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Just when we thought the situation surrounding former NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown couldn’t get any more bizarre, it did.
Brown, who has numerous run-ins with the law since his final years in the NFL, was recently the subject of an arrest warrant for allegedly not paying child support.
He claimed, “Yeah well first off, anytime you say a guy own a team, there’s going to be some garnish in the wages, but let’s get this clear, I paid my bills, I’m a professional. It’s about running the Empire and running the business. We don’t need negativity on my name. It’s bigger than me.”
AB was also recently sued by his jeweler for $1.1 million.
Then, after being kicked off the field during his first game as the owner of the National Arena League’s Albany Empire, there was a report that a number of key players and coaches left the team.
Allegedly, these team members had not been paid, according to one of the team’s top players and the head coach Damon Ware.
Not that any of that stopped the National Arena League commissioner from praising Antonio Brown.
“We understand the challenges that come with owning a team and appreciate the hard work and sacrifices that are made to ensure the success of their franchises,” National Arena League Commissioner Chris Siegfried wrote in a press release. “I would also like to thank new Albany Empire majority owner Antonio Brown, and MVP Arena General manager Bob Belber for their efforts during the Empire’s ownership transition. Antonio brings a new level of passion to the Empire and to the NAL; I look forward to working with AB as we continue to strengthen the National Arena League.”
That statement was strange on many levels, including the fact that last week the Albany Times Union reported that Brown doesn’t really own the team.
“According to documents provided to the Times Union by Brown’s camp, the team is owned by Antonio El-Allah Express Trust Enterprise, and Brown has no personal ownership or control over the team,” the Times Union reported.
…there are more layers to this particular onion: Antonio El-Allah Express Trust Enterprise is the domestic arm of another entity, Antonio El-Allah Express Trust (without the “Enterprise”). Empire team president Alberony Denis and a lawyer named Marlon Oliveira said in a phone call Monday night that a foreign citizen named Antonio El-Allah is the trustee.
But wait, there’s more…
A letter sent on behalf of Antonio El-Allah Express Trust to former Empire co-owner Mike Kwarta states, “I Brown, Antonio Tavaris a foreign national but not a citizen of the United States at birth, am writing to you regarding recent reports that have been circulating in the media regarding my supposed ownership of the Albany Empire team,” the letter begins. “I want to make it very clear that I am not the owner of this team, and any claims to the contrary are completely false.”
Antonio Brown, whose middle name is Tavaris, was born in Miami to two American citizens.
On top of all that, Antonio El-Allah Express Trust is connected to yet another company, Big Boomin Investment Co. LLC, which Brown established in Dubai.
During a press conference last week, Antonio Brown was asked who Antonio El-Allah is and he replied, “That’s a good question.”
Perhaps it is his stage name as he performed at Wolff’s Biergarten unannounced shortly after midnight this past Friday and reportedly handed out free tickets to Empire games to the bar’s patrons.
He reportedly followed up his impromptu bar performance by hitting up a frat house and doing a little crowd surfing.