McKee reimburses marketing firm for Clippers tickets arranged by RIFC owner 40%
By Patrick Anderson60%
8/3/2026, 12:03:56 PM
Keywords: Kawhi Leonard, Dan Mckee, Rhode Island Fc, Clippers, Tickets, Reimbursement, Brett Johnson, Stefan Pryor, James Bennett, 380 Amk
BS Summary: This article contains 16 faulty reasoning types, including Unattributed Quote, Ambiguity (Equivocation), and Red Herring, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 18.1% saturation with 126 hits. Analysis detected 747 faulty-reasoning hits from 697 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 39.2% and a BS Rank of 40% (16,148 of 26,881 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 60.10% of the article peer group.
Rhode Island Gov.
Dan McKee reimbursed a Spanish marketing firm €541 for a ticket to see the first NBA regular season game at the Los Angeles Clippers' new Southern California arena last fall, according to documents provided by the governor's office.
Including the wire transfer fee and exchange rate, McKee spent $659.38 to see Clippers player and Rhode Island FC investor Kawhi Leonard take on the Phoenix Suns on Oct.
24, 2025.
The state's top two economic development, Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor and Commerce Corporation President James Bennett, joined McKee at the game, as did Rhode Island FC owner Brett Johnson.
Pryor and Bennett also reimbursed the Madrid-based firm 380 AMK for the tickets, McKee's office said Monday, Aug.
3.
The basketball tickets, first reported by WPRI-TV along with Leonard's Rhode Island investment, would have been free had the state officials not asked to reimburse 380 AMK, documents and responses to Journal questions provided Monday indicate.
McKee, Pryor and Bennett traveled to California last fall to meet with companies and attend a Stanford University panel on the maritime economy.
"On his own time, the governor was interested in attending a basketball game and reached out to Brett Johnson, who lives in Los Angeles and connected the group with 380 AMK, a sports marketing agency that hosts visitors at the arena," McKee Communications Director Andrea Palagi wrote.
The Rhode Island officials "asked to reimburse 380 AMK at the time they attended the game and called 380 AMK thereafter to remind that they needed to be invoiced."
380 AMK invoiced McKee, in Spanish, on Feb. of 19 this year and Navigant Credit Union wired the requested amount on McKee's behalf on Feb. 25, according to copies of receipts recording the transaction.
Pryor and Bennett received and paid similar invoices according to receipts provided by the state Executive Office of Commerce.
McKee's trip to the Clippers game was reported as part of a larger series of investigations by WPRI and podcaster Pablo Torre into Leonard and whether the Clippers broke NBA salary limits by using outside business deals to compensate him.
It is not clear how, if at all, Leonard's investment in Rhode Island FC has benefitted him.
He is not known to have visited Pawtucket.
Real estate development promised around Rhode Island FC's new Centreville Bank Stadium has not yet materialized.
"Rhode Island FC has not made any payments, disbursements or provided any other compensation to any of our investors related to their investment in the club," team spokesman Thomas Caughlin wrote in an email.
Mckee Monday dismissed the controversy over how the Clippers paid Leonard as an NBA matter with no impact on Rhode Island policy.
Accepting a gift worth more than $50 from someone with business before the state, however, could be an issue.
Palagi wrote that even if McKee had not reimbursed the value of the tickets, it would not violate any rules because 380 AMK does not have business with the state.
That assumes the gift was not on behalf of Johnson, who "connected" the Rhode Island contingent to 380 AMK and does have business with the state.
Mckee cast the tiebreaking vote to finance Centreville Bank Stadium amid rising costs and soaring interest rates with significant state subsidy.
Caughlin said Johnson "did not pay 380 AMK for the tickets provided to Governor Dan McKee, or any other State employees."
In a radio debate Monday, Democratic primary challenger Helena Foulkes asked McKee to "show us the receipts" for his Clippers tickets, which he has now done.
One more wrinkle to the Clippers tickets is who owned the seats McKee, Pryor and Bennett sat in.
A Jan. 9 text message provided by McKee's office between someone named "Sheja" and someone named "Alex" trying to arrange invoices for the tickets asks: "Did you have any luck on how we want to handle the invoicing for the tickets for LA Mayor and Rhode Island Governor?
(price and if we do through Rwanda or through 380 AMK?)"
It is not clear if Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, another Democrat locked in an tough reelection fight, sat near McKee.
Speakers
4speakers28%attributed speech501writer words
Selected voice
100%flagged-word coverageHelena Foulkes
26 attributed words13% of attributed speech65% writer coverage
Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.
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