Fired National Basketball Players Association Executive Director Billy Hunter received $1,995,887 in compensation in his last year on the job, according to the union’s annual report filed recently with the U.S. Department of Labor.
The report covers the 12-month period that ended June 30. Hunter was fired by a unanimous vote of NBA player representatives on Feb. 16, during the NBA’s All-Star weekend.
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Billy Hunter was fired as executive director on Feb. 16.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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Hunter’s total compensation amount includes $1,903,846 in salary, according to the filing. The balance of his compensation includes payments termed as “disbursements for official business” and “allowances disbursed.”
For the previous 12 months, ending June 30, 2012, Hunter received $3,159,553 in compensation, including a salary of $3 million. The decrease is believed to be the result of the NBPA halting payments to Hunter after he was terminated. Union officials would not comment, and Hunter’s attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.
Hunter was fired after a union-commissioned report found that he acted in his own interests, ahead of the players’ interests. That NBPA internal investigation cost the union more than $5.4 million in fees paid to law firms and other businesses.
According to the union filing, the NBPA paid $3,555,698 in legal fees related to its internal investigation to the New York-based law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. The union also paid $574,252 to Washington, D.C.-based Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. Additionally, among other payments, the union paid $1,129,757 to Deloitte Financial Advisory Services, and it paid $56,604 in consulting fees related to the investigation to public communications firm Sard Verbinnen & Co.
After Hunter was terminated, Ron Klempner, longtime union counsel, was promoted to acting executive director. Klempner was listed as the second-highest-paid union employee at $306,305, including $295,629 in salary.
Total union assets reported were nearly $181 million, down from nearly $184 million for the year earlier.
