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Bankrupt Silicon Valley investor William "Boots" Del Biaggio III owns a minority interest of the Nashville Predators. He was recently sentenced to eight years in prison after he was found guilty of swindling millions of dollars from investors and banks so that he could buy that stake. Now that ownership stake, too, will have to resolved in bankruptcy court, a story in The Tennessean said. Boots, who is in currently in Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco along with several of his companies, including BDB Management LLC and Sand Hill Capital Partners III LLC, was ordered to pay a total of $67.5 million in restitution and undergo substance abuse treatment in jail, news stories said. Del Biaggio, 42, was charged of one count of securities fraud on Dec. 4, 2008. He pleaded guilty on Feb. 4, 2009. According to a story in the Silicon Valley Mercury News, Del Biaggio, before he was sentenced, told the courtroom, "I'm incredibly sorry. I can't begin to express how sad and ashamed I am." Del Biaggio choked back tears as he apologized to his victims and his family during the sentencing. His parents also cried as they sat in court. "I'm losing sleep, and I'm scared and I truly understand what the victims are going through," Del Biaggio told the courtroom, the Mercury News story said. "There were so many investments, and I was under a lot of pressure. I thought somehow I could pull it all together." He couldn't. And now the ownership of the Predators may be on thin ice. - Jamie Mason
CategoriesComments
From: AJ in Nashville,
Well said, Dirk. If you hadn't called this load of misinformation into question, I certainly would have. This is par for the course. Just a few days ago, one "news" story referred to Del Biaggio as having a 'controlling interest' in the team. The fact is, Boots had no controlling power whatsoever — ever. Where do these people get their info from? Next time, Jamie, please do your homework.
Posted on:
September 14, 2009 1:55 PM
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As the fight over the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes of the National Hockey League continues inside the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Arizona in that Southwest city, the ownership of another NHL team will have to be dealt with in another Chapter 11 proceeding.
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Your headline and implications are totally misleading here. The Nashville Predators are a stable operation these days. Del Biaggio filed for bankruptcy many months ago, and the team has managed to basically break even over the last two NHL seasons. Yes, Del Biaggio's ownership share is subject to that bankruptcy proceeding, but that's been well-known for over a year now!
The only "news" here was the sentencing of Del Biaggio. If you're looking for real ownership drama outside of the Phoenix situation, look instead to Tampa.