NBA star Lonzo Ball has reportedly commenced a lawsuit against trusted family friend and former Big Baller Brand executive Alan Foster.
It emerged last week that Ball and his infamous father LaVar had cut ties with the former Big Baller Brand co-founder after alleging he failed to account for a missing $2.1 million ($US1.5m).
Lonzo followed that up by publicly walking away from the sneaker and apparel company started by his own father.
Lonzo Ball has now launched legal action against Foster, suing for more than $3 million.
The lawsuit papers lodged with the Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday reportedly allege Foster “conspired to embezzle millions of dollars and then divert those funds for his personal use, including to acquire assets in Ethiopia.”
The Athletic’s Shams Charania first reported Ball’s lawsuit allegations that Foster had secretly set-up an operation in Ethiopia with embezzled money.
The lawsuit also highlights that Foster owned 16.3 per cent of the Big Baller Brand company.
Ball told ESPN last week he believes Foster “used his access to my business and personal finances to enrich himself. As a result, I have decided to sever all ties with Alan, effective immediately”.
LaVar also released a statement admitting he made a mistake in trusting Foster to help run the company.
“I’ve always believed in the best in people,” LaVar said.
“Regretfully, I put my complete trust in Alan Foster to manage my son’s business affairs. At the end of the day, family comes first, and I support Zo wholeheartedly. Together, we will make this right.”
Ball told TMZ this week that he initially decided to fold the Big Baller Brand company in the wake of his son’s decision to walk away — but then decided against it.
“We had a meeting before the story came out, man,” LaVar told TMZ Sports.
“And, everybody was in they feelings. What I mean by that is, we’re not really thinking. ‘Cause I told them we’re shutting down everything, ‘cause I don’t want him to get nothing.
“So, I said it was shut down. And, that’s why DMo and everybody heard what I said and was going on them things. Okay, Triple B’s is done.
“The media’s making it a big deal, man. Our family stick together. Everything is good. The games still going on, man. My boys still going forward, and my family is still in tact. So, I’m good.”
The Brand is still reportedly on the brink of collapse.
It didn’t help when Lonzo showed that he had removed his Big Baller Brand tattoos last week.
The LA Lakers player cut ties with the business as rumours of a link to Nike emerged.
Either there’s still plenty of bad blood or the NBA star’s going to great lengths to keep future sponsors happy — but we’re betting it’s the former.
A new photo of Lonzo’s arm that was once inked with “BBB” shows he’s gotten rid of the letters and replaced them with three dice. It comes after Lonzo reportedly deleted all traces of Big Baller Brand from his social media accounts.
Lonzo’s manager Darren Moore posted a video of himself on Instagram throwing Big Baller Brand shoes in the bin and encouraging everyone to “#dumpurmerch”.
Foster was the one who convinced LaVar to create Big Baller Brand in 2014, according to ESPN. He served time for mail fraud and money laundering in 2002, which Lonzo was informed of by a reporter two weeks ago.
He began checking into Foster’s past, along with other old concerns about missing money raised by his financial adviser, Humble Lukanga.
Lonzo, who owns 51 per cent of BBB, had deferred to his father to resolve the controversy over the money’s whereabouts, but LaVar did not review the situation until recently.
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