Struggling AFL star takes ex-agent to court in property stoush

AFL champion Byron Pickett is locked in a Supreme Court battle with his former agent, alleging homes were bought and sold on his behalf.

Byron Pickett claims he lost out on property deals.

Footy champ Byron Pickett is locked in a Supreme Court fight with his former agent, claiming he lost out on significant sums in property deals.

The dual premiership star alleges homes were bought and sold on his behalf, in transactions which he did not properly understand at the time, allowing the agent’s family to make a profit while Pickett made almost nothing.

“When I retired in 2007 I thought I would have enough money to raise my family – but that hasn’t happened,” Pickett told this masthead.

“It’s been a struggle for us.”

Pickett also alleges he never had access to his pay throughout his 11-year AFL career playing for the Kangaroos, Port Adelaide and Melbourne, during which he instead received a weekly allowance after expenses from his agent of about $700.

Pickett’s lawyers are now calling for an independent review of all payments of player salaries by clubs to agents, particularly in the case of Indigenous players.

Byron Pickett is locked in a legal stoush with his former player agent. Picture: Savannah Morrison

They have placed a caveat over a $1m-plus waterfront house outside Adelaide owned by the ex-agent so that Pickett can make a claim on the property.

His former player agent Kym Richardson, a former federal MP, denies the claims and is understood to be defending the legal action.

Mr Richardson, also a former police officer and real estate agent, yesterday described any suggestion that Pickett was underpaid as “absolutely false”.

“I respected Byron and looked after him tremendously, even saving or resurrecting his AFL playing career on a number of occasions,” he said.

Pickett, the 2004 Norm Smith medallist, says he was introduced to Mr Richardson in 1996 by former Port Adelaide teammate Peter Burgoyne.

He alleges each of his three AFL clubs were directed to pay his wages into a bank account controlled by Mr Richardson.

Pickett – who earned up to $365,000-a-season in his prime – said he entered into an arrangement for Mr Richardson to manage his finances and investments and “distribute moneys to me from that bank account as required for me, and my family’s maintenance”.

In a letter of demand to Mr Richardson, Pickett’s lawyer, Greg Griffin, said all meetings between the pair took place “either in your motor vehicle … or at a cafe where you would provide your advice and guidance to Mr Pickett and have him execute any legal documents …”

Picket claims he never received independent legal advice on any documents he signed.

Pickett’s lawyers claim a home in Happy Valley, South Australia, which Mr Richardson and his wife had bought in 1986, was sold to Pickett in 2001 for $240,000.

The AFL star alleges he did not know the Richardsons had owned the property.

It is alleged Mr Richardson only revealed to Pickett that he had been the owner of the Happy Valley home, as well as another house in Aberfoyle Park, when he took him for a drive around Adelaide in 2005 or 2006.

The Happy Valley property. Picture: Ben Clark

The Aberfoyle Park property. Picture: Ben Clark

The Happy Valley property was then sold for $275,000 to Mr Richardson’s two adult children, including one who had been living at the home since it had been bought in Pickett’s name, his lawyers claim.

In January 2010, Pickett’s lawyers allege that papers show the Happy Valley property was subdivided into three allotments sold for $498,500, delivering the family a paper profit of $220,000.

It is not known whether Mr Richardson or his family developed the property between purchasing it from Pickett and selling it on the open market.

Pickett’s lawyers allege the Aberfoyle property had been purchased by Mr Richardson and his wife in 1995 for $78,500 and was sold to Pickett – again allegedly without him understanding the transaction – in 2003 for $148,000.

It is claimed Mr Richardson then bought it back from Pickett in 2005 for $167,000.

Mr Richardson later subdivided the property and built two houses, with those lots sold in 2010 for $366,000 and $420,000.

Kym Richardson. Picture: Supplied

Pickett in action for Melbourne in 2006.

Three weeks ago, in order to preserve his ability to make a claim on a Hindmarsh Island home recently sold by Mr Richardson, but not yet settled, Pickett’s lawyers placed a caveat over the title of the property.

Griffin alleges Pickett would have retired with significantly more assets “had his money been invested in property not owned by Richardson”.

He has also filed legal documents seeking access to records relating to the time Mr Richardson was acting as a player agent to Pickett.

Mr Richardson was the sole director of Total Sports Management and an accredited AFL agent.

In relation to the property deals, he said: “Byron was aware of all transactions utilising a conveyancer and being offered independent legal advice.”

He added: “It was and is well known and documented that in 2000 Byron was admitted to a mental health clinic with fears of ADHD and other mental illnesses.

“Pickett also made numerous appearances in court related to drink driving offences and had shared with me his addiction to a number of areas of concern.”

In a second statement provided to this masthead on Monday night, Mr Richardson said “to the best of my knowledge as a considerable time period has elapsed, Byron looked after his own finances from his first year in 1997 through to 2001. The trust was only opened in 2001”.

He added: “What has been alleged about the properties at Happy Valley and Aberfoyle Park, is also sensationalistic and false. Byron was always provided with three property valuations, and obviously the conveyancer acting for Byron was required at law to give him independent advice …

“I do recall Byron made a profit on each occasion from the purchase and sale of said properties. I helped him to build an investment portfolio enabling him to finance the purchase of many vehicles along with his entitlement to negative gearing and reducing his taxable income.”

Mr Richardson said Pickett’s lawyers had also “conveniently” left out “the time that had elapsed between the original purchases of the properties, extensive renovations and building work on the properties before Byron asked me to sell them to him”.

“It is further absurd that any inference can be made by the repurchase of the properties again by the directions of Byron that a profit was attained nearly five years after I had completed acting as Byron’s AFL player manager and six-to-eight years from the repurchase of the mentioned properties only because I/we subdivided the land and built two new homes, five years after parting ways with Byron,” he said.

“That process was certainly not a great idea or investment and my recall is that my family and I lost around $10,000 as the second home had to be built as a two storey thus cost’s blowing out.”

Pickett played 204 AFL matches, including two premierships. He won the 2004 Norm Smith Medal as best on ground in the Power’s grand final triumph over Brisbane and is a member of the Indigenous Team of the Century.

Originally published as Struggling AFL star takes ex-agent to court in property stoush