Despite the perception of some, plenty of NBA players are smart about their money. Like anyone who makes seven or eight digits, the smart players want to put that money to work to make more money (I’m told, I don’t exactly know that first hand). They are looking for investments.
And like a number of wealthy folks, sometimes they get scammed.
Federal financial regulators broke up an alleged $18 million scam by Success Trade Securities selling fraudulent and unregistered promissory notes. And it turns out a number of NFL and NBA players — among them the Pistons’ Brandon Knight — were among those scammed. Yahoo Sports has the details.On the heels of regulators red-flagging a potential $18 million scam last week, multiple federal agencies are probing investments sold to NFL and NBA players, Yahoo! Sports has learned.
According to multiple sources that spoke to Yahoo! Sports on the condition of anonymity, several professional athletes have either been contacted or been urged to contact investigators from the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Apparently Jade Management — a company who helps handle the finances of some professional athletes —recommended the Success Trade Securities bonds. Jade’s officials claim they did not personally profit from the deals, either way this certainly will not help their business reputation.
File this in your “if the deal sounds too good to be true…” folder.
By the way, if you’re saying this happens to athletes and not people who know money I have two words for you: Bernie Madoff.