Lankford files lawsuit against agent

CAMDEN, N.J. -- St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Ray Lankford claims in a lawsuit that his agent and others hired to manage his business affairs cheated him out of more than $1 million.

Lankford filed the suit in U.S. District Court here on June 4 to try to recover the money.

In the suit, Lankford claims his agents overpaid themselves, made improper loans to themselves from his funds, lost nearly $500,000 on an investment they were not authorized to make and received kickbacks in a life insurance deal.

Lankford had no comment on the suit before Tuesday's game against the Athletics.

Lankford, 37, who has spent all but 40 games of his 15-year major league career with the Cardinals, received a $34 million, five-year contract from the St. Louis team in 1997.

First Round Sports Management, based in Voorhees, N.J., negotiated the deal. Under his contract with the firm, which is headed by Albert Irby, Lankford would pay 6 percent of his salary to First Round for managing his money.

First Round Sports later merged with Nashville-based Premier Management Group, whose executives are the other main defendants in the lawsuit. The Nashville firm has since gone out of business.

Lankford's suit cites a 2002 audit that found Irby and other managers had paid themselves $3.1 million -- $1.1 million more than they agreed to get for handling Lankford's business.

Lankford says Irby paid back $315,000, but still owes him $732,000.

Further, Lankford claims his agents used $475,000 of his money in an ill-fated investment without his permission.

And he said that the agents received kickbacks on Lankford's life insurance policies, which had $120,000 due per year in premiums.

Irby told The Philadelphia Inquirer for Tuesday's editions that he had not seen the lawsuit and was surprised that Lankford had filed it.

"As far as I'm concerned, Ray and I worked some things out, and I'm shocked this whole thing is taking place," Irby told the newspaper.

Neither Irby nor Roland Hardy, Lankford's lawyer based in Woodbury, N.J., immediately returned phone messages left Tuesday by The Associated Press.