Eagleson Faces First Criminal Charges in Canada

Eagleson Faces First Criminal Charges in Canada
By Carol Schram, Vancouver Correspondent

Beleaguered former player agent and former NHL Players' Association head Alan Eagleson faces more trouble this week. In Toronto on Dec. 3, Eagleson was charged with eight counts of theft and fraud. His long-time business associate, Arthur Harnett, who operated Harcom Stadium Advertising Ltd. and Harcom Consultants Ltd., was also charged with four counts of theft and fraud.
After a three-year investigation by the RCMP, the four charges against Eagleson and Harnett involve commission payments allegedly made by Hockey Canada, a non-profit organization headed up by Eagleson, to Harnett's companies for the 1984 and 1987 Canada Cups. It is believed that Eagleson funneled more than $200,000 Harnett's way over the course of the two tournaments without receiving any actual benefit for Hockey Canada in return.
Eagleson's other four charges relate to the sale of rink board advertising for the 1984, 1987, and 1991 Canada Cup Tournaments. As head of Hockey Canada, Eagleson organized a number of splashy international hockey events over two decades, starting with the 1972 Canada-Russia Summit Series. He persuaded NHL players to take part in these extra-curricular activities with promises that proceeds from the tournaments would go to augment the NHL pension fund. The international hockey events were enormously successful and very profitable. Eagleson claimed for years that he did not receive any financial gain from his work with Hockey Canada, but by the early 1990s, figures started to surface that suggested otherwise. Before these charges were laid against Eagleson and Harnett, no other criminal proceedings had been initiated in Canada regarding Eagleson's possible misappropriation of international hockey funds. The rink board charges involve payments made to Eagleson for the rights to advertise on the side boards of the Canada Cup's arenas. These payments were allegedly pocketed by Eagleson rather than being funneled through Hockey Canada to the NHL Pension Fund.
Born in St. Catharine's, Ontario, in 1933, Eagleson was a master manipulator in the hockey world for close to 30 years. He was a fast-talking kid who began wheeling and dealing before he was even out of high school. Eagleson received his B.A. in 1954 and went on to the University of Toronto Law School. He was called to the bar in 1959. During this time, he forged a close bond with lacrosse buddy Bob Pulford, who joined the NHL in 1956 and played the first 14 of his 16 seasons with the then star-studded Toronto Maple Leafs before moving on to a management role with the Chicago Blackhawks. Through Pulford, Eagleson became close to many of the Leafs and other players around the NHL. When Eagleson was ready to start looking for clients for his fledgling law firm, his hockey player contacts jumped at the chance for representation by someone they knew and trusted. Eagleson cemented his relationships in 1959 by forming the Blue and White Investment Group, which included a number of players and prominent Toronto business figures. Eagleson was also elected to the Ontario provincial parliament in 1963 as a member of the Progressive Conservative party, and forged a number of important political bonds during that period.
The NHL players' first attempt at unionizing for better working conditions was thwarted by owners in 1957 with intimidation tactics, threats, and demands for loyalty to the team and the game. The omnipotent team owners had grown accustomed to setting the scene themselves, and players were expected to accept what they were given in terms of contracts and working conditions, asking no questions because of their sheer love for the game. Eagleson first started stepping in to negotiate on behalf of players in the early 60s: his first client was Carl Brewer, who went on to spearhead a successful campaign over the past few years to recover moneys misappropriated by the league from the NHL Pension Fund. Eagleson strengthened his power base even more when he signed on to represent junior phenom Bobby Orr in the early 1960s. Orr's first pro contract offer with the Boston Bruins in 1966 was a then-healthy two-year deal at just over $10,000 a season. Citing Joe Namath's recent three year, $400,000 rookie deal with the New York Jets, Eagleson managed to negotiate a then unheard-of two-year deal at $25,000 and $30,000 per year, with an additional $25,000 signing bonus, on Orr's behalf. Needless to say, the young defenseman was delighted and sang Eagleson's praises to anyone who would listen.
With Orr's endorsement, NHL clients were practically climbing over each other to get Eagleson's representation. He quickly achieved a near-monopoly as a player agent. As a result, once the union juggernaut started to re-surface in the mid-60s, Eagleson had no trouble at all convincing players around the league that he should be the man to head up their new Players' Association. Ownership was much less resistant this time, since Eagleson displayed none of the militant tendencies of traditional union leaders. With Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters threatening to unionize professional sports in 1966, Eagleson's "Players' Association" seemed like a reasonable alternative, and was officially formed in 1967.
>From this point forward, Eagleson jumped back and forth between his roles at will, with little regard for any potential conflicts of interest. He headed up the association that represented all NHL Players. He used money from their pension fund to grant mortgages and loans to friends, family members and business associates. He was the agent for many individual players around the league. He often also represented management figures like Bob Pulford and Mike Keenan in Chicago, trying to serve the interests on both sides of the bargaining table simultaneously.
Eagleson also had business connections with the league's insurance underwriters and stood to benefit personally from any payouts that he could help the insurance company avoid. Furthermore, Eagleson and his cronies were profiting from tournaments sponsored by Hockey Canada after Eagleson advised his own clients that it was worth risking fatigue and injury with minimal compensation for the sake of fattening their pension plan. International hockey profits that were funneled into the players' pension fund were ultimately used to offset team contributions, saving the owners more money without adding to the payouts that the players would receive.
Eagleson's close relationship with NHL heads and owners led to a non-adversarial bargaining atmosphere for many years, but also did little to protect the players' best interests. Terms of player insurance and pension benefits were often changed for the worse without informing the players. Eagleson was also a staunch opponent of salary disclosure, which gives players and their agents a concrete means of comparison when negotiating new contracts. Whenever players questioned their representation or the terms of their agreement, Eagleson silenced them with insults and intimidation.
Eagleson's perfect monopoly began to unravel in the late 1970s, when he essentially sold an unwilling Bobby Orr to the Chicago Blackhawks after Orr's knee began to fail him. Eagleson told Orr that his Boston Bruins now viewed him as "damaged goods" and never revealed to his client that the Bruins had made Orr a contract offer that ultimately included 18.5% ownership in the team. Believing that he was no longer truly valued in Boston, Orr went ahead and signed with the Hawks, playing just 26 games in a Chicago uniform before ultimately packing in his career for good at age 30. The payout terms of Orr's contract with Chicago, coupled with a string of unusual investments by Eagleson, left Bobby and his family nearly destitute just a couple of years later. By 1980, Orr had severed all business ties with Eagleson and had moved back to Boston. Today, Orr remains a successful and important part of the New England hockey and business communities.
Towards the end of the 1980s, up and coming NHL agents Ron Salcer and Rich Winter had begun sniffing around Alan Eagleson's business practices regarding the NHL Players' Association. Former players had been frustrated by their insurance and pension coverage and had gotten wind of improprieties with their pension plan. Ex-Eagleson clients had also begun to learn of unusual commissions, loans, and payments made while their agent was handling their money. While legal forces in Canada were reluctant to fully pursue allegations against a powerful figure as politically well-connected as Eagleson, a series of investigative reports starting in September 1991 by Boston hockey reporter Russ Conway in the Lawrence, Mass. Eagle-Tribune unearthed scads of evidence of conflicts of interest and other forms of wrongdoing. The FBI had already launched an investigation after reviewing complaints against Eagleson by Bobby Orr and Brad Park. As late as 1991, Eagleson had been campaigning to become head of the International Ice Hockey Federation and the ultimate ruler of international hockey. In January of 1992, under intense pressure, Eagleson stepped down as Executive Director of the National Hockey League Players' Association, and was replaced by Bob Goodenow.
On Mar. 3, 1994, the U.S. Justice Department issued a 32-count indictment against Eagleson on charges of racketeering, mail fraud, obstruction of justice, receipt of kickbacks, and embezzlement of labor organization assets. At 61 years old, Eagleson was facing a possible 20 years in prison and $2 million in fines.
For the past two and a half years, Eagleson and his lawyer, Brian Greenspan, have been fighting extradition to the U.S. to face these charges. Needless to say, Eagleson has not been wintering in Florida for awhile. Former Colorado Rockie and Boston Bruin Mike Gillis, now a lawyer and player agent for Geoff and Russ Courtnall, filed a civil suit against his ex-agent for more than $500,000 in damages plus $41,500 in mis-appropriated commission. On Dec. 4, a Toronto judge ruled in Gillis' favor, marking another blow to the Eagleson camp. Other former clients have now also filed civil suits.
Eagleson is scheduled to appear in court Dec. 16 to face the Canadian criminal charges surrounding the rink-board advertising scheme. That same day, the Law Society of Upper Canada is planning a hearing on 44 charges of improper conduct by Eagleson, filed by Edmonton agent Rich Winter.
Early in 1993, when new NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced that the league would appeal the ruling against it regarding the misappropriation of the pension fund surplus, he said "I'm just digging out from the past. Nobody told me there were so many termites in this house I moved into."
With criminal and civil charges now flying from all directions and rulings consistently coming down against him, it now looks like Eagleson's empire is only just beginning to crumble.