How's this for awkward?
CNBC has learned that golfer Vijay Singh, who just a month ago signed a big sponsorship deal with troubled firm Stanford Financial, will continue to endorse the company for the foreseeable future.
Stanford Financial is his main sponsorship deal and the terms require him to wear Stanford logos prominently on his shirt and hat. Stanford is also on his golf bag.
"This has to be a business as usual approach on his end, especially with so much still unknown at this point," said Dave Haggith, a spokesman for IMG, the management company that represents Singh.
What is known is that yesterday the Securities and Exchange Commission charged the head of Stanford Financial, R. Allen Stanford, with orchestrating a $8 billion fraud, shut down the company and froze the assets of three of the companies that Stanford controls. This morning, CNBC's David Faber reported that Stanford tried to flee the country.
IMG has not had any further comment on Stanford's deal with Singh, including whether the golfer who is only second to Tiger Woods on the all-time money list ($60,768,812), had invested any money with the company or exactly how much he was paid so far. Singh is currently in Pacific Palisades, Calif., where he will play in the Northern Trust Open, which begins tomorrow.
Singh, who was born in Fiji, turns 45 on Sunday.
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Update: Singh told Reuters on Wednesday night that he was "surprised by it all." The golfer said he hopes "everything will be okay once they find out what's going on." As to the future of his endorsement deal with Stanford, Singh said "we are assuming alot. Nothing is guilty unless it is proven. It's all assumption at the moment."
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