A key in-house lawyer at the NFLPA retained outside counsel in response to the federal probe of the union and the MLBPA and their ties to the organizations’ group licensing and marketing joint venture, OneTeam Partners, sources said. The move comes as the lawyer accused NFLPA leadership of sidelining an internal investigation into the matter in a May 30 memo to top player leaders.
Awful Announcing obtained a copy of the memo.
Heather McPhee, whose name was on a litigation hold letter sent to NFLPA employees in December after the union’s internal investigation commenced, has retained Bill Pittard at Kaiser Law, the sources said. Pittard previously represented whistleblower Sarah Feinberg, whose claims of fraud against Booz Allen led to a $377 settlement. NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell was the chief financial officer of the government contractor during the period outlined in the charge and, according to Feinberg, was aware of and tolerated the alleged malfeasance.
In the May 30 memo to the union’s executive committee, which is composed of senior player leadership, McPhee wrote she had been contacted by federal investigators regarding the investigation into the activities of members of the union’s leadership. In the memo, McPhee writes she was ordered to stop working on anything connected to OTP with the threat of employment discipline.
The NFLPA internal probe, conducted by two outside law firms, McPhee wrote, was sparked by an Awful Announcing report of a National...
By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) -CVS Health’s pharmacy benefit manager unit must pay the U.S. government $95 million after a federal judge found it overcharged Medicare for prescription drugs. Chief...