JMS Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-06-28/jim-cramer-lenny-dykstra-stock-scandal-reports-the-zeroes/?cid=hp:beastoriginalsR1 Jim Cramer Stock Touting Scandal The stock guru's top pupil, baseball star Lenny Dykstra, was secretly paid to plug stocks on TheStreet.com and give access to Cramer, reveals Randall Lane in his new book, The Zeroes. In an era of epically wrong financial predictions, boisterous Jim Cramer's declaration that "Bear Stearns is not in trouble!" a week before its March 2008 collapse, rated among the most moronic, or at least the most infamous. But it turns out that Cramer made one call far worse: He decided to make a stock-picking star out of a mumbling former Major League Baseball All-Star named Lenny Dykstra, giving him a high-profile column and ultimately an expensive "premium" newsletter on Cramer's site TheStreet.com. How did Dykstra return the favor? As I reveal in my book, The Zeroes: My Misadventures in the Decade Wall Street Went Insane, Dykstra took money—$250,000 worth of secretly issued stock—in exchange for recommending that stock to TheStreet.com subscribers. He also promised access to Cramer in exchange for the stock, which he apparently hid under his brother-in-law's name. It was Cramer's repeated endorsements—echoed by de facto validation from everyone from CNBC to me—that enabled Dykstra to pull off the scheme. Jim Cramer single-handedly created the concept of Dykstra-as-financial genius. Known mostly for his willingness to crash his body into walls or his cars into trees (nickname: "Nails"), the former New York Met and Philadelphia Phillie became an investment columnist for TheStreet.com in 2005, after sending Cramer an unsolicited email. For the next four years, Dykstra made stock picks, focusing on "deep-in-the-money calls"—a way to buy leveraged options—for tens of thousands of followers on Cramer's website. read more at the link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter44 Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 This is very funny. Wasn't he also exposed for making stuff up when he was into hedge funds?? I don't understand how this guy is still around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMS Posted June 29, 2010 Author Share Posted June 29, 2010 This is very funny. Wasn't he also exposed for making stuff up when he was into hedge funds?? I don't understand how this guy is still around. I guess he's entertaining? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herrmag Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 He was already exposed as a liar, cheat, and all around piece of **** by Jon Stewart about a year ago. Hopefully he'll be brought up on charges for this if found to be true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsburySkinsFan Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 queue John Stewart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tris Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 He was already exposed as a liar, cheat, and all around piece of **** by Jon Stewart about a year ago. Hopefully he'll be brought up on charges for this if found to be true. Cramer is hardly the first person to have been conned by Nails. Here, this is a great read: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4084962 The real bad guy here is Dykstra. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingGibbs Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 I got blasted before for calling this guy a bit sketchy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heisenberg Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 If Cramer goes down then CNBC should be knocking down doors to try to hire McD5 to take over the show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingGibbs Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 Cramer is hardly the first person to have been conned by Nails.Here, this is a great read: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4084962 Saw the show on HBO with Bryant Gumbel and the segment on Dykstra. All I can say is, how is he not doing time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingGibbs Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 If Cramer goes down then CNBC should be knocking down doors to try to hire McD5 to take over the show. That's funny right there. I don't care who you are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tris Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 Saw the show on HBO with Bryant Gumbel and the segment on Dykstra. All I can say is, how is he not doing time? This fraud I think will be the nail in the coffin for him. Not sure how he would avoid prison on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsburySkinsFan Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 If Cramer goes down then CNBC should be knocking down doors to try to hire McD5 to take over the show. They'll never do a show with McD5 because CNBC needs a nightly show, not a show that is on only on nights when the market takes a deep slide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techboy Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 I'm not shocked. He flat out admitted on TV in 2006 that he used to use a range of shady to probably illegal tricks to manipulate the market while he was a hedge fund manager. There's a short article about it here, though they've taken down the video (I saw it a couple of years ago, though, and it's bad). It's apparently not a bar to working in the financial media, though. The guy interviewing Cramer in that video, Aaron Task, cohosts a show called "Tech Ticker" with Henry Blodgett, who has been barred from the securties industry for fraud. One more reason not to trust anything the financial media is currently hyperventilating about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjah Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 Cramer is hardly the first person to have been conned by Nails. Cramer got conned? Judging by everything else he's done on TV, conman Cramer probably played right along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herrmag Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 Cramer is hardly the first person to have been conned by Nails.Here, this is a great read: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4084962 The real bad guy here is Dykstra. Sorry, this is a poorly written article. What does "Dykstra took money—$250,000 worth of secretly issued stock—in exchange for recommending that stock to TheStreet.com subscribers. He also promised access to Cramer in exchange for the stock, which he apparently hid under his brother-in-law's name." mean exactly? He promised someone access to Cramer, or he promised Cramer access to something? That's the line that initially had me believing Cramer was guilty of more than being a twit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tris Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 He promised someone access to Cramer, or he promised Cramer access to something? That's the line that initially had me believing Cramer was guilty of more than being a twit. Cramer is a horrible judge of character at best, and just as involved at worst. However in Dykstra, you have a clear pathelogical liar, and some one with literally hundreds of law suits pending against him, including from members of his own family. There are no questions about right and wrong when it comes to Lenny Dykstra, while the questions about just how much Cramer was aware of remain. Neither outcome would surprise me, but to say Cramer was clearly aware of fraud is speculation at this point. (which I know you weren't saying, but others certainly feel that way) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACW Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 So how do we know the author's not pulling this all out of his ass? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lombardi's_kid_brother Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 Cramer is hardly the first person to have been conned by Nails.Here, this is a great read: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4084962 The real bad guy here is Dykstra. How does a supposed Wall Street expert get conned by an illiterate ex-jock? It's not like Cramer got conned by Bernie Madoff. It was ****ing Lenny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lombardi's_kid_brother Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 Sorry, this is a poorly written article. What does "Dykstra took money—$250,000 worth of secretly issued stock—in exchange for recommending that stock to TheStreet.com subscribers. He also promised access to Cramer in exchange for the stock, which he apparently hid under his brother-in-law's name." mean exactly? He promised someone access to Cramer, or he promised Cramer access to something? That's the line that initially had me believing Cramer was guilty of more than being a twit. Lenny was give $250,000 in stock - which was put in his brother in law's name. Lenny then hyped the stock on Cramer's show. I don't think anyone has linked Cramer to this specifically. It seems to me that it's basically Cramer being blind to the fact that he was hyping an illiterate con man as a stock expert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tris Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 How does a supposed Wall Street expert get conned by an illiterate ex-jock?It's not like Cramer got conned by Bernie Madoff. It was ****ing Lenny. The same way that he conned BOA, WaMu, several other smaller banks, and his former legal representation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lombardi's_kid_brother Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 The same way that he conned BOA, WaMu, several other smaller banks, and his former legal representation. Doesn't that just give you all kinds of faith in capitalism and the free enterprise system? Seriously, did no one hear this ****er talk? I saw that piece on Real Sports when it first came out. I swear to God, my initial thought was, "Oh...a lot of people are about to get ****ing burned...." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thiebear Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 This may be an EPIC CALLOUT thread, but it is funny as hell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMS Posted June 29, 2010 Author Share Posted June 29, 2010 The real bad guy here is Dykstra. Did you see Dykstra is now calling himself the father of the steriod movement in MLB? He names himself as a pioneer and Jose C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellis Posted June 29, 2010 Share Posted June 29, 2010 Jon Stewart ripped Cramer to shreds and I've had no respect for Cramer well before that. He's a hack with a clever soundboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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