Former Alabama All-American Mark Barron and his company, MSV Synergy LLC, have been awarded $2,784,606.61 to conclude a lawsuit that was filed on Sept. 10, 2021.

That was the judgment issued last week by Judge Edgardo Ramos in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Ramos issued the judgment after granting a motion by Barron and MSV to confirm an arbitrator’s ruling and denying a motion to vacate that award by attorney Saadia Shapiro and Paz Global Ventures LLC.

The original lawsuit alleged “defendant Saadia Shapiro used his heightened skill, knowledge and expertise as a licensed attorney in the state of New York to scam a professional football athlete out of $2 million based, at least in part, upon the false promises that he was in a unique position to deliver highly sought-after personal protection equipment. … Mr. Barron relied on these representations to his detriment because Plaintiffs neither received a single shipment of the promised personal protection equipment nor the return of their $2 million payment.”

The court-filed complaint said Shapiro indicated he could obtain powder-free, nitrile, medical-examination gloves approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from China, which led to MSV Synergy entering into an agreement to buy 250,000 boxes containing 100 medical gloves apiece on Oct. 30, 2020. A payment of $2 million was to remain in escrow until the gloves were delivered to a site in the metro New York/New Jersey area, the lawsuit says.

According to the complaint, the shipments were to begin arriving in late November or early December 2020.

On Dec. 7, 2020, the lawsuit stated, Shapiro asked for the escrowed money to be released to pay for shipping containers, with an assurance that “MSV could receive as many shipments of nitrile gloves as it wanted within 13 to 17 days of said release.”

However, the lawsuit said, despite the release of the money, MSV Synergy had neither gloves nor Barron’s $2 million.

On Sept. 7, 2022, Ramos allowed the dispute to proceed to arbitration.

On June 3, arbitrator Shira A. Scheindlin ruled that Paz Global and Shapiro had breached the terms of the Sale and Purchase Agreement with Barron and MSV Synergy and that Shapiro also breached the Escrow Agreement and the Guarantee Agreement.

Ramos followed Scheindlin’s conclusions on the damages due to close the case in his final judgment, which ordered Paz Global Ventures and Shapiro to pay Barron and MSV Synergy $2 million plus 9 percent pre-judgment interest from May 19, 2021, through Dec. 11, 2024 – another $642,082.19 – plus $63,290.76 in administrative and arbitration fees and expenses and $79,233,66 in attorney’s fees.

Barron was an All-State linebacker for St. Paul’s Episcopal in 2007, when the Mobile school posted a 14-1 record and won the AHSAA Class 5A championship.

At Alabama, Barron earned All-SEC recognition in 2009, 2010 and 2011 and All-American selection in 2011 as a safety. He entered the NFL as the seventh player picked in the 2012 draft.

During 119 NFL regular-season games, including 102 starts, Barron has made 710 tackles, recorded 12 sacks, intercepted nine passes, broke up 42 passes, forced five fumbles and recovered four fumbles. He also played in four postseason games, including Super Bowl LIII, as he moved from safety to outside linebacker to inside linebacker during his NFL career.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.