The equivalent of signing bonuses. Did Adidas send the families a form 1099-MISC and did the families then include the payments on their taxes? I am assuming not, and I would guess that the absence of such documentation is probably illegal.
Thankfully, I am not a lawyer...so this is just supposition on my part.
The families wouldn't have filled them out, because that would end their child's amateur eligibility at an age when doing anything professional isn't an option. And even in the theoretical world where they had done all of these things above board, if they really had covered their bases legally, there would have been no need to set Avenatti up with an extortion sting - they could have just shut down his threats by showing they'd done everything legally.
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