Roquan Smith requested a trade away from the Bears on August 9th. Now, it’s the subject of more controversy just a week later.
On Monday, the Smith saga took a strange turn, as Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk reported that someone representing Smith was “calling other teams to gauge potential trade interest.”
Of course, as Florio pointed out, there were a couple of problems with this:
This is a problem for two reasons. First, the person is not an NFLPA certified agent. He cannot represent Smith or any other player. Second, Smith has not received permission to seek a trade.
Basically, the person is setting up a potential tampering trap for any team that has conversations about Smith or doesn’t promptly notify the Bears of illegal contact.
Florio’s report raised some old questions along with a key question that must have bothered the NFL: Who was this mystery man representing Smith in trade discussions?
NFL fans now have their answer.
MORE: Roquan Smith explains trade request away from Bears
Seconds ESPN’s Courtney Cronin, the NFL notified its 32 teams in a memo that Saint Omni was the person contacting them about Smith. The league explained that it was not certified by the NFLPA to do so.
Mr. Omni is prohibited from negotiating player contracts or discussing potential trades on behalf of any NFL player or potential player or assisting or advising in connection with such negotiations.
Who exactly is Saint Omni? Here’s what we know about the man who was looking to help Smith get traded.
MORE: Five potential landing spots for Roquan Smith
Who is Saint Omni?
Saint Omni was listed as a director of football for LifeLine Financial Group a a 2021 complex article about Laremy Tunsil. The article had a publication date of November 4, 2021 and said that Omni had “assisted Tunsil during his extension negotiations.”
This matches what his Facebook page said about him. Omni was listed as a “business consultant and manager of high-profile NFL athletes and celebrities” on his personal page, according to USA Today.
However, Omni’s page had not been updated for two years when accessed by USA Today; it has since been deleted.
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LifeLine Financial Group describes itself as “wealth management for global athletes, entertainers and influencers” in its LinkedIn page. Interestingly, LifeLine Financial Group’s website leads the way only to a company logo superimposed on a photo of a man writing something with a child on either side.
There is no public record of Omni among LifeLine employees on LinkedIn. The company confirmed it exists, according to 670 The Score, but says it’s “never in the same place twice.”
.@ReyMDiaz – who has just been promoted to lead investigative reporter 670 – is chasing Roquan Smith’s pseudo-agent Saint Omni for an interview.
Omni’s workplace confirms he exists, but he’s “never in the same place twice” and won’t hand over his cell phone. pic.twitter.com/0mN63nvLOx
— 670 The Score (@670TheScore) August 15, 2022
Information about Omni is certainly scarce, and this contributes to the intriguing mystery surrounding Smith’s unauthorized agent.
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The Sporting News will update information related to Smith and Omni as it becomes available.
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