alleged he signed without reading because of the intimate trust he placed in his twin brother.
Howard is a representative for a number of products including Under Armour and Subway.