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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Merrill Accused in Suit by MLB Pitchers

PHOENIX (CN) - Merrill Lynch hired former Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Todd Stottlemyre to solicit baseball players to move their investments to the company, according to a pair of court filings brought by Jeff Fassero and Tom Candiotti, former Major League Baseball pitchers who say those investments took a disastrous turn.

They say they were induced by Stottlemyre into "large life insurance policies using premium financing" and that financing is now in trouble.

According to the lawsuits in Maricopa County Court, Fassero and Candiotti were convinced by Stottlemyre and John C. Mathieson, "an expert in premium financing," to purchase a life insurance policy with their existing policies, but weren't warned of the risks that the lender might not continue to fund the policy, that interest rates could change with the fluctuating market conditions and that there might not be sufficient funds through the policies to pay the loans.

Fassero and Candiotti claim in the complaints that Merrill Lynch "received significant commissions" on the large life insurance policies. The two men also claim that Stottlemyre would solicit baseball players through a sales strategy and then pass them off to Mathieson who would sell the life insurance. Stottlemyre left Merrill Lynch in 2007, the lawsuit claims.

Candiotti is a former pitcher for the Cleveland Indians and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Fassero is a former pitcher for the Montreal Expos and the Seattle Mariners. They are both represented by Ed Hendricks Jr. of Meyer Hendricks.

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