TAMPA, Fla. – Yankees outfielders Johnny Damon and Xavier Nady are among the investors whose accounts were frozen by the government in its investigation of a company affiliated with Robert Allen Stanford.
The pair did not invest directly with Stanford funds but rather have investments with broker dealers whose accounts were with a Stanford company, Scott Boras, the agent for the pair, said Friday. Boras said the personal management wing of his company was monitoring the situation.
Click here to read the civil complaint against Stanford.
"The broker dealers the players have chosen have advised our personal management auditors the players are not in jeopardy of losing money," Boras said. "I understand government agencies are trying to protect the investor. Hopefully, the agencies will distinguish between those investors who are actually invested in Stanford products from investors whose broker dealers used Stanford as a clearing house and are not affected by the potential claims levied by the government.
"I trust government agencies will take quick steps to narrow the affected investor class and restore account access to all others."
The Securities and Exchange Commission this week froze the assets of Stanford International Bank, Stanford Capital Management and Stanford Group Co. as the agency and other federal authorities investigate Stanford for allegedly committing an $8 billion fraud on investors, lured with promises of improbable and unsubstantiated high returns on certificates of deposit and other investments.
The investigation apparently has made life tough for two of the Yankees' highly paid players.
"I can't pay bills right now," Damon said, according to FOXSports.com. "That started on Tuesday. I had to pay a trainer for working out during the off season. I told him, 'Just hold on for a little bit and hopefully all this stuff gets resolved."'
Click here for more on Sir Robert Allen Stanford.
Nady is having similar problems.
"I didn't have money with Stanford, but all my credit card accounts are frozen right now because of that situation," Nady said, FOXSports.com reports. "I'm trying to get an apartment in New York. I can't put a credit card down to hold it."
Boras said that broker-dealers were chosen by the players independently and were not connected to Boras' company.
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