Court filing claims project leader took money days before collapse
Grand Slam Track filed for bankruptcy owing up to $50m
Michael Johnson has been accused of paying himself $500,000 (£372,000) eight days before his Grand Slam Track project collapsed before the final event in Los Angeles, leaving athletes and creditors owed millions. The claim is made by vendors in a legal filing in which they have also sought permission to sue individual leaders of GST, including Johnson and the main investor, Winners Alliance.
When GST was launched Johnson promised it would “bring fantasy to life” and transform athletics – with track’s biggest stars facing off regularly against each other for huge prize money. But the writing was on the wall after the first event in Jamaica last April was sparsely attended, and it collapsed shortly after its third event in Philadelphia on 1 June.
The filing, at the US bankruptcy court for the district of Delaware, also shows that Johnson was owed $2.2m but it is claimed he took out $500,000 on 4 June, when he knew Grand Slam Track was at risk of financial collapse as it could not cover its debts.
