New Orleans Pelicans star Zion Williamson, his stepfather and his mother allegedly have failed to pay back $1.8 million of a $2 million loan from a California-based technology company. In a civil lawsuit filed this week, Ankr PBC stated that it made the loan in September 2021 to Williamson and family members while trying to establish a marketing relationship with the NBA forward.
Ankr PBC, specializing in blockchain-related technologies used in finance and data storage, states in the lawsuit that it hoped Williamson would serve as a company spokesperson. The lawsuit also says Williamson’s stepfather, Lee Anderson, represented Williamson as his business manager and required up-front payment of $150,000 to negotiate a potential business relationship.
“Based on Williamson’s statements to Ankr, Ankr reasonably believed that Anderson possessed the authority to negotiate business arrangements for Williamson,” the lawsuit stated.
The lawsuit states Ankr has helped Williamson with community events. Williamson’s mother, Sharonda Sampson, is named as a defendant because Ankr wired money into her account after Williamson’s stepdad allegedly told the company his family urgently needed a “bridge loan” to cover investment obligations.
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“Anderson represented that the loan was urgently needed, as the family had taken on expensive investments including the purchase of certain real estate in New Orleans and could not meet their obligations due to the temporary suspension of payments from Williamson’s sponsorship deals resulting from an injury,” the lawsuit stated.
Ankr also alleges Williamson’s stepdad told the company that “his family would suffer financial hardship, and Williamson would not enter into a business relationship with Ankr,” if the loan was not made immediately.
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Ankr stated it agreed to make the loan on condition it be paid back by August 21, 2022, but that Anderson subsequently requested a series of extensions, and that when Ankr finally received a check for $25,000, it bounced.
In April, Ankr and Anderson entered into a forbearance agreement in which the company agreed not to sue if it received repayment of $500,000 by April 25 and the remainder by July 6, according to the lawsuit.
Ankr received $500,000 on time, but about $300,000 of that covered interest and the remaining $1.8 million has not been repaid, the lawsuit said. Williamson signed a five-year, $194.3 million designated rookie contract extension with the Pelicans in July 2022.
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