Getting paid

Agent: Williams won't lose Nets' money if convicted

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- The manslaughter charges against Jayson Williams won't affect the remaining $34 million he's slated to receive from his seven-year contract with the New Jersey Nets, his agent said Wednesday.

A moral turpitude clause that was in Williams' original contract with the Nets doesn't apply since he retired in 2000 with a leg injury, said Williams' agent, Sal DiFazio.

DiFazio denied a report in Wednesday's New York Post quoting unidentified sources as saying Williams would not receive payments if he is convicted of manslaughter because of a morals clause in his contract.

A spokeswoman for the Post didn't immediately return a telephone message Wednesday.

Costas Christofi, 55, was shot to death in a bedroom of Williams' estate in Alexandria Township earlier this month. Williams, who is free on $250,000 bail, is scheduled to make a court appearance in the case Monday.

DiFazio said the Nets could choose to reinstate a "stretch clause" in Williams' post-termination contract that would spread the remaining payments due to Williams over 10 years, but he would not lose any money if he is convicted of manslaughter.

Williams is due $16.5 million in 2003 and $17.9 million in 2004 from an insurance policy covering the contract.

Williams, 34, was charged Monday. Prosecutors allege he was twirling a shotgun recklessly during a tour of his estate when it went off, killing Christofi.

 

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