Lenny Dykstra, one of the key players on the 1993 Philadelphia Phillies team that prevented the favored Atlanta Braves from reaching a second consecutive World Series, is in a lot of hot water.
We now have to add the problem of Dykstra bankruptcy fraud to the former superstar's charges, as well as obstruction of justice, reports the New York Times. Other Dykstra misfortunes include state charges of identity theft, grand theft auto and possession of drugs.
Once worth $58 million, in 2009 Lenny Dykstra filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. Many of Dykstra’s financial problems began when he purchased Wayne Gretzky’s old house in Los Angeles, worth $18 million, and tried to “flip it” and make a profit. He ended up losing more than $8 million on it. Now, reports The Times, Dykstra cannot afford a $500,000 bond.
A Chapter 11 Bankruptcy is usually employed by financially struggling companies to try and reorganize before all their debts become too much to bear. In the event that such reorganization is unsuccessful, a company often then moves to Chapter 7, to liquidate all its assets and pay off its creditors — as was recently the case with Borders bookstores.
The Dykstra bankruptcy fraud charges stem not from his own financial failures, however, but from embezzling from a bankruptcy estate, reports the Associated Press. Apparently he had been stripping $400,000 worth of items from the former Gretzky mansion, without permission of the bankruptcy trustee.
The items Dykstra stripped included everything from memorabilia to an expensive sink.
And now Lenny Dykstra will have a much bigger sink thrown at him.
The Dykstra fraud case goes to show that the best thing to do when faced with financial difficulty is not to take matters into your own hands, but to seek out experienced guidance. Many Atlanta bankruptcy lawyers provide free initial consultations.
Who knows, it might have helped Lenny.
Related Resources:
- Find an Atlanta Bankruptcy attorney (FindLaw)
- Lenny Dykstra Charged with Bankruptcy Crime (Yahoo News)
- NFL Lockout Forces Georgia Training Alliance to File for Bankruptcy (FindLaw’s Atlanta Bankrupcy News)
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