When an NFL player strikes it rich, it comes with a serious challenge.
What should he do to protect the money he has made?
Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield entrusted $12 million to investment firms linked to his father. Signs of trouble first emerged in August 2023, when Mayfield and his wife, Emily, filed a petition seeking information regarding the possible misappropriation of $12 million. “Petitioners simply do not know if their money has been properly and competently invested, has been stolen or otherwise misappropriated, or something in between,” the original legal filing explained.
That effort led to a settlement agreement, in the amount of $11.7 million. But the payments allegedly haven’t been made. And so the Mayfields have done the only thing they could — they’ve sued for the money.
Via Margaret Fleming of FrontOfficeSports.com, Baker and Emily Mayfield filed suit last week in a Texas federal court for breach of the settlement agreement. The defendants are Camwood Capital Management Group, Texas Contracting Manufacturing Group, Unitech Tool & Machine, Apex Machining, and Lor-Van Manufacturing. Mayfield’s brother is named in the suit, as the director of Camwood Capital Management Group.
“Once Plaintiffs began to uncover Defendants’ misconduct and sought answers to explain the taking of their assets, Defendants attempted to obscure the relevant information, avoided Plaintiffs’ inquiries, and invented fictional explanations for their actions,” the nine-page complaint alleges.
Still, the effort led to an alleged agreement to pay $11.7 million. The first payment — $250,000 — was due on September 30, 2024. It wasn’t made, per the lawsuit.
The lawsuit demands payment of the money, plus interest and attorneys’ fees.
If a settlement agreement was indeed negotiated (and it will be easy to prove its existence), the case is a no-brainer. The biggest hurdle could come from collecting on the judgment, if the money is simply gone.
The entire situation stinks. And it underscores the risks of trusting the wrong people with the millions that some NFL players make. Even if those players choose not to trust strangers but immediate family members with the cash they have earned.
