Is Antonio Brown a foreign national? Super Bowl champion’s Albany Empire ownership in question over place of birth
Antonio Brown has faced his fair share of issues since becoming the owner of the Albany Empire, an arena league team, in March. However, questions about his ownership of the Empire have come into the spotlight. The team is owned by Antonio El-Allah Express Trust Enterprise and the former NFL star has no personal ownership or control.
This is per documents given to the Albany Times-Union via Brown’s camp. There are many pieces to this puzzle. Firstly, Antonio El-Allah Express Trust Enterprise is the local branch of another enterprise, Antonio El-Allah Express Trust, sans the “Enterprise”.
Team president Alberony Denis and attorney Marlon Oliveira commented that a foreign citizen named Antonio El-Allah is the trustee. Both Denis and Oliveira sent copies of a letter dispatched on behalf of Antonio El-Allah Express Trust.
The letter was addressed to journalist Abigail Rubel of the Albany Times-Union along with Mike Kwarta, the former co-owner of the Empire. It contained more questions than answers as it read in part:
“I Brown, Antonio Tavaris a foreign national but not a citizen of the United States at birth, am writing to you regarding recent reports that have been circulating in the media regarding my supposed ownership of the Albany Empire team.
"I want to make it very clear that I am not the owner of this team, and any claims to the contrary are completely false."
While Brown claimed that he is a foreign national, he is an American citizen by all accounts. The former four-time All-Pro was born July 10, 1988, in Miami, Florida. He attended Central Michigan to play college football and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2011 NFL Draft. Brown has yet to speak out on this matter.
Antonio Brown and Empire's payroll concerns
Multiple Empire players and its head coach recently exited the franchise following claims that they were not paid on time. Antonio Brown was asked about the matter during a press conference and looked to be in defense mode when answering:
"Everyone’s paid here. I’m running a business. The MVP Arena is paid. I don’t know what the minutiae of the articles. I don’t want to get into the ‘he said, she said.’ Everyone is paid. If everyone wasn’t paid you wouldn’t be here, and I wouldn’t be here."
I asked Antonio Brown if the players that left the Empire had been paid. He said “everyone that’s here right now has been paid” and to not listen to the “outside noise.” https://t.co/rBt9w6zLqM
Antonio Brown doubled down when questioned again as to whether the players who left the team were paid:
"Everybody on our payroll, you know payroll, right? You know pay checks? You know you cant just get paid when you want, right? You know they run a course, right?"
We'll see if things turn around for Antonio Brown and the Empire in the coming weeks and months.
If you use any of the above quotes, please credit the Albany Times-Union, Outkick, and H/T Sportskeeda.