VC Veteran Takes On Athlete-Bankruptcy Problem With New Firm
Amid a slew of scandals in which NBA and NFL players have lost tens of millions of dollars due to poor investment advice, venture capitalist Rashaun Williams is launching a firm focused on helping pro athletes preserve and grow their wealth.
Williams—the founder of Value Investment Group and general partner at MVP All-Star Fund, who has served as a pro bono financial confidant to athletes for years—has launched an athlete-focused business management firm called Antimatter Business Partners (ABP).
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“We want to promote the athletes as being the general managers of their own finances,” said Williams, who will serve as chairman and CEO of ABP. “We’re trying to help the modern athlete invest like the owners.”
The launch of ABP comes amid a rash of pro athletes receiving poor guidance from trusted financial advisors and managers, resulting in lawsuits and scandal. Most recently, former Morgan Stanley advisor Darryl Cohen has been charged with defrauding NBA players of millions of dollars. Former NBA agent Craig Briscoe, who represented players like Dwight Howard and Michael Beasley, was also charged with wire fraud and identity theft earlier this year.
“The vast majority of financial advisors are not bad people, but many of them are misdiagnosing athletes and entertainers,” Williams said in an interview. “They are giving athletes the same strategy as they give someone that works until they are 65 and spend $50K a year.”
Williams, who specializes in tech and consumer product investing, created the firm to help curb the trend of black athletes facing financial hardships in retirement by offering services that include financial literacy and prime investment opportunities. The former investment banker looks to educate them on how to source and vet opportunities that will generate returns they need to grow their net worth.
More than 100 current and former professional athletes have already joined the Atlanta-based sports and entertainment firm, including Pittsburgh Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, Orlando Magic forward Wendell Carter Jr. and Los Angeles Clippers guard Terance Mann.
Williams, an investor in the Atlanta Hawks and Sacramento Kings through Dyal HomeCourt, aims to leverage his decades of experience working with wealthy businesspeople to help athletes of various financial backgrounds create and maintain generational wealth using venture capital and private equity investing, while providing unique access to ownership deals. ABP says its clients will also get a chance to invest in deals alongside its investors, essentially serving as business partners, instead of your typical financial advisors and managers.
ABP has been in stealth mode for the last few years, with Williams claiming that athlete investors have already seen 10x returns on exits with DraftKings, Coinbase and other companies. Now these clients, some of whom Williams previously advised pro bono, will be tied together under the ABP umbrella. The opportunity to create stronger alignment with the highest earners in the black community will make ABP stand out from other firms in the marketplace, Williams believes.
Pete Mayta, an investor who formerly worked for the Tampa Bay Rays; former SunTrust sports and entertainment financial advisor Calvin Booker; and Isiah “Juice” Williams, Audible Wealth Management CEO and former Illinois star quarterback, are among the business managers at ABP.
“I want to empower the culture,” Williams said. “And that’s what we’re doing.”
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