Oddball stories from 2010
The New Orleans Saints may have had a super season in 2010 -- winning Super Bowl XLIV -- but they didn't have the same success with their investments. Specifically, several of the team's current and former players, along with head coach Sean Payton, claim they got ripped off in a bogus tax credit scheme.
Here's the kicker. In a lawsuit filed this year, the Saints claim the team's former long snapper, Kevin Houser, sold them the credits, ultimately costing them $1.9M. Houser, who denies any wrongdoing, was released by the Saints at the start of the Super Bowl-winning season. But tight end Jeremy Shockey was so mad about the alleged scam that he tweeted: “thx chad houser our long snapper for losing my coaches, teamates, and me around 2mill$..what a dumb ass.”
He has been accused by former New Orleans Saints teammates and coaches that he led them to buy a combined $1.9 million in Louisiana state income-tax credits they never received in 2008 and 2009.
This was not the only investment flap to unsettle the reigning Super Bowl champs in 2010, however. In the spring, a number of Saints players, including Jeremy Shockey and coach Sean Payton, claimed they had purchased motion picture tax credits that turned out to be bogus. According to lawsuits filed by players, they initially were told about the credits by a former Saints teammate. That player has denied any wrongdoing, but the head of film studio offering the credits was later charged with defrauding with the players.