Part-owners in 'horrendous' Antonio Brown's Albany Empire claim ex-NFL star has shut them out

May 2024 · 4 minute read

Antonio Brown's ownership of the Albany Empire has been a nightmare for minority stakeholders in the National Arena League team.

Charlotte and Steve von Schiller - who joint-own a five percent stake in the team - have characterized their ownership under Brown's regime as 'pretty horrendous' in an interview with Albany newspaper The Times-Union.

The husband and wife have had communications with Brown and his team they describe as deeply unpleasant as the ownership group insists they don't own any part of the team. 


'They're very negative to us — they swear at us, call us names, all this through text,' Charlotte von Schiller said Sunday. 

Acting Empire president Alberony Denis said the von Schillers haven't provided documents to verify their stake in the team - something the von Schillers say Brown's team already has in their possession.

Two minority owners of the Albany Empire have shed insight into Antonio Brown's ownership

Two minority owners of the Albany Empire have shed insight into Antonio Brown's ownership

'We've been in contact with them since way before we acquired ownership of the team, trying to get their paperwork,' Denis said. 

'They didn't want to provide it because … their adviser told them not to provide us no paperwork — so they never sent it. As of right now, we own the team 100 percent until they provide any paperwork.'

The von Schillers purchases their small stake in the team from former owner Mike Kwarta back in November for an unspecified price.

They bought their stake in the team in an effort to try and grow the relationship between the team and the community - especially schools, with high school teacher Charlotte in charge of the team's promotional efforts.

Kwarta chose to bring in Brown back in March, splitting his remaining stake evenly so they each had 47.5 percent of the team to themselves.

'We wanted to support Mike, and I understood why Mike brought him in,' Charlotte von Schiller said, alluding to a $1.5 million New York state workers' compensation bill hanging over the team's head. 'And in the beginning, (Brown) seemed like he was going to be a decent person.'

But Kwarta claimed that Brown wasn't brought in to deal with that - and that the bill hadn't arrived until after the former wide receiver joined the ownership group.

'Everything was started out to be about the community, the team, building the brand, and making them bigger and better,' Kwarta said of his overtures to Brown.

They say Brown and his team have shut them out, called them names, and denied acknowledging the five percent stake in the team they took from a past owner in November

They say Brown and his team have shut them out, called them names, and denied acknowledging the five percent stake in the team they took from a past owner in November

Kwarta eventually sold the rest of his shares in the team for just $1 back in mid-April over a 'difference in opinion' over how to best promote the franchise.

After Kwarta's departure, the von Schillers reached out about their current outreach efforts and how they could continue to interact with the community. They say they were 'totally shut down'

When they pushed back, saying, 'you guys own 95 percent, not 100 percent', the von Schillers say Brown and his team, 'just started a whole tirade of them calling us names and telling us we're not owners'.

The von Schillers have been kept out of the loop for team news - such as suspensions over a bus incident or when they were locked out of their hotel rooms. 

They also haven't been able to see their team play, with Brown's group denying them all-access passes.

They say they hope that Brown ends up buying them out, but Brown insisted in a letter that he did not own the team, rather it was owned by a trust under the name 'Antonio El-Allah Express Trust Enterprise'. 

In a letter to a Times-Union reporter, Brown - who was born and raised in Miami - claimed to be, 'a foreign national but not a citizen of the United States at birth [sic]' and stated that 'I am not the owner of this team, and any claims to the contrary are completely false'.

Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk reacted to this letter saying that it, 'feels like a clumsy effort to create a shell entity that owns the team.'

Brown has attempted to claim that he doesn't own the team through a letter to the Times Union

Brown has attempted to claim that he doesn't own the team through a letter to the Times Union

Brown hasn't been able to avoid controversy or legal trouble since his purchase of the team. In mid-April, an arrest warrant was issued for him for failing to make child support payments.

Brown's attorney said that he paid over $30,000 in child support payments after the issuing of the warrant and that the matter was cleared.

Back in January, Brown had his Snapchat account suspended after posting an explicit photo of a woman performing oral sex on him. Last October, he allegedly exposed himself to a woman at a hotel in Dubai.

Last December, Tampa police attempted to serve Brown with a separate arrest warrant on charges of domestic violence related to an incident with his ex-fiancée.  

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3IpbCmmZmhe6S7ja6iaKugpL%2B1e82fo2iZoqm2pLjEZmhraGZuhXaFjomYq6xdpMSvsdGsZKGnoqeyr7DOrqpmeZ6pvK%2B1zmZ5q6eno8BujcubmKexXXq6sbXRnmScpJGeum6x12aFf4RdqMGivoysn66sXaTCtXrHraSl