FBI Agents Investigate Financial Dealings of MLB Players
FBI agents have contacted Major League Baseball (MLB) players to obtain information about their knowledge of financial transactions related to a multi-million dollar group licensing firm. This company was founded and is owned, in part, by their union and the NFL Players Association.
Sources close to the investigation, who preferred to remain anonymous, revealed that they have had direct knowledge of calls from the authorities to at least three players involved in union leadership in recent days. These sources assured that the players are not the target of the investigation.
According to sources, law enforcement agents inquired about money related to OneTeam Partners. This company was established in 2019 by the NFLPA, the MLBPA, and a private equity partner, RedBird Capital. It is used to close media deals and monetize the name, image, and likeness of athletes.
OneTeam Partners is aware of an ongoing investigation into allegations related to our partners. We want to emphasize that OneTeam is not the subject of the investigation and has not been accused of any wrongdoing. OneTeam is fully committed to cooperating with the investigation.
OneTeam Statement
Union executives have stated that they have not been contacted by federal agents. “If the MLBPA is contacted by the government, we intend to fully cooperate with any investigation,” the MLBPA said in a statement. The players’ leadership has hired an independent legal advisor from the union, according to sources.
The investigation is being carried out in the Eastern District of New York, whose office is located in Brooklyn. A senior FBI official declined to comment, and a spokesperson for the Eastern District declined to confirm the investigation.The OneTeam association has become a significant financial benefit for both associations and has grown in value, as it added the women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer players’ unions, and other collegiate sports and athletes to its portfolio. OneTeam was valued at $1.9 billion in 2022, when RedBird Capital sold its 40% stake to three other investment firms.
The MLBPA and NFLPA’s relationships with OneTeam have been subject to prior scrutiny. In late 2024, an anonymous complaint of unfair labor practices was filed with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging “nepotism, corruption, and mismanagement” within the MLBPA.
In December, NFLPA’s external advisor, Richard Smith, initiated an audit to determine if OneTeam had granted stock options to the union CEOs that the company represents, including the MLBPA. In its statement, OneTeam said that “it remains steadfast in our commitment to follow best business practices, as already determined in the independent audit conducted earlier this year… We remain dedicated to maintaining the highest standards of integrity and transparency in everything we do.”
The complaint filed with the NLRB against the MLBPA alleges that the union’s executive director, Tony Clark, “improperly awarded himself and other executives shares” in OneTeam and made “inadequate disclosures” about the association in the union’s annual filings.The union has previously denied the allegations against Clark, 52. He was hired as the MLBPA’s director of player relations after 15 seasons as a player and rose to executive director following the death of his predecessor, Michael Weiner, in 2013. According to a federal labor union LM-30 statement filed last year, Clark holds a position on the OneTeam board of directors.
The union’s finances have improved significantly under Clark’s leadership, in part due to revenue from OneTeam. In 2020-24, the association paid the MLBPA nearly $160 million, according to the union’s LM-2 annual reports. In 2024, the union received $44.5 million from OneTeam.
The reports do not detail how much of OneTeam’s profit was distributed to the players. The MLBPA has over $353 million in total assets, the highest fiscal year-end figure in its history, according to the documents.
According to the most recent presentation from the MLBPA, the union paid Clark $3.5 million in 2024.
The NFLPA’s audit of OneTeam was completed in March and found that the NFLPA’s role as part of OneTeam was “in compliance with best governance practices,” said a source with firsthand knowledge.
A spokesperson for the NFLPA declined to comment.According to its LM-2s, OneTeam paid the NFLPA $422.8 million in the last five years. The NFLPA’s total assets are nearly $1.4 billion, with almost $240 million in cash, according to the union’s filings.
DeMaurice Smith, the former NFLPA leader who co-founded OneTeam with Clark, left the union in 2023 and was replaced on the association’s board by the union’s new executive director, Lloyd Howell Jr.
