Speaking generally in an interview with The Times, Barrett said club coaches like himself worked as independent contractors and were paid by shoe companies via "sponsorship" or "consultant" contracts.
Sidney played for Barrett's team one summer, then in 2007 became the cornerstone of the LA Dream Team, a new club coached by his stepfather. Asked why Sidney would leave his superior team for an upstart, Barrett said, "The dad wanted his own shoe deal."
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday, May 06, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 1 inches; 41 words Type of Material: Correction
Basketball star: A story in Monday's Section A about USC and UCLA withdrawing scholarship offers for Fairfax High basketball prodigy Renardo Sidney Jr. incorrectly identified Renardo Sidney Sr. as the player's stepfather. The family's attorney says he is the biological father.
About the same time, Renardo Sr. and an El Monte car dealer named Richard Macias formed a nonprofit, tax-exempt educational organization called the Los Angeles/LA Dream Team Foundation.
Tax laws specify that charitable 501(c)(3) organizations such as the LA Dream Team "must not be organized or operated for the benefit of private interests, such as the creator or the creator's family. . . . No part of the net earnings . . . may inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual."
Forming a nonprofit to fund a youth athletic team isn't a new strategy, according to Vaccaro, who said, "The money that comes in is supposed to fund and go to the betterment of the team, with that money obviously being focused on the team's superstar."
Federal law requires a nonprofit to allow public inspection of its application form and, if the organization has received more than $25,000 in donations in a given year, its federal Form 990. The Sidneys declined to respond to requests by The Times to inspect the LA Dream Team Foundation documents.
Online records also show the foundation has not filed an e-postcard, required by the Internal Revenue Service to be filed by November 2008 if a nonprofit raised less than $25,000 in 2007.
Without that documentation, it is unclear how much money the LA Dream Team Foundation raised, who donated to it, and how the money was spent.
Attorney Jackson shrugged off the issue, saying, "There's no logical connection between a nonprofit and [Sidney's athletic] eligibility."
Vaccaro said he knew Renardo Sr. accepted at least another $20,000 in shoe money to play in a 2007 tournament in Las Vegas. Rivers, who took over when Vaccaro left Reebok, said he gave some financial support to the LA Dream Team, but would not divulge how much, saying, "That's their personal business."
Formerly a confidant of Renardo Sr. and a past colleague of Rivers, Vaccaro said he was not sure how the Sidneys were covering their expenses. Asked if the family could afford their current lifestyle on support from shoe companies alone, he quickly answered, "No."
