Aaron Hernandez Sold Jersey Number to Ochocinco for $50K to Fund Drug Deal

Former New England Patriot and convicted murderer Aaron Hernandez committed suicide while in prison and many of the dark tales associated with the football standout are surfacing. His former lawyer, Jose Baez, is releasing a book about his time with Hernandez leading up to his murder convictions. In Unnecessary Roughness: Inside the Trial and Final Days of Aaron Hernandez, Baez details when Hernandez sold his jersey number to Chad Ochocinco for $50K. Baez said that Hernandez then took that money to "float" as an investment in a drug deal. According to Baez, Aaron made $70K in profit off that initial $50K investment.

“Aaron figured Ocho Cinco [sic] might want to wear number 85 with the Patriots so he approached Ocho Cinco [sic] and offered to sell him the number for $75,000, [...] Mr. Cinco balked at the price and countered with $50,000. Aaron accepted, gave him the number, and went back to the number 81 he had in college. Aaron took the money and floated it to his cousin’s husband, T.L. Singleton, who gave Aaron back $120,000.”

However, both Hernandez and Ochocinco said that no money was exchanged for the number swap. Hernandez told ESPN back in 2011:

"We’re playing at a high level, so all of us have a decent amount of money. I definitely should have [asked for compensation], but I didn’t. It was just a welcome to the team. … I thought he may look better and play better in 85, because that’s his last name. So why not give it to him?”

Chad followed up (in 2011): “It was Mr. Hernandez’s way of greeting me here. He gave me the number, I didn’t have to pay anything.”

Source: sports.yahoo.com