Death of the Alliance of American Football

[dfwabel]

8 minutes ago, Quillz said:

Wow. So anyone who had money in there (creditors, etc.) are completely out of luck? Sucks.

Quote

“No property appears to be available to pay creditors. Therefore, please do not file a proof of claim now. If it later appears that assets are available to pay creditors, the clerk will send you another notice telling you that you may file a proof of claim and stating the deadline.”

 

 

[Sec19Row53]

1 minute ago, dfwabel said:

“No property appears to be available to pay creditors. Therefore, please do not file a proof of claim now. If it later appears that assets are available to pay creditors, the clerk will send you another notice telling you that you may file a proof of claim and stating the deadline

Yeah - if I am a creditor I am filing just to be in the line.

[CaliforniaGlowin]

4 hours ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

Look, I once invited a longtime friend to live with me after his wife dumped him. He stayed with me for a good ten years, promising me all along that he would split rent and bills. I never had him sign anything, even though he fell behind while promising that he would make good on his part of the expenses. He skipped out owing me $10,000. I'm guilty of poor judgment; he's guilty of bad faith. That is a decent parallel to what we have here.

 

 

 

I bought stuff for my friends with my credit card, mainly wrestling tickets, with promises they would pay it back.  They did not.

[Gothamite]

7 hours ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

Look, I once invited a longtime friend to live with me after his wife dumped him. He stayed with me for a good ten years, promising me all along that he would split rent and bills. I never had him sign anything, even though he fell behind while promising that he would make good on his part of the expenses. He skipped out owing me $10,000. I'm guilty of poor judgment; he's guilty of bad faith. That is a decent parallel to what we have here.

 

Unless you lie about it.  As Ebersol did, before Dundon took over.  That is the very definition of bad faith. 

 

Did Ebersol lie about their inability to make payroll?

[Red Comet]

10 hours ago, CaliforniaGlowin said:

I bought stuff for my friends with my credit card, mainly wrestling tickets, with promises they would pay it back.  They did not.

 

On one hand, keeping invoices and tabs of what your friends owe you isn't a great way to keep friends. On the other hand, you need to keep your friends honest or they aren't acting in your best interest. It's a hell of a balance to strike.

 

As for the AAF, Ebersol's mouth wrote a bunch of checks he couldn't cash and his league paid the price. The one saving grace that might, might might might keep the XFL going for more than a year is the XFL's funding is going to come from Vince's pockets. Again, might is really the key word here as something else might go catastrophically wrong with the XFL to cause it to fold mid-season too for all I know.

[GDAWG]

4 hours ago, Red Comet said:

 

On one hand, keeping invoices and tabs of what your friends owe you isn't a great way to keep friends. On the other hand, you need to keep your friends honest or they aren't acting in your best interest. It's a hell of a balance to strike.

 

As for the AAF, Ebersol's mouth wrote a bunch of checks he couldn't cash and his league paid the price. The one saving grace that might, might might might keep the XFL going for more than a year is the XFL's funding is going to come from Vince's pockets. Again, might is really the key word here as something else might go catastrophically wrong with the XFL to cause it to fold mid-season too for all I know.

 

After watching how Vince McMahon does his own wrestling promotion, the odds of the XFL lasting more than one season are slim.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

WWE makes more money now than it ever has and just signed a billion dollar deal with Fox TV. Wrestling fans don't love the product per se, but WWE has always been a leader in promotion, merchandising, finding new revenue streams, innovating in presentation.

 

I think McMahon leveraging the right successes of WWE could certainly lead to a sustainable football effort. McMahon leveraging the worst of WWE -- also possible! -- could certainly lead to disaster.

[oldschoolvikings]

19 hours ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

Look, I once invited a longtime friend to live with me after his wife dumped him. He stayed with me for a good ten years, promising me all along that he would split rent and bills. I never had him sign anything, even though he fell behind while promising that he would make good on his part of the expenses. He skipped out owing me $10,000.

 

 

 

Ten... years?

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

54 minutes ago, oldschoolvikings said:

Ten... years?

 

Yes.  This was a guy whom I had known since kindergarten, and whom I had considered my best friend for most of my life.  We had hung out constantly, and had a ton of inside jokes and stuff.

When I invited him to move in he was having some money troubles; so I told him that I would keep a running tab of what he owed, and he could just get square when things settled down. I figured that this would take a year or two at the most, and then he'd start paying half the rent and bills each month from that point on.

But the total kept growing. Each time I made any mention of the debt (which I felt terrible doing), he assured me that he was doing all he could to get a handle on it.  I wanted to believe him; but I was getting uneasy.  Still, in deference to our friendship of more than 40 years, I took him at his word.  However, when the total reached an appalling high of $20,000, I finally demanded some action, the friendship be damned.  He got it down to $10,000 before scuttling off unannounced.  Needless to say we are no longer friends.

For failing to get this guy's promises in writing, I was a damn fool.  But he was a crook.  There is a huge difference between these types of flaws.  And this informs how I see the players in the AAF saga.

[Gothamite]

You still haven't answered the question, though.

 

Did Ebersol lie about the league's inability to make payroll after Week One? 

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

2 minutes ago, Gothamite said:

You still haven't answered the question, though.

 

Did Ebersol lie about the league's inability to make payroll after Week One? 

 

With no inside information, I cannot say with certainty. But the fact that the payments were made with only a couple of days' delay suggests that he probably was not lying.

[Red Comet]

2 hours ago, GDAWG said:

 

After watching how Vince McMahon does his own wrestling promotion, the odds of the XFL lasting more than one season are slim.

 

Hence all the mights. I'd be surprised too, but I give it a much better shot considering he's done this before, his ego and funding can sustain massive losses for some time and the XFL appears to get that the AAF was an example of "This is How You Don't Run A Football League" along with the original XFL. I'd say 3 seasons max myself, honestly, but if the UFL could limp on for 4 seasons with questionable funding then I don't see why its impossible for the XFL to go more than a season.

[GDAWG]

12 minutes ago, Red Comet said:

 

Hence all the mights. I'd be surprised too, but I give it a much better shot considering he's done this before, his ego and funding can sustain massive losses for some time and the XFL appears to get that the AAF was an example of "This is How You Don't Run A Football League" along with the original XFL. I'd say 3 seasons max myself, honestly, but if the UFL could limp on for 4 seasons with questionable funding then I don't see why its impossible for the XFL to go more than a season.

 

The history of Spring Football indicates it's not going to last longer than 5 seasons. 

 

Didn't the UFL play in the fall?

 

I just like to rag on Vince McMahon because of how bad the WWE product has been.

[Gothamite]

2 hours ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

With no inside information, I cannot say with certainty. But the fact that the payments were made with only a couple of days' delay suggests that he probably was not lying.

 

The payments "were made with only a couple of days' delay" because they got a ton of cash from Dundon and could start paying their past bills (some of them, anyway).  Doesn't change Ebersol's lie, though.

 

Unless you also lied to protect your houseguest, the comparison breaks down pretty quickly.  Ebersol was in on the grift from the very start, hardly some poor misguided wretch who trusted the wrong person.

[dfwabel]

About Reggie Fowler...

Quote

Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, William F. Sweeney Jr., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and Jonathan D. Larsen, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the New York Office of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division (“IRS-CI”), announced the arrest today of REGINALD FOWLER on charges of bank fraud and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.  Bank fraud charges were also unsealed against co-conspirator RAVID YOSEF, who remains at large.  FOWLER and YOSEF, who worked for several related companies that provided fiat-currency banking services to various cryptocurrency exchanges (the “Crypto Companies”), allegedly participated in a conspiracy in which FOWLER made numerous false and misleading statements to banks to open bank accounts that were used to receive deposits from individuals purchasing cryptocurrency, and in which FOWLER and YOSEF falsified electronic wire payment instructions to conceal the true nature of a voluminous cryptocurrency exchange business.  Hundreds of millions of dollars flowed through the Crypto Companies’ accounts from banks located across the globe. FOWLER will be presented today in federal court in Phoenix, Arizona.  The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter Jr.

 

U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “Reginald Fowler and Ravid Yosef allegedly ran a shadow bank that processed hundreds of millions of dollars of unregulated transactions on behalf of numerous cryptocurrency exchanges.  Their organization allegedly skirted the anti-money laundering safeguards required of licensed institutions that ensure the U.S. financial system is not used for criminal purposes, and did so through lies and deceit.  Thanks to the investigative work of the FBI and the IRS-CI, they will be prosecuted for their actions.”

 

FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. said:  “Lying to banks and skirting the regulations put in place by the banking industry is a violation of federal law, a crime both Fowler and Yosef are charged with today.  Taking it one step further, as alleged, Fowler himself directed the ebb and flow of significant amounts of money to and from these various bank accounts, despite the fact that he was not licensed to do so.  May this be a reminder to all that there are consequences to engaging in fraudulent behavior and risky business practices.”

1

 

Quote

According to the allegations in the Indictment unsealed today^[1]:

In or about 2018, REGINALD FOWLER, RAVID YOSEF, and others operated the Crypto Companies, and FOWLER opened and maintained bank accounts at various banks around the world on behalf of the Crypto Companies.  One of the Crypto Companies markets itself as a company that allows clients to deposit and withdraw government-backed, or “fiat,”  currency to numerous crypto exchanges, which are platforms where people can buy and sell cryptocurrency or “virtual currency.”  Users of one particular crypto exchange (“Exchange-1”) deposited government-backed currency into a bank account of the Crypto Companies (“Account-1”) that was opened and maintained by FOWLER at a specific international bank (“Bank-1”). Although Exchange-1 advertised itself as providing required “know your customer” and anti-money laundering verification services in connection with Exchange-1’s platform, this was false with respect to the shadow banking services provided by FOWLER and YOSEF.

 

As described in the Indictment, FOWLER and YOSEF conspired to, and did, misrepresent the nature of the Crypto Companies’ business and falsely stated to Bank-1 that Account-1 would be used to process real estate investments.  These misrepresentations also appeared on wire transfer instructions sent out from bank accounts opened and maintained by FOWLER and YOSEF, among others, on behalf of the Crypto Companies.  Records from Bank-1 reveal that dozens of individuals from various countries wired millions of dollars into Account-1, and, at the same time, Account-1 also wired millions of dollars to other individuals and companies.  Even though FOWLER was receiving and directing these monetary transactions, neither he nor any of the Crypto Companies were ever licensed as a money transmitting business, as required by federal law. 

1

 

I wonder if Ebersol knew about the crypto?

Example: Ebersol courted investors to give Fowler their $$$ so that Fowler's "accounts" was the one to supply the league for three seasons.

[dfwabel]

Also, SI.com published a long form on the AAF's demise which will be in next week's SI paper issue.  Knowing about Fowler's arrest, his assets were frozen by the FBI, thus no December payment to Ebersol.  Without Dundon, it would've been a one week league.

 

Excerpts:

Quote

The founder of a subprime auto-loan financing outfit, Dundon believed he could maximize the AAF’s returns more quickly. And while some thought the league was over-spending in certain sectors, others recoiled when the new leader went searching for savings under every rock, including revisiting TV and camera-equipment deals that had been built upon the Ebersols’ personal relationships.

 

One insider says Dundon earned the nickname Trump, based on his slashing of budgets and his hard-liner approach to renegotiating deals. Suddenly the necessity of certain business trips was questioned. Meals were cut from team flights. Every expenditure had to be rationalized. “As soon as Dundon took over,” says one former mid-level employee, “our f------ expense reports were getting approved out of Dallas,” where the billionaire was based.

 

It may have been due diligence on the television front, however, that eventually helped inform Dundon’s decision to shut it all down before his investment reached nine figures. According to a high-level sports exec from one of the four major networks, Dundon called to ask about the Alliance’s TV future. What he learned: While it wouldn’t necessarily always be this way, the AAF would have to continue paying to be on the air for the foreseeable future. The Alliance would remain an underdog fighting for TV time in a crowded sports marketplace.

 

 

Quote

In fairness to Tom Dundon, the league he took over in February was already flawed, even if some of those flaws could be spun more positively as quirks. For all of the Alliance’s innovations, one of its most ambitious aspects (especially for a single-entity operation where the league owned each team, like MLS), was its decentralized business model, with employees in 30-plus states. There were core staffers in San Francisco and in Florida, a few people operating out of a small Beverly Hills office, and key cogs in the media relations department working from home, across several time zones.

1

There's an accompanying podcast with quotes from Ebersol interviews claiming about "$50M checks and $100M checks being written" to them.

[dfwabel]

6 hours ago, DG_Now said:

WWE makes more money now than it ever has and just signed a billion dollar deal with Fox TV. Wrestling fans don't love the product per se, but WWE has always been a leader in promotion, merchandising, finding new revenue streams, innovating in presentation.

 

I think McMahon leveraging the right successes of WWE could certainly lead to a sustainable football effort. McMahon leveraging the worst of WWE -- also possible! -- could certainly lead to disaster.

On January 25, 2018, the day Vince rebooted the XFL, the WWE stock price was $33.61/share and he sold shares then to start Alpha Entertainment, LLC.

 

On March 27, 2019,Vince sold 3.2M shares at $87.82/share

 

[Red Comet]

1 hour ago, dfwabel said:

Story about how the AAF was run by thieves and fools from top to bottom

 

I'm starting to become convinced we're in a simulation created by an absolute lunatic the more I see stories like this. If the story of the AAF was pitched as a work of fiction, every editor would tell the author to try and make it less ridiculous. But here we are.

[MJWalker45]

Did anyone else get an email from the league regarding their bankruptcy? I got one today. They only owe me $20 though. 

[dfwabel]

Quote

The US trustee in the AAF's bankruptcy case has asked for an emergency hearing today because there is no money to oversee the case. He says the AAF's bank, Silicon Valley Bank, has not turned over the $1.9 mil the AAF says is on deposit there.

https://mobile.twitter.com/dkaplanSBJ/status/1123935213611044871