NFL Player Disability Fiasco, Don’t Get Hurt! Op-ed: by Bernie Parrish

If you current NFL players suffer a disabling injury this week or this season, chances are remote that you will ever collect a dime in disability from the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan.Out of 7,561 who have played in the NFL since the 1960’s only 90 retired players receive football related disability benefits today. The supplemental disability Plan IRS form 5500 for 2005 reports that 106 participants draw disablity payments but some of them are for other than football injuries. It shocked me to find out these statistics.

It is absurd to think that only 1% of those who have played the violent sport in the NFL are disabled by it. In fact it is unbelievable. A 0.01% disability rate makes professional football, one of the safest occupations in the America. 8.7% is average and the Social Security Administration says that 3 of 10 working 20 year olds in the USA today will suffer long term disabilities before they are 67.

This is just another set of skewed facts and figures that defy logic compiled and influenced in the mendacious way the NFLPA-NFL and our Retirement Plan does business.It is safer to cover kick offs, tackle 250 lb running backs, block 300 lb defensive linemen, catch passes over the middle in the NFL than to work in McDonald’s warehouse. I have to repeat it. Professional football is according to the 0.01% disability rate one of the safest occupations in America.

I cannot understand how this Groom Law/Taglieabue/leased pet disability scam got implemented and can continue to be carried out right under the noses of the government.

Here is an example of a nit picking attack by a Plan attorney provided by Wall Street Journal writer Ellen Schultz, who on 12/3/05 also furnished the figures above. “A year later, (retired NFL player) Mr. Victor Washington learned about the case of another ex-player who'd also been told his disability wasn't football-related because it didn't stem from a single injury but several. That player, Donald Brumm, had sued, and in 1993 an appellate court declared the NFL's decision to deny benefits arbitrary and capricious. Said the Eighth Circuit Court in Minneapolis: "To require that a disability result from a single, identifiable football injury when the relevant plan language speaks of 'a football injury while an active player' is to place undue and inappropriate emphasis on the word 'a.' "

“Mr. Washington himself now sued, asking a court to set aside his settlement on the ground that the NFL had breached a fiduciary duty by not telling him of the Brumm decision five years earlier.”"The NFL (Groom Law Group) keeps changing the rules of the game while it's in play to keep former players from collecting benefits,” says Susan Martin, a lawyer at Martin & Bonnett in Phoenix, who is representing Victor Mr. Washington. "And it drags these cases out so long that people give up, or die."

The Groom Law Group/our Plan Retirement Board has filed an appeal of the Phoenix judge's decision in the Victor Washington case Susan Martin is handling.Mr. Washington faces another peril: The NFL plan has indicated in court documents that if the trustees determine Mr. Washington is not totally and permanently disabled as a result of football, it could demand that he repay the $400,000 with interest.

This situation became the strange mess that it is in 1993 when the Taglieabue and Gene Upshaw “made a bargain.” The Groom Law Group was hired to replace two law firms one that represented the owners and one that represented the players. Now Groom represents 1) the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan, 2) the NFLPA, 3) the Owner Retirement Board Members, and 4) the Player Board Members, 5) and Groom rewrites and amends the Plan at will and collects $2,500,000 a year to beat up on injured players in court who file for disability for their football injuries. Those are five different legal entities whose interests are rarely if ever the same. Conflict of interest seems the order of the day for Groom.

In addition Groom sets up investment and insurance plans that compete with the Retirement Plan for funding that also generate fees for both Groom Law and player’s agents.Doug Ell is Groom Law Group’s lead NFLPA attorney. Groom’s web page says about Ell, “But it is his work with the National Football League Players Association that has garnered the most attention for him and the firm. “I helped to design and implement the 1993 collective bargaining agreement that is the foundation of the current success of pro football as a business, largely because it got management and the union working together,” Doug recalls. “I drafted the new plans, including the first 401(k) in sports, and branched out into disability benefits and annuities to help the players with their retirement.” His work with the NFL players is ongoing—and still immensely rewarding. “There is always something new, like the great new web site that we are designing for the players, and I continue to enjoy the intellectual challenges of litigation, ” he says, and adds with a smile: “It also helps that we have won more than twenty cases on motions for summary judgment without trial.” (the litigation he is talking about is the 20 cases against retired injured NFL players)

What a twisted sentence. Think about this. Doug recalls. “I drafted the new plans, including the first 401(k) in sports, and branched out into disability benefits and annuities to help the players with their retirement.” “BRANCHED OUT INTO DISABILITY BENEFITS…TO HELP PLAYERS WITH THEIR RETIREMENT.” Ell’s and Groom take great pride in defeating retired players in court when they seek their disability benefits. How does that “HELP PLAYERS WITH THEIR RETIREMENT? Twisted and cynical are too nice of words to describe this sleazy sentence.

In an on-going attempt to be able to deny players disability claims more easily, Groom Law Group’s Doug Ell intervened in a Supreme Court Case, Black and Decker vs Nord 02-469 to try to block the “treating physician rule” where a player’s doctor who is treating your injury, gives his determination on your disability and his report is given precedence, because your doctor knows your situation and disability state better than anyone.

The Social Security Administration allows this “treating physician rule” but Groom Law and Black and Decker argued to the Supreme Court that the doctors that their Plan Retirement Board picks should have the power to over-rule your treating doctors opinion. One of Grooms objections was that your treating physician was ethically bound by the American Medical Association to advocate your position as his patient.

Groom wants a physician the Retirement Board picks to determine your disability, a physician like the ones who have helped the Retirement Plan to deny all disability claims by retired players except for the 90 who receive disability payments for football injuries today. That is 90 out of 7,561 in 45 years, which again is only 1% of those who have played since the 60’s. This statistic shows that pro football, perhaps the most dangerous occupation in America, is instead the safest occupation. Absurd, ABSURD! Yes, it is that screwed up.

Approximately 50 players were injured this week and can’t play. Another approximately 50 will be injured next week and every week throughout the season. Many others are doubtful to play from injuries. Some will return to action in a week others in 2 or 4 weeks, etc others will be disabled and never play again. Tampa Bay quarterback Chris Simms had to have his spleen removed. Those who are disabled this week and every week from here out, will face the gauntlet of the Groom Law Group and Retirement Board Trustees and hand picked physicians whose record of denying disabled players is why only 1% of the 7,561 who have played are collecting disability today.

The NFLPA Gene Upshaw, Doug Allen, and your agents will tell you that the system is fair because you have three “Player Board Members” representing the player’s interests who the NFLPA picked. But that 0.01% is a clear demonstration of the non-existent results of claims that Tom Condon (Upshaw's agent), Jeff Van Note (Atlanta Falcon announcer), and Len Teeuws (deceased) displayed instead of the “aggressive advocacy” for disabled players as claimed by Plan attorney’s.

Today’s player should think about this fiasco before going out and getting hurt this week under the current skewed disability system where the Groom Law Group not only will be trying to defeat you in court but will be amending the Plan Documents at will in the back room, while your trial is going on, to make it nearly impossible for you to collect your disability even if you are hurt badly enough to need it.

Haven’t Gene Upshaw and Doug Allen or Troy Vincent or your Player Reps told you about this surprise you have coming when you become a “retired player” in 3.5 years, or less, if you get hurt? Why haven’t they told you? 90 guys in 45 years, 1% of 7,561 what are your odds of fair treatment under this Taglieabue/leashed pet/Groom Law disability system that they somehow
“bargained” into existence in 1993.

It was written into the CBA as if it was a new "perk" instead of a $1 billion liability shifted to the retirement Plan from the owners. And the retired players got nothing for it but we gifted the current players free agency in the "bargain."

On top of this plan attorney’s warned in an August 29, 2006 letter that “Had the results in those cases gone the other way – and they did not in over 90% of the cases, thanks in part to The Groom Law Group’s defense—the Plan assets would have been depleted, thereby affecting all beneficiaries of the Plan.” DEPLETED Joesph Yablonski attorney for the NFLPA said DEPLETED. Why are the assets of our Player Retirement Plan at risk of being depleted by anything except payment of retirement benefits to the retired players? They were not at risk before the 1993 Tagliabue/Upshaw/Groom Law "bargain."

Our Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle Plan says page 10 Plan Document Article 3.3 Exclusive Benefit of Contributions. "All contributions under this Plan will be held by the Trust for the exclusive benefit of Players and their beneficiaries." Article 11.1 Use of Assets. "All amounts contributed to the Trust will be irrevocable contributions, and under no circumstances will any amounts contributed to the Trust, or any assets of the Trust, ever revert to, or be used or enjoyed by, an Employer or the League, nor will any assets ever be used other than for the benefit of the Players and their beneficiaries and the payment of reasonable Plan expenses."

Player (employee) disability benefits should be paid by the NFL (employers) not by our retirement plan.

Most employers have disability Insurance against disability claims but because of that infamous 1993 deal, “the bargain” between Taglieabue and Gene Upshaw our retirement plan is now the owner’s insurance policy against disability claims.

Nothing about this disability scam makes any sense. It certainly isn’t a “perk” and the true amount of the liability we Retirement Plan beneficiaries face is uncertain. Will it deplete the Plan if it is operated fairly? Why do we retired players even have this liability to worry about?

Guys ask did Upshaw get a raise that year? I don’t have that answer, but clearly the retired vote less players were the big losers?

Comparison of MLB vs. NFL Pension Plans without the NFLPA-NFL Propaganda Added

After listening the NFLPA and NFL baloney about how our NFL pension is better than Major League Baseball's I decided to get the form 5500 Tax reports and compare the facts. The following MLB vs. NFL Pension comparison is made because Upshaw his gang and the NFL office will make deliberately false and misleading statements about this comparison to confuse the players both active and retired and the public. One of their favorites now is “We pay out nearly $5 million a month in benefits” and the NFL footmen of the press print it unrelated to anything. Well “MLB pays out nearly $7 million a month in benefits” so now you have an comparison to throw back at the Upshaw gang and the league office’s Mr. Aiello who is also fond of using it. The newest cute saying is NFL Management Council negotiator Harold Henderson’s little gem “we offer the most extensive benefits package in professional sports.” Who is the “we” that Henderson is referring to?

Below is the full MLB vs. NFL Pension comparison again.

Here is some breaking news as they say: MLB’s legal fees totaled $170,571 (2003) while our NFL pension plan paid Groom Law Group over $5,600,000 for legal fees in (2003+ 2004) to mostly beat up and defeat retired player’s disability claims. $170,000 is about average per year for MLB legal fees because they don’t pay lawyers millions to defend their pension plan against its own beneficiaries disability claims.

Another note: Groom Law Group is designing the NFLPA Website, is that not a bit odd? What kind of an operation needs slick high priced lawyers to design their Website?

There is an inverse proportion between legal fees and benefits paid to NFL players:
(MLB is Major League Baseball)

MLB legal fees ave. $170,000 yr and ave. benefits are $34,890 yr

NFL legal fees ave. $2,500,000 yr and ave. benefits are $14,451 yr

MLB’s Donald Fehr makes $1 mil and the NFL active players pay Upshaw $3 mil to produce less than half what Fehr produces for the MLB players. Think about that active players, you pay 3 times as much for less than half the results and your Upshaw works 20 hours a week average for the PAT as reported on IRS form 990-PF 2002, 2003, 2004 while Upshaw is also Chairman of Players, Inc being paid for that as well.

1) Total Pay out annual benefits MLB $80.9 mil* vs. NFL $50.58 mil
2) Average annual benefit MLB $34,890 vs. NFL $14,451
3) Monthly benefits paid (nearly) MLB $7 mil vs. NFL $5 mil
4) 10 yr player at 62 gets MLB $175,000 vs. NFL $32,000
5) Percent total salaries in benefits MLB 5.5% vs. NFL 2.2%
6) Participants included (21% diff.) MLB 7,560 vs. NFL 9,560
7) Active players covered MLB 1,200 vs. NFL 1,800
8) Investment income MLB **** vs. NFL $54.7 mil
9) Assets available for benefits MLB $1.083 Bil vs. NFL $1 Bil ***
10) Current liabilities MLB $2.3 billion vs. NFL $1.04 billion
11) Ave player salary MLB $2.8 mil vs. NFL $1.25 mil
12) Median salary MLB $1.1 mil** vs. NFL $631,675
13) Exec. Director Salary MLB $1 mil vs. NFL $3 mil
14) Plan actuary fee MLB $700,219 vs. NFL $492,951
15) Both plans are defined benefit plans despite the misinformation given out by the NFLPA. Both Plans mark form 5500 page 2 item 8(a) Characteristics Code, as 1B and 1G exactly the same.
16) Number monthly benefits checks MLB 2,319 vs. NFL 3,500
17) Both Plans meet the minimum funding requirements of ERISA.
18) Employer contributions MLB $98 million vs. NFL $64.7 million
19) Legal fees MLB $340,000 vs. NFL $5.6 MILLION (2004+2005)

· *If the NFL paid out $80.9 mil as MLB does the average annual benefit would be $23,114 instead of the current sub-poverty level benefit of $14,451.
· **Florida Marlins median salary $1.1 mil, Yankees median salary $5.8 million.
· ***Upshaw said in a May 16, 2006 telephone conference call that the “net assets available for benefits” had grown from the $841,761,127 in the financial statement to over $1 billion now.
· **** MLB's investment income appears to be more than NFL's.
· NFL pays their Exec Director 3 times as much and gets back less than half as much as MLB.
· Pension plans too numerous to list here improve their benefits after beneficiaries start drawing benefits for cost of living and other adjustments debunking another NFLPA-NFL pension myth.
· MLB goes back and improves their benefits regularly too. As does the Congresses pension as does General Electric's pension and many others.
· The MLB numbers are from 2003 and the NFL’s from 2005 so the comparison is even worse than it appears here.

For questions or interviews call me at 352-378-6348.

Reviews on My Credibility, of My Book They Call It A Game

I sent this out to our retired players email community of 800+ after Upshaw said I was a bald face liar after Bryant Gumbel called him NFL Commissioner Paul Taglieabue's leashed pet.

Here is what a few literary critics had to say about a book I wrote and my credibility. It was a non-fiction autobiography. Since Mr. Upshaw has libeled me about my truthfulness I feel it is acceptable to answer, in part, his aspersions with testimony from other sources some of which you fellows will understand as trustworthy. Certainly there were those who didn't like my book but none said anything in it wasn't truthful. I can't think of anything I have said or written in my emails to all of you that I did not believe to be the truth and I have ask many times for any corrections of facts or figures. Mike Pyle an ex-Chicago Bear and insurance salesman's crusade for Aon Consulting's major shareholder (22 million shares & $5 mil in 2005 compensation) Executive Chairman-Chicago Bears owner Patrick Ryan is little more than a small irritation. But if it is proven that Ryan contributed money, that should have gone to our retirement plan as part of an employer contribution, to Northwestern University, we'll be asking for it back.

Bernie Parrish

I wrote the book They Call It A Game alone with editorial help and inspiration from my brother Charles a political science professor at Wayne State University.

They Call It A Game was on numerous best sellers lists including both The Boston Globe and The San Francisco Chronicle.

They Call It A Game was a Literary Guild Book of the Month Club selection for a Christmas edition.

The Atlantic Monthly, “Parrish’s description of professionals in training and in action, of the injuries and the doctors, of the punishment given and taken, and of the exhilaration of a winning team is the best that has been written...” Edward Weeks.

Newsweek, “...Bernie Parrish is highly effective in exposing the greed and dubious practices of club (NFL) owners...he is also interesting and emotional in his accounts of past football triumphs.”

Book World, “A book of grave allegations, good ideas, and inside nitty-gritty about America’s favorite form of sublimated violence...The book ought to be read-and Bernie Parrish thanked for a valuable service.” Joel Oppenheimer.

Saturday Review, “(Parrish’s book) affords an increased understanding of the battle lines that are being drawn to supervise the slicing of sports gigantic money pie...(it also) makes clear (that) money ranks first, players second, fans third, and sport-in the old sense of the word-not at all.” Keith Jennison, a former publisher, has for many years closely followed football and other sports.

New York Times, “Parrish was active politically within the National Football League Player’s Association, which he feels was secretly conceived by owners to “pre-empt a truly independent players’ association...He bases much of his attack on the integrity of the game itself, on the character of some of the games most carefully publicized personalities-Pete Rozelle, Carroll Rosenbloom, Art Modell. He spins a web of associates, including known gamblers and racketeers, and offers case histories of shady contract negotiations with players and some nasty little vignettes:...” Robert Lipsyte.

Sports Illustrated, “...candor and insights...Parrish brings a practiced eye to phony front office bookkeeping...questionable deals...and blacklisting...”

Library Journal, “Parrish writes intelligently, with well marshaled facts and statistics, of football as big business; of the greedy club owners with their blacklists, political henchmen, and duped players; of the hidden finances of the NFL; etc. In his final chapter, he recommends specific steps that would reform the game and free players from the “retarded” paternalistic system that “stupefies” them. Even the wildest TV fan whose fall weekend means 14 hours of viewing will find much to agree with in this book.” Rozanne Knudson, Department of English & Education, New York College of the City University of New York.

Pulitzer Corp’s Joseph Losos review of They Call It A Game said writes with “Hemingwayesque simplicity, the story of his rise from poor Florida boy to a successful cornerback for the Cleveland Browns. No more double standard, Parrish roars, and that is the key to the book. You can look at this as an autobiography, a labor history, or an economic manifesto, but above all it seems to be another tract of social liberation. No more dumb football players.”

Chicago News, “...a closely documented, restrained indictment of pro football management from the commissioner on down, with neither press nor television escaping...hard hitting...”

Life, “The anger of the pupil against the teacher who has failed him, the rage of the combat soldier against the corrupt general, the fury of the dedicated man against those who lead him to question his dedication-all these come bursting from Bernie Parrish like the forearm blows which professional football players fire against all who endeavor to slow their progress.
Eight years of playing and nine years of activity in the players union have convinced him that the hierarchy of the NFL is a basket of snakes. As St. Patrick swept Ireland clean of wriggly reptiles by flinging his bell at them, so Parrish hopes to change the leadership of the league by brazen clangor of a no-holds-barred book, They Call It A Game.”
...in the early chapters the book recounts, with what some will find rather dreadful relish, how he slammed his way to All Pro Status as a cornerback for the Cleveland Browns.
He has always loved the fierce competition of games, and like the bull who asks but never gets, a fair shake from the mantador, hates what he thinks of as the capework of accountants, press agents, sports writers and all the cuadrilla of management.
...The strength of his tract is the specific nature, buttressed by what appears to be strong arithmetical support, of his charges. His pages bristle with names and dates...This is not the sort of book that can be dismissed by picking bits of the bad bark off the battering ram. If Parrish proves to be wrong by a day or a dollar, it is not an answer to the meat of his indictment.
In all the struggles between professional athletes and management, which have become increasingly steamy as TV has poured millions into sport, the public has tended to be impatient with what seem to be greedy musclemen demanding huge sums for playing games, sums to be paid by good humored, put-upon men who operate franchises at a return below the rate of government bonds because they are sportsmen.
If Parrish is right, a professional football franchise makes a diamond mine look like a coffee-and-cruller concession in a fraternity house. It is by his figures, a cornucopia which pours its treasures on almost everyone who doesn’t wear a football jersey. (save a chosen few)
If Parrish is right players who make too much fuss about the inequities of professional football are by secret agreement blacklisted from the game...
...Admittedly zealots are tiresome with their shrill insistence on their universal rightness, and admittedly a large percentage of them are firing feathery bullets of paranoia. Florence Nightingale with her endless and unappetizing talk of pus, or William Lloyd Garrison droning on about slavery, are obviously not proof positive that inside every crab shell is a saint, but Bernie Parrish and his financial tables, his reports of Byzantine conversation and executive operations which would make Long John Silver drop his crutch in admiration, ought to be answered.
If Parrish is wrong it is to be hoped that the football establishment will not try to fend him off with its old weapons, “unbelievable”, “unsportsmanlike” and “un-American.” Heywood Hale Broun, sportswriter and CBS newsman, wrote A Studied Madness, a book about sports and theater.

Business Week, “...They Call It A Game will leave permanent scars on pro footballs carefully protected image, and Parrish’s charges may send owners, league officials, players, and congressmen scrambling for their lawyer’s offices...the old pro has some sound proposals that should rate some serious thought, even by league owners. First of all is disclosure of all financial data on the game. This seems a small price to pay for the authorized monopoly. He calls for blood tests of players to protect them and the game from drug abuse. Finally, he joins with the millions who have ever wagered a “pound” on their hometown team on Sunday, by calling for legalized gambling on pro and college games.
Once in a while Parrish strays out of bounds in his attack on the “sportsmen” who own the football clubs, but his playing-field view of the pro football hierarchy offers incurable football addicts and curious nonsports fans alike a new perspective on America’s favorite “game.” William G. Flanagan, A “pretty good defensive end” in his semi-pro days. Contributing Editor Bill Flanagan has remained a footballnik and has been a season ticket holder at New York Giants games for more than a decade.

Kirkus Review, “The most important sports book yet written.”

You didn't expect me to show you any bad reviews did you? Critics look for mistakes and lies and I came through them in pretty good shape. This book was first published in 1971 but it is still in print and can be bought through all the .com booksellers including BarnesandNoble.com, booksamillion.com., amazon.com, iUniverse.com.

What do you guys think of Upshaw saying in print, "Bernie Parrish is a bald faced liar with every statement he makes."? How does one do that “every statement”? I tried to do that today but the truth kept slipping out. Suppose that is libel?

Upshaw attempted to prove his credibility by saying he received supporting phone calls and emails from “Taglieabue and Goodell and several owners and players.” With such folks as these vouching for Upshaw’s credibility he will probably be canonized.

These statements appeared recently in and article entitled “Upshaw finally starts barking, but not at Bryant Gumbel.”

2nd Letter to NFL Pension Plan Administrator goes unanswered

I have not received an answer to the following letter. The Plan received it on July 13, 2006 but has not yet answered it. I'll post the answer when I receive it.


Sunday, July 09, 2006 (COPY FOR William V. Bidwill, Plan Trustee)

Retirement Board
Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan
200 St. Paul Place, Suite 2420
Baltimore, MD 21202-2040

Jeffery A. Van Note, Plan Administrator:

Are you aware that Plan actuary Aon Consulting settled a corruption probe by three states including New York, Connecticut and Illinois with $190 million of restitution? When did you become aware of Aon’s corruption problems?

If you are unaware of Aon’s and Aon’s CEO Patrick G Ryan a Chicago Bears owner’s problems you can view them on the Internet at the address below:

Here is a sample:
March 4, 2005
Aon Settles Corruption Probe with 3 States for $190 Million
Complaint Cites Involvement of Top Execs
The Insurance Journal
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Acting New York State Insurance Superintendent Howard Mills, together with Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Illinois Acting Director of Insurance Deirdre Manna, today announced an agreement with the nation’s second largest insurance brokerage to resolve allegations of fraud and anti-competitive practices.
Under the agreement, the Chicago-based Aon Corporation is providing $190 million over a 30-month period for restitution to policyholders and is adopting a new business model designed to avoid conflicts of interest. In addition, Aon’s Chairman and CEO, Patrick G. Ryan, will issue a public statement apologizing for Aon’s improper conduct according to the statement issued by Spitzer’s office.
“The underlying complaint in this case shows that improper conduct was pervasive at Aon,” Spitzer said. “To its credit, however, the company has acknowledged the problems, has agreed to compensate policyholders and has adopted reforms that will provide greater accountability in the future.”...
The agreement with Aon was modeled after an earlier agreement reached January 31 with the nation’s largest insurance broker, Marsh & McLennan Companies, for $850 million.
The Aon complaint cites the involvement of Ryan in efforts to increase placements with an insurance company in exchange for that company’s use of an Aon subsidiary (Aon Re) for reinsurance brokering.
The complaint also alleges that Michael O’Halleran, Ryan’s second-in-command, personally negotiated “clawback” arrangements in which Aon Re would provide insurers with discounts or rebates on its reinsurance commissions on the condition that Aon could recover or “claw back” these discounts through retail placements made with the same insurers....
The civil complaint filed today in State Supreme Court in Manhattan and the citation issued by the New York Insurance Department allege that for years Aon received special payments from insurance companies that were above and beyond normal sales commissions. These payments – known as “contingent commissions” – were characterized as compensation for “services to underwriters” but were, in fact, rewards for the business that Aon steered and allocated to the insurance companies.
Spitzer’s office and the Insurance Department have said they have uncovered evidence showing that the “practice distorts and corrupts the insurance marketplace and cheats insurance customers.”...
Spitzer’s complaint against the company cites internal communications in which top executives openly discussed these efforts to maximize Aon’s revenue and insurance companies’ revenues - without regard to Aon’s clients’ interests....
Spitzer’s office and the New York State Department of Insurance said they are continuing a broad investigation of the insurance industry. To date, 10 executives from four companies have pleaded guilty to criminal charges stemming from the probe.
$ $ $



Aon Consulting Retirement Plan actuary pays $190 million to settle Corruption Cases in three states for practices that “cheat insurance customers.”

www.the-catbird-seat.net/Aon.htm


IMA-Kirk Wright’s NFLPA recommended investment company has numerous funds, hedge funds and others; are any of the Bert Bell/Pete Rozelle NFL Player Retirement Plan assets invested in any of IMA-Kirk Wright NFLPA recommended investment funds or other NFLPA recommended investment funds?

Steve Atwater vs. NFLPA (Kirk Wright-IMA $185 mil Investment scam recommended by the NFLPA)

http://wirepost.washpost.com/wires_test/rss.php?8097624


The Baltimore Sun article by Ken Murray

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/football/bal-sp.pensions02jul02,0,4652229.story?coll=bal-sports-headlines

Are you or any Plan trustees involved in any way in the NFLPA’s endowment trust called the Player Assistance Trust?

Doesn’t Chicago Bears owner Patrick Ryan being Aon’s CEO make Aon’s role as the Plan actuary a conflict of interest?

Is Tom Condon’s representation of Gene Upshaw as his personal agent and Condon’s being on the Retirement Board a conflict of interest with Condon’s trustees fiduciary role to the Plan beneficiaries, particularly since Upshaw has since 1/16/06 consistently displayed an open hostility toward the retired player Plan beneficiaries?

Are you aware of any government investigation of any phase of the Retirement Plan?
What are they?

Is the Retirement Board going to terminate Aon as the Plan actuary?

Please answer in writing.

Sincerely,




Bernard Parrish
A Plan Beneficiary
4129 NW 32nd StreetGainesville, FL 32605