Agent Gina Ford: Zion Williamson Got Illegal Benefits from Duke, Nike, Adidas
The former marketing agent of New Orleans Pelicans star rookie Zion Williamson, Gina Ford, has filed documents in court claiming Williamson received impermissible benefits from several sources, including Nike and Adidas.
Gaming law attorney Daniel Wallach shared her requests for admission:
Williamson, 19, is suing Ford's Prime Sports Marketing after he tried to sever his five-year contract with the agency last year. Per Garrett Stepien of 247Sports, the agency had threatened to sue Williamson for $100 million in damages if he broke off the arrangement.
Williamson did just that, signing with CAA Sports in May 2019.
Williamson's suit against Prime Sports Marketing claims his agreement with the agency—which "essentially amounts to a non-terminable, exclusive agency to represent Williamson in all of his marketing and endorsement endeavors," per Wallach—violated the Uniform Athlete Agents Act because "neither Ford nor anyone associated with Prime Sports is registered as an athlete-agent in North Carolina; and the agreement does not include the specific language required by the UAAA."
Prime Sports Marketing countered with a lawsuit of its own in Florida and a countersuit in North Carolina.
The question regarding the agency's requests for admission is whether it is anything more than a legal maneuver to persuade Williamson to settle.
Among those requests is that Williamson admit he knew his mother, Sharonda Sampson, and stepfather, Lee Anderson, "demanded and received gifts, money and/or other benefits" from Duke and Nike to sign with the Blue Devils and with Adidas to endorse and wear its shoes.
Prime Sports also requested that Williamson admit he received "gifts, money and/or other benefits from persons other [than] NCAA certified agents" between 2014 and 2019 and impermissible benefits from an NCAA-certified agent during that time.
