Tom Candiotti, a former MLB pitcher who's now a broadcaster for the Arizona Diamondbacks, is suing former D-Backs pitcher Todd Stottlemyre over a soured investment deal.
The lawsuit, filed June 30 and posted online yesterday by courthousenews.com, says that Stottlemyre (brother of current pitching coach Mel Stottlemyer Jr.) worked for Merrill Lynch in Scottsdale when he persuaded Candiotti to purchase a big life insurance plan using financing to pay the large premiums. Both men live in the Valley -- Todd Stottlemyre in Paradise Valley and Candiotti in Scottsdale.
To our simple mind, premium financing sounds like a scam because the insurance plan is supposed to pay the costs of the financing. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is -- that's our motto. And Candiotti alleges that neither company reps nor Stottlemyre ever warned him there was a financial risk. In other words, it was a bad pitch.
Somehow, things got turned around and Candiotti has now lost at least $500,000 in the deal, according to the suit. He wants out of the life insurance plan, the profits Merrill Lynch made to be returned and, of course, elimination of the $500,000 debt to the plan.
Stottlemyre has helped Merrill Lynch do the same thing to other ballplayers, alleges Candiotti, who recently inked a deal for a fourth season as the D-backs' "radio color analyst."
It's a safe bet this complicated case will drag on into many extra innings.