The alleged representative who purportedly paid Zion Williamson's stepfather $400,000 while the 6-foot-6 phenom was enrolled at Duke University admitted he was conned by someone pretending to be in the New Orleans Pelicans rookie's inner circle.
In a story that gets stranger by the second, Slavko Duric, a Canadian marketing representative shown as the president of Maximum Management Group (which was misspelled in the court document), claims he was contacted by someone allegedly acting as a middle man for Williamson's family and their friend, James “Chubby” Wells.
Duric told Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated he was offered a percentage of Williamson's future earnings back in 2018 in exchange for a $100,000 payment to Williamson's family.
“I tried to do something I would characterize as outside the lines,” Duric said on Monday. “I allegedly was involved early. I was at the front of the line through a person who said he knew the family. Somebody who said he was [Williamson's stepdad] Lee Anderson spoke with me. Someone who said they were Chubby Wells spoke with me a dozen times.”
Duric told the magazine that after receiving a signed marketing agreement from Williamson alongside a copy of the Duke star's South Carolina driver's license, he sent the money to a family representative. Duric told Sports Illustrated that he never had any face-to-face interaction with anyone associated with Williamson.
“I got intoxicated by the opportunity,” said Duric.
The court documents illustrated how Duric mustered $400,000 from investors to fund the alleged scheme.
Duric quickly realized it was a scam. Following the $100,000 payment, the phone numbers he had for the people who were allegedly part of Williamson's inner circle were soon disconnected.
“I've been the victim of a con job by somebody acting like they were in the inner circle [with Williamson],” Duric told Sports Illustrated. “I have never spoken to Zion Williamson, and anybody who purported themselves as being a member of Zion's inner circle was an impostor.
“Honestly, I am in a fog. I do know that I'm out 100 grand.”
The Pelicans phenom's attorneys responded to the latest allegations by his former marketing agent, Gina Ford, who filed for newly discovered evidence in a North Carolina federal lawsuit last week.
They told ClutchPoints the following soon after the story went live:
“The alleged ‘agreements' and driver’s license attached to these papers are fraudulent – and neither Mr. Williamson nor his family know these individuals nor had any dealings with them. We had previously alerted Ms. Ford’s lawyers to both this fact and that we had previously reported the documents to law enforcement as forgeries, but they chose to go ahead with another frivolous filing anyway. This is a desperate and irresponsible attempt to smear Mr. Williamson at the very time he has the opportunity to live his dream of playing professional basketball.”
Ford's court arguments have been full of inconsistencies thus far, filled with typing mistakes and a substandard presentation for palpable evidence. Her legal representatives' allegations came short in the eyes of a Florida court of appeals last month, and this new lawsuit is the latest attempt to bring the case against Williamson back in motion.
Williamson leads all rookies in scoring with 23.6 points per game during the first 19 games of his debut season with the Pelicans.
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