The Financial Industry Regulatory Agency recently accused a company called Success Trade of allegedly selling $18 million in fraudulent and unregistered promissory notes to 58 clients, with Yahoo! Sports uncovering that a large portion of investors affected were professional athletes.
Dolphins defensive lineman Jared Odrick is one of those players. He has filed suit through FINRA in hopes of recovering some of his losses. Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald spoke to Odrick’s lawyers, who said that Odrick’s losses were “substantial” after he invested money with Success Trade. Odrick has also filed suit against Jinesh “Hodge” Brahmbhatt of Jade Management, a financial adviser who helped set up several athlete clients with Success Trade.
It’s a sadly common story that athletes wind up making investments with people more interested in ripping them off than managing their money, but there’s a little twist to this story. Brahmbhatt is on the NFLPA’s list of registered advisers and Odrick’s lawyers say that their client consulted that list before deciding to go ahead with the investment.
“They cleared this guy,” said Jeffrey Erez, who is representing Odrick in the suit along with other attorneys. “That’s what the horrible part is. Jared’s a good kid. He did exactly what he was supposed to do.”
Brahmbhatt has no record of illegal activity with FINRA, but Success Trade has been previously cited by the agency for violations of the securities regulations. According to Yahoo! Sports, Browns cornerback Joe Haden, 49ers tight end Vernon Davis and former Redskins running back Clinton Portis have also been clients of Jade Management and purchased promissory notes from Success Trade, which also faces investigations from other government agencies into these allegations.
