By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
This has not been a good week for ex-baseball players. First, Barry Bonds was convicted of obstruction of justice in connection with steroid use. And now comes ex-baseball star Lenny Dykstra.
Dykstra, 48, a former outfielder for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies who lives in Encino, Calif., has been charged by the feds in southern California with bankruptcy fraud for allegedly selling items from his $18 million mansion in Ventura County that legally belonged to his bankruptcy estate after he filed for bankruptcy. The property was supposed to go toward paying his creditors.
Authorities said Dykstra, who retired from baseball in 1996, filed for bankruptcy on July, 7, 2009.
Authorities allege that Dykstra removed, destroyed and sold about $400,000 worth of property that was part of the bankruptcy estate without the permission of the bankruptcy trustee.
Authorities said when Dykstra filed for bankruptcy he listed two residences – a mansion in Lake Sherwood Estates purchased from Janet and hockey great Wayne Gretzky that he estimated was worth $18.5 million, and a home in Westlake Village that he estimated was worth $5.4 million.
