Debt Nails Dykstra
Former professional baseball player Lenny Dykstra has run into a financial wall, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.Dykstra, who had entered a second act as a financial guru after retiring from baseball in 1998, listed more than $10 million of liabilities in documents filed Tuesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Central District of California. The tobacco-chewing, hard-charging outfielder, who earned the nickname "Nails" during his 12-year big league career, has less than $50,000 of assets, according to the filing.
A number of big banks are on the hook for unsecured debt, including units of Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Dykstra faces numerous lawsuits over his post-baseball business dealings.
Jonathan Hayes, listed in court filings as Dykstra's lawyer, did not respond to an e-mail request for comment. B of A and JPMorgan Chase would not comment.
Fallback Plan?
Some executives have fascinating side projects.Take, for example, Sarah Moore, the chief financial officer at Colonial BancGroup Inc., who has an ownership stake in a deer hunting service, a consulting business for 911 call centers and a rental home in North Carolina. The disclosures were made as part of the Montgomery, Ala., company's application for a thrift charter as it plans to sell itself to Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp.
When asked about the ventures, Moore explained that Henderson Hunting Services is a business she shares with three brothers. It sells hunting club memberships for family-owned property. The 911 business is run by her husband, and the couple owns a 25% share in the North Carolina property.
"I am a passive owner in all of these as my focus is on being CFO of Colonial Bank," she wrote in an e-mail. "None of my interests have any loans or other relationships with Colonial."
Main Street Banking
A few protestors against Wells Fargo & Co.'s lending practices are taking their grievances to the street — literally.Employees of Quad City Die Casting —, a Moline, Ill., company slated to close this month — staged a roadblock outside a nearby Wells Fargo branch Thursday.
The workers, and their union, the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, accuse Wells of cutting off credit to the company, forcing it to close.
"Wells Fargo is throwing us out of work and hurting our economy in the process," said Keith Schribner, the president of UE Local 1174 and a worker at Quad City. "That's why we are prepared to get arrested to show the world that this bank is a roadblock to economic recovery. They take our bailout billions but then won't keep America working. On top of that, they deny us benefits we are legally owed and have earned!"
