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New Orleans Saints and Pelicans owner and local car magnate Tom Benson has wrapped up an agreement that effectively will settle a federal lawsuit he filed almost two years ago against officials overseeing a group of trust funds benefiting his estranged relatives.
The New Orleans Advocate reports that Kyle Schonekas, who represents one of the trust officials, said the agreement’s paperwork is in the process of being filed. A second source with knowledge of the case also confirmed to the Advocate that paperwork finalizing the agreement had been drawn up.
Terms weren’t made available, but Friday’s news resolves a dispute that largely centered on non-controlling, non-voting shares of New Orleans’ NFL and NBA franchises.
The announcement came three days before the case was set to go to trial, a prospect that prompted attorneys for the NFL and the NBA to serve notice on Thursday that the leagues wanted U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo of New Orleans to seal certain pieces of “commercially sensitive” evidence from public view.
Both leagues reportedly were worried that the some evidence that could have been released could have shown exactly how much money that NFL and NBA teams actually make.
The finalized agreement also arrives a few months after it was revealed in court records that the NFL would recommend that its clubs’ owners allow Benson to borrow as much as 50 percent above the league’s $250 million team debt limit to facilitate a settlement.
The lawsuit Benson filed against Schonekas client Robert Rosenthal and Mary Rowe — the trustees of funds established for the benefit of the Saints owner’s daughter and her two children — was the last pending legal case related to a bitter family feud that erupted into public view in January 2015.
Despite Friday’s announcement, more ugly details about the family feud still could surface.
But the impending settlement certainly will make some of Benson’s associates in the two professional leagues rest a little easier.
Tgriffin@express-news.net
Twitter: @TimGriffinBig12
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