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Eagleson investigated

Broadcast Date: Jan. 6, 1992

The Eagle is soaring a little lower today. Suspicions about Alan Eagleson continue to swell, now fuelled by news of an investigation by the FBI. Seeing the writing on the wall, Eagleson hands over control of the NHL Players' Association to Bob Goodenow (though Eagleson will continue to earn $100,000 yearly as a consultant). As we see in this clip, Eagleson is all smiles — until he's approached by CBC reporter Bruce Dowbiggin.

Eagleson investigated

• Capitalizing on the momentum started by players like Carl Brewer and Ed Garvey's 1989 report on Eagleson, player agent Rich Winter filed a complaint with the RCMP. That organization decided the matter was out of their jurisdiction, and handed the case over to the Metropolitan Toronto Police's fraud squad in February 1990. When Liberal house leader David Dingwall started asking questions in Parliament in December 1992 the RCMP began a full investigation.

• Meanwhile, the FBI had been investigating Eagleson's activities since early 1991, on the heels of journalist Russ Conway's Eagleson reports. In March 1992, a U.S. grand jury began investigating him.
• On March 3, 1994, in Boston, the U.S. Justice Department announced it was indicting Eagleson on 32 counts. "A federal grand jury has indicted the former executive director of the National Hockey League Players' Association on charges of racketeering, fraud and embezzlement occurring during his tenure as the head of the players' union," the press release read. (An indictment is a formal accusation.)

• Among the allegations:
- that Eagleson fraudulently charged players Glen Sharpley and Bob Daily to get insurance money for their career-ending disabilities;
- that he wrongfully received more than $100,000 from insurance brokers;
- that he misused $150,000 in airline tickets given by Air Canada in exchange for rink board advertising;
- that he had stolen money during the Canada Cups.

• A key piece of evidence was a 1989 letter from Eagleson claiming that neither he, nor his family nor business partners ever received money from Canada Cup tournaments. This was a lie; in total Eagleson and his associates made $1.8 million in management service fees, and thousands more in expenses.
• Among the fees: $751,000 to Eagleson's law firm, $300,000 to his accountant.
• Because the misinformation was sent to players by post, it constituted mail fraud (laws that were first put in place to trap mafia bosses).

Eagleson investigated

Medium: Television

Program: CBC at Six

Broadcast Date: Jan. 6, 1992

Guest(s): Alan Eagleson

Host: Paul Hunter
Reporter: Bruce Dowbiggin

Duration: 2:34

Last updated:
Aug. 27, 2008