NEW ORLEANS – A California-based Web3 and blockchain infrastructure services company has filed a lawsuit against New Orleans Pelicans basketball star Zion Williamson and his family members claiming that they allegedly failed to fully repay a $2 million loan that was given under the condition that the basketball player would agree to promote the company.
Plaintiff Ankr PBC filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana against defendants Zion Williamson, Sharonda Sampson, and Lee Anderson, citing breach of contract and unjust enrichment.
According to the lawsuit, Ankr PBC, a Web3 and blockchain infrastructure services company, sought to form a sponsorship deal with Williamson, a professional NBA basketball player for the New Orleans Pelicans, for advertising and promotional opportunities. During these discussions, Anderson confirmed Williamson as his business manager and authorized him to negotiate the terms of the business partnership on his behalf.
Ankr states that while these negotiations were proceeding, on May 15, 2021, Anderson requested a $150,000 fee to ensure that he would get Williamson to agree to a business relationship with Ankr, which Ankr claims that it paid. Ankr claims that in addition to this fee, Williamson would later request a bridge loan of $2,000,000 to repay certain real estate and business obligations of the Williamson family. Ankr claims that Williamson said that he would not enter into a business relationship with Ankr without this loan. Ankr claims that it made an oral agreement to loan the money to Williamson on Sept. 21, 2021, on the condition that the loan would be repaid in full by Aug. 21, 2022.
According to Ankr, despite the oral agreement, Williamson never entered into a business relationship with Ankr. Ankr adds that after the deadline for the loan passed, the defendants began to ask for an extension to repay the loan, and on Nov. 11, 2022, Ankr modified the terms of the loan to provide an annual interest rate of 10%, which the defendants reportedly agreed to and acknowledged in writing via text messages.
Since then, the defendants have repeatedly failed to repay the loan, and on one occasion, Anderson wrote Ankr a check for $25,000 only to have the check returned for insufficient funds, incurring a fee of $2,500 to Ankr. In addition, Ankr began to make payments in Paypal, but forgot to call his bank to dispute a duplicate payment, which caused a payment of $2,800 to be frozen and Ankr's account to be suspended.
Following the incident, Ankr sent a letter to the defendants’ attorneys demanding full repayment of the loan in January 2023. In April, both parties agreed to a forbearance agreement, accompanied by a $500,000 wire transfer from Sampson, Anderson's mother's, account to Ankr. The outstanding balance was scheduled to be paid in full by July 6, 2023, but no further payments have been made since.
Ankr claims that the defendants still owe $1.84 million on the loan. The plaintiff is represented in this case by attorneys Robert E. Kerrigan Jr., Raymond C. Lewis and Justine M. Ware of Deutsch Kerrigan, LLP in New Orleans.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana case number 2:23-CV-02746