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Vancouver Off-Topic / Current EventsThe off-topic forum for Vancouver, funnies, non-auto centered discussions, WORK SAFE. While the rules are more relaxed here, there are still rules. Please refer to sticky thread in this forum.
On the morning of Oct. 7, two days before the Blue Jackets opened the 2014-15 season, Jack Johnson left his Ferrari parked in the garage of his Dublin apartment and drove his BMW to a federal courthouse Downtown to file for bankruptcy.
Johnson has earned more than $18 million during his nine-year NHL career, not including the $5 million he will be paid this season by the Blue Jackets.
Almost all of the money is gone, and some of his future earnings have already been promised — which is why Johnson, surrounded by a new team of financial advisers and an attorney, signed his financial surrender.
The scene was nearly four years in the making, after a string of risky loans at high interest rates; defaults on those loans, resulting in huge fees and even higher interest rates; and three lawsuits against Johnson, two of which have been settled and one that’s pending.
“I’d say I picked the wrong people who led me down the wrong path,” Johnson, a 27-year-old defenseman, told The Dispatch last week. “I’ve got people in place who are going to fix everything now. It’s something I should have done a long time ago.”
He has declined to comment further.
>> Michael Arace commentary: Jack Johnson in sadly familiar predicament
>> See a slide show of Jack Johnson's career
But sources close to Johnson have told The Dispatch that his own parents — Jack Sr. and Tina Johnson — are among the “wrong people” who led him astray financially.
In 2008, Johnson parted ways with agent Pat Brisson, who represents some of the National Hockey League’s biggest stars, including Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.
With no agent and little knowledge of how the financial world works, Johnson turned over control of his money to his parents.
In 2011, in the weeks leading up to Johnson’s first big contract — a seven-year, $30.5 million deal signed with the Los Angeles Kings, under which he now plays for the Blue Jackets — Johnson signed a power of attorney that granted his mother full control of his finances.
Tina Johnson borrowed at least $15 million in her son’s name against his future earnings, sources told The Dispatch, taking out a series of high-interest loans — perhaps as many as 18 — from nonconventional lenders that resulted in a series of defaults.
The tangled web is one that The Dispatch has been investigating since the spring, and — according to court documents, NHL sources and sources with knowledge of the situation — involves a U.S. congressman from Iowa, the son of an oil baron in Texas and a former University of Michigan basketball star.
Because Johnson’s name is on the loans, he has been sued at least three times for more than $6 million for defaulting, as in the case of the mortgage on a house in Manhattan Beach, Calif. In court documents, Johnson says his parents bought the house with his money but without his knowledge.
Johnson’s parents allegedly each bought a car, spent more than $800,000 on upgrades to the Manhattan Beach property and traveled, often to see him play NHL games for the Kings and Blue Jackets.
“Jack would ask (his parents) questions: ‘What’s this? What are these guys calling about?’ ” a source said. “And they would tell him not to worry about it, just worry about playing hockey.
“These were his parents, right? He trusted them. It wasn’t until last spring or early summer that he understood there was a significant problem.”
In his bankruptcy filing, Johnson claims assets of “less than $50,000” and debts of “more than $10 million,” although sources say the debt could be in the neighborhood of $15 million.
A bankruptcy hearing is scheduled for Jan. 23 in Los Angeles.
Tina Johnson’s cellphone number listed in court documents is no longer in service. Jack Johnson Sr. has not returned several messages left on his cellphone, and several of the lenders have no storefronts or business phones.
Johnson has cut off all contact with his family, a source said.
Johnson’s paychecks from the Blue Jackets have been garnisheed to the point where, at the end of last season, “His paychecks were gone before he even got them,” a source said.
“I’ve seen lots of instances of parents riding their kid’s coattails around,” said an NHL executive familiar with the case. “I’ve never seen a case as ugly as this one, where the parents took such advantage of their kid.”
Retracing the problems
Johnson has been a big deal in hockey circles since he was a teenager.
He attended Shattuck St. Mary’s School, an elite boarding school in Minnesota, where he became close friends with teammate Crosby, now an NHL superstar with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
To stay close to their son, Johnson’s parents rented a home one block from the school.
When Johnson went on to play two seasons at the University of Michigan (2005-07), his parents were omnipresent there, too. Jack Sr., who played hockey at the University of Wisconsin, was a hit with Wolverines fans for his second-intermission dances during home games in Ann Arbor’s Yost Ice Arena.
And it was at Michigan, sources say, that Johnson’s path to financial ruin began.
Maurice Taylor, a star basketball player at Michigan from 1994 to ’97 who was later disassociated by the school after a string of NCAA violations, steered Johnson and his family toward Simon Vo, who was to serve as Johnson’s business manager after Johnson fired Brisson, the agent.
Johnson had been paid relatively modest salaries early in his career, earning a high of $1.6 million in his fourth season in the league.
In the months leading up to his $30.5 million deal with the Kings, however, Vo and Steve Miller, who owned a mortgage company in Los Angeles, began discussing with Johnson’s parents the idea of “monetizing” Johnson’s contract, sources said.
“Monetizing” — that is, borrowing against guaranteed future salaries — has led to the financial woes of many professional athletes.
One prominent NHL agent, asked whether he would ever advise his clients to monetize a contract, responded: “Never, never, never.”
Two months after Johnson’s big contract extension was signed with the Kings on Jan. 8, 2011, his parents began borrowing money against their son’s earnings, court documents show.
Things quickly got out of control.
“Intended or unintended, there are cases where there is a sense of entitlement among the parents of pro athletes,” said Gary Marcinick, a partner at Columbus-based Budros Ruhlin & Roe, a fee-only wealth-management firm. “It’s more common than you think.
“The families have made great sacrifices to get these players where they are. That’s the thought process. It’s almost a tribal sense — that they’re all in this together.”
Marcinick — who has worked with several pro athletes, including several current and former Blue Jackets players — said he has no knowledge of Johnson’s situation and would not discuss it specifically.
But, he said, the idea of a player being unaware that he is millions of dollars in debt is both hard to fathom and entirely believable.
“It is plausible; I’ve seen it,” Marcinick said. “These players are so young, and they have a lot of money coming in — so they’re targets. They rely blindly, often, on the judgment of their parents or agents, and they sometimes have agendas that are not optimal.
“Players find it difficult to question their agents. They don’t even know the right questions to ask. And they’re even more reluctant to question Mom and Dad.”
Miller was the first lender, extending a $1.56 million loan on March 9, 2011, that Johnson’s parents used to buy the home in Manhattan Beach, a third of a mile from their son’s residence, while he played for the Kings.
Johnson, a source said, believed that his parents took out a mortgage using money left to them in the will of a relative who had recently died.
The loan — which carried a 12 percent interest rate, almost three times the market rate — quickly went into default because it called for an initial payment of more than $1 million. (The contract extension Johnson signed with the Kings didn’t kick in until the following season, and he didn’t have that much in the bank.)
One day after the home loan was signed, on March 10, 2011, the Johnsons borrowed $2 million at an interest rate of 12 percent from a software developer in Iowa named Rodney L. Blum, who this month won a seat in the U.S. House.
Blum’s office did not respond to interview requests left with Blum’s spokesman by The Dispatch. It’s unclear how Johnson’s family came to know him or why he was making a personal loan at a high interest rate.
Barely a month later, on April 14, 2011, the Johnsons borrowed $3 million — at 24 percent — from Pro Player Funding in upstate New York, a company that “monetized” several NFL players’ contracts during a work stoppage. Former NFL stars Vince Young, who went bankrupt, and Bryant McKinnie, who was sued for default, were among the company’s clients.
Johnson was sued by both Blum and Pro Player Funding within a month of the loans being signed. He signed settlements, according to court documents, without appearing in court to contest the lawsuits.
To settle Blum’s suit, Johnson had $41,800 — or 25 percent — garnisheed from his bimonthly Blue Jackets paychecks over much of the past two seasons.
The next two years brought additional loans and additional defaults, sources said, but the next loan that ended up in the court system was extended on Sept. 13, 2013: a $400,000 loan at 18 percent from EOT Advisors in Tarrant County, Texas.
Adam Blum, son of an oil baron and operator of EOT Advisors and other financial planning firms, would not comment through his attorney. Blum is not believed to be related to Rodney Blum.
EOT Advisors sued Johnson on Dec. 30, 2013, for $1 million and for fraud, saying the loan application failed to disclose his true financial standing.
The case remains open, although it is frozen because of Johnson's bankruptcy filing.
Digging out
Johnson will find it easier, those close to him say, to make financial restitution than to reopen his relationship with his parents.
Those close to him say Johnson is pretty frugal. The Ferrari, which likely will be a casualty of the bankruptcy, was the one “extravagant” gift he bought for himself upon turning pro, a source said.
When Johnson demanded transparency from his parents and hired his own attorneys and financial advisers in May, he took aim at the first loan taken out in his name.
On Sept. 22, he sued Miller, National Mortgage Resources and Vo and his company, CYA Investments, for at least $1.5 million, including punitive damages.
Johnson’s suit was intended in part to stop Miller and National from foreclosing on the house in Manhattan Beach, where his parents lived until he unearthed his financial woes.
Johnson had a buyer ready to pay $1.8 million for the home — money he would have used to pay the debts remaining from the initial loan, he said.
But the courts denied Johnson’s injunction to prevent the foreclosure.
In the court filing, Johnson describes the loan as “egregious, unethical and wrongful,” and said it was a “deliberate and predatory lending scheme ... to line their own pockets at the expense of Johnson.”
Further, the filing says, they “unscrupulously” conspired to have Johnson’s mother acquire the power of attorney, and that he was “provided only the ‘signature page’ of the loan document and requested, by his mother, to sign.”
Two sources close to Johnson say he is confused and hurt and is concerned about the well-being of his 16-year-old brother, who lives with his parents in Michigan.
But Johnson, sources told The Dispatch, doesn’t want to pursue criminal charges against his parents, who aren’t named in his suit.
John Davidson, the Blue Jackets’ president of hockey operations, would not comment publicly but did say the club is aware of Johnson’s situation and is “standing beside him.”
The NHL would not comment on Johnson’s situation. The NHL players’ association certifies players’ agents but has opted not to certify financial planners, according to a spokesman.
Johnson’s Columbus-based attorney, Marc Kessler, said Johnson has surrounded himself with a network of people who, finally, are serving his best interests.
“Jack’s financial situation was detrimentally affected by the actions of those who were trusted to handle his business affairs,” Kessler told The Dispatch. “Unfortunately, these were predatory lenders going so far as to use Jack’s NHL contract as collateral.
“In order to best protect his future, he’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and he’s enlisted a new group of professionals who are helping him get through these matters. Jack remains focused on hockey. He appreciates the support of the entire Blue Jackets organization and the fans during what is a pretty difficult time.”
Wow, that's a crazy story about Jack Johnson. His parents, with the sense of "entitlement" thinking he owed them millions of dollars after their sacrifices to help get into the NHL, are gold digging liars.
I still remember watching Jack Johnson finger the crowd at the 2006 WJCs when they were here. I remember thinking, "what a punk kid." Now I guess I know where he got the personality from..
__________________
If you drive like an asshole, you probably are one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MG1
punkwax, I don't care what your friends say about you, you are gold!
The bright side is he's only 27 and still has a long career left to get back on his feet. The worst part is you only have one family and I couldn't imagine the feeling of getting betrayed by your own parents like that.
The bright side is he's only 27 and still has a long career left to get back on his feet. The worst part is you only have one family and I couldn't imagine the feeling of getting betrayed by your own parents like that.
Depends. Article said the parents "monetize" his future earnings as well. Not sure at which age JJ will start earning for himself.
The bright side is he's only 27 and still has a long career left to get back on his feet. The worst part is you only have one family and I couldn't imagine the feeling of getting betrayed by your own parents like that.
I wonder if his parents have their claws dug into Erik Johnson too
The Edmonton Oilers have acquired centre Kellan Lain from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for centre Will Acton.
Lain, 25, has registered one assist in 10 games with the American Hockey league's Utica Comets this season.
In nine career NHL games with the Canucks, he has cored one goal and registered 21 penalty minutes.
Acton has seen three games with the Oilers this season, registering no points and five penalty minutes.
He has played 33 career games, all with the Oilers, scoring three goals and two assists.
Originally posted by v.b. can we stop, my pussy hurts... Originally posted by asian_XL fliptuner, I am gonna grab ur dick and pee in your face, then rub shit all over my face...:lol Originally posted by Fei-Ji haha i can taste the cum in my mouth Originally posted by FastAnna when I was 13 I wanted to be a video hoe so bad
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