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Who Commits Sports Fraud?

By on January 28, 2023   /   Uncategorized   /   Leave a comment
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Who is the person most likely to commit sports fraud? Is there an established profile? A race or religion or gender? What do the studies say and what have I learned after speaking to audiences for more than 25 years? The answer, as you may suspect, is that no profile exists. Virtually anyone, from the character in the school mascot suit to the athletic director or team doctor for that matter, can commit fraud. Indeed, in recent sports history there has been a mascot who sold drugs (what a cover!) […]

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Let’s not be smug about the WNBA

By on January 1, 2023   /   Div 1 Women's Sports, NCAA Women's Basketball, Professional Athletes - General   /   Leave a comment
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I suppose I could have entitled this post “Some Controversy before New Year’s,” but whatever the title, I think it’s an ethical issue that needs exploration. To push the hypertension needle ever higher, I feel the NBA, sponsors and owners could potentially kick-in a lot more to the subsidy pool. If that isn’t workable, how about tax considerations? The issue is not one of men versus women or professionalism versus “almost professional” or even above the rim versus below, or any other argument Sports Ethics has heard this way and that. The […]

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Trevor Bauer and an Abuse “Denial”

By on December 27, 2022   /   Major League Baseball, MLB, Professional Athletes - General, Sports Ethics   /   Leave a comment
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Trevor Bauer, the LA pitcher who was suspended for 324 games, for violating the MLB’s sexual assault policy, was reinstated into the league’s “fold.” His suspension was cut to 194 games. The Cy Young Award winning pitcher was accused of sexual assault in 2021. He continues to maintain the encounters were consensual. Bauer returns to the field this season, with his pay “docked” for the first 50 games. The Dodgers have until January 6, 2023 to decide to play or trade. The fans appear to be divided. According to CNN […]

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Sports has always been linked to politics

By on December 16, 2022   /   Coaching Issues, Sports Business, Sports Ethics, Sports Management, Sports Media, World Cup Soccer   /   Leave a comment
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In our recent Op-Ed piece that appeared in the International Business Times (December 12, 2022), we stated: “You cannot keep politics out of sport, not on the world stage, not when it involves basic human rights, and certainly not when the governing bodies of those sports have their hands so deeply in governments’ pockets.” We were referring to #FIFA and the attempt of the organization to remove human rights issues from the #WorldCup and from the country of #Qatar. As a sports ethics keynote speaker and sports ethics consultant, I was surprised by some of the feedback […]

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The African Sports Fraud Scheme

By on December 15, 2022   /   Fraud   /   Leave a comment
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In Mid-November, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the State of Massachusetts, arrested Adrian Kawuba for defrauding investors who believed they were financing sports in Africa and other nations. Kawuba guaranteed investors a return on their money in exchange for financing higher-risk, short term ventures. According to the prosecuting attorneys: “Kawuba allegedly used the money to pay for luxury goods and to pay purported returns to his investors – in some instances paying back an investor’s earlier investment with money that investors had just sent Kawuba for a new investment.” In […]

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NFL Leaks May Help Gruden

By on December 10, 2022   /   NFL, NFL Football, Professional Athletes - General, Sports Business, Sports Ethics, Sports Management   /   Leave a comment
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As a sports ethics motivational speaker and sports ethics consultant, I am consistent in my insistence that no employee of a sports organization should ever try to “take the fall” or assist in the covering up of unethical behavior. When any kind of cover-up occurs, it always comes back to haunt the person who thought they were being the good guy, the model employee or the assistant insider to the assistant coach. An employee cannot work their way up that way; not a DIII line coach or someone in marketing […]

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Brittney Griner, Choices and Consequences

By on December 8, 2022   /   Uncategorized   /   Leave a comment
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We saw President Biden at the news conference, surrounded by the usual cast of smiling politicians. Brittney Griner has been freed, no small task given the war in Ukraine and the ice-cold relationship between Biden and Putin. We are happy for Griner and her wife, sad for journalist Paul Whelan who was left behind, and angry that a notorious Russian arms dealer, a man indirectly responsible for many deaths was freed to ply his trade once again. In the larger scheme of things, in the greater human drama, it is […]

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Sexual harassment charges indirectly hit coach

By on December 6, 2022   /   Coaching Issues, Women's Soccer   /   Leave a comment
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As a sports ethics and business ethics motivational speaker and consultant, I must often talk to groups on the topics of sexual harassment and abuse. It’s a damn shame. As we approach 2023, I am often surprised at the lack of awareness on these topics, especially among athletes and coaches. The Portland Thorns The Thorns (women’s soccer) have had more than their share of documented off-the-field problems. It speaks to an ethical and managerial breakdown top to bottom, but for this post I want to address the topic of sexual […]

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Mr. Crypto takes a mega-flop

By on December 3, 2022   /   Uncategorized   /   Leave a comment
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The latest murmurs from the financial and legal worlds suggest that the disgraced FTX cryptocurrency founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, could be facing a huge chunk of jail time. Some say, “Life.” Many compare him to former Ponzi scheme guru Bernie Madoff. Bankman-Fried appears to have memory problems; when asked, he allegedly has no recollection of what happened to large chunks of investor money. By “large,” we are referring to billions. However, the one thing the FTX company seems to have been successful at is in the area of sports sponsorships. Sam Bankman-Fried […]

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NIL Deals: Nice, shaky and miserable

By on December 2, 2022   /   Fraud, Sports Business, Sports Ethics, Sports Management, Sports Media   /   Leave a comment
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There are rumors stemming from people associated with D1 schools in Texas of of illegal payments from alumni to athletes under the guise of ‘Name, Image, Likeness.’ In addition, it is alleged that athletes are making local deals with restaurants are often not aware there are huge tax implications on any money earned. These athletes separate small amounts of money paid (sort of) under-the-table, and big deals with major companies. Undoubtedly, financial “advisors” looking to take advantage of the naivete of the athletes. In an article by Laine Higgins for […]

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