Denver Broncos Quarterback Mark Sanchez and MLB Pitchers Roy Oswalt and Jake Peavy Defrauded in $30M Scam

The Securities and Exchange Commission has gotten a court order to freeze the assets of investment adviser Ash Narayan. He is accused of bilking Denver Broncos quarterback Mark Sanchez, ex-Major League Baseball pitcher Roy Oswalt, and San Francisco Giants pitcher Jake Peavy, and other clients of millions of dollars in a Ponzi-like scam.

Also named in the case are The Ticket Reserve Inc., an online sports and entertainment ticketing business, its COO John A. Kaptrosky and CEO Richard Harmon. Narayan, who used to be managing director of Dallas-based RGT Capital Management, was on the ticket company’s board. He owned over 3 million shares of The Ticket Reserve Inc. stock and he was the primary person raising funds for the company.

According to the regulator, Narayan took over $33M from clients’ accounts and moved the funds to The Ticket Reserve. He allegedly did this without their knowledge or permission and he used unauthorized or forged signatures. Narayan also is accused of making Ponzi-like payments using newer investors’ money to pay earlier investors. Meantime, he was purportedly was paid almost $2M in concealed compensation.

The Commission’s complaint said that Narayan told clients that he was pursuing conservative, safe investments that would not place investors’ principal at risk. InvestmentNews//Bloomberg News reports that he gained the professional athlete’s trust by capitalizing on their Christian faith and desire to do charitable works.

The SEC said that Narayan hid a number of conflicts of interest from investors, including that he was getting fees for investing their money in The Ticket Reserve, he was a director on the company’s board, and owned company stock. The regulator said that Harmon and Kaptrosky’s involvement in the alleged scam included making fee payments to Narayan.

In company documents, they called the payments “loans” or “director’s fees.” They also are accused of approving and executing the Ponzi-like payments, creating fake promissory notes between Narayan and The Ticket Reserve to try to hide the scam, and backdating and falsifying documents.

Our Texas securities lawyers are here to help investors recoup their losses sustained in Ponzi scams and other kinds of fraud. Contact Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas, LTD LLP today.

Read the SEC Complaint (PDF)