Trevor Bauer scored a legal victory in court back in August when a judge denied a restraining order request from a woman who accused the star pitcher of sexual assault. Bauer now wants the woman to face financial consequences.
According to court documents reviewed by Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times, Bauer is planning to ask a California court to order the woman who accused him of sexual assault to cover his legal costs associated with defending himself. Bauer filed a notice in Los Angeles Superior Court on Sept. 20, but he has not yet asked for a specific amount of money. The filing states that he will defer his request until he receives the woman’s telephone records from the Pasadena Police Department.
In the filing, Bauer accuses the woman of using the restraining order process “gain publicity and harm [Bauer’s] career.” The Los Angeles Dodgers star argues that phone records obtained by Pasadena police during their investigation will show that the alleged victim “deliberately and systematically deleted and hid much information relevant to a full and complete understanding of her encounters with Mr. Bauer, including communications with her closest friends that revealed her improper motive.”
As Shaikin notes, California Family Code states that a court can order attorney fees to be paid to the prevailing party in a restraining order case. Bauer prevailed in the case, as a judge ruled in August that the temporary restraining order obtained by the accuser was not warranted and denied the woman’s request for a long-term restraining order.
Bauer’s representatives previously provided text messages to Larry Brown Sports that they say help prove the pitcher’s innocence. You can see those screenshots here.
Allegations from a second woman have since been uncovered, and Bauer has vehemently denied those as well. He shared a series of text messages that he says prove his innocence.
The case now resides with the district attorney, who will decide whether to pursue charges against Bauer.
Bauer last pitched for the Dodgers on June 28. He was placed on paid administrative leave after that. He would have been eligible for the postseason, but reports have said his teammates don’t want him back under any circumstance.
Greg Smith is one of more than a dozen former NBA players who were arrested on Thursday in connection with a fraud scheme. If the allegations against him are true, it does not sound like Smith is a very savvy criminal.
Smith and 17 other ex-NBA players are facing federal charges after they allegedly defrauded the NBA’s Health and Welfare Benefit Plan out of nearly $4 million. Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, held a press conference on Thursday to reveal details of the investigation. She discussed, among other things, how the former players submitted false claims for root canals and other dental procedures that they never underwent. Smith allegedly submitted a false claim for nearly $50,000 worth of dental work that he claimed he had in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Dec. 20, 2018. Investigators determined that Smith was in Taiwan that day.
How did they figure that out? Smith was playing basketball in Taiwan at the time. Box scores even served as evidence.
Smith has played for three different NBA teams in addition to several professional teams overseas. He played for Bank of Taiwan in Taiwan’s Super Basketball League back in 2018.
Strauss explained that other former players, including Glen “Big Baby” Davis, submitted false claims for ridiculous amounts of dental work they said they had in a single day.
That doesn’t sound like the perfect crime.
Terrence Williams, who was drafted by the New Jersey Nets with the 11th overall pick in 2009, was the alleged orchestrator of the fraud scheme. Apparently he did not think it through. You can read more details about the case here.
More than a dozen NBA players were arrested on Thursday following an investigation into a fraud scheme, and there were some very recognizable names among the group.
An indictment that was unsealed in New York showed that 18 former NBA players have been federally charged for allegedly defrauding the NBA’s Health and Welfare Benefit Plan out of nearly $4 million, according to NBC News. Terrence Williams was considered the ringleader of the scheme, which involved players submitting fake reimbursement claims for medical and dental services they never received. The charges the ex-players are facing are conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud.
In addition to Williams, players involved include Glen “Big Baby” Davis, Tony Allen, Sebastian Telfair, Shannon Brown and Darius Miles. You can see the full list of names below:
Allen’s wife, Desiree Allen, was also charged.
According to the grand jury indictment, the defendants took part in a widespread scheme from 2017-2020. The fraudulent claims that were submitted totaled $3.9 million — $2.5 million of which was paid out to the former players. Williams allegedly came up with the idea and created fake invoices for other defendants. Investigators say he received kickbacks totaling at least $230,000 from the other ex-players.
Williams also allegedly helped some of the defendants obtain fake letters of medical necessity in order to secure have claims processed by the NBA’s Health and Welfare Benefit Plan.
Davis has been in trouble with the law before, as he was charged for allegedly attacking a man in a parking lot more than three years ago.
Jon Jones is in trouble with the law once again.
Jones was arrested by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department on Friday morning. He was charged with misdemeanor battery domestic violence and injuring or tampering with a vehicle, ESPN’s Marc Raimondi reports. His bail was set at $8,000, but Jones was still at Clark County Detention Center as of Friday afternoon due to a 12-hour hold.
Jones’ adviser Richard Schaefer confirmed the arrest.
“The facts are still developing, we really don’t know yet the full story so I’m not going to make any comment until I have a chance to talk to Jon and until we see see how this plays out,” Schaefer told ESPN.
Jones, 34, has been putting on weight recently in hopes of returning to the UFC as a heavyweight. He said Thursday night at the UFC Hall of Fame ceremony that he was up to 255 pounds and making his way to 270.
Jones was also arrested last year for DWI and a gun charge. He reached a plea deal in that case that resulted in house arrest, probation, outpatient therapy, and a fine.
The Friday morning arrest is the latest in a long line of legal issues for Jones. He also had a DUI in 2012, a hit-and-run incident in 2015, and numerous failed drug tests.
Evander Kane has been going through an ugly divorce, and the San Jose Sharks star has now obtained a restraining order against his wife Anna.
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Kane was granted a temporary restraining order earlier this month after he claimed Anna assaulted him on multiple occasions. Kane says the physical altercations began in 2019, when he claims his estranged wife once hit him “7-8 times in the face with her fist.” That was roughly a year after the two got married.
Kane says Anna assaulted him again in October 2020 and April 2021. One time, Kane claims Anna struck him in the face while her mother was visiting the couple. In the other instance, Evander says Anna “started uncontrollably throwing things at me” after she went threw his phone. She then allegedly punched and slapped Kane in the head repeatedly.
The most recent incident occurred in July, according to the court filing. Kane says he had tried to get away from Anna during an argument when she pushed him and tugged a bag he had around his shoulder. Evander says Anna dangerously swung the couple’s baby around during the same altercation.
Kane is seeking a permanent restraining order against Anna, who filed for divorce from him on July 16. She accused Evander of being an absentee father and gambling on NHL games, including his own. That led to an investigation from the league.
Kane has had financial issues in recent years. In 2019, he was accused of failing to pay back one Las Vegas bookmaker after receiving $500,000 in gambling markers. In February, he was the subject of a brutal lawsuit from one of his creditors that accused him of having a “serious gambling problem.”
The 29-year-old Kane scored 22 goals and tallied 27 assists for the Sharks in 56 games last season. He signed a seven-year, $49 million contract extension with the team in 2018.
Photo: Fanny Schertzer/GNU Free License
Police have completed their investigation into assault allegations against Trevor Bauer, and it is now up to prosecutors to determine if the Los Angeles Dodgers star should be charged with a crime.
The Pasadena Police Department handed over its findings in the Bauer investigation to the district attorney’s office on Friday, according to Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic. The DA will now decide whether to file the case or throw it out.
Bauer was investigated by police for a possible assault of a woman with whom he had two sexual encounters earlier this year. Bauer has said both encounters were consensual. The 30-year-old is also being investigated by Major League Baseball and has been on paid administrative leave. MLB extended his leave for another week on Friday, which means Bauer will not be eligible to pitch for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the postseason.
The woman accusing Bauer of assault sought and was granted in June an ex parte restraining order against the pitcher. An ex parte restraining order means the request was granted based on her story, and without a response from Bauer. Bauer had a court hearing last week and a judge dissolved the ex parte restraining order and denied the accuser’s request for a permanent restraining order.
MLB could eventually punish Bauer even if he is not charged. For now, the league and MLB Players Association feel it is best to have him on administrative leave. We recently explained why we do not believe Bauer will pitch again this season.
Nerlens Noel is suing agent Rich Paul and Paul’s Klutch Sports over what he says was poor representation from Paul that cost him money.
Noel filed the lawsuit in Dallas, Texas on Tuesday. The suit names both Paul and Klutch Sports as defendants. Noel is seeking $58 million after claiming to have received poor advice from Paul.
Noel, 27, was represented by agent Happy Walters coming out of Kentucky in 2013. The big man says that he was seated next to Paul during Ben Simmons’ birthday dinner in July 2017, when Paul began to recruit Noel.
According to Noel, Paul told the center he was a “100 million man” and that he could get him a max contract. As a result, Noel took Paul’s advice to stop negotiations on a 4-year, $70 million contract with the Dallas Mavericks in 2017. Noel then dumped Walters and signed with Paul. Noel also signed a $4.1 million qualifying offer with the intent of signing a max contract in free agency.
Well, you can imagine how Noel felt after a max contract offer never came.
Noel suffered a thumb injury during the 2017-2018 season, forcing him to miss 42 games. He alleges that Paul began to lose interest in him as a client during that time.
Noel eventually signed a 2-year, $3.75 million deal with the Thunder ahead of the 2018-2019 season. He alleges the deal arose through recruitment from Russell Westbrook and Paul George, not through Klutch Sports.
Noel declined his player option after the first season but then signed with the Thunder for the minimum the following season after he says he did not receive any offers. Noel alleges that he learned from 76ers coach Brett Brown that Philly wanted to sign him, but Paul did not respond. Noel was considering leaving Klutch Sports, but he was convinced to stay based on the agency telling him they were working on a 3-year deal with OKC. That never materialized.
Noel signed a 1-year, $5 million deal with the Knicks before last season. He then fired Rich Paul and Klutch Sports. Noel alleges that he learned from others that Paul had a reputation for only focusing on his “marquee” clients and not the lesser-known ones.
Noel has since signed a 3-year, $27.7 million deal with the Knicks under the representation of George Langberg.
Noel is suing Paul and Klutch on the grounds of breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, negligence, and breach of good faith by interfering with a previous agent relationship and convincing him to sign with them, only to not deliver. He wants $58 million for being convinced to turn down the $70 million contract.
We don’t know if this case will have any legs, but it will result in negative publicity for Paul. It also might give another player a similar idea.
A former Los Angeles Angels employee is awaiting trial after he was charged with distributing the drugs that led to Tyler Skaggs’ death, and the team is now being accused of withholding information in the case.
Former Angels communications director Eric Kay has been charged with distributing the fentanyl that led to Skaggs’ overdose in July of 2019. Kay’s trial is set to begin in six weeks. According to Nathan Fenno of the Los Angeles Times, federal prosecutors filed a motion in Texas court on Monday claiming the Angels have refused to comply with a subpoena seeking information about members of the organization potentially distributing drugs.
“Put simply, it strains credulity to accept any assertion that the Angels’s organization has not a single document, record, or report for months after one of its pitchers overdosed and died on a trip taken by the team, for months after Kay confessed to another Angels employee that he was in [Skaggs’] room late on June 30, 2019, and witnessed [Skaggs] ingesting drugs; and for weeks after learning about allegations of drug distribution by employee(s) within the organization,” the motion states.
The motion asks the court to order the Angels to produce documents related to “drug distribution within the [Angels] organization” by next Monday. The Angels opposed the motion in court on Tuesday and said the team has “produced thousands of pages of documents and an entire computer hard drive to the government in response to at least five subpoenas and requests for information.” The team says the only documents that haven’t been turned over are “those protected by the attorney-client privilege and work product protections, including those relating to its internal investigation arising out of [Skaggs’] death.”
Kay has been charged with multiple counts of distributing fentanyl dating back to 2017. Prosecutors recently said that several MLB players will testify during the trial to receiving oxycodone from Kay between 2017 and 2019.
Federal prosecutors claim the Angels have documents that discuss how Kay has a history of opioid abuse and has distributed drugs to members of the organization. They say the team also has documents that discuss people other than Kay “unlawfully distributing drugs to players or others in the organization.”
Skaggs, who was 27, died after choking on his own vomit in a hotel room with fentanyl, oxycodone and alcohol in his system on July 1, 2019. Before he was charged, Kay had admitted to federal investigators that he provided oxycodone to Skaggs and used opioids himself. He said two other Angels employees, one of which was former vice president of communications Tim Mead, knew about Skaggs’ drug use.
The family of Skaggs filed a lawsuit against the Angels earlier this year accusing the organization of wrongful death and negligence.
A court has ordered the arrest of Clinton Portis over his failure to pay child support and appear in court.
The Alachua Chronicle in Florida reported last week about Portis’ situation.
The report says Portis has not made any child support payments to the mother of a child born in March, 2015. The monthly support amount is $1,937. An Aug. 6 hearing stated that Portis owed $147,962.49 plus interest in child support payments.
Portis’ arrest warrant was issued on Aug. 13 after he did not show up to the Aug. 6 hearing.
Now 39, Portis was a second-round pick by Denver in 2002. He played two seasons for the Broncos before being traded to Washington. Portis was a two-time Pro Bowler. He made over $43 million during his playing career but filed for bankruptcy in 2015, citing mismanagement by his financial advisors.
Trevor Bauer received a legal victory on Thursday, and that has some wondering when the pitcher will make a return to MLB.
Bauer is being investigated by both the Pasadena (Calif.) Police Department and MLB for a possible assault of a woman with whom he had two sexual encounters earlier this year (in April and May). There is no update yet on the status of either investigation. However, there was an update Thursday on the restraining order portion of the matter.
The woman accusing Bauer of assault sought and was granted in June an ex parte restraining order against the pitcher. An ex parte restraining order means the request was granted based on her story, and without a response from Bauer. Bauer finally had his court hearing about the situation, and the judge ruled on Thursday in his favor.
LA Superior Court judge Dianna Gould-Saltman dissolved the ex parte restraining order and denied the request for a permanent restraining order. Gould-Saltman declared that the two sexual encounters were consensual. She also said that what the woman thought was a boundary, and what the woman communicated to Bauer, were two different things. Gould-Saltman determined that Bauer respected the clear boundaries the woman communicated to him.
Gould-Saltman denied the restraining order because she also did not determine Bauer posed a threat to the woman. The pitcher had not contacted the woman for a month prior to her seeking the restraining order.
“We are grateful to the Los Angeles Superior Court for denying the request for a permanent restraining order and dissolving the temporary restraining order against Mr. Bauer today. While we have expected this outcome since the petition was filed in June, we appreciate the Court reviewing all relevant information and testimony to make this informed decision,” Bauer’s attorneys Shawn Holley and Jon Fetterolf said in a statement.
Those are the facts so far. Below we are moving into opinion-based speculation about the matter.
If those were Gould-Saltman’s reasons for denying the restraining order, we doubt that the Pasadena Police Department will move forward with charges against Bauer. If the judge did not find that the woman clearly communicated to Bauer that he was crossing a line, and she found that Bauer respected the boundaries the woman did set, then the police and any prosecutor will likely have a difficult time proving he committed a crime.
Bauer already has defeated the request for a restraining order. Next, the police will likely say they are not charging Bauer with a crime. From there, it will be up to MLB to see whether they punish Bauer. The league could punish him for engaging in violent behavior with the woman, regardless of whether the behavior was consensual or not.
My guess is that whatever happens, Bauer will not pitch again this season. The Dodgers already seemed to hint that Bauer will not be back with them. He would have to be in a team’s organization by Aug. 31 to be eligible for the postseason, and he is just running out of time to be able to pitch again this season.
First, Bauer’s paid administrative leave period, which is running through Aug. 20, would have to end. The administrative leave probably will not end until the police and/or MLB conclude their investigations. Then Bauer would have to resume a throwing program to ramp up to pitch again, which could take some time. But none of that will even matter if the Dodgers don’t want him on the team.
My guess is they will probably trade or cut him over the offseason. Bauer then likely won’t pitch again until next season. And he probably won’t find a new team for several months, after a good portion of the negative attention from the allegations have passed.
Bauer has been receiving pay while out on administrative leave. He is in the first season of a 3-year, $102 million contract he signed with the Dodgers prior to the season.
