Bloomberg Markets reports on the Bryant scandal in the January 2014 issue, which is on news stands now. Bryant, the son of Hall of Fame Coach Paul "Bear" Byant, is prime money man behind Alabama's powerhouse football program, and ESPN has called him one of the most powerful figures in college athletics.
Reporting on Bryant's ties to financial fraud originated here at Legal Schnauzer with a series of posts that began about five years ago. Bloomberg reporters Anthony Effinger and John Helyar picked up on those posts and expanded on them, providing the first serious scrutiny of Bryant's business practices in the mainstream press.
An early version of the article, titled "Alabama Football Dominance Powered by Bear Bryant's Son's Fortune," appeared at the Bloomberg website on Nov. 24, 2013. An updated version appears in the January 2014 print issue and can be viewed in PDF format at the end of this post.
The Bloomberg article provides background about Bryant's rise to power in business prominence, focusing on significant details about the insurance fraud that netted a 15 year federal prison sentence for a Pennsylvania entrepreneur named Allen W. Stewart. Following is a segment from the Bloomberg Markets article:
"In contrast with his father, who basked in the celebrity that came from winning six national football championships, Bryant wields his power under the radar. Little has been written about the sources of his wealth. He started his fortune with greyhound racing in 1977. One of his tracks, in La Marque, Texas, grossed $268 million in 1993, a record for the sport, according to the Texas Racing Commission. Then he diversified into catfish farming and banking. In 2011, he sold a cement business to Mexico-based Cemex SAB for $350 million.'I’m a pretty good risk taker,' Bryant says in a rare interview at the university’s offices in Tuscaloosa.""Bloomberg Markets has provided exceptional insight into the fraud seeded background of one of Alabama's most secretive and powerful figures," Legal Schnauzer publisher Roger Shuler says. "The Bloomberg article shows how Bryant and his insurance company became involved in the fraud and what was driving their participation. It's a story of stunning greed that portrays Paul Bryant Jr. as a con man and a fraud, even though he sits atop the board that governs the mothership university in our state."
Following is a PDF of the print article in Bloomberg Markets:
ROLL MONEY ROLL by Roger Shuler
Paul Bryant Jr.
Photographer: Glenn Baeske/The Huntsville Times/Landov
