NFLPA countersues in hedge fund case

? The National Football League Players Association is countersuing six current and former players who are seeking to hold the union and league liable for millions of dollars they lost in an alleged fraud scheme.

The NFLPA, in papers filed last week in federal court in Atlanta, accuses Steve Atwater, Ray Crockett, Al Smith, Blaine Bishop, Carlos Emmons and Clyde Simmons of breach of contract.

The action by the union follows a lawsuit filed last June against the NFL and NFLPA by the players over $20 million they lost by investing their money with a hedge fund manager that they say the union endorsed even though the manager had liens against him.

The fund manager, Kirk Wright, was arrested in Miami Beach, Fla., last May on federal fraud charges and is awaiting trial.