department of justice – Syndication Server

Report: Phil Mickelson, other LIV Golf players interviewed for Justice Department’s PGA Tour investigation

The timeline for the investigation remains unclear, but players have been interviewed.

Phil Mickelson is one of a handful of players who have been interviewed with regard to the United States Department of Justice’s antitrust investigation of the PGA Tour.

According to a New York Times report, Mickelson and fellow LIV Golf League players Bryson DeChambeau and Sergio Garcia have all been interviewed. The Justice Department reportedly met with PGA Tour lawyers earlier this week in Washington, D.C., but the timeline for the review remains unclear.

Last July news broke that the Department of Justice was investigating whether the Tour engaged in anticompetitive behavior against Greg Norman-led and Saudi Arabia-funded LIV Golf. The upstart circuit has long been criticized as another way for the Saudi government to sportswash its human rights record via its Public Investment Fund.

The DOJ has also looked into the Official World Golf Ranking and the close relationships between PGA Tour leaders and those who operate the Masters, U.S. Open and PGA Championship, which is being held this week at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York.

From the Times report, “investigators have shown interest in the possibility that the Tour’s punitive approach threatened the integrity of golf’s labor market, which now includes a LIV faction that vocally argues that players are independent contractors who should be free to compete on tours as they choose.”

The Tour is currently being sued by LIV Golf for antitrust claims and has countersued both the PIF and its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan.

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DOJ inquiry in pro golf includes Augusta National, US Golf Association, PGA of America, per report

The DOJ probe includes the body that oversees the iconic Masters Tournament

The Department of Justice’s antitrust inquiry into professional golf is reportedly wider than previously thought.

Citing anonymous sources, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Augusta National Golf Club, which operates the Masters Tournament, the United States Golf Association and the PGA of America are also part of the investigation. WSJ had previously reported in July that the DOJ was investigating whether the PGA Tour had engaged in anticompetitive behavior against the Greg Norman-led and Saudi Arabia-funded LIV Golf Invitational Series.

According to the report, Augusta National had produced documents for the Department of Justice investigation. The WSJ reported that a spokesperson for Augusta National and a lawyer who represents the club both declined to comment.

The USGA confirmed the investigation to the Wall Street Journal and a spokesperson said the organization intended to fully comply with any and all requests.

The PGA of America and DOJ declined to comment to The Wall Street Journal.

The Wall Street Journal had reported in July that golfers’ agents have received inquiries from the DOJ’s antitrust division involving both the PGA Tour’s bylaws governing players’ participation in other golf events, and the PGA Tour’s actions in recent months relating to LIV Golf, according to a person familiar with those inquiries.

LIV Golf is a plaintiff in an antitrust lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in which it claims that the PGA Tour has illegally used monopoly power to unfairly suspend LIV players from PGA Tour competition.

The PGA Tour has countersued, accusing LIV Golf of inducing top players to breach PGA Tour contracts by claiming the Tour could not enforce them.

The upstart LIV Golf Series has been criticized as another way for the Saudi government to sportswash its human rights record. The series of events — eight this year and 14 next year — offer alternatives to the Tour, such as 54-hole, no-cut tournaments that offer mega-million signing bonuses and exorbitant prize funds, including $120,000 to last place.

Saudi Arabia has been accused of wide-ranging human rights abuses, including politically motivated killings, torture, forced disappearances and inhumane treatment of prisoners. And members of the royal family and Saudi government were accused of involvement in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist.

Contributing: Adam Woodard; Associated Press

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Greg Norman on DOJ investigating PGA Tour: ‘A testament to (the Tour’s) stupidity’

“Has the PGA brought that on themselves or have we brought that on them? They brought it on themselves,” Greg Norman said.

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida — Greg Norman did not act surprised when told the Department of Justice is investigating whether the PGA Tour engaged in anticompetitive behavior as it battles the LIV Golf Series.

Why would he be? He called it.

“That is a testament to their stupidity quite honestly,” Norman told the Palm Beach Post. “Instead of sitting down and taking a phone call from us and just say, ‘Hey, work this out. We can do it.’

“It’s such an easy fix it’s ridiculous.”

Norman, who lives in Palm Beach Gardens, is the CEO of the Saudi-backed LIV series. LIV’s headquarters are in West Palm Beach.

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that players’ agents have been contacted by the DOJ’s antitrust division involving both the PGA Tour’s bylaws governing players’ participation in other golf events and the PGA Tour’s actions in recent months relating to LIV Golf.

Players who have jumped to LIV Golf have been suspended by the PGA Tour. The Tour, though, has not announced the length of the suspensions. That list includes Jupiter’s Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau.

“Has the PGA brought that on themselves or have we brought that on them?” Norman said. “They brought it on themselves. We haven’t done anything else other than putting together a business model and giving independent contractors a right to earn a living doing something else, as well as still being a member of the PGA Tour.

“The entire business model from the ground up was built to coexist within the ecosystem of golf, coexist within the majors, coexist with the DP World Tour, coexist with the PGA Tour, allowing the players to play here and play there.”

After the Tour’s decision to ban LIV players from playing in its events, Norman sent a letter to LIV players and agents accusing the Tour of monopolistic behavior. He wrote the Tour’s actions would “likely cause the federal government to investigate and punish the PGA Tour’s unlawful practices.”

“There is simply no recognized justification for banning independent contractor professional golfers for simply contracting to play professional golf,” he wrote.

A PGA Tour spokesperson confirmed to the Wall Street Journal the Tour was aware of the investigation.

Tom D’Angelo is a journalist at the Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at tdangelo@pbpost.com.

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Report: U.S. Justice Department investigating PGA Tour for antitrust violations against Saudi-backed LIV Golf

“We went through this in 1994, and we are confident in a similar outcome.”

The PGA Tour and LIV Golf are in a heavyweight title fight for the future of professional golf, and the Justice Department is watching closely ringside.

In a Monday report from Wall Street Journal, the PGA Tour confirmed the Department of Justice is investigating whether the Tour engaged in anticompetitive behavior against the Greg Norman-led and Saudi Arabia-funded LIV Golf Invitational Series. The DOJ declined comment while a spokesman for the Tour was confident, according to the Journal.

The upstart circuit has long been criticized as another way for the Saudi government to sportswash its human rights record. The series of events – eight this year and 14 next year – offer alternatives to the Tour, such as 54-hole, no-cut tournaments that offer mega-million signing bonuses and exorbitant prize funds, including $120,000 to last place.

Former Eagles RB among ex-NFL players accused of defrauding league’s health program

Former Eagles running back Correll Buckhalter charged in health care fraud indictments

In a move that’s certain to put further strain on the relationship between players and the league, former Philadelphia Eagles running back Correll Buckhalter is among 10 retired NFL players charged with defrauding the league’s retiree health care benefits plan, according to ESPN.com via indictments.

Buckhalter, 41, along with other former players, allegedly sought reimbursements for expensive equipment that they never purchased. The grievance comes from the players using the Gene Upshaw NFL Player Health Reimbursement Account Plan to obtain these tax-free reimbursements for out-of-pocket medical care expenses.

“As a result of the fraud, more than $3.9 million in phony claims were submitted to the Plan, and the Plan paid out approximately $3.4 million on those claims between mid-2017 and mid-2018,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski, of the criminal division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

The equipment purchased in the fraudulent claims, included hyperbaric oxygen chambers, ultrasound machines and electromagnetic therapy devices designed for use on horses, according to prosecutors.

The refund was typically in the range of $40,000 to $50,000 each, Investigators said using fake invoices from medical supply companies along with forged letters and prescriptions from medical care providers.

The players named in the indictment include:

Clinton Portis
Robert McCune
John Eubanks
Tamarick Vanover
Ceandris “C.C.” Brown
James Butler
Fredrick Bennett
Etric Pruitt
Carlos Rogers
Correll Buckhalter

Additional charges are expected to be filed against former Saints receiver Joe Horn and former NFL receiver Reche Caldwell.

Buckhalter was a fourth-round selection of the Eagles back in 2001 and spent 8 seasons with the team.

Joe Horn among 10 ex-players charged with defrauding NFL health care plan

Former New Orleans Saints WR Joe Horn was charged with Pro Bowl RB Clinton Portis and several peers by the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Former New Orleans Saints wide receiver Joe Horn found himself in hot water on Thursday, when the U.S. Department of Justice charged a group of 10 retired NFL players with defrauding a league health care plan. Unlike the other former players in this group, Horn is being charged with a bill of information after agreeing to cooperate with government authorities. Other names on the list include former Pro Bowl running back Clinton Portis and his Washington Redskins teammates Carlos Rogers, Robert McCune and John Eubanks. A handful of other ex-NFL players round out the group.

According to the charges detailed in the DOJ report, retired NFL players including Horn submitted fraudulent claims totaling $3.9 million, with the league reimbursing $3.4 million of them between June 2018 and December 2018. Claims were made for expensive medical equipment in the range of $40,000 to $50,000 such as cryotherapy saunas, hyperbaric chambers, and electromagnetic therapy devices, but that equipment was never purchased.

Horn is charged along with the other defendants on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and health care fraud, but nine individual counts of wire fraud and nine different counts of health care fraud are also on the table. Penalties for these counts are as steep as 20 years in prison and up to $250,000.

It’s a developing story, and one worth watching as prosecutors proceed forwards. Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski held a press conference to announce the charges, saying, “Ten former NFL players allegedly committed a brazen, multimillion-dollar fraud on a health care plan meant to help their former teammates and other retired players pay legitimate, out-of-pocket medical expenses. Today’s indictments underscore that, whoever you are, if you loot health care programs to line your own pockets, you will be held accountable by the Department of Justice.”

This is certainly a disappointing turn for Horn, who played 103 of his 165 career NFL games with the Saints. He was one of the team’s most prominent players in the early 2000’s, though he lasted only 10 games once Saints coach Sean Payton was hired in 2006.

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