ESPN recently had a segment on NBA player Javaris Crittenton, charged with murder and now charged with trying to deal 900 LBS of cocaine. http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_...on-gang-ties-questioned-suspected-gang-member Here is the sequence of events. April 21, 1011: Robbery Crittenton told police he and a friend were leaving a barbershop around 10:50 p.m. April 21 when two teenagers surprised them as they returned to their car, according to a police report released to The Associated Press. One teenager held Crittenton at gunpoint and ordered him to "give me what you got," he told police. He said he handed over a $25,000 black diamond necklace, a $30,000 black diamond watch, an iPhone and $25 cash, according to the report. http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/6...ton-was-retaliating-april-robbery-report-says Aug 8: Market nosedives Crittenton tweets: I try not to let my money just sit in the bank so I invest in stocks & bonds. Apparently I f***** up this time. Woke up & Iâm down 30k. Crittentonâs next tweet: âI think I feel sick.â http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/31747/javaris-crittentons-tweets Here is what the stock market looked like on August 8, SPY opened down $3 and closed down over $6 at $106. http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=SPY&p=D&st=2011-04-01&en=2011-08-19&id=p57041273182 Notice that if he lost 30k in a stock index account, he would have had about 10000 shares of SPY, or about a million dollars. Aug 19: Shooting After a bounce back to 114, SPY closes again at a low of 106. The low for the year turned out to be a few weeks later at 104. It's that evening that Crittenton decided to handle it himself. Evening of Aug 19: "In the ensuing weeks, Crittenton became frustrated with the policeâs lack of progress, court records say. âIâll just handle the situation myself,â he told the lead detective, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing. Witnesses have told police that on the night of Aug. 19, 2011, they saw a black Chevy Tahoe drive up Macon Drive in south Atlanta. Trontavious Stephens had just asked Jones, his neighbor, to walk with him to a nearby barbecue. Stephens was a member of the Raised on Cleveland street gang, said police, who have identified him as a person of interest in the armed robbery of Crittenton. Gamble, who was behind the wheel of the SUV, drove past, made a U-turn then came up alongside Stephens and Jones. The 6-foot-5 Crittenton, sitting in the back seat, lowered his window, pulled out an assault rifle and fired at least four rounds, police said. One bullet struck an unintended target, Jones, in her upper right thigh, ripping into her femoral artery, causing massive bleeding. Stephens was not hit. The SUV drove off. Police soon learned Crittenton had rented a black Chevy Tahoe just hours before the shooting and returned it to the agency a few days later." http://www.roopstigo.com/reader/201...ourney-to-murder-trial-for-gifted-nba-player/
Crittenton isn't the smartest criminal. Everything he does, like buy his gang buddies plane tickets, he does in his own name with his own credit card.
He made about $4.5M over his career to that point, so if he managed to keep 50% after taxes and agents fees, that would be $2.25M. So how much do you have left that losing $50000 turns into a huge deal? $500,000? The whole reason he got into the confrontation with Arenas (when Arenas brought a gun to the office) was over a $1000 poker bet. So Crittenton has always had trouble with keeping his cool over losing money. The combination of losing the $50000 in the robbery combined with losing the money in the stock market (plus being out of the NBA) just pushed him over the edge.
Actually Crittenton was suspended for 38 games of his last NBA season without pay. So that means he probably surrendered about $500000 right there for a dispute over $1000.