More money more problems has never made more sense. Richard Jefferson is in an ongoing legal battle against his ex-business manager Theodore Kritza over an alleged $2 million that Jefferson says that he stole while working for him. Bossip had the quote:
“He said he discovered the fraud back in 2013, and informed not only his bank, but the FBI. The feds then came to his aid and had him call Kritza and listened in on the phone call where Jefferson said he got his ex-manager to admit that he used the line of credit from the bank without Jefferson’s permission. The Cleveland Cavaliers player said that during the phone call his ex-manager broke down in tears, admitted he stole the money and made mistakes – and kept trying to make deals with the cash but they all kept falling apart. Jefferson said the manager asked for forgiveness and asked if he could make amends.”
While Jefferson may recoup some of his money lost in that situation, the judge has ruled in favor of Western Alliance Bank, who says Jefferson took out a $500,000 loan and refused to pay it back:
“Jefferson said he wasn’t responsible for taking out the loan and demanded the suit against him be dismissed and he not be left on the hook for anything. The bank didn’t buy his argument and wanted the court to order him to pay back the loan ASAP. Then on December 18th, the federal court judge came back with his decision in the matter and didn’t buy the NBA star’s defense. The judge ordered Jefferson to pay a total of $451,524.37 to Western Alliance Bank for the unpaid balance left on the loan. Further, he was ordered to pay $83,604.13 in interest on the loan and other court costs including attorney fees.”
Good lord that’s a lot of money- even for an NBA lifer like Jefferson. You have to wonder if any further investigating into the situation by the FBI will reveal any funny business with this phantom $500k that was paid out.