How Antoine Walker blew through $110 million

[The Boston Dangler]

Text

When Walker?s high school coach Mike Curta learned of the arrest, he called his former player in disbelief and asked whether there was anything he could do. ?Everything?s under control,?? Walker replied, as Curta recalls it. It wasn?t true then, and it hadn?t been for some time. ?Under control?? has never really described Antoine Walker, on the court or off it.

As Rick Pitino, then the Celtics president and coach, put it, Walker ?will never have to worry about money again in his life.?? Pitino?s prediction, like so many things about his tenure with the Green, proved way off the mark.

Off the court, there were the cars, the jewelry, the houses, the suits, the gambling. He liked to move in an outsized entourage; his mother estimates that, during his playing days, he was supporting 70 friends and family members in one way or another. And speaking of his mother, he built her a mansion in the Chicago suburbs, complete with an indoor pool, 10 bathrooms, and a full-size basketball court.

A default was entered in the American Express case with $53,321.71 in overdue credit card charges at stake, including some that fit the picture of a free-spending star - an $1,843.45 dinner, with a $350 tip, for instance. Or, two nights at the Mandarin Oriental in Miami for $2,198.04. And Walker, remarkably, appears to have authorized five people to make charges on his card, not a strategy most personal finance professionals would recommend. Many of the charges appear to have been rung up by another individual, but Walker is on the hook.

 

[TheVrolok]

I bet he had a hell of a time spending it.

 

[waggy]

sigh. how fucking insane.

 

[SirStev0]

Originally posted by: TheVrolok
I bet he had a hell of a time spending it.

 

[Barfo]

Originally posted by: TheVrolok
I bet he had a hell of a time spending it.

his mother estimates that, during his playing days, he was supporting 70 friends and family members in one way or another

And Walker, remarkably, appears to have authorized five people to make charges on his card, not a strategy most personal finance professionals would recommend. Many of the charges appear to have been rung up by another individual, but Walker is on the hook.

Also, I bet most of this "friends" will disappear when the money dries out. And he'll spend the rest of his life being miserable, reminiscing about those days.

 

[TheVrolok]

Originally posted by: Barfo

Originally posted by: TheVrolok
I bet he had a hell of a time spending it.

his mother estimates that, during his playing days, he was supporting 70 friends and family members in one way or another

And Walker, remarkably, appears to have authorized five people to make charges on his card, not a strategy most personal finance professionals would recommend. Many of the charges appear to have been rung up by another individual, but Walker is on the hook.

Also, I bet most of this "friends" will disappear when the money dries out. And he'll spend the rest of his life being miserable, reminiscing about those days.

... I bet they had a hell of a time spending it.

 

[ric1287]

How Antoine Walker blew through 110 million: he is stupid

 

[dbk]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjUIjfQfjCg

 

[Mojoed]

Originally posted by: ric1287
How Antoine Walker blew through 110 million: he is stupid

:thumbsup:

 

[God Mode]

Good. Better than throwing it in a bank and sitting on it until you're too old and miserable to spend a dime of it. You only live once and I like to see rich people stimulate the economy like this.

 

[goog40]

He has the same mentality that a lot of lotto winners have. Giving them money doesn't fix the cause of their problems, which is that they're financial retards. No doubt he learned it from his mother.

Walker?s mother, Diane, said her son does not have a gambling problem. She added that ?he doesn?t party any more than the next person?? and ?what you do with your life is your business.??

?Antoine doesn?t owe anybody any explanation,?? said Diane Walker. ?He?s not out here hurting anybody. He?s trying to live his life peacefully. That?s all he?s doing . . . My son is young. Why can?t he just enjoy life, go where he wants to go???

 

[Red Dawn]

Could be worse, he could have invested it with Bernie Madoff.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Originally posted by: goog40
He has the same mentality that a lot of lotto winners have. Giving them money doesn't fix the cause of their problems, which is that they're financial retards. No doubt he learned it from his mother.

Walker?s mother, Diane, said her son does not have a gambling problem. She added that ?he doesn?t party any more than the next person?? and ?what you do with your life is your business.??

?Antoine doesn?t owe anybody any explanation,?? said Diane Walker. ?He?s not out here hurting anybody. He?s trying to live his life peacefully. That?s all he?s doing . . . My son is young. Why can?t he just enjoy life, go where he wants to go???

yeah, that might be the best part.

 

[Jeff7]

Walker?s mother, Diane, said her son does not have a gambling problem.

The charge: writing 10 bad checks for casino markers totaling $1 million in Las Vegas.

Former NBA All-Star Antoine Walker is playing golf this weekend in northern Nevada before a scheduled court date Monday in Las Vegas in a case involving an $822,500 gambling debt.

Source



Nope, no problems there.

 

[dennilfloss]

That's a lot of blow.:shocked:

 

[arrfep]

Originally posted by: The Boston Dangler

Originally posted by: goog40
He has the same mentality that a lot of lotto winners have. Giving them money doesn't fix the cause of their problems, which is that they're financial retards. No doubt he learned it from his mother.

Walker?s mother, Diane, said her son does not have a gambling problem. She added that ?he doesn?t party any more than the next person?? and ?what you do with your life is your business.??

?Antoine doesn?t owe anybody any explanation,?? said Diane Walker. ?He?s not out here hurting anybody. He?s trying to live his life peacefully. That?s all he?s doing . . . My son is young. Why can?t he just enjoy life, go where he wants to go???

yeah, that might be the best part.

lol. I was going to quote that same bit.

Here's another good one:

?Antoine is doing great,?? said Diane. ?I have my home. He has his home. If he?s doing so bad, then how could we still be here???

I'm guessing that might change in the near future.

 

[lifeobry]

It's the American way. Big bonus? New car. Promoted? New house, etc. House prices skyrocket? Home-equity loan for this that and the other.

Obsession with possessions and status: the best way to waste a shit-ton of money.

 

[Vette73]

This happens more then people think.
I remember the guy who was famous for doing the icky shuffle (I think for the browns) blew all his money and had to sell meat door to door to support a lot of kids.

 

[grrl]

Originally posted by: ric1287
How Antoine Walker blew through 110 million: he is stupid

/thread

 

[SludgeFactory]

It's not only more common than you think, it's the norm. (Well, maybe not squandering a whole $110M). I hate the word "unbelievable" because it's become so overused, but this is almost unbelievable to me:

? By the time they have been retired for two years, 78% of former NFL players have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress because of joblessness or divorce.

? Within five years of retirement, an estimated 60% of former NBA players are broke.

Source

They throw it away, spend like the checks will never stop coming, try to spend at the level of far richer teammates to impress them, let leeches (friends & family) bleed them dry, get divorced and taken to the cleaners, get scammed by financial advisors overcharging and stealing several percent from their investments, "invest" in multiple hare-brained business ventures that fail miserably, "invest" in opportunities that turn out to be scams that target rich athletes, etc etc.

The fact that so many of these guys come from the streets, where you either are hustling people, are getting hustled, or know enough to stay out of it altogther, and yet get swindled for *millions* just amazes me.

They don't do 401k, bonds, hedge funds, mutual funds, annuities, that's too boring. Go big or go home. :roll:

 

[shortylickens]

I long ago promised myself that if I ever came into an ass load of money, the very first thing I'd do is hire a financial councilor.
WAAAAYYY too many movie stars, athletes, and lotto winners end up in the poor house. I guess if you dont earn it, you dont respect it. Money is like any other sort of power, it comes with great responsibility, and if you cant handle it you will be surprised one day to wake up and find it gone.

 

[Gothgar]

Originally posted by: waggy
sigh. how fucking insane.

serious

 

[kranky]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Walker?s mother, Diane, said her son does not have a gambling problem.

The charge: writing 10 bad checks for casino markers totaling $1 million in Las Vegas.

Former NBA All-Star Antoine Walker is playing golf this weekend in northern Nevada before a scheduled court date Monday in Las Vegas in a case involving an $822,500 gambling debt.

Source

Nope, no problems there.

Well, to be fair, she said he didn't have a gambling problem. That's probably true - he no doubt can gamble just fine.

What he has is a paying for itproblem.

 

[SludgeFactory]

Originally posted by: shortylickens
I long ago promised myself that if I ever came into an ass load of money, the very first thing I'd do is hire a financial councilor.

I'd be paranoid enough to hire 3 or 4 advisors/lawyers/accountants, independently, to check up on each other.

The main thing is to learn how to say "NO" and "HELL NO" in a big hurry, early and often. Which means saying goodbye to most of your old "friends"-turned-parasites. That's what ruins most of these lottery winners and athletes.

 

[SludgeFactory]

Also ran across this a few weeks ago, it turns out that Rumeal Robinson (remember him?) blew through all his NBA money, albeit a paltry $5M, on strippers, guns, and cars, and was bankrupt in '97 while still in the NBA, and has been a scammer pretty much ever since. He did enough fraudin' to get the FBI after him, and recently tricked his adoptive mom into signing her house over to him.

What a POS.