Lenny Dykstra Charged With Bankruptcy Crime

LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) — Former New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Lenny Dykstra has been charged with embezzling from a bankruptcy estate.

Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles allege that after filing for bankruptcy in 2009, Dykstra hid, sold or destroyed more than $400,000 worth of items from his $18.5 million mansion in Ventura County. They ranged from sports memorabilia to a $50,000 sink.

Dykstra claimed he owed more than $31 million and had only $50,000 in assets.

When Dykstra filed for bankruptcy, he listed two residences -- a mansion in Ventura County purchased from Janet and Wayne Gretzky that he estimated was worth $18.5 million, and a home in Westlake Village that he estimated was worth $5.4 million, according to federal prosecutors.

As a result of the bankruptcy filing, the residences and Dykstra's personal property became part of the bankruptcy estate that would be used to pay off creditors.

Dykstra was charged Wednesday. Authorities also say he was arrested Thursday at his Encino home in an unrelated grand theft investigation and remains jailed without bail. Local prosecutors haven't filed the latter case.

It wasn't immediately clear whether he has an attorney.

After retiring from baseball in the late 1990s, Dykstra became a businessman, opening a car wash chain
in Corona that the ex-ballplayer expanded to other parts of the Southland. He was also hired by CNBC "Mad Money host Jim Cramer to write a stock-picking column for his website, TheStreet.com.

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