After winning the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of The Year Award, Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Cameron Heyward’s The Heyward Foundation has come under scrutiny. A report by The Arizona Republic revealed that the foundation had it’s 501(c)(3) status revoked in May 2022 after failing to file federal tax returns for three consecutive years. The status was retroactively reinstated in November 2023, but “is missing or has otherwise failed to account for tens of thousands of dollars, according to experts who reviewed the organization’s tax records from 2015-18,” per the report.
The issues boil down to the hiring of Erik Bescher as the foundation’s paid tax preparer from 2015-2018.