NFL investigators question Antonio Brown’s former chef about fake vaccine card allegations
Investigators from the NFL contacted Antonio Brown’s former live-in chef and questioned him about his allegations that the Bucs receiver obtained a fake COVID-19 vaccination card to avoid league protocols. They also were interested in Steven Ruiz’s claims that another player sold Brown the card.
Ruiz, owner of Taste ThatLA, said he spoke with attorneys for the NFL on Wednesday for about 10 minutes by telephone.
“They told me, ‘We want to make you aware that we’re lawyers, and if you feel like you need a lawyer feel free to retain one.’ I said, ‘No, I’m fine. If you ask me anything I’m uncomfortable with, I will tell you I don’t want to answer the question,’” Ruiz told the Tampa Bay Times on Saturday night. “Then they asked me really straightforward questions.”
Ruiz met Brown when he catered one of his parties in Los Angeles last summer. On July 2, as the Times was the first to report, Brown’s girlfriend, Cydney Moreau, asked Ruiz if he could get a fake card for Brown in a series of text messages. Moreau texted to Ruiz that the Pro Bowl receiver would pay him $500.
Ruiz, who shared the screen grab of the exchange with the Times, texted that he would try. But he had no luck. After being invited to live with Brown in his Davis Islands home for a month, Ruiz said the wide receiver showed him fake vaccination cards he had purchased for himself and Moreau.
That same day, trainer Alex Guerrero photographed Brown’s card and sent it to Bucs head trainer Bobby Slater — something the team would do to help document vaccinated players. It was just a few days before training camp started. Ruiz has said he does not believe that Guerrero knew the card was fake.
Ruiz said NFL investigators did not ask him to provide any text messages from Brown or Moreau.
“I don’t know if they’re actually investigating it or not,” Ruiz said. “Did not ask for any text messages or screen grabs. I’m sure they’ve seen the (vaccination) card before they even called me.”
Ruiz told ESPN last week that Brown purchased the vaccination card from an unnamed teammate. He later told a Los Angeles radio station that he believed the player’s name was Franklin. Receiver John Franklin III, who has been on and off the Bucs practice squad since November 2019, was released by the team when it cut the roster to 85 players in August.
“(Brown) got them from another player who was selling them,” Ruiz told ESPN. “That player came over to the house multiple times. He had to get another copy of (Moreau’s) vaccine card because they got her birthday wrong on the first one.”
Creating, using and/or selling fake cards is a felony subject to fines and up to five years in prison.
Ruiz told the Times on Saturday that investigators asked about Franklin. The 27-year-old free agent, who was a scout team quarterback for part of his two years at Florida State playing behind Jameis Winston before finding a measure of fame on the Netflix series Last Chance U, is not currently with any NFL team. Franklin tore his ACL in training camp in 2020 and spent the year on injured reserve but did receive a Super Bowl ring with the Bucs.
“I told (NFL investigators) I thought Franklin was the one selling the cards,” Ruiz said. “They asked me if I saw any monetary transactions and I said, ‘No, but the cards came from him. (Brown) said he had paid for them.’”
Attempts to reach Franklin have been unsuccessful.
Brown and Ruiz eventually fell out over an uncollected debt, and the chef returned to Los Angeles. Ruiz says he is owed $10,000.
Brown became one of the first Bucs players to test positive for COVID-19 this season and missed their Week 3 game against the Rams in Los Angeles. He endured the same 10-day waiting period imposed on unvaccinated players who test positive for the virus.
Brown has said through his attorney, Sean Burstyn, that he got vaccinated through a drive-thru site. The Bucs said in a statement that they followed league protocols and “no irregularities were observed.” They made no direct reference to Brown, saying only that all their players and coaches are vaccinated.
Burstyn told The Athletic that Brown was fully vaccinated at the time he was accused of trying to obtain a fake card. If so, he delayed telling the Bucs.
Guerrero had been encouraging Brown to get vaccinated for many weeks. He confirmed that he had been treating Brown following knee surgery at the receiver’s home for at least a week in late July before Brown presented him with the COVID-19 vaccination card to photograph.
Each card should include a location, date and vaccine lot number that can be checked by the NFL or the Bucs with Brown’s permission. It is unclear what steps the Bucs took to confirm the card’s details.
Brown is out for today’s game at Indianapolis with an ankle injury.
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