Be careful who you trust.
For Hall of Famer and Texas Ranger legend, Adrián Beltré, he unfortunately had to learn the hard way when he became a victim of fraud in the late 2000s.
Over 12 years ago, a Texas financier by the name of Robert Allen Stanford was convicted of fraud, where he operated a near $8 billion Ponzi scheme, scamming people, specifically professional baseball players, out of millions.
Stanford was found guilty and is currently serving a 110-year federal prison sentence.
Beltré was among those who fell victim to the scam.
Along with other Major Leaguers at the time, such as Darren Oliver, Johnny Damon, Carlos Pena, Xavier Nady, Mike Pelfrey, Scott Eyre and Jacoby Ellsbury.
Beltré, a four-time All-Star, who had his No. 29 retired by the Rangers and is in their franchise Hall of Fame, along with the Baseball Hall of Fame, made $220 million over the course of his 21-year professional career.
The exact amount Beltré lost to Stanford and his fraudulent investment scheme was never reported.
And it is unclear how much he was able to recoup and get back.
At the time of the incident, Oliver discussed the scary situation with ESPN.com, providing more insight and detail.
“There are a lot more guys that people don’t even know about,” Oliver said.
“A lot of them are retired. I feel bad for the people who are 70 years old and have to get money every month and can’t even get any money out.
“What about them?”
Oliver noted that he had a lot of his credit cards and bank accounts frozen during the government investigation.
He also mentioned that “athletes can be particularly vulnerable to investment schemes because they’re so preoccupied during the season, they’re accustomed to handing over their checks to financial advisers with no questions asked.”
Stanford appeared to take full advantage of that notion of the distracted athlete.
Oliver dove into a worst case scenario about what would happen if he didn’t get all of his funds back.
“If not, that’s a whole different ballgame,” Oliver said.
“It would be a little nerve-wracking, I’d be over there curled up in the corner with a teddy bear sucking my thumb, like everybody else in the country.”
Fortunately for all of his victims, Stanford is now serving time behind bars for what is presumed to be for the rest of his life.
Stanford and his team did file an appeal back in 2014, but that was denied.
As for Beltré, he seems to be doing just fine as a newly minted member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, and proud father of his son, AJ Beltré, playing baseball at the University of San Diego, whom he enjoys watching.
