New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is coming off of another tremendous season. The 39-year-old completed 72 percent of his passes and racked up 4,334 passing yards and 23 touchdowns while only tossing eight interceptions. He came this close to leading New Orleans to the NFC Championship game. After the season, Brees agreed to a two-year, $50 million deal ($27 million guaranteed) with the Saints.
On Monday, Brees filed a lawsuit seeking $9 million in damages from a San Diego jeweler. According to the suit, Vahid Moradi of Southern California's CJ Charles jewelry misled Brees into overpaying for rings, watches, and earrings—like, overpaying by a lot. (In case you're wondering about the location: Brees began his career with the San Diego Chargers in 2001.)
Moradi's lawyer, Eric M. George, has responded to the suit. He says the fault falls entirely on the All-Pro quarterback.
"Drew Brees aggressively purchased multi-million dollar pieces of jewelry," George said, according to the New York Post. "Years later, claiming to suffer 'cash flow problems,' he tried to bully my client into undoing the transactions."
The attorney continued: "Mr. Brees' behavior and his belief that he was wronged because the jewelry did not appreciate in value as quickly as he hoped both demonstrate a lack of integrity and contradict basic principles of both economics and the law."
Brees spent roughly $15 million at the shop over the years. One piece in contention is a blue-diamond ring he purchased for $8.18 million. The ring is now worth $3.75 million, though Brees said he was led to believe it would appreciate in value.
"He should restrict his game-playing to the football field, and refrain from bullying honest, hard-working businessmen like my client," George added.
