OUT OF BOUNDS
Members of the National Football League’s Players Association fret that a leading candidate to replace Gene Upshaw as executive director has a history of failed businesses and questionable personal ties with a felon who stole $150,000 from a former player, The Post has learned.
A small group of former NFL players said they worry that if former Philadelphia Eagles and Miami Dolphins cornerback Troy Vincent was named executive director, he might put at risk hundreds of millions of dollars at the center of a new collective bargaining agreement.
The NFLPA, which ranks as the biggest sports union, with revenue of $955 million over the last decade, has narrowed the list of executive director candidates down to five – Vincent, former players Trace Arm- stong, Ben Utt and Jim Covert, and lawyer DeMaurice Smith.
A fresh round of interviews begins Thursday.
Chief among the new executive director’s tasks will be to negotiate a new agreement after team owners voted to opt out of the previous one once the 2010 season is over, potentially setting the stage for a player lockout in March 2011.
The agreement has produced annual salary-cap increases of 6 1/2 percent so far, and NFL players currently receive roughly 59 percent of league revenue – the most of any professional sports league.
“I think the league sees Vincent as somebody who’s friendly to their cause,” said one former player who asked to remain anonymous. “He’s shown he’s willing to act in a way that benefits himself but not the players.”
Indeed, in 2007 Vincent partnered with Scott Helfand in a venture called Pro Athlete Media. Helfand spent time in jail after being convicted of stealing $150,000 from former NFL defensive lineman Oliver Gibson.
Just last month Helfand was arrested for violating his probation by soliciting clients for the venture without mentioning his previous conviction. Public records show that former NFL player, Devin Bush, also has a $115,000 lien against Helfand.
Sources also are concerned that Vincent could be exposed in the future to civil lawsuits stemming from his failed insurance, financial advisory and hedge-fund businesses.
Vincent is listed as an officer of several businesses – including Eltekon Management Group, Eltekon Business Services, Eltekon Financial and Eltekon Advisors – that are considered “not in good standing,” according corporate filings with the Texas Secretary of State.
Another company, Eltekon Securities, was reinstated in November 2005 after a tax forfeiture in July of that year.
Filings from the North Carolina Secretary of State indicate Vincent’s Eltekon Insurance Agency had its status revoked in May 2005.
Vincent, whose won sev- eral “Man of the Year” and “Good Guy” awards, also had his Elketon Hedge I LP fund involuntarily canceled in June 2006.
Even Vincent’s nonprofits have come under attention.
According to IRS 990 filings, Vincent’s Love Thy Neighbor charity has spent more than 50 percent of its expenses on wages and salaries for officers. The median administrative expense ratio across all charities is just 9.6 percent.
The NFLPA can’t afford another business-related scandal after the “Financial Advisers Program” it set up in 2002 to counsel members on investment choices recommended Kirk Wright as an approved adviser.
Wright was arrested in 2006 after his International Management Associates hedge fund bilked investors out of $185 million. Victims included NFL player Terrell Davis.
The NFLPA declined comment. Repeated calls for comment to Vincent’s home and several of his businesses, including Pro Athlete Media, Love Thy Neighbor, Troy Vincent Development & Construction, and Eltekon Securities were not returned.
