NBPA Reportedly Under Investigation by U.S. Attorney General's Office
The NBA players association's finances are reportedly under investigation by the U.S. Attorney General's Office, according to Bloomberg News:
"Union Executive Director Billy Hunter was notified of the investigation by subpoena for documents on April 25, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation. The people were granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the investigation.
“The NBPA will cooperate fully with the government’s investigation,” the union statement said.
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Bloomberg News also reports that the NBPA has formed a special committee to oversee a financial audit.
There are also questions surrounding Hunter's involvement in the financial aspect of the players association.
Per CBS Sports:
"This week Yahoo Sports reported on a series of allegedly disreputable dealings by Hunter during his tenure as executive director including a multi-million dollar investment into a banking firm which his son held a board position on, and Bloomberg previously reported that the NBPA had paid members of Hunter's family over $4.8 million.
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Union President Derek Fisher was asked to resign by the NBPA executive committee last week, which he has refused to do.
According to CBS Sports, Fisher has wanted to audit the players association's finances for some time. With the Yahoo! Sports report detailing some of the allegations against Hunter, it seems that Fisher's request to have an audit is one that should be granted.
Fisher is trying to stop any corruption in the players union, and for that he should be commended.
After the NBA and its players went through a difficult lockout that resulted in millions of dollars being lost by both sides as well as games being lost, this is the last thing the players association needs right now.
It's clear that there is weak leadership and direction from the people in charge, or this mess would not have been created.
If the players had been guided by better leaders during the lockout, the owners wouldn't have gotten the better part of the deal.
It will be interesting to see how this investigation plays out, but one thing is clear: Fisher's feud with Hunter won't end anytime soon.
