Tampa Bay Buccaneer Antonio Brown was allegedly interested in paying his personal chef $500 for a fake COVID-19 vaccination card so he could avoid the league’s cumbersome rules for unvaccinated players.
Brown’s girlfriend texted Los Angeles-based chef Steven Ruiz asking for a fake card – a violation of federal law – on July 2
‘Can you get the COVID cards?’ model Cydney Moreau asked. ‘I can try,’ Ruiz replied.
‘JNJ shot. Ab said he would give you $500,’ Moreau added, expressing preference for a card claiming that Brown got the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Ruiz provided the text exchange to the Tampa Bay Times, which verified the phone numbers, after he fell out with the NFL player over an unpaid $10,000 debt.
The Bucs say Brown’s card passed muster and doesn’t have any irregularities. The player has, however, faced numerous lawsuits for not paying his staff.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Antonio Brown, above on November 8, tried to get fake vaccination cards from his chef before buying some elsewhere, the chef claims
Antonio Ruiz shared the story with the Tampa Bay Times after falling out with Brown over a $10,000 debt
It is illegal to forge the seal of a federal agency. COVID-19 vaccination cards have the seal of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia
Ruiz says he came forward with the story after unsuccessfully trying to reach a settlement with Brown, 33, and his lawyer over unpaid fees for his service
The chef, who owns catering service Taste ThatLA and was at one point living in Brown’s home, says he wasn’t able to get a fake card for the wide receiver.
Brown had allegedly told people around him that he was worried about the vaccine’s potential effects on his body, the Tampa Bay Times reports.
He missed one game this season after he was infected with COVID-19 and had to endure the same 10-day waiting period that unvaccinated players do – casting more doubt onto his actual vaccination status. (Vaccinated players can return to work if they’re asymptomatic and test negative twice, 24 hours apart.)
The athlete eventually purchased another set of fake cards for him and his girlfriend, which he showed Ruiz days before the start of the Bucs training camp as they sat at Brown’s dining room table, Ruiz says.
It’s a violation of federal law to use the seal of any US government agency, in this case the Centers for Disease Control. Violators face up to five years in prison, according to WGRZ.
Ruiz says personal trainer Alex Guerrero arrived at the house and took a picture of the card, unaware that it was counterfeit, to send to the Bucs.
Brown’s lawyer Sean Burstyn stresses that Brown is vaccinated.
‘Antonio Brown appreciates the severity of the pandemic, which is why he got the vaccine and supports everyone for whom it is advisable to get the vaccine,’ Burstyn told the Times.
‘Coronavirus has hit close to home as it took him out of a game. He is healthy, vaccinated, and ready to win another Super Bowl.’
The NFL does not require players to be vaccinated, according to NBC Sports, but the league has set out rules for teams with unvaccinated players that penalize them, and the opposing teams, with hefty fines for lost games due to outbreaks.
Brown, 33, was allegedly concern about the vaccines potential negative effects on his body
Ruiz says that Brown’s girlfriend, model Cydney Moreau, is who texted Ruiz for the cards
‘JNJ shot. Ab said he would give you $500,’ Moreau wrote. Above, Moreau with rapper Nicky Jam and actor Will Smith at the Bad Boys for Life premiere in Miami in January 2020
Ruiz hired media fixer Kevin Blatt to try to solve the issue of Brown’s alleged debt.
‘Paid u $46k bro no plan no me I appreciate your work the next tine for so much be detail and n on point appreciate the service,’ Brown wrote to Ruiz in one message.
‘750 X 50 days = 45,000. Bro u been paid this ain’t been here for 50 days.’
He sounded remorseful after winning a game this season against the Dalls Cowboys.
‘We come too far to turn back we doing something special chef counting on you want u be happy to be around if anything just talk to me about anything u feel champ get some off days let’s break bread trust God plan and continue to be great let god use us do something g bigger than us,’ Brown texted Ruiz on September 10.
The Bucs say the vaccination cards of Brown and its other players have ‘no irregularities’
By 2019, Brown had earned more than $69 million before taxes in his NFL career, according to Sports Illustrated. He is currently under a one-year contract with the Bucaneers worth a total of $3.1 million, according to spotrac.com, which tracks players’ contracts.
‘I didn’t really have the money to hire an attorney,’ Chef Ruiz told the Times.
‘Kevin is well-known for being a fixer in Los Angeles.’
Blatt called Bucs chief legal officer Dan Malasky last month to tell him that he had it on good authority that they have issues with fake vaccination cards.
‘I don’t give away my sources,’ Blatt said.
‘But I told him I found the guy very credible and I believe his story and I’ve seen some evidence first hand. I told him to let me know what they wanted me to do or if they thought we could come to some resolution.’
Blatt said he didn’t request any money. After speaking with the Bucs lawyer, Brown’s lawyer called Ruiz, the chef, and asked him how much he wanted to settle the issue.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told the Tampa Bay Times that teams are responsible for verifying the vaccination status of their own staff and players, but that the league has ‘been in contact with the club’ and ‘will review the matter.’
Brown was interested in paying as much as $500 for a fake card stating that he got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, according to text messages verified by the Tampa Bay Times
The team says: ‘After an extensive educational process conducted throughout our organization this past offseason highlighting the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccines, we received completed vaccination cards from all Tampa Bay Buccaneers players and submitted the required information to the NFL through the established process in accordance with league policy.
‘All vaccination cards were reviewed by Buccaneers personnel and no irregularities were observed.’
Brown has a long history of legal trouble.
He was accused of sexual assault and rape by Brittany Taylor, a former college friend from Central Michigan University and his personal trainer for a while.
Taylor sued Brown in September 2019.
Brown has battled at least half-a-dozen lawsuits for failing to pay former staff. He’s also been accused of sexual misconduct twice. He settled a civil lawsuit accusing him of rape this year
The pair settled the lawsuit on Wednesday, with Brown’s lawyer Burstyn saying they ‘got tired of fighting,’ according to the New York Times.
Brown was accused of sexual misconduct by a different woman, according to a Sports Illustrated profile in September 2019.
‘In a half-dozen lawsuits, he is accused of refusal to pay wages to former assistants and part-time employees. Court documents and interviews also suggest a pattern of disturbing, sometimes bizarre behavior—including, SI has learned, a second woman’s allegations of sexual misconduct by Brown,’ the magazine said.
The woman, an artist, alleged that Brown came up to her and started talking to her while covering his penis with a hand towel while she painted a mural in his home.
In January 2020, Brown was accused of attacking a truck driver in Hollywood, Florida. The driver said Brown got violent because he didn’t want to pay him.
The football player was eventually charged with multiple offenses including burglary with assault.
A civil lawsuit filed by the driver is still pending.
Brown began his career at the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2010 to 2018. He had a brief stint with the Oakland Raiders, but he was let go after a confrontation with the team manager.
He was cut from the New England Patriots after playing in just one game. He joined the Bucs last year, winning the Super Bowl in February.