{"id":663846,"date":"2026-05-11T12:41:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T12:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/663846\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T12:41:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T12:41:13","slug":"leaked-letter-exposes-growing-rift-between-basketball-powerbrokers-larry-kestelman-and-jared-novelly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/663846\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaked letter exposes growing rift between basketball powerbrokers Larry Kestelman and Jared Novelly"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JonSave<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

AAA<\/p>\n

The feud between the billionaire basketball club owner and the sport\u2019s governing bodies has intensified, with an ambassador for Donald Trump maintaining the full report into the National Basketball League\u2019s governance must be released.<\/p>\n

In a letter by Crest Sports and Entertainment vice-chairman Terry Egger directed to NBL owner Larry Kestelman, Basketball Australia chairman John Carey and even state associations, and leaked to this masthead on Monday, Egger demanded more action be taken.<\/p>\n

\"InIn the line of fire: The NBL is run by multi-millionaire Larry Kestelman, who made his money from internet service provider Dodo.Getty<\/p>\n

As reported by this masthead, Jared Novelly \u2013 the Crest Sports boss, majority owner of the Illawarra Hawks and Trump\u2019s soon-to-be ambassador to New Zealand \u2013 and Kestelman have been at loggerheads for more than a year.<\/p>\n

Crest accused the telco and business mogul of conflicts of interest in his running of the league and queried the distribution of revenue to the competition\u2019s 10 clubs. But on April 13, a seven-month Basketball Australia independent investigation through its integrity unit dismissed Novelly\u2019s formal complaint. However, the league did not release the full report led by former solicitor-general Justin Gleeson, SC.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

In the letter released on Monday, Egger said: \u201cWe were of course very disappointed and dissatisfied with the final BA determinations from the Gleeson report. We also find it egregious the way those final determinations were presented to the public.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report, according to the press release issued by the NBL on April 13, found there was no \u201ccredible\u201d evidence Kestelman had breached the NBL\u2019s code of conduct. Gleeson dealt with all clubs and found no evidence they had been disadvantaged by Kestelman\u2019s management of the league.<\/p>\n

In the leaked letter, Crest Sports took aim at BA and the NBL.<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine our surprise then when on the very same day BA released a public statement about the determinations and at nearly the exact same time LK and the NBL released multiple statements with very similar messaging,\u201d Egger, a former publisher of the Philadelphia Inquirer, wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not aware of a situation whereby a sport governing body has collaborated and coordinated a public release with a respondent on the outcome of an investigation which in effect publicly clears the respondent and drags the name and reputation of a complainant through the mud publicly.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur concerns about BA being able to be impartial on the outcomes of the investigation and determinations were raised in the early stages of the investigation and were not theoretical.\u201d<\/p>\n

BA and the NBL released separate statements on April 13, which this masthead attained. Under BA\u2019s framework, investigation details cannot be released because of confidentiality rules.<\/p>\n

The NBL did not wish to comment on Monday. Crest Sports did not wish to comment further. BA was contacted for comment.<\/p>\n

Novelly, whose family wealth is derived from the oil industry, also has the support of majority South East Melbourne Phoenix owner Romei Chaudhari, and Perth Wildcats owner Mark Arena.<\/p>\n

\"IntentIntent on change: Illawarra Hawks owner Jared Novelly is also Donald Trump\u2019s ambassador to New Zealand.Dylan Coker<\/p>\n

\u201cCrest has honored its confidentiality obligations throughout this entire process. We feel strongly, however, that the public – and especially the key stakeholders in basketball, including the State Basketball Associations, club owners and players – deserve the release of the full report,\u201d Egger wrote.<\/p>\n

Other club bosses around the league have privately praised Kestelman for reviving the NBL from a financial basket case into a power where clubs have multi-million dollar valuations, including Melbourne United at $50 million. But Egger says club owners have also carried a major financial load.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile LK has long touted how much he has personally invested financially in the NBL, it is actually the club owners who have made and continue to make far greater financial investments,\u201d Egger said.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Josh<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIn the past five years alone, those owners have invested well over $250 million in paying the players, the coaches and staff; in engaging the fans and communities and activating the venues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Egger said BA and the NBL still had \u201cunmanaged conflicts of interest\u201d to shed.<\/p>\n

On April 13, BA chair John Carey said the sport\u2019s stakeholders \u201ccan be assured that we will work closely with the NBL to ensure the recommendations of the report are fully implemented\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a letter to club owners in March last year, Novelly proposed a $9 million takeover of the NBL<\/a>, and the removal of Kestelman as chairman. He has also taken action through the NSW Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport are sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Save<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

\"JonJon Pierik<\/a> is a sports journalist at The Age. He covers AFL and has won awards for his cricket and basketball writing.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-663846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}