Seth Vigdor
Former Eagle quarterback Mark Sanchez was among a handful of athletes that were reportedly “defrauded out of approximately $30 million as part of a Ponzi scheme” the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said. Matthew Robinson of Bloomberg News reported that Jake Peavy and Roy Oswalt joined Sanchez as the victims of this scheme. The athletes used a broker named Ash Narayan who basically stole their money. Shamoil T. Shipchandler, from the SEC’s Fort Worth office stated that “Narayan exploited athletes and other clients who trusted him to manage their finances. He fraudulently funneled their savings into a money-losing business and his own pocket.”
Robinson detailed the fraud as such:
In mid-2011, Sanchez agreed to make a $100,000 investment in TTR. Instead, Narayan forged documents and directed more than $7 million of Sanchez’s money to the ticket company, the SEC said. In total, Narayan transferred more than $33 million from all investors to TTR, earning almost $2 million in hidden compensation. The vast majority of Peavy’s personal wealth — about $15 million — was invested in the ticket company without his authorization, he said. Mark Loretta, then a teammate of Peavy on the San Diego Padres, introduced him to Narayan around 2004 or 2005. Peavy, now on the the San Francisco Giants, said he trusted Narayan because he was a certified public accountant, which wasn’t true, and because he was very involved in charitable causes including churches overseas. Peavy said he last spoke with Narayan in March, and was promised he’d get all his money back. He said he’s yet to receive any of the funds used to invest in TTR. Oswalt, who retired in 2014 after spending most of his career with the Houston Astros, met Narayan around 2002 or 2003. At one point, about 80 percent of Oswalt’s major league salary was directed to the investment account. Narayan invested at least $7 million of Oswalt’s money into TTR, without his authorization, according to the complaint.”
Unfortunately, these type of scams happen all the time, especially with professional athletes making a lot of money, which is why I urge stiff punishments for these types of crime. Innocent victims who work their asses off and put a lot of faith into brokers by giving them their hard earned money can’t really trust them. This just goes to show you that athletes aren’t immune to this type of nonsense. In fact, they’re more susceptible. Hopefully this bastard Narayan gets what’s coming to him.