PYW Partner George Chikovani Quoted in The Athletic Article Regarding Appointment

March 2022

George Chikovani and Constance J. Yu of Putterman Yu Wang LLP have been appointed by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California to serve as special litigation counsel on behalf of U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee Fred Hjelmeset in pursuing a lawsuit on behalf of the bankruptcy estate of Evander Kane of the San Jose Sharks against Sure Sports, Inc.

Sure Sports is a company that bills itself as helping to arrange loans for professional athletes from both financial institutions and individual “hard money” lenders, and charges a variety of fees to the athletes for its services. Sure Sports arranged nearly $14 million in loans for Mr. Kane between 2015 and 2019.

PYW’s application to be appointed as special counsel received media coverage in The Athletic, a division of The New York Times (Daniel Kaplan, “Evander Kane bankruptcy trustee wants to sue firm that arranged his loans,” available at https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/3130092/2022/02/15/evander-kane-bankruptcy-trustee-wants-to-sue-firm-that-arranged-his-loans/).

The article quoted PYW partner George Chikovani, as follows:

“Based on its activities in recruiting or soliciting the Debtor (Kane) to enter into various loan agreements with lenders Sure Sports appears to be an ‘athlete agent’ as defined by the MAAA. The MAAA requires any individual or company that is an ‘athlete agent’ as defined in the Act to take various actions, including to file certain information with the California Secretary of State … I am informed and believe that Sure Sports has not complied with any of the foregoing requirements.”

The lawsuit seeks to obtain restitution of more than $450,000 in fees paid by Mr. Kane to Sure Sports in connection with loans that Sure Sports arranged for Kane in 2018 and 2019 while he was a California athlete, as well as actual and punitive damages, and to disallow Sure Sports’ claim against the estate for nearly $1.2 million in fees that Sure Sports claims are owed to it from Mr. Kane. The complaint alleges that Sure Sports “solicited or recruited” Mr. Kane to enter into financial services contracts in connection with these loans, and was required to comply with the Miller Ayala Act. The Miller Ayala Act requires companies and individuals that fit the statutory definition of “athlete agent” to file certain disclosures with the California Secretary of State, and to maintain an insurance bond, which Sure Sports failed to do.

Ms. Yu and Mr. Chikovani previously obtained a victory in a Miller Ayala Act claim on behalf of former NFL player Mohammed Sanu against Fantex, Inc., resulting in an arbitration award of over $1.1 million in favor of Mr. Sanu.

The case is assigned to Judge Steven L. Johnson of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California.