http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/n ... bba3f13662
The NRL’s highest-profile player, Gold Coast’s Jarryd Hayne, has been caught on video appearing to hand a $5000 wad of cash to a man understood to be an “enforcer” with the Hells Angels outlaw motorcycle gang.
Just 24 hours after the Titans were bundled out of the finals series by Brisbane, Hayne was caught on camera apparently joy-riding around the Gold Coast’s nightclub precinct with alleged bikie and former Titans junior Chris Bloomfield.
Bloomfield’s name shot to prominence during the Titans’ horror start to the 2015 season, having been arrested the previous May on extortion charges police believe related directly to a series of unpaid drug debts.
His continued association with contracted players at the club was flagged as a concern by chief executive Graham Annesley at the time, but it became lost amid the various dramas that emerged as part of the cocaine scandal that engulfed the three main football codes in southeast Queensland early last year.
In the video, obtained by The Daily Telegraph, Bloomfield appears to receive a huge pile of cash from Hayne before turning and looking directly at the camera and saying: “Haynsey just gave me five grand.”
Hayne, who signed a 2½-year contract worth $2.4m with the Titans in August, is then heard to respond in a somewhat cryptic manner. “Cash money fam,” Hayne says with a shrug of his shoulder. “Cash money … Give me a f- cigarette.”
It is believed the video was sent from Bloomfield’s Snapchat account to friends.
Hayne’s manager and friend Wayne Beavis said today that the star didn’t realise Bloomfield was a Hells Angels bikie and simply bumped into the alleged standover man at a party.
“I’ve spoken to Jarryd and he said ‘it was just beers with the boys’,” he told the Daily Telegraph today. “The money’s not his, he would ever be walking around with five grand in his pocket.
“He says he doesn’t even know the bloke.They aren’t even mates.He just happened to be there.”
Jarryd Hayne on Snapchat with Chris Bloomfield. Picture: Snapchat
Jarryd Hayne on Snapchat with Chris Bloomfield. Picture: Snapchat
News Corp publications reported last night that Hayne, 28, had been issued with a warning by the NRL Integrity Unit about associating with alleged criminals.
NRL sources reportedly confirmed Hayne has been previously warned by the Integrity Unit about associating with known and accused criminals. Bloomfield is facing extortion charges at Southport Magistrate Court and said to be a Hells Angels bikie according to detectives from Queensland’s Taskforce Maxima.
The images come after the NRL has repeatedly warned players this year not to consort with bikies and known and accused criminals.
The Titans said in a statement last night they had been made aware of the existence of the video. “We are liaising with the (NRL) Integrity Unit and the players over the matter and have no further comment until those discussions are complete,” the statement said