Agreement might conclude legal issues for Knicks' Curry
File - New York Knicks' Eddy Curry talks to the media during Media Day. (Sept. 28, 2009) Credit: AP
An arrest warrant for Eddy Curry was lifted in Cook County (Ill.) Court Wednesday when an agreement to satisfy an outstanding balance on a settlement from a previous civil suit was signed and submitted, according to a court document obtained by Newsday.
It had been the second time this summer that a warrant was issued for Curry's arrest because he failed to appear in court for the case, which reopened in May when Curry failed to keep up payments on a $660,000 settlement with Christina White from 2001. According to Curry's Manhattan-based lawyer, Mercedes Colwin, Curry "had been fulfilling his responsibilities from the settlement" by submitting money into an escrow account, but the money was not released to White because of an issue Curry had with his Chicago-based legal team from the Belongia, Shapiro & Franklin law firm. That firm in mid-July asked to withdraw as Curry's representation because, according to court documents obtained by Newsday, Curry did not pay his legal fees.
Curry was in contempt of court on July 26 when Judge Alexander White learned that the payments did not get to Christina White (no relation). A warrant was served for Curry's arrest for the second time (the first came on June 22 after the case was reopened). Curry wasn't arrested either time and another Chicago-based firm, Albert, Whitehead, P.C., stepped in this month to help finish case.
Curry, 27, will make $11.3 million this coming season, which is the final year of his contract with the Knicks. He has been the subject of several lawsuits and financial issues over the past three years, including the foreclosure of his mansion in Burr Ridge, Ill. Colwin said Curry has settled all of his previous lawsuits and his finances are now in the hands of the Manhattan-based accounting firm Rothstein Kass. Only one remains: an Oct. 19 hearing to settle Belongia, Shapiro and Franklin's claim for unpaid legal fees.
The Dolan family owns controlling interests in the Knicks, MSG and Cablevision. Cablevision owns Newsday.
