THE INVESTMENT FRAUD

July 12, 2023

Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The newsletter that enters your inbox like Kenny Powers coming in for the close.

Let's dive in.

Today's story is about an ex-pitcher who defrauded investors for millions.

John D'Acquisto played for the Giants, Padres, Expos, Angels and A’s from ’73 to ’82 and had a 34-51 record.

In ’74, he won the National League Rookie Pitcher of the Year award, but it was pretty much all downhill after that.

He stuck around, but ultimately John never recaptured the magic he had during that rookie season.

It was everything that happened after he left baseball that made us want to cover this story.

In September of ’73, when he was first called up, D'Acquisto got an endorsement deal with Bank of America.

The bank enlisted John and several other ballplayers to help promote its new Visa card.

He also worked with the organization in a more traditional role, mostly during the off-season, until ’80 - gradually becoming an accounts manager.

Once his playing days were over, John started his second career in finance.

In the early '90s, he launched his own company, the D’Acquisto Financial Group.

It didn't last long.

In ’96, he was found guilty of attempting to open a trading account at Prudential Securities Inc. in New York by presenting a forged $200-million certificate of deposit.

He planned on using that certificate of deposit as a ticket to illegally acquire cash and other assets.

Then in ’99, while in prison, he was sentenced to an ADDITIONAL 55 months for his role in a $7 million investment fraud.

Let me break it down for you:

John had investors funneling a bunch of money into companies he controlled.

He promised his victims that they could earn up to 7% interest per week by making short-term investments into his fund.

But the investments were totally bogus.

When everybody came to collect their cash, John was MIA.

He plead guilty to using $1.3 million of investor funds to buy:

  • Three race horses

  • A $70,000 Porsche

  • Ownership in a Mexican minor league baseball team

  • Some land in Mexico

John gave his side of the story in the book Fastball John, but the evidence is pretty overwhelming.

By the mid-2000s, he was out of prison and has since turned his life around.

These days, he runs an art studio in Phoenix and has reinvented himself as an illustrator.

There’s two things we KNOW that our readers love: baseball and free shit.

Tonight we’ve got the best of both worlds.

Our friends at Dugout Mugs created these awesome shot glasses that are made from bat knobs.

They’re on the house tonight!

Each Knob Shot comes with your favorite team’s logo engraved on it, and all you have to cover is the shipping & handling ($8.95).

WEBGEM WEDNESDAY

STRANGE NAMES

If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

Hunky's major-league career lasted a total of one AB.

Unfortunately, he struck out.

While he continued to play ball throughout his life, that was his only opportunity in the big leagues.

He went on to become one of the founding fathers of the Western International League, which eventually became the Northwest League.

THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE

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