Key Tax Considerations and Planning for Student-Athletes

Mr. Fortuna is a partner in Greenspoon Marder’s Corporate & Business practice group. With over four decades of professional tax experience, he concentrates his practice on domestic and international tax, business and estate planning, employee benefits, and executive compensation matters with special expertise in Employee Stock Ownership Plans. Mr. Fortuna has substantial experience representing clients in the entertainment, sports, higher education, clean energy, health care, hospitality, non-profit, manufacturing, retail, and real estate industries. He is well-versed in representing business entities, owners and executives, fiduciaries and beneficiaries of trusts and estates, and non-profit entities regarding all types of federal and state income, estate, and gift taxes. As a seasoned attorney in tax controversies, Mr. Fortuna regularly represents taxpayers in civil and criminal tax audits, investigations, and administrative appeals before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and various state, local and foreign taxing authorities and in tax litigation before federal and state courts and tax tribunals.

Ms. Hampton is a partner in the Entertainment and Sports and Corporate practice groups at Greenspoon Marder LLP. She offers a dynamic blend of transactional, corporate, regulatory, intellectual property, and litigation expertise, ensuring her clients’ needs are met with precision and insight. As a former public and private sector chief legal officer, Ms. Hampton specializes in high-value mergers and acquisitions, finance, high-stakes disputes, and conflict resolution. After three decades in public and private practice, she launched her own firm with a thriving roster of elite NBA, NFL, SEC, ACC, MEAC and PAC12 athletes. As a founding partner in the sports, entertainment and hospitality space, Ms. Hampton executed over $100 million in brand partnerships with Fortune 100 companies. She has led major transactions across various industries, including global sports sponsorships, the consolidation of a global bank conglomerate, the sale of an international hospitality brand, a construction merger, and the sale and purchase of multiple business assets for athletes, actors, producers, and TV film and digital creatives. Ms. Hampton leverages her extensive experience to mediate complex corporate and regulatory conflicts, fostering mutually beneficial resolutions and minimizing litigation risk.

Mr. Stathopoulos is an Of Counsel in Greenspoon Marder LLP’s Entertainment & Sports and Tax practice groups. His practice is concentrated on entertainment incentives for film, television, digital entertainment and music clients, state and local taxation, and film and television corporate and transactional work. With more than 27 years of state tax and entertainment law experience, Mr. Stathopoulos currently represents or has represented major motion picture studios, streaming platforms, television networks, cable companies, independent film production companies, digital game companies, and lenders in film tax credit lending deals. He has represented clients in connection with film tax credit transfer/lending deals totaling over $250 million. Mr. Stathopoulos is a Board member and Chair, Policy and Political Engagement Committee, with the Georgia Screen Entertainment Coalition, the leading voice of the entertainment industry in Georgia. He is also a Board member of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Stathopoulos also serves on the Georgia Department of Revenue Film Tax Credit Advisory Board and is a former chair of the Taxation Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia. As such, he has helped shape tax policy related to the Georgia Entertainment Industry Investment Act, which helped make Georgia one of the leading U.S. destinations for film, television, and digital entertainment productions. Mr. Stathopoulos is also a frequent speaker on entertainment incentives and state and local tax issues. Additionally, he has been published or quoted in various publications, including Variety, Total Retail, Oz Magazine, The Journal of Multistate Taxation, Atlanta Business Chronicle, and State Tax Notes.