The validity of a letter from Sacramento business leaders that asked the NBA to encourage the owners of the Kings to sell has been called into question, reports Tony Bizjak of the Sacramento Bee.
Five of the 21 signatures on the letter were written by proxy, and not the person whose name is listed, according to Greg Hayes, one of the organizers of the letter-signing. Hayes said those five people told him they were supportive of the letter the night before the signing, but didn't show up to put pen on paper. Later, two of the people told Hayes they had "misgivings" about their names appearing on the letter.
Last week, Steve Large of CBS13 reported that the Maloof family, who owns the Kings, hired a retired FBI agent to investigate whether some of the signatures were forged. Bizjak writes that the leader of Think Big Sacramento, mayor Kevin Johnson's arena advocacy group, sent a letter this evening to the U.S. Attorney General's office requesting an examination of whether the Kings are violating any laws covering harrassment or intimidation of the people who signed the letter to the NBA.
According to a tweet from the Bee's Jason Jones, Maloof family spokesman Eric Rose says that Think Big Sacramento is built on "fabrication and deception" and the name of the group should be changed to "Think Big Fraud."