'Justice has been done'

Jury awards Lewis $8 million in dispute with promoter

NEW YORK (AP) -- A federal jury awarded roughly $8 million in damages to heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis on Thursday after finding he had been ripped off by his promoter.

In a civil trial, the jury concluded Panos Eliades and his company, Panix Promotions, defrauded Lewis through a pattern of theft that amounted to racketeering.

The bulk of the award -- $6.8 million -- stemmed from the jury's finding that the promoter breached his fiduciary duty as manager.

After the verdict in a Manhattan trial before U.S. District Judge Harold Baer Jr., Lewis issued a statement saying he was "satisfied that justice has been done today."

"I can now concentrate on my boxing career," he said.

A message left with a lawyer for Eliades was not immediately returned.

As soon as the verdict was returned, a lawyer for Lewis sought to deliver a knockout punch to Eliades' London-based promotion of boxers.

The lawyer, Judd Burstein, said he would ask British courts to freeze Eliades' assets.

He said the claimed assets of the promoter do not approach $8 million, partly because most of his assets consist of contracts with boxers.

As a result, Lewis will try to take over those contracts, feeding them to Lion Promotions, a Las Vegas-based company that employs Lewis, Burstein said.

Burstein said late Thursday that Eliades had consented to freezing his assets, except for spending limited amounts to continue doing business.

"There should be some protection to Mr. Lewis so that when he finally goes to collect his judgment from this man who cheated him for nine years, there is something left to collect," Burstein said.

Eliades, who purchased Lewis' contract in 1991 for $27,000, was fired by Lewis as manager in August 2000 and as his promoter in February 2001.

Burstein said the fraud only came to light because Eliades "made the horrific mistake of actually suing Lennox."

Lewis countersued and discovered fraud when bookkeeping records were exchanged as part of the routine preparation for trial, Burstein said.

Burstein said forensic accountants discovered that Eliades had been stealing from Lewis in various ways.

Sometimes, the lawyer said, Eliades would lie about the conversation rates between British pounds and American dollars while at other times he would withhold purses.

Burstein said the case might provide a lesson for other boxers.

"A lot of boxers should take a look at their finances. What went on here was just absolutely shocking and, as the jury found, reprehensible," he said.

 

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