Nuggets' Nene settles case with ex-manager

Player accused aide of mismanagement

By James Paton, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Friday, May 16, 2008

Hal Stoelzle / The Rocky/2002

Joe Santos, left, interprets for Brazilian Nuggets player Nene in 2002. The two have been embroiled in a legal dispute that began in 2006 when Santos sued Nene, claiming that the 6-foot-11 Nugget fired him without justification in violation of their pact.

Nene was left with $1 million of debt, court records show.

The Denver Nuggets' Nene and former friend and business manager Joe Santos have agreed to settle a legal dispute and avoid a trial, a lawyer for the Brazilian ballplayer said.

"From Nene's perspective, he just wants to stop the litigation and get on with life," his attorney, Frank Schuchat, said Friday.

While the drama will not play out in a courtroom next month as planned, it is detailed in documents filed in Denver District Court.

New information has emerged in recent months.

In a lawsuit last year, the Nuggets' big man accused Santos of mismanaging millions of dollars and failing to fulfill his responsibilities. Nene lost about $9 million, his earnings for his first four years in the NBA, and was left with $1 million of debt because of Santos, documents show. Nene also claimed Santos diverted funds for personal use.

The legal fight began in 2006 when Santos sued Nene, claiming that the 6-foot-11 Nugget fired him without justification, violating their pact.

Santos said he taught Nene how to drive a car, gave him English lessons, paid his bills, replied to fan mail and bought an engagement ring for his fiancee. In return, he said Nene agreed to pay him 6 percent of his annual revenue over seven years.

An arbitrator late last year ruled against Santos, awarding nothing to the one-time manager. His 30-page decision has since been released.

The arbitrator, D. Duff McKee, called Santos a "useful manservant" and a valuable translator but a "stunningly incompetent" steward.

"All Nene had to show for his four years of earnings under his rookie professional basketball contract . . . was a collection of vehicles and some equity in an apartment condominium," McKee wrote.

Nene, who missed more than two months of the last season because of testicular cancer and returned to cheers in late March, has seen his finances improve. In July 2006, he signed a six-year, $60 million deal.

But Nene, born Maybyner Hilario, said that Santos left him in a hole.

Santos and Nene's ex-agent, Michael Coyne, exploited Nene for their own financial gain and referred to him as their "asset," the arbitrator said.

Hoping to recruit basketball players from remote countries, in the same way they pursued Nene in Brazil, Santos, Coyne and others created a company using Nene's name, McKee wrote.

Their friendship wouldn't last. Nene grew suspicious in the fall of 2005 and sought out a former police officer in Brazil to look into Santos' activities, documents show.

Santos, at one point, had sent money to Nene's uncle to investigate the ballplayer's religious adviser despite Nene's instructions not to do so, the arbitrator said.

Santos' lawyers in a deposition last year questioned Nene about "the prophet," a reference to his minister and asked whether he paid 10 percent of his income to the spiritual figure in Brazil.

Nene, a 25-year-old native of Sao Carlos, Brazil, responded that the relationship with his "shepherd" was "private business."

Attorneys for Santos challenged the arbitrator's decision, but a judge later denied their motion and ordered Santos to pay $10,000 of Nene's legal fees.

Santos' lawyers had argued that the former manager was "denied a fair and just hearing because the first arbitrator, Ann Frick, was removed in the middle of the case. They disputed the notion that a friendship between an associate of Frick and Santos' lead lawyer, Michael Burg, tainted the process.

Santos has denied Nene's allegations. The contention he "stole money" from Nene damaged his reputation and spoiled his dream of becoming an NBA agent, he said.

Santos' lawyer, David TeSelle, did not return two telephone calls.

Santos is appealing the judge's rulings.

The separate case Nene later brought against Santos has been resolved, although Schuchat refused to reveal the terms of the agreement and said Santos' legal team still needs to sign the documents.

• May 17, 2008

  11 a.m.

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  Buckwheat writes:

  And this is news because???????