Sprewell yacht repossessed
Former NBA star has defaulted on mortgage loan, bank says
By RICK ROMELL
rromell@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Aug. 21, 2007
When a man has to think about putting food on the table, it can be difficult to keep a yacht.
Former professional basketball star Latrell Sprewell, who three years ago
rejected a $21 million contract offer, calling it insulting and saying he had a
family to feed, had his 70-foot, $1.5 million, Italian-built yacht repossessed
Tuesday.
Armed with an order from U.S. Magistrate Judge William E. Callahan Jr.,
a federal marshal seized the vessel in Manitowoc, where it sat in storage.
Callahan is presiding in a court case filed by a New York bank that claims the yacht's owner,
a company run by Sprewell, has defaulted on a mortgage loan.
The firm, LSF Marine Holdings, hasn't made monthly payments of $10,322 on time
and hasn't maintained the necessary insurance on the vessel, North Fork Bank alleges.
It wants the yacht, "Milwaukee's Best," sold to pay off the $1.3 million it says is remaining
on the loan. Sprewell has guaranteed the loan personally, a contract filed with the court shows.
He could not be reached for comment on the repossession.
A Milwaukee native, Sprewell, 36, played for 13 years in the NBA.
He was known for a slashing style, steely intensity and a fierceness that sometimes got him
in trouble - most notably when he was suspended during the 1997-'98 season for choking his coach.
Sprewell last played in 2004-'05 for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
At the beginning of that season, he spurned the team's offer of a three-year,
$21 million contract extension.
In the midst of Sprewell's acrimonious negotiations with the club, a reporter with the Star Tribune
in Minneapolis asked him if he would be interested in playing out the final year on his existing contract,
trying to win a title and then becoming a free agent.
"Why would I want to help them win a title?" the paper quoted Sprewell as saying.
"They're not doing anything for me. I'm at risk. I have a lot of risk here. I got my family to feed.
Anything could happen."
That sealed the end of his career with the Timberwolves, prompted a rebuke from
NBA Commissioner David Stern and made Sprewell a symbol of fans' frustration with highly
paid athletes divorced from everyday economic realities.
The four-time all-star played out the season, earning a reported $14.6 million,
but hasn't returned to the league.
Sprewell's boat was built in 2001 by Italian firm Azimut-Benetti, a world leader in
crafting so-called mega-yachts - ships that, at roughly 80 feet and up in length,
can dwarf even "Milwaukee's Best." Documents filed in court indicate Sprewell bought the boat in 2003.
Sprewell, who owns a home in River Hills and has moored his yacht here,
had to have the vessel freed by a tugboat last summer after running aground near Atwater Beach.
He also has popped into the news at other times while afloat, including an occasion off
Milwaukee in which he broke a hand about a month before the 2002-'03 season.
Bob Wolfley of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
Former NBA star has defaulted on mortgage loan, bank says
By RICK ROMELL
rromell@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Aug. 21, 2007
When a man has to think about putting food on the table, it can be difficult to keep a yacht.
Former professional basketball star Latrell Sprewell, who three years ago
rejected a $21 million contract offer, calling it insulting and saying he had a
family to feed, had his 70-foot, $1.5 million, Italian-built yacht repossessed
Tuesday.
Armed with an order from U.S. Magistrate Judge William E. Callahan Jr.,
a federal marshal seized the vessel in Manitowoc, where it sat in storage.
Callahan is presiding in a court case filed by a New York bank that claims the yacht's owner,
a company run by Sprewell, has defaulted on a mortgage loan.
The firm, LSF Marine Holdings, hasn't made monthly payments of $10,322 on time
and hasn't maintained the necessary insurance on the vessel, North Fork Bank alleges.
It wants the yacht, "Milwaukee's Best," sold to pay off the $1.3 million it says is remaining
on the loan. Sprewell has guaranteed the loan personally, a contract filed with the court shows.
He could not be reached for comment on the repossession.
A Milwaukee native, Sprewell, 36, played for 13 years in the NBA.
He was known for a slashing style, steely intensity and a fierceness that sometimes got him
in trouble - most notably when he was suspended during the 1997-'98 season for choking his coach.
Sprewell last played in 2004-'05 for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
At the beginning of that season, he spurned the team's offer of a three-year,
$21 million contract extension.
In the midst of Sprewell's acrimonious negotiations with the club, a reporter with the Star Tribune
in Minneapolis asked him if he would be interested in playing out the final year on his existing contract,
trying to win a title and then becoming a free agent.
"Why would I want to help them win a title?" the paper quoted Sprewell as saying.
"They're not doing anything for me. I'm at risk. I have a lot of risk here. I got my family to feed.
Anything could happen."
That sealed the end of his career with the Timberwolves, prompted a rebuke from
NBA Commissioner David Stern and made Sprewell a symbol of fans' frustration with highly
paid athletes divorced from everyday economic realities.
The four-time all-star played out the season, earning a reported $14.6 million,
but hasn't returned to the league.
Sprewell's boat was built in 2001 by Italian firm Azimut-Benetti, a world leader in
crafting so-called mega-yachts - ships that, at roughly 80 feet and up in length,
can dwarf even "Milwaukee's Best." Documents filed in court indicate Sprewell bought the boat in 2003.
Sprewell, who owns a home in River Hills and has moored his yacht here,
had to have the vessel freed by a tugboat last summer after running aground near Atwater Beach.
He also has popped into the news at other times while afloat, including an occasion off
Milwaukee in which he broke a hand about a month before the 2002-'03 season.
Bob Wolfley of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
