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Zion Williamson Attorneys Files Order to Block Eligibility Inquiry in Lawsuit

New Orleans’ Pelicans basketball player Zion Williamson has had his attorneys file a protective order to block his former marketing agent’s inquiry into illegal benefits he is accused of accepting while he was a student at Duke University, according to Sports Illustrated.

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— Daniel Wallach (@WALLACHLEGAL) May 28, 2020

The former Blue Devil and current Pelicans player Williamson is being sued by his former marketing agent, who has requested that he admit to receiving “money, benefits, favors or other things of value” to attend Duke University last year.

In a filing with Miami-Dade County court last week, Ford’s attorneys have asked Williamson to admit under oath that the statements listed below were true:

• Sharonda Sampson, Williamson’s mother, and Lee Anderson, his stepfather, “demanded and received gifts and economic benefits from persons acting on behalf of Duke University (directly and/or indirectly) to influence [Williamson] to attend Duke University to play basketball.”

• Sampson and Anderson “demanded and received gifts, money and/or other benefits from persons on behalf of Nike (directly and/or indirectly) to influence [Williamson] to attend Duke University to play basketball.”

• Before becoming a student at Duke, Williamson “or person(s) acting on [his] behalf (including but not limited to Sharonda Sampson and Lee Anderson) accepted benefits from a NCAA-certified agent that are not expressly permitted by the NCAA legislation” between Jan. 1, 2014, and April 14, 2019.

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