Basketball superstar Scottie Pippen wants $1 million each from the ASU Foundation and various media outlets around the country for calling him broke.
Sounds like a great way to raise money -- if his legal moves can equal his performance for the Chicago Bulls.
In a federal complaint filed yesterday in the District of Illinois, (see below), Pippen blames the ASU Foundation for an article written by law students. We're not sure if he's got the right target in his sights, but the Foundation must have plenty of dough, he probably figures.
The article, "Athletes and the Race to Bankruptcy," was written by Dan White and published on the Sports and Entertainment Law Blog, which editor Kellen W. Bradley writes is "run entirely by law students at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University." The story has been taken down from one site, though the other link was still working as of this morning.
The blog, which Pippen claims was "created" by ASU, "tagged Scottie's name with bankruptcy," the suit states. Other online articles defamed him more specifically, as he outlines in the suit.
Pippen claims he's never been worth less than $40 million in the last 10 years.
In reading over White's article, it's hard to see where Pippen has a case against ASU. White never claims that Pippen's totally broke or has filed for bankruptcy, for example. Amusingly, Pippen confuses Arizona State University with the foundation, describing the 126-year-old school as having been founded in 1947. He lifted the description from the Foundation's Web site.
Read the suit below:
