Report: NHLPA accused of covering up theft of over $100K from union funds

A former technical support analyst for the National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) alleges that the NHLPA covered up a theft exceeding $100,000 in union funds by one of its executives, according to a lawsuit filed in Ontario Superior Court.

TSN’s Rick Westhead was the first to report the story.

Allan Etherington filed an $8.7 million wrongful dismissal suit against the NHLPA on Nov. 3, 2019. As part of his suit, Etherington made a number of allegations largely directed at Stephen Frank, the NHLPA’s former director of technology and security information technology.

Etherington alleges that the NHLPA failed to advise its own executive board and refused to discipline Frank after misappropriating union funds.

“Instead of Frank being justifiably terminated for just cause for fraud/misappropriation of funds for his theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars from the NHLPA, Fehr sent out a memo praising Frank,” Etherington wrote. “Frank was permitted to ‘resign’ and his theft and fraud was not reported to the authorities, the executive board, or the NHL players.”

The NHLPA released the following statement, obtained by TSN.

“The NHLPA is aware that our former employee, Mr. Allan Etherington, has filed a claim containing numerous false statements and groundless and irrelevant allegations against the organization and some of his former colleagues. We look forward to defending the organization and our staff against these allegations. We will have no further comment while this matter is before the courts.”

Frank left the NHLPA in December 2018.

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