Former NBA player Kwame Brown is accusing brokerage firm Merrill Lynch of fraud, reports Edvard Pettersson of Bloomberg:
Former professional basketball player Kwame Brown is crying foul on Merrill Lynch, saying the brokerage stole $17.4 million of his investments.
Brown said in a lawsuit that his signature was forged on various authorization forms and agreements, allowing his financial adviser to make investments and stock trades without his consent.
Kwame Brown during a game on Oct. 11, 2012Photographer: Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images
When Brown sought an accounting of his investments last year, he was told he had no monies with Merrill Lynch, according to his complaint filed Thursday in Los Angeles.
Brown, 36, was the no. 1 pick overall in the 2001 NBA Draft. Over the course of his 12-year career, Brown averaged 6.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game on 49.2 percent shooting.
Brown is not the first former NBA player to bring up fraud allegations against financial advisors. In 2015, former San Antonio Spurs star Tim Duncan’s former advisor pled guilty and was sentenced to four years in prison after stealing $20 million from his client.
