The Eels are reportedly set to pay $500,000 to settle a Supreme Court case that would have delved back into the club’s salary cap breach, highlighting payments made to Jarryd Hayne and Anthony Watmough
According to the SMH, liquidators for Blackcitrus filed a lawsuit seeking $1,177,601 for creditors, with the case rolling on for the past four years.
The Eels reportedly paid the sum to avoid their breaches being made public, with details of payments made to Hayne and Watmough being exposed through a wholly owned subsidiary company of Blackcitrus.
Parramatta reportedly claim that former chief executive Scott Seward negotiated an agreement with Blackcitrus, one of the firms caught up in the Eels’ 2016 salary cap scandal.
They also claimed invoices don’t reflect the services performed at value.
“The plaintiff was at all material times aware that the HOA was a sham and that the true purpose of the arrangement was to provide payments to player Anthony Watmough,” the defence said.
“In avoidance of the NRL Salary Cap Rules; and … that the HOA was at all times void and of no legal effect by reason of its illegal nature and/or as against public policy.”
Following a $500,000 payment being made to settle the court matter, the club’s salary cap saga has finally come to an end.
The Eels were fined $1 million, stripped of their 2016 Auckland Nines title, docked 12 competition points and forced to allow players to depart the club.
It came after they were discovered to have been systematically rorting the salary cap.
