Lenny Dykstra arrested, facing bankruptcy fraud charges [Updated]
U.S. prosecutors Friday charged famed baseball outfielder Lenny Dykstra with bankruptcy fraud.
According to a statement by prosecutors, Dykstra was taken into custody at his Encino home Thursday night. The charge relates to fraud Dykstra allegedly committed involving the sale of items from a Ventura County mansion he owned.
"The federal charges stem from a bankruptcy case that Dykstra filed on July 7, 2009," the statement said. "The criminal case filed in U.S. District Court alleges that Dykstra removed, destroyed and sold property that was part of the bankruptcy estate without the permission of the bankruptcy trustee.
According to prosecutors, "Dykstra admitted in a bankruptcy hearing to having arranged the sale of sports memorabilia and a dresser that were property of the bankruptcy estate; and Dykstra “ripped out” a $50,000 sink from his mansion and took granite from the mansion and installed it in an office he set up at the Camarillo airport after he had filed for bankruptcy protection."
[Updated at 1:14 p.m.: The Los Angeles Police Department Commercial Crimes Division arrested Dykstra in Encino at 8 p.m. Thursday on separate grand theft charges related to the purchase of vehicles.
He was arrested by the Forgery Section of the of LAPD Commercial Crimes Division. The LAPD made the arrest following an investigation. He was held on $500,000 bail.]
As his baseball career wound down, Dykstra gained success as a businessman, first with a luxury car wash in Corona that the ballplayer dubbed “the Taj Mahal” of car washes. He then expanded the business to other parts of Southern California and in 2007 sold it to investors.
Dykstra also took his head-first style to Wall Street after teaching himself financial analysis and striking up a friendship with CNBC “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer, who hired Dykstra to write a stock-picking column for his influential website, TheStreet.com.
ALSO:
USD coach would feel 'betrayed' if bribery allegations against former star are true
Approvals for L.A.'s downtown football stadium could take a year, report says
Barry Bonds verdict moves baseball's steroid scandal into the past
--Richard Winton and Alejandro Lazo
Photo: Lenny Dykstra in July 2010. Credit: Katie Falkenberg/For The Times
EDITOR'S PICKS:
Cramer picked this guy in bankruptcy to write a column on investing...
Posted by: Kevin | April 15, 2011 at 01:09 PM
Desperation leads one to take a lot of unreasonable and unnecessary actions to continue their lifestyle and maintain a facade. Another victim voluntarily thrown on the junk heap of greed and avarice.
Posted by: mansterEZ1 | April 15, 2011 at 01:52 PM
Nails is the man !! If you ain't cheatin, you ain't trying!!
Posted by: OCHS2011fan | April 15, 2011 at 01:52 PM
Would you trust investment advice from someone who spent $50,000.00 dollars on a sink?
Posted by: Bill | April 15, 2011 at 02:00 PM
Dykstra = Cramer = Diaster
Posted by: chinese_playground | April 15, 2011 at 02:23 PM
Couldn't happen to a nicer Guy
He was a dirty player and a drunk
Posted by: Dennis Burlingame | April 15, 2011 at 02:35 PM
How could such a thing happen to Sheen's new BFF? Couldn't happen to a nastier guy.
Posted by: Dan m | April 15, 2011 at 03:11 PM
Remember when his 17.5 million$ mansion got foreclosed on and Lenny smeared the walls with his own feces? He's that kind of guy.
Posted by: Dan m | April 15, 2011 at 03:14 PM
garden grove cud not be more proud...
Posted by: jack | April 15, 2011 at 03:17 PM
Two national magazines (New Yorker, SI?) did profiles of him that made it pretty obvious that Dykstra was just a big-talking con artist. Cramer claimed he was some kind of savant re: stocks, but it turns out that, as usual, he is just a crook, gifted at taking people's money, like every other so-called financial expert.
Posted by: bubbles | April 15, 2011 at 03:20 PM
He'll end up working at one of those car washes he sold to investors...the way he's going.
Posted by: Frenchtickler75 | April 15, 2011 at 03:27 PM
Dykstra deserves every bad thing that is happening to him. A truly wretched human being.
Posted by: BJ | April 15, 2011 at 03:51 PM
Bankruptcy fraud is rampant across America. It's too easy to hide assets and then sell them off before having their homes and other assets seized. Typically, government is asleep at the wheel--or at their desks.
Posted by: wowlfie | April 15, 2011 at 03:53 PM
Kramer comes out of this sounding like the bigger idiot because he was so infatuated by him.
"Who is the bigger fool? The fool or the fool that follows the fool?" - Obi Won Kenobi
:-)
Posted by: Rob | April 15, 2011 at 03:54 PM
" CNBC “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer, who hired Dykstra to write a stock-picking column for his influential website, TheStreet.com. " ?
Really ? and he ended up in bankruptcy ?
How did those who followed his advice fare ?
Posted by: kathleen | April 15, 2011 at 04:07 PM
"Would you trust investment advice from someone who spent $50,000.00 dollars on a sink?"
Posted by: Bill | April 15, 2011 at 02:00 PM
That pretty much sums it up, doesn't it?
Posted by: Windfall | April 15, 2011 at 04:34 PM
Dykstra is a complete disaster as a human being in addition to being a total fraud. Just Google "Lenny Dykstra" and you will see tha many stories that detail just what type of retched individual Dykstra is. One of the internet stories even details how Lenny ripped of his own mother for thousands of dollars.
Posted by: Yield Junkie | April 15, 2011 at 04:52 PM
Let's see if THIS sports celebrity can get jailed.
Whatever their sport, they've all learned to skate.
Posted by: Earl Graystoke | April 15, 2011 at 04:57 PM
Just another American Hero
Posted by: hf2hvit | April 15, 2011 at 05:01 PM
I have always been amazed how someone can get so rich and then end up dead broke anyway. So this guy fancied himself as some kind of financial wizard, even writing a column about how to invest on Wall Street. I learned a long time ago that you should never take financial advice from a pauper or a loser. Now that he's dead broke, bankrupt and facing fraud charges I'm thinking that the terms 'pauper' and 'loser' definitely apply.
Posted by: Dr. Jerry | April 15, 2011 at 05:10 PM
another baseball criminal..... no surprise there....
Posted by: Borchy | April 15, 2011 at 05:30 PM
Anything that gets close to that Jim Cramer guy turns to dung. The man doesn't know what he's talking about most of the time.
Posted by: w1n5t0n | April 15, 2011 at 05:31 PM
This is a crime by Dykstra against government laws. Period. I can't see what he did to any real person, can't understand all the dissing against him. He's a human being who fell on hard times, and made some bad decisions. Give him a break.
Posted by: dianeNYC | April 15, 2011 at 05:51 PM
I wonder what the sink looks like?
Posted by: Insurrextion | April 15, 2011 at 06:11 PM
Well we sure can't afford to blow up other countries if people don't pay their bills!! Lenny is gonna have to go over and wash the army vehicles and promise not to do this again? Is everybody excited about the Dodgers and the police now you can get drunk and not get beat up...
Posted by: seamus | April 15, 2011 at 06:26 PM