More Questions Emerge in McCourts' Tussle Over Dodgers
Over the past 18 months, the Los Angeles Dodgers paid almost $4 million in "consulting services" to an entity that has done hardly nothing for the club, even as the team has made a concerted effort to raise ticket prices, neat payroll and acquire actors on the cheap. Moreover, the club paid two of Frank and Jamie McCourt's mature sons large salaries -- $400,000 and $200,000 per year, respectively -- for services that are undefined and could not be described by either Frank or Jamie McCourt, according to court documents filed in the couple's divorce case.
FanHouse has likewise learned that the Dodgers' ownership includes 2 limited partners who invested loans to help the McCourts finalize their purchase of the union in 2004, according to human familiar with the material. One of the limited partners is Franklin Weigold, a long-time administrative with Analog Devices, Inc., a Norwood, Mass.-based maker of electronic equipment. Weigold lives chapter of the year in Los Angeles and was also portion of the McCourts' failed command to buy the Boston Red Sox in 2001.
It is no remove who the other limited associate is, merely that entity and Weigold both own convertible bonds in the Dodgers that would migrate into "sizable" equity in the team in the event of a default on the loans, according to the source. (The McCourts have not missed whichever of the payments since they became owners six annuals ago.)
There has never been any previous advert of the limited partners, their loans or their potential peg in the club by both the McCourts or the Dodgers. Weigold is not listed anywhere in the club's medium adviser or on its website.
Reached at his home in Beverly Hills, Weigold had no comment and referred all answers to Frank McCourt. The Dodgers did not comment on the consulting payments or loans. "Frank McCourt is the 100 percent owner of the Dodgers, as confirmed by Major League Baseball," a team lecturer said through e-mail during the team's Monday night home game against the Houston Astros.
Beginning in 2008 and continuing via by least the premier four months of 2010, the Dodgers paid $300,000 per month to an entity called the John McCourt Company for consulting services associated to development of the real estate surrounding Dodger Stadium, according to court documents and expressions made in court by both sides in April. Earlier this year, the Dodgers stopped paying the fees, but the payments continued to be paid by Blue Landco LLC, a assorted McCourt-owned entity.
The switch was significant for under the terms of the McCourts' financing arrangement with lenders, Frank McCourt cannot receive more than $5 million in wage from the Dodgers -- but there are no such restrictions on payments from Blue Landco LLC. The fees to the John McCourt Company only came to light after a "difficult" discovery process narrated to the couple's divorce, according to Jamie McCourt's attorneys, 1 of whom described the John McCourt Company as a "Frank slush fund" after a listening in April.
The payments to either the John McCourt Company and the couple's sons took ashore joined significance during the couple's recent tussle over short-lived spousal patronize. Jamie's attorneys claimed the fees disbursed apt the John McCourt Company, as well as the massive salaries paid to Drew and Travis McCourt, were controlled at Frank,
asics gel kayano, and therefore available to endow to spousal payments to Jamie while the divorce circumstance is ongoing.
Neither of the McCourts' sons is listed on the team's staff directory, although earlier stories have famous that Drew McCourt, now 28, assists with the club's marketing efforts.
Earlier this month,
cheap puma, a Los Angeles County Superior Court referee arrayed Frank to pay Jamie $637,159 per month in support, retroactive to December 15 of last year. The majority of the sum will go toward paying mortgages on the couple's seven addresses,
moncler jackets outlet, which are all listed in Jamie's appoint, while she will receive $225,000 a month to preserve her lifestyle. She has received his first retard, and he have to pay her the aggregate from the previous four-and-a-half months �C or more than $3 million always told �C by September 1.
In deposition testimony and remarks from both sides in tribunal, it is not clear what, whether everything, the John McCourt Company did to earn its substantial fees. The entity is depicted on the team's website as the "real possession development and management affiliate of the McCourt Group," which is the holding enterprise that owns the Dodgers. The entity's lone identifiable hireling is Geoff Wharton, the Dodgers' main operating officer, who is listed in his media guide bio as the chancellor of the John McCourt Company. The entity's merely evident delegation was to work on the club's "Next 50" project, a much-ballyhooed -- but never fulfilled -- maneuver to upgrade Dodger Stadium.
In April 2008, the McCourts announced a $500 million vision to modernize Dodger Stadium and transform the zone surrounding the 48-year-old venue into a year-round destination. The plans embodied a dramatic current entry beyond centre field, a "bustling new promenade" of marts and restaurants, as well as a fashionable "Dodger Experience" salon, according to a club's reception unlock. "We're creating a new stadium without tearing down the antique," Frank McCourt said in the team's statement at the time. "That may take more effort and more resources, but we're talking about Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers are a world level union, a world level mark and a franchise with a history of courage and vision."
The plan's financing fizzled, whatsoever, after the stock market breakdown in the fall of 2008.
Since the McCourts took control of the team six years ago, the Dodgers have made the playoffs quadruple,
timberland shoes, and the club advanced to the National League Championship Series in each of the last two seasons. But the couple has also come under harsh criticism in locals as consistently raising ticket prices, hiring and firing many executives and exhibiting one often-tin ear when it comes to public relations.
The divorce case has further sullied their image, especially after details of their excessive lifestyle, much of it funded by loans acquired through their ownership of the Dodgers, appeared in court documents. After catching over the Dodgers, the couple purchased several sumptuous homes, including two buildings bordering to the Playboy Mansion,
mbt discount shoes, as well as a couple of beach-side estates in Malibu.
At the same time, the Dodgers have increasingly pinched pennies. In 2008 and 2009, the club spent fewer money signing draft picks than any other team in Major League Baseball. This past offseason, despite the club's absence of pitching,
nike air max shoes, the Dodgers made no effort to re-sign starters Randy Wolf and Jon Garland. The team has been on the losing end when trying to procure stars such as Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia, and in 2008, the Dodgers added Manny Ramirez and Casey Blake only afterward both players' former teams agreed to pay most of their salaries.
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