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Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Lenny Dykstra files 'difficult, necessary' bankruptcy

UPDATED: Phillie-turned-would-be stock-option guru Lenny Dykstra owes more than $10 million to JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and other creditors, and owns less than $50,000 to pay them with, his Los Angeles bankruptcy filing says. NEW: Read Dykstra's bankruptcy filing

"Sometimes the difficult decisions in life are the most necessary," Dykstra wrote me in an email. "In the end, the restructuring will definitely be a good thing." Yes, he's filed for voluntary Chapter 11.

A good thing, for whom? Dykstra owes, among others:
$12.9 million, unsecured, to Washington Mutual (now part of JPMorgan Chase & Co.)
$4.2 million, unsecured, to Bank of America's Countrywide and credit card units
$3.5 million to Rockbridge Bank, Atlanta, Ga.
$2.5 million to David and Teresa Litt, real estate pros in Calabasas, Calif.
$1.5 million to K & L Gates LLP, a Santa Monica law firm
$1.1 million to United Commercial Bank, San Francisco
$962,000 to private-jet companies in New York, Cleveland and California
$512,000 to the California state labor department's enforcement unit

And hundreds of thousands more, each, to celebrity lawyer Daniel Petrocelli, New York literary agent David Vigliano, California anaesthesiologist Dr. Festus Dada, former publisher Doubledown Media, Index Investors, Wachovia Securities, and more. And smaller amounts to New York's Carlyle and Jumeirah Essex hotels, Verizon, UPS, AmEx, Citibank, and other private-jet companies. Tho nobody in Philly.

Just last week, Dykstra was still soliciting $995/year subscriptions to his newsletter at www.nailsinvestments.com, after his column was dropped by Jim Cramer's TheStreet.com. "Nails" claimed he had a record of better than 100-0 in stock options calls. Tho he ignored my request to prove it. Readers who complained about his claims said such results would only be possible, and still not much, if he'd kept counting performance until the blue-chip stocks he mostly bet on finally rose, instead of admitting defeat when his contracts expired underwater. Like the stopped clock that's still right twice a day.

Which just raises the old question: If he's so smart, how come he's not rich?

ESPN report here.
Posted by Joseph N. DiStefano @ 12:39 PM  Permalink | 56 comments
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:06 PM, 07/08/2009
    Finally, some verifiable truth on this story. Dykstra is a liar.
    — p-diddy
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:27 PM, 07/08/2009
    Just as big a dirtball as Jim Cramer.
    — G
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:40 PM, 07/08/2009
    Some people, Dystra included, are so completely full of it. A couple of weeks ago, while being interviewed in a sparcely furnished home he couldn't afford, he relayed to the reporter that, despite all outward signs, everything was OK. What fantasy world do these folks live in?
    — pajamas
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:47 PM, 07/08/2009
    He lost me as a fan when he spit on nurses in the hospital emergency room after a game sustained injury. What a tough guy. If I ever run onto him, I'll spit in his lying face.
    — jeannie182003
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:50 PM, 07/08/2009
    people should stick to what they know
    — thomas jordan
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:53 PM, 07/08/2009
    Just disgusting greed.. Dykstra made millions as a ballplayer and could have lived a very comfortable post-baseball life off his car washes, baseball pension, life savings and supplementing his income through card shows and other baseball related public appearances. Bleeping Idiot~
    — Ashburn072
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:55 PM, 07/08/2009
    That's funny. Just last week he said everything was okay and he was telling everyone to go F themselves. Did he do work for Fumo???
    — The-Roof-Is-On-Fire
  • Comment removed.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:11 PM, 07/08/2009
    He got what he desrved. He was, is now, and always will be an egotistical bully.
    — rmw38
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:12 PM, 07/08/2009
    Another lying, roid head? Shocker
    — kspiegs
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:14 PM, 07/08/2009
    How the mighty have fallen, what a shame, but he has only to blame himself!!
    — cote32
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:22 PM, 07/08/2009
    I think Pajamas is talking about the HBO story from Real Sports. If you haven't seen it, it should be On Demand. Dykstra's a trip. Not sure who's worse, him or Dutch...though at least Dutch doesn't owe his flight attendant something like $11k.
    — B in DC
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:22 PM, 07/08/2009
    I think Pajamas is talking about the HBO story from Real Sports. If you haven't seen it, it should be On Demand. Dykstra's a trip. Not sure who's worse, him or Dutch...though at least Dutch doesn't owe his flight attendant something like $11k.
    — B in DC


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About Joseph N. DiStefano
Joseph N. DiStefano writes this blog to feed his PhillyDeals column in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Joe has been a member of Bloomberg LP’s New York Finance Team, wrote the book “Comcasted,” taught writing at St. Joseph’s University, and studied economics and history at Penn. Reach Joe at 215-854-5194 and JoeD@phillynews.com
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