Ex-baseball star and 'financial guru' Lenny Dykstra is bankrupt

[Liberal_in_LA]

Ex-baseball star and bankrupt financial 'guru' Dykstra envisions a comeback
After retiring from baseball, Lenny Dykstra reinvented himself as a financial advisor and embodied the lifestyle of Wall Street excess. He has since come crashing down, but 'Nails' is determined to fight his way back.


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Dykstra's bankruptcy filing lists assets of $24.6 million and debts of $37.1 million. Unsecured creditors, which number close to 100, offer a snapshot of his former life as a high roller: credit card companies, the Carlyle hotel in New York, Mercedes-Benz Financial, the venerable Rubenstein public relations firm and several former employees, including the pilots of his private jet.

The Gretzky mansion is by far the most valuable and hotly contested piece. Claimants include Wall Street titan JP Morgan Chase & Co. and private equity firm Index Investors.

Dykstra currently lives in a two-bedroom bachelor pad in the Westwood high-rise, where, according to court documents, he has missed several months of rent. He is also fighting eviction attempts by Wells Fargo, which foreclosed on the property's owners.

The apartment is filled with remnants of his flush days, including flat-screen televisions, sports memorabilia and ornate office furniture. Photographs of his three sons — his middle son, Cutter, is a minor league baseball player — are scattered throughout the place. His desk displays a framed photo of Dykstra with President George H.W. Bush smiling on a sunny golf course.

When not in court, the retired center fielder spends most of his time in his living room staring at two flat-screen computer monitors, firing off e-mails to people involved in his case, plotting a financial comeback and chugging Red Bull energy drinks.

Dykstra said he moved into the apartment last winter after living for months in various odd spots including an airplane hangar and his car after the mansion was placed under control of the court. His attempt to retake the Thousand Oaks property this summer was short-lived, and the court has barred him from returning there.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/oct/05/business/la-fi-lenny-dykstra-20101006

[sharp_stick]

1. They don't come much dumber than "Nails"

Jim Cramer and buddies took this idiot for a ride and they don't even feel guilty about it.

[joeybee12]

2. Wow, you read that article and end up thinking...

Geesh, what a really dumb guy.

[Tempest]

4. And the people who invested in him

If I'm going use someone for investment advice, I'm going to look for someone who has more experience than just hitting and fielding a ball.

[Tempest]

3. Another wingnut reaping what he sowed

Nails is getting what he deserves.

[KamaAina]

5. A four-page article on Dykstra that doesn't mention the gambling

:eyes:

between that and the 'roids, perhaps the Mets should be forced to vacate their '86 Series title a la USC and Reggie Bush. :-)

[hunter]

6. ESPN has some great stuff...

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4145589

"When Carolyn Cain answered a Craigslist classified for a corporate flight attendant, she had no idea her future boss would be Dykstra. But she got acquainted with "Nails" quickly. Cain told ESPN.com that on her first trip with him in late March -- a flight from Southern California to Cleveland, with a stop in Cincinnati -- Dykstra persuaded her to use her credit card to pay for part of the cost to charter the private jet. She was fired in Cleveland, though, when she refused to let her card be tapped to cover some of the $277,000 owed on his own Gulfstream jet, which is still being held there by an aviation firm that upgraded and serviced the plane."

[Liberal_in_LA]

8. wow. An employee being 'persuaded' to use her credit card to charter private jet

wow

[devilgrrl]

7. Check out my little violin....

:nopity:

[ornotna]

9. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

What a knucklehead.

http://www.gq.com/sports/profiles/200903/lenny-dykstra-magazine