Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara announced the founder of a company that advised the NBPA had been charged with attempting to defraud the union. (Stan Honda/AFP/Getty)

The founder of a company that advises the National Basketball Association players’ union was charged on Thursday with attempting to defraud the National Basketball Players Association through the use of a fraudulent retention contract.

The complaint, filed on Thursday by the U.S. Attorney’s office, also charged Joseph Lombardo, the founder of Prim Capital, with attempting to obstruct a federal grand jury probe.

According to the complaint, Lombardo forged the signature of Gary Hall, the former NBPA General Counsel, in a 2011 contract with the union. The fraudulent retention contract could have cost the NBPA $3 million, according to the complaint.

“As alleged, Joseph Lombardo faked the signature of a dead man as part of manufacturing a multi-million dollar contract out of whole cloth that, had it been enforced, would have caused significant losses for basketball players who entrusted him with their savings,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said.

“And together with his partner in crime, Carolyn Kaufman, he allegedly lied about it to a federal grand jury. Now they will both have to answer to the justice system they allegedly tried to obstruct.”

Lombardo and Kaufman are scheduled to appear in Manhattan federal court on May 2.

NBPA executive director Billy Hunter says he will defend his reputation as union chief. (Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

NBPA executive director Billy Hunter said on Wednesday that he defends his record and reputation as union chief and would not go down without a fight despite the NBA players having little or no support for him.

Hunter, 70, was placed on indefinite leave last week by the union since the release of an independent audit last month that found fault with his business and hiring practices. The player’s union plans to meet next weekend at the All-Star Game in Houston to discuss Hunter’s future.

The independent audit found no criminal wrongdoing by Hunter, although it concluded that he had failed in his fiduciary obligations and had put personal and family gain ahead of union interests — judgments that Hunter vehemently protested.

“I haven’t spoken to anybody since,” Hunter said Wednesday to the New York Times. ”It’s had a negative impact on my family. It’s been very stressful. And I obviously worry about their health. I worry about the impact it’s had on my wife. I think pretty much my family looks at me, as long as they see me continuing to be strong, then they kind of take solace in that. But it hasn’t been an easy walk, I can say that to you.”

Hunter has been denied all access to union resources, can’t talk to players or union personnel, and was even escorted out by security guards when he tried to enter the union’s headquarters in New York City.

Player support of NBPA executive director Billy Hunter is waning. (Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

NBPA Executive Director Billy Hunter’s fate has not been decided, but if he is let go by the union, a top government official could take his place, reports Yahoo! Sports. 

B. Todd Jones, who is the acting director of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, will be sought after if Hunter is fired by the union. Hunter was placed on indefinite leave last week following a report that showed some questionable business practices on his part.

“Unfortunately, it appears that union management has lost sight of the NBPA’s only task, to serve the best interests of their membership,” said NBPA president Derek Fisher.

Fisher, several prominent agents, executive committee members and player reps are pushing for a vote to oust Hunter over the Feb. 15-17 All-Star weekend in Houston. Even with an erosion of support, Hunter is still trying to find a way to hold onto his job.

Several players, including Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, have spoken out and said the league’s stars need to take an active role in union matters. 

“We might want to grab the bull by its horns, so to speak, and lead the charge a little bit,” Bryant said Tuesday to the New York Times.”I don’t know where that’s going, I haven’t spoken to Derek to get any insight and see what he knows from his vantage point of what’s going on. But it just looks like a mess right now.”

NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr will not be taking the same position with the NBA players union, a source told Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal.

Executive director Billy Hunter’s future with the NBPA is considered tenuous after he was placed on indefinite leave Friday.

Fehr was first linked to the NBAP through a CBSSports.com report of an influential group of NBA player agents pushing for his hire. Fehr’s recent handling of the NHLPA’s new CBA and his past success as the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players’ Association reportedly could provide enough clout to win approval of NBA players.

Fehr originally declined to comment on the report while Hunter still holds his title as the NBPA executive director. Hunter was placed on leave following a negative independent review of his business practices, including the involvement of family members as NBPA employees and vendors.

Source close to Don Fehr: "Don is very happy in his current role and has absolutely no plans to leave the NHLPA." (1/3)—
Liz Mullen (@SBJLizMullen) February 05, 2013

Donald Fehr is the choice of many NBA agents to be the NBPA’s next leader. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

NBA agents are floating prominent sports union leader Donald Fehr as the next possible head of the National Basketball Players Association, CBS Sports’ Ken Berger reported Monday.

Fehr is the current executive director of the NHL Players Association and also was the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association.

He would replace Billy Hunter, who was placed on indefinite leave last week by a committee organized by union president Derek Fisher. That committee formed in order to “move the organization forward” after a stinging report by Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, an independent firm that was hired to investigate the union’s business practices under Hunter’s leadership.

Fehr did not comment when reached by Berger.

While representing NHL players during the recent NHL lockout, Fehr earned the notorious distinction of becoming the first players union director to lead two work stoppages. Fehr also presided over the MLB lockout of 1994-95, which canceled the entire 1994 postseason, including the World Series.

Hunter has been the head of the NBPA since 1996. Because the firm’s report found that Hunter’s contract was never “properly approved,” it said that the contract could be terminated.

The NBA Players Association has begun taking steps to oust executive director Billy Hunter, including placing him on an indefinite leave of absence, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

The moves come two weeks after an independent investigation into the NBPA’s practices and business dealings questioned whether Hunter should remain in his position.

The 500-page report, conducted by the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, and emailed to the NBA’s players, questioned the validity of Hunter’s contract and his inclusion of family and friends among the union’s staff and vendors.

The leave of absence comes two days after Hunter proposed a series of reforms that addressed the investigation’s concerns. The reforms are scheduled to be presented for adoption at the NBPA’s annual meeting during February’s All-Star Weekend in Houston.

The NBPA executive committee has placed executive director Billy Hunter on a leave of absence, source tells Y! Sports.—
Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) February 01, 2013

NBPA counsel Ron Klempner has been made interim executive director. NBA players were informed in a memo circulated late this morning.—
Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) February 01, 2013

Indefinite leave of absence is first step in a process to have Billy Hunter removed on a permanent basis as exec. director, sources tell Y!—
Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) February 01, 2013

The NBPA, headed up by Derek Fisher, is filing a grievance against the league over a new anti-flopping policy. (Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

The NBA Players Association will file a grievance with the league to protest the new flopping rule that was implemented today for the upcoming season, according to a tweet Wednesday evening from Howard Beck of The New York Times. Not much is known at this time about the grievance but according to Beck, the NBPA is filing the grievance because it was imposed unilaterally.

The league announced earlier in the day on Wednesday that players will be fined for flopping and the new rule will be effective for this upcoming season, which is set to kick off Oct. 30. Players will be warned the first time and they will be subject to a fine for subsequent offenses. A $5,000 fine will be imposed if the player flops after being warned and the player could face a fine of $30,000 for the sixth offense. After the sixth offense, the player will face a possible suspension, according to the league.

“Flops have no place in our game -they either fool referees into calling  undeserved fouls or fool fans into thinking the referees missed a foul call,”  vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson said in a statement.  “Accordingly, both the Board of Governors and the competition committee felt  strongly that any player who the league determines, following video review, to  have committed a flop should – after a warning – be given an automatic penalty.”

The players union just announced it will file a grievance to protest the NBA's anti-flopping rule, bc it was imposed unilaterally.—
Howard Beck (@HowardBeckNYT) October 03, 2012

The United States government will investigate the business practices of the NBA players’ association, according to the Associated Press. The union confirmed they were issued a subpoena and intend to fully cooperate with the investigation.

The players’ association has also announced that they have appointed a special committee to conduct in internal inquiry, including a financial audit.

There have been charges of nepotism levied against union executive director Billy Hunter, as well as other questionable hiring practices.

In a statement, the union said they hope to put the matter behind them, according to the AP.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports has dropped a bombshell of a report on Billy Hunter, the executive director of the NBA players’ union: In 2009, Hunter sought an investment worth between $7 million and $9 million of the NBPA’s money in his son’s bank.

Sources told Wojnarowski that Pat Garrity, then the treasurer of the players’ union, sought to challenge Hunter on his business practices because of a nonsensical “investment opportunity” idea he was promoting in Phoenix during All-Star Weekend 2009. He wanted to invest millions in Interstate Net Bank of Cherry Hill, N.J., which federal and state banking regulators had slapped with debilitating “cease-and-desist” orders.

Digging around online, Garrity discovered that Hunter’s son, Todd, had a seat on the board of directors of Interstate Net Bank. He’s also a vice president for Prim Capital, which has a consulting contract with the NBPA that has paid the company in excess of $2.5 million since 2006.

“Why didn’t you disclose any of this?” Garrity reportedly asked Hunter several times at the 2009 meeting.

Garrity was later told he was no longer welcome on the executive committee, being a retired player and not a current one. He left the NBPA and never returned.

Billy Hunter, executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, is urging that union president Derek Fisher resign, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Fisher has refused.

The tension between Hunter and Fisher has reportedly been brewing for months, beginning with last summer’s NBA lockout. Things came to a head this past week when Fisher convinced the NBPA’s executive committee to vote for an independent auditor to look into Hunter’s regime.

Hunter and his legal team sent out a brief memo on Tuesday night, announcing that the audit had been cancelled.

“The executive committee recognized that the review was unnecessary since there had been a recent independent audit of the NBPA’s finances which raised no issues,” the memo said.

Mistrust between Hunter and Fisher has grown over the last year, with players forced to choose sides between the two. Many have sided with Hunter, saying that Fisher’s concerns are due to a personal clash with Hunter. Neither side is going anywhere contractually — Hunter still has three-plus years left on his contract, and Fisher still has two-plus years as NBPA president.