Former New York Yankees catcher Jorge Posada has reportedly lost $11 million in a money-management scam that his lawyers have labeled "jaw-dropping."
The Puerto Rican catcher, once worth $117 million, was approached by a pair of Cuban-American men in 1999 who targeted Latin American baseball stars. Juan Carlos Collar and Anthony Fernandez proceeded to take total control of Posada's finances and regularly requested blind sign-offs while he was on the road, reported the N.Y. Post.
The full extent of their alleged fraud won't be revealed until they go to court next year as Posada and wife Laura prepare to sue Collar and Fernandez for $11.2 million in damages.
Posada did not discover the conspiracy until after he fired Collar and Fernandez, who operated under their own company Quantum Family Office Group, for unrelated reasons in 2010.
An independent audit by a new company unearthed the discrepancies.
According to documents seen by Vice Sports, the scams did not start until after the pair left Merrill Lynch to start up their own firm.
In one dramatic misplacement of funds, said The Post, the pair put $3 million of Posada's money into a plot of land their firm owned in Florida.
Posada was told they were "developing an elite equestrian-themed community for the wealthy" that he could have a stake in.
The land is now rented by a farmer and Posada has no control over it.
"I’ve never heard of anything like that. It’s jaw-dropping," Posada's lawyer Barry Lax said.
'They would go to Jorge and they would have a stack of documents to sign, and they would just say "Sign here."
"And Jorge would sign it. He completely trusted these guys with all of their finances.
"All of their money. Whatever the Posadas made went directly into their accounts with these guys. That’s the kind of trust they had.
"The Posadas never in any way used other money managers, other investments. Everything was through these guys."
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