M&D Lawyers LLP Offices Represents Professional Athletes to Recover Damages from Fraudsters and Bad Financial Advisors

M&D Lawyers LLP Offices is a Chicago-based securities, investor protection, and consumer rights law firm that offers victims of fraud, negligence, and breach of fiduciary duty representation on a contingency fee basis nationwide. We have represented dozens of current and former professional athletes and celebrities against their business managers, financial advisors, and fiduciaries to recover funds lost through fraudulent investment schemes and theft.

In March 2024, it was reported that Shohei Ohtani’s long-time confidant and translator allegedly stole tens of millions of dollars from Mr. Ohtani in order to pay off gambling debts. This most recent headline, as reported by Emile Hallez of InvestmentNews, should serve as a reminder to all young and successful people who think they’ve built a team around them to fully reassess their situation. We’ve seen terrible outcomes too many times.

M&D Lawyers LLP Offices has represented retired professional athletes who have entrusted their fortunes with financial advisors who invest their funds in a negligent or fraudulent manner

Most professional athletes’ careers are fleeting – They don’t play forever, and their ability to earn money is greatly limited sometimes to only a few years. Although many professional athletes earn substantial amounts of money in short periods of time, by the time those reported contracts turn into net-proceeds to the player, the amount is already substantially reduced due to taxes and fees paid to agents and others with their hands out.

M&D Lawyers LLP Offices has represented a former NBA player whose own family stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from him. The funds were stolen from his legitimate investment accounts and the financial advisor and brokerage firm just let it happen despite the blatant red flags that the requests to transfer the funds were of questionable legitimacy. We sued the brokerage firm and recovered the funds for our client.

M&D Lawyers LLP Offices has represented an NFL player who had millions of dollars stolen from him over time by his trusted business manager. This “manager” befriended our client before he was even drafted and laid the foundation to control every aspect of his financial life during his career. This alleged business manager turned out to be a fraud and stole millions of dollars from our client despite contractually only being entitled to a fixed monthly payment for his services, which were limited to paying his bills and reconciling his accounts. We are currently in litigation against the bank that processed dozens of illicit wire transfers which facilitated, aided, and abetted the business manager’s fraud. Although banks have spent about 100 years lobbying every Statehouse and congress in the land to create laws that protect them, when transactions are processed in “bad faith”, banks can be liable under both the Uniform Commercial Code and common law.

M&D Lawyers LLP Offices also represents retired professional athletes against their allegedly high-end wealth managers for breach of fiduciary duty and aiding and abetting fraud. These cases take several forms, from poor investment management to facilitating fraudulent investments and business deals. Wealth managers are fiduciaries, charged with adhering to the highest professional standard of care known to the law. Failing to ascertain the legitimacy of purported business deals that on their face seem fraudulent, can be a breach of the wealth manager’s fiduciary duty.

How Can Professional Athletes Protect Themselves from Fraud?

Professional athletes attract fraudsters like honey attracts bees. The reality is professional athletes are young and inexperienced investors with a lot of money – a perfect combination for scam artists and salesmen. In our experience, most of these pro-athletes are trusting and kind people who don’t realize the targets they’ve become overnight.

The first thing a new pro athlete should do to protect themselves from friends, family, and other people looking to take advantage of them, is to build a professional network of licensed and experienced professionals. Having one person in charge of your finances is a horrible plan and results in what happened to Shohei Ohtani and many of our clients. Pro Athletes need a team that includes an attorney, a CPA, and an investment advisor. This may not be cheap, but as Warren Buffet once said, the best way to earn a return on your investment, is to make sure you don’t lose it. Protecting yourself from scam artists and crooks on the front end can be the difference between a comfortable, financially secure post-playing career, and swinging a hammer to make a living.

Pro-Athletes also must have high expectations for the professionals they hire, and must resist surrounding themselves with friends and family. All too often it is these alleged friends and actual family that are the primary perpetrators of fraud. Sometimes sports agents are at the center of Pro Athletes circle, and create a referral network to CPAs and lawyers on their “team”. This overconcentrates power and control in the Agent. Authority and review must be spread out across a team, one that is hopefully independent from each other. If your professionals aren’t doing their job effectively, move on from them and hire someone else for a fresh look.