HENKEL PLEADS GUILTY, CLOSES CASE

In an e-mail message sent to us (and presumably others), marketing agent Bill Henkel announces that he has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor “temporary deprivation of property,” resolving criminal charges that were filed against Henkel after he left IMG in 2005. An item from “The Pitch” reports that Henkel pleaded guilty to two counts of temporary deprivation of property. He originally had been charged with felony commercial bribery and theft. Henkel writes that the situation arose during his transition out of IMG, during which he negotiated a marketing deal for Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson. Henkel claims that he made an erroneous assumption that IMG would agree to split the fees evenly between itself and Henkel. Henkel says that Tom Condon, then of IMG and now of CAA, objected to Henkel’s attempt to split the fees between himself and IMG, which apparently resulted in criminal charges being pursued against Henkel. But the specifically claims against Henkel entailed a more secretive plot to get paid separately. Allegedly, Henkel didn’t structure the deal to include express fee-splitting; instead, he got his portion of the money through a side deal about which IMG wasn’t aware until after the first payment was made to Henkel. “Although a compromise with IMG could have been beneficial for all parties,” Henkel wrote, “Mr. Condon rejected such an arrangement despite hearing the negative reaction from many players with whom I was particularly close. Several players even relieved IMG of its marketing duties and hired other marketing representation.” Henkel takes great pains to point out that, despite the authorities’ initial characaterization of Tomlinson as a “victim” of these activities, Tomlinson’s net compensation from the marketing deal was never compromised. “As soon as my incorrect assumptions were proven to be false, I immediately took proactive steps to remedy the situation,” Henkel wrote. “I never compromised my representation of Mr. Tomlinson at any time while handling his marketing affairs since he entered the NFL in 2001, and I made sure in this case that his personal compensation was completely isolated and unaffected by the structure of the deal. “Stealing from a client would cripple any agent’s business, which is why my legal team worked very hard to educate the prosecution so that Mr. Tomlinson would be removed from the potential ‘victim’ list. He was never harmed (nor was any player, for that matter).” The legal entanglement apparently hasn’t harmed Henkel’s business interests; his client pool currently includes Vikings running back Adrian Peterson and Panthers receiver Steve Smith. (His firm’s web site also has images of Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington and Pats receiver Wes Welker on the home page.) The fact that Condon and IMG would pursue criminal charges against Henkel confirms the nasty nature of the agenting business. And the marketing side of things gets even more contentious, since the standard 20-percent commission under marketing deals isn’t governed by the NFLPA, which limits commissions on football contract to three percent. Thus, for agencies licensed to negotiate football contracts on behalf of players, the goal is to handle his marketing deals as well, since the compensation from the marketing deals for certain players can be far more lucrative than the fees received under the football contract. As we’ve noted in the past, we’re amazed that none of these squabbles among agents have resulted in violence. Sooner or later, we’re convinced it will happen.