Bryan Berard and other current/former NHL players scammed out of Millions

[Axeman33]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/i-...icle-1.1386771

Wow, quite the story.

[LawMan]

Wow, totally crazy but not all that surprising. Pro athletes are the perfect marks to buy into investments like this, they have very high incomes, low educations levels and are too busy focusing on their career to worry about the investment. Hockey is especially bad because kids as young as juniors can be exposed to agents/advisors whereas NCAA players are much more protected from them.

The fast-talking slick guy builds trust with the player and explains how they together can make all kinds of money with any amazing new business idea. I suspect these things usually start out legit but extremely high risk, then, the combination of high risk, lack of complete financing, and crappy managers who siphon off enough money to throw crazy parties catches up with them and the project ends up bankrupt. Only then does the player realize the money’s all gone and all he has is a 2% stake in some golf course that hasn’t sold 10% of the projections because it’s not complete and since there is no money left it hasn’t been maintained. Ultimately the whole thing gets sold in liquidation to another company who gets it for a steal in an attempt to complete the project and the player is left with 5% of whatever he invested in the project.

[The Comish]

The fast-talking slick guy builds trust with the player and explains how they together can make all kinds of money with any amazing new business idea. I suspect these things usually start out legit but extremely high risk, then, the combination of high risk, lack of complete financing, and crappy managers who siphon off enough money to throw crazy parties catches up with them and the project ends up bankrupt. Only then does the player realize the money’s all gone and all he has is a 2% stake in some golf course that hasn’t sold 10% of the projections because it’s not complete and since there is no money left it hasn’t been maintained. Ultimately the whole thing gets sold in liquidation to another company who gets it for a steal in an attempt to complete the project and the player is left with 5% of whatever he invested in the project.

Hmmm, you sure seem to know what you are talking about...just sayin'!!

[mounD]

Wow. Gotta say I wish the best to these guys: Berard, Lehtinen, Stumpel, Gonchar, etc.

It's really a shame to see stories like these. Lets hope that, in spite of the odds being stacked against them, these former / current players can recover their money and lead normal post-NHL lives.