Athletes May Lose Nearly $8M To Bankrupt Real Estate Company
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Light One Of Several Athletes To Loan
Money To Atherton-Newport Investments |
About 20 athletes loaned nearly $8M to California-base real estate company Atherton-Newport Investments LLC that teamed up with Fidelity Investments and Citigroup Inc. to invest in apartment complexes before "collapsing and filing for bankruptcy protection,” according to Tim McLauglin of BOSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL. The company received “unsecured loans” from the athletes before filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January. Court records show that it currently “remains unclear if the athletes and other investors holding unsecured claims will get any money back because their loans are not backed by any collateral.” Also, creditor committee lawyer Robert Opera said that “another investor group with $5[M] in claims could get priority over the athletes.” Opera said that the creditor committee, whose chairman is a "wealth management adviser for the athletes, is working hard to get an investor to step in.” But even with a recapitalization, Opera said that the creditors "will need the real estate market to rebound to maximize the payout on their claims.” Opera: “It’s not going to be a cash-out anytime soon.” Fidelity and Citigroup are both “secured creditors on the apartment properties,” but Opera said that they "don’t have any obligation to the athletes who loaned money to Atherton-Newport." Opera noted that "that obligation lies with Atherton-Newport and its principals." Schedules filed by Atherton-Newport indicate that Patriots OT Matt Light, one of the athletes to loan money to the company, is "owed about $105,000.” Annual filings with the IRS also indicate that Light’s charitable foundation “loaned money to the real estate company as an investment.” Court records show that Atherton-Newport owed the foundation “about $69,000.” However, Light Foundation Legal Adviser Russell Kessler said that the "note held by the charity had been paid off six to eight months ago” (BOSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL, 6/20 issue). The following is a chart of the athletes who provided loans to Atherton-Newport.
| PLAYER |
CLAIM AMOUNT |
| Mariners P Erik Bedard |
$105,103
|
| Wizards G Antonio Daniels |
$213,413
|
| Former MLBer Erubiel Durazo |
$500,000
|
| Former NBAer Patrick Ewing |
$425,150
|
| Cavaliers GM Danny Ferry |
$425,150
|
| Angels RF Vladimir Guerrero |
$1,175,661
|
| Blue Jays P Roy Halladay |
$1,171,260
|
| ABC/ESPN analyst Mark Jackson |
$212,575
|
| Blackhawks G Nikolai Khabibulin |
$1,334,000
|
| Former NHLer Brian Leetch |
$640,241
|
| Patriots OT Matt Light |
$105,706
|
| Former NBAer Darius Miles |
$105,054
|
| Free agent P John Patterson |
$106,708
|
| Dodgers CF Juan Pierre |
$269,138
|
| Rockets G Bob Sura |
$372,006
|
| Wizards F Etan Thomas |
$531,438
|
| Nets F Keith Van Horn |
$106,287
|
| TOTAL |
$7,798,890
|
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