Getty A Chicago Bulls logo is seen on the floor before a game
This is a lesson that all players should take note of. It appears that former Chicago Bulls forward Toni Kukoc is the victim of “looting” from his bank accounts in the sum of $11M, a new report for WBEZ from Alex Degman and Dan Mihalopoulos.
The report states that Kukoc is claiming that his personal financial advisor worked in cahoots with another banker to steal the money from him.
Kukoc and the independent assistant, Paolo Banfi, have worked together since 1991 without incident for a decade. But in 2004, the three-time champion was connected to Paolo Zola, a personal banker at the Swiss institution Banca Svizerra Italiana (BSI).
BSI merged with EFG International, another private bank in Switzerland, in 2016.
Kukoc Gets Burned
This led to Kukoc filing suit in Cook County in “the past week”, WBEZ reports. They go on to list an instance of Kukoc’s signature being forged on mortgage documents for hotel developments in Switzerland in 2006 and another with documents in Chicago in 2007.
Kukoc claims to have never even been in the country for one of the claims, per the report, and not in the room for the other.
It states that Banfi and Zola “or someone acting under their direction” committed the forgery.
Neither Banfi nor Zola is mentioned as a defendant in the suit that seeks $7.5 million for the hotel development and up to “300 other smaller transactions” in a three-year span from 2004 to 2007. Since EFG merged with BSI, the lawsuit alleges they took on the liabilities as well, per Degman and Mihalopoulos.
Kukoc has been pursuing retribution in Switzerland since 2014 to no avail. He is seeking $11 plus damages and wants a jury trial citing a “longstanding history” of dealings between banks and government officials in Switzerland making justice unlikely.
Hard-Earned Champion
Originally a second-round pick in 1990, Kukoc won three titles with the Bulls from 1996 to 1998 as part of the second three-peat alongside Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. But the two most famous Bulls were initially reluctant to welcome him to the team when he arrived from Croatia.
They gave him quite the hard time during the 1992 Summer Olympics
He would eventually come over to the United States in time for the 1993-94 season following Jordan’s first retirement from the NBA. The latter would return a year later and the rest is happy history for the Bulls and their fans.
“I would like to thank…Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen for kicking my butt during the Olympics in Barcelona and them motivated me to work even harder to become an important part of the Chicago Bulls,” said Kukoc during his Hall of Fame induction speech.
The Baby MVP. 👶
Toni Kukoc was UNSTOPPABLE from his early days and won #EuroBasket 1991 MVP at just 22-years-old! 😳
Kukoc went on to play 13 seasons in the NBA including Sixth Man of the Year in 1996 – the same year he won his first title in Chicago. He also spent time with the Atlanta Hawks, Milwaukee Bucks, and Philadelphia 76ers averaging 11.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists in his career.
He currently works with the team as a “Special Advisor” to governor Jerry Reinsdorf.
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