FINRA instances are usually confidential, and paperwork will not be publicly obtainable. Aidikoff, citing pending litigation, declined to make his shoppers obtainable for interviews to elaborate on their instances. Still, the truth that the athletes wished to go public underscores their willpower to “ensure it doesn’t happen to someone else,” Parsons mentioned, and to encourage different potential victims to return ahead.
Lee mentioned in a press release that he believed Morgan Stanley would put his pursuits first as a result of it had been round for a few years. “I was wrong,” he mentioned.
The Holidays, who’ve been energetic philanthropists, mentioned: “We are all susceptible to being exploited by people like Darryl Cohen. We are disappointed that a company as well known as Morgan Stanley would enable someone like Mr. Cohen to be in a position that allowed him to move money out of our accounts the way that he did.”
There isn’t any scarcity of tales about distinguished athletes being duped or getting entangled in dangerous monetary schemes. An Ernst & Young report final 12 months discovered that skilled athletes reported nearly $600 million in fraud-related losses from 2004 to 2019. The “incidence of fraud in sports is trending in the wrong direction,” the report mentioned.
But Parsons, Lee and the Holidays are completely different, Aidikoff mentioned, as a result of they merely did what many odd buyers typically do: They relied on a big-name brokerage to make low-risk, long-term choices.
Jrue Holiday, 31, received an N.B.A. title with the Milwaukee Bucks and an Olympic gold medal with the U.S. basketball crew in Tokyo final 12 months. He signed a four-year extension in April 2021 for $134 million. He met his spouse, then Lauren Cheney, whereas they have been at U.C.L.A., and her soccer profession led to endorsement offers with Under Armour and Chobani.
Parsons, 33, a sharpshooter whose finest seasons got here with the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks, retired in January, two years after he was critically injured in a automotive accident brought on by a drunken driver. His final contract, signed in 2016, was a four-year deal value $94 million, and he has been energetic in Los Angeles actual property.