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Speaker 1: Ridiculous crime. It's a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Elizabeth Zaren, Hey, how you doing good?

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Speaker 3: Good good?

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Speaker 2: I got another question for you while you got your

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Speaker 2: game face on. You know, it's ridiculous.

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Speaker 3: He too. It's more ridiculous, I think than cocaine bearing

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Speaker 3: to me by a lot of people. But first and

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Speaker 3: foremost number one in my heart producer Dave sent me

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Speaker 3: this that this this lady. She's driving in Ohio. She

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Speaker 3: got pulled over and when the cops looked in the

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Speaker 3: driver's seat, there was Chewy. Chewy Chewy not the pet

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Speaker 3: supply website and not Chewa and not my favorite Star

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Speaker 3: Wars entity, well one of my favorite Chewy. No, this

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Speaker 3: was a raccoon named Chewy, and Chewy what's special about

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Speaker 3: Chewy Chewy had a glass meth pipe in its.

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Speaker 2: Vag in the car.

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Speaker 3: Sitting in the driver's seat that the cops had just

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Speaker 3: pulled over. And so this woman, I'm not going to

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Speaker 3: share her name. She's shamed enough. She gets busted right

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Speaker 3: like drug possession.

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Speaker 2: Where she seated in the car, it's not entirely.

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Speaker 3: Clear like is she well that's something like was Chewy

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Speaker 3: on her lap or did she be like, you know,

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Speaker 3: the classic like, oh, I got warrants, you drive, and

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Speaker 3: so like they they they stop this car, right, and

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Speaker 3: I guess because like whatever pipe you can only imagine,

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Speaker 3: like with the stuff that they found, they found meth

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Speaker 3: crack three other pipes aside from the one in Chewie's

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Speaker 3: mom okay, and they pulled him over because like the

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Speaker 3: there was an active warrant of course suspended drivers. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: for the driver, she gets cited for drug possession, three

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Speaker 3: counts of drug paraphernalia, driving under suspension. She could face

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Speaker 3: more charges of crack possession depending on the outcome of

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Speaker 3: some results. The raccoon fine safe, not not hooked, not Johnson's.

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Speaker 3: But they they made sure that the raccoon had proper paperwork,

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Speaker 3: which Chewy did. This woman is riding around in a

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Speaker 3: methmobile with like a bunch of trash and all sorts

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Speaker 3: of other stuff, but she had all the paper and

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Speaker 3: documentation necessary to own a pet raccoon in Ohio. So

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Speaker 3: all the rest of her life is spinning out, going crazy.

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Speaker 3: But you ain't taken a round scatter permits down for

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Speaker 3: Chewy because Chewy's legal, right, and that's why she's like

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Speaker 3: I have Lawrence Chewy, you got papers you're driving?

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Speaker 2: Turns out her phone and her rent also in Chewy's name.

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Speaker 3: What else? Oh my god, what's Chewy's credit score?

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Speaker 2: Is my question? That Saren, Chewey's seen some stuff, Saren,

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Speaker 2: that little trash panda. He knows things that.

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Speaker 3: He shouldn't know, Little Opposi. Yeah, that's ridiculous, Yeah it is,

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Speaker 3: That's what I'm saying, Zaren, It's ridiculous.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: But meth Raccoon. You got Coke Bear? Yeah, now we

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Speaker 3: got meth Raccoon.

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Speaker 2: I can't wait to see the movie they make out

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Speaker 2: of this one.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, me too.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, goodbye, We're done the end.

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Speaker 2: I really don't know where to go from there, so

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Speaker 2: just just pretend that this is like anywhere near as

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Speaker 2: entertaining for the next forty minutes. You got it. I

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Speaker 2: love baseball, me too. Oh I was wondering about that, right,

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Speaker 2: because I know you've had some recent updates in your

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Speaker 2: love life with baseball. Yes, I have lost your team.

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Speaker 3: I did well. I lost a team. I gained a team. Oh,

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Speaker 3: how so the Oakland A's, who will always be the

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Speaker 3: Oakland A's. They're off playing in some crap box, kitty

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Speaker 3: litter box and at Sacramento in like nine thousand degree heat.

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Speaker 2: Oh wait for July.

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Speaker 3: I I know one.

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Speaker 2: Hundred and twenty degrees maybe, like they can press it.

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Speaker 2: Like I'm talking on the field, like one hundred and

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Speaker 2: eighteen hundred fourteen coming they get.

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Speaker 3: That's what you get when you cross us. I am

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Speaker 3: now into the Oakland Ballers, oh, which is like a

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Speaker 3: minor minor minor league team. That's super fun.

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Speaker 2: Nice.

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Speaker 3: They just signed an extension at ten year lease on

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Speaker 3: the park where they play in Oakland and West Oakland,

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Speaker 3: and it's like kind of we're all the cool people.

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Speaker 2: Okay. Oh, like I'm glad you're not becoming a San

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Speaker 2: Francisco Giants fan. You to the minor league, you know what.

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Speaker 3: To heck with MLB? Oh yeah, I like the sport

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Speaker 3: and apparently, like you know, so to a bunch of

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Speaker 3: other people who just want to see people play cool baseball.

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Speaker 3: So Oakland Ballers roll credits.

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Speaker 2: Now, Well you're in luck because I have a story

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Speaker 2: for you about minor league criminals. Oh yeah, it's a

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Speaker 2: humorous distraction from the travails.

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Speaker 3: Humorous.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, these guys.

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Speaker 3: Can I tell you something, I got that new Pope glow.

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Speaker 2: Oh, I noticed, that's what that is. It's coming off. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: it's nice, pretty good. Well, these guys, Elizabeth, they take

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Speaker 2: their turning it about, so to speak. They go play

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Speaker 2: in the big leagues a financial fraud and insider trading.

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Speaker 3: Wait, so there's no actual baseball.

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Speaker 2: Maybe this is ridiculous crime A podcast about absurd and

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Speaker 2: outrageous capers, heights and cons. It's always ninety nine percent

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Speaker 2: murder free and one hundred percent ridiculous nutrageous, Elizabeth, Our

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Speaker 2: story today begins with the Tampa Bay Rays minor league

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Speaker 2: farm system. Okay, what do you know about the Tampa

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Speaker 2: Bay Rays farm clubs?

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Speaker 3: Not a thing?

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Speaker 2: Well, you are in luck if I happen to have

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Speaker 2: everything you'd ever want to know or need to know

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Speaker 2: about the Tampa Bay Rays farm teams. They the system.

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Speaker 2: It's a loose constellation of teams in different leagues and

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Speaker 2: even different countries. For instance, there's a team in the

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Speaker 2: Florida Complex Leagues, the Florida Complex League Rays, which sounds

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Speaker 2: like a club in the Florida State penal system.

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Speaker 3: Right.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, there are also two teams in the Dominican

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Speaker 2: Summer League. They are there. That's they're the DSL Rays

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Speaker 2: and the DSL Tampa sounds kind of kinky.

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Speaker 3: Wow.

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Speaker 2: There's also the famous minor league club, the Durham Bulls.

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Speaker 2: They started out as the Durham Tobacconists. That's an old

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Speaker 2: school name, right, That's like the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers. Yes,

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Speaker 2: now we'll come back to the Durham Bulls in a second.

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Speaker 2: But there's my favorite, the Montgomery Biscuits in the Southern League.

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, they have a good like hat or logo,

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Speaker 3: because I'm all about those weird Southern leagues, Like I

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Speaker 3: like the I used to go to some of them

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Speaker 3: when I live down there, and they've got it's just

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Speaker 3: like Savannah Bananas. Their their big showtime showbiz guys.

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Speaker 2: This is their mascot.

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Speaker 3: Oh wow, okay, I need something that Montgomery.

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Speaker 2: Isn't that nice? Yeah. So you've got like a biscuit

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Speaker 2: that's like, it looks like it's talking to you. Its

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Speaker 2: mouth is open.

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Speaker 3: But biscuit that didn't talk to you in SAE.

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Speaker 2: That's true.

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Speaker 3: That is very is that just like when you're on PCP.

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Speaker 2: Either one the Biscuits be talking. There's also the Charleston

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Speaker 2: River Dogs, the infamous Carolina League. Yeah, you never see

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Speaker 2: one of their games.

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Speaker 3: You, I think, so, I think, is that where the

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Speaker 3: Florence Swamp Foxes?

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Speaker 2: Perhaps after.

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Speaker 3: Francis Mary is Mary?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, but like Savannah Bananas, like when I was living

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Speaker 3: down there, they were just sort of coming up, and

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Speaker 3: now they're the media darlings for all their dance.

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Speaker 2: Oh that's right, yeah, well they do all the day

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Speaker 2: stand there on the pictures Mound.

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Speaker 3: I was on their mailing list for a long time,

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Speaker 3: and I know, isn't that cool for me? And I

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Speaker 3: kept competing unsubscribed and it wouldn't really, they would not

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Speaker 3: stop button. I keep a tight rein on my inbox.

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Speaker 3: I unsubscribe from everything.

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Speaker 2: Really, that's why you don't respond my email.

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Speaker 3: Yes, I unsubscribed from you. But like if I buy

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Speaker 3: something and they immediately send me a newsletter, I go

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Speaker 3: through and I unsubscribe really immediately, and then I keep

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Speaker 3: a mental list of who doesn't participate in that.

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Speaker 2: Boy, do I have a weekend task for you I'd

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Speaker 2: love for you to do in my email inbox?

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Speaker 3: How many unread emails do you have in your inbox

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Speaker 3: right now? What?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? I don't. They just grow each day because I

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Speaker 2: just let some of them go and I mark some

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Speaker 2: and I keep some that I want to refer to later.

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Speaker 2: How many do you think, dating back over all the

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Speaker 2: years and now it's I think it's forty three.

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Speaker 3: And read how many do you think I have?

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Speaker 2: Two?

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Speaker 3: Zero?

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Speaker 2: Zero, of course zero since the show started, maybe in my.

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Speaker 3: All my email accounts.

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Speaker 2: I'm proud as you should be.

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Speaker 3: I should be so, Elizabeth.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I really, I mean, I'm patting you on the back,

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Speaker 2: but your hangout in the way. So there's also let's

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Speaker 2: see a club, the Bowling Green Hot Rods. That's another

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Speaker 2: they're in the Midwest League. Yeah, they're mascots. It's like

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Speaker 2: an uninspired rip off of the New Jersey Devil. So

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Speaker 2: we won't look into that. But anyway, Elizabeth, speaking of

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Speaker 2: minor league baseball, Bold Durham. That movie do you know

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Speaker 2: that one? Right? The cost Yes, the eighties baseball rom

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Speaker 2: com classic and it's about the Durham Bulls, but they

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Speaker 2: flip it and make a Bull Durham. And yeah, Kevin

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Speaker 2: Costner is the star. He's crashed Davis and he's this

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Speaker 2: catcher who's this veteran who gets knocked about in the league.

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Speaker 2: Now he's back in the Minors, Tim Robbins. Yeah, Susan

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Speaker 2: Sarandon is like the minor league, very sophisticated groupie. Yes,

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Speaker 2: quite the story. She plays any Savoy, Right, there's nuper Lush,

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Speaker 2: Andy Savoy and Crash Davis and so they all have

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Speaker 2: their little minaja twaba of like spirits. I don't know,

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Speaker 2: it's it's.

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Speaker 3: It's a different edition of the movie totally.

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Speaker 2: Well it's eighties. It's avery eighties. But Sports Illustrated called

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Speaker 2: it the number one greatest sports movie of all time. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: what you think about has some real strong competition. There's

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Speaker 2: like the Natural, there's Hoosers.

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Speaker 3: Well, there's the other cost Field a dream field a

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Speaker 3: dreams and my favorite.

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Speaker 2: Longest yard, longest yard, major League Major's yard, and then.

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Speaker 3: The Sids a playbook. But aside from.

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Speaker 2: That, mine, thanks for asking, is Bones Brigade for the

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Speaker 2: Search for Anibal Chin.

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Speaker 3: Oh my god, that's so good.

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Speaker 2: What about what about Freedom? Starring two of your favorite people,

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Speaker 2: Sylvester Stallone and Pele Wait. I'm not I'm not familiar

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Speaker 2: with Freedom. It is Uh yeah, you gotta go out

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Speaker 2: and rent that. It is a wh shared the screen.

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Speaker 3: Okay, we're on it.

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Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, you.

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Speaker 3: Brought in, you know, like extreme sports of skateboarding. Well,

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Speaker 3: then we've got thrashing totally cut.

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Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, well.

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Speaker 3: Are you ready to bicycle book?

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Speaker 2: You're ready to meet today's purpse?

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Speaker 3: Yes, I pray it has nothing to do with baseball,

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Speaker 3: nothing to do with bulderham that all of this was

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Speaker 3: just a oh yeah, side quest.

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Speaker 2: Totally, the side quest just to set. This is setting

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Speaker 2: the table and then we're gonna now clear the table.

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Speaker 2: These appetizers get into the meal. It's next door. So

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Speaker 2: today's purse real life minor league ballplayers though, so they

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Speaker 2: do have that. Okay, Okay, I like these guys, a

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Speaker 2: bunch of California guys. One dude's from Colorado, but like

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Speaker 2: they're most of them California guys forgiven, and I'm rude

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Speaker 2: for them at every point in this story. I just

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Speaker 2: want to make that clear. These are my dudes, unless

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Speaker 2: they later like milkshake duck, and in that case, no,

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Speaker 2: they never knew. These dudes did know what dudes who

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Speaker 2: as my But for now.

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Speaker 3: My maneld that man.

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Speaker 2: So Elizabeth first up is the mastermind. Jordan Kassar twenty

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Speaker 2: eight and twenty twenty four. I only I don't know

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Speaker 2: their exact birthdates, so I'm going to tell you their

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Speaker 2: birth their age according to their charging documents. Twenty eight

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Speaker 2: and twenty four, so late of alcohol in California alcohol.

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Speaker 2: He was a bright ball prospect back when he started

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Speaker 2: for Pepperdine University in a malibuu.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, right on the water.

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Speaker 2: Totally beautiful. Yeah, he finessed that into a spot in

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Speaker 2: the Tampa Bay Rays farm system. Thus our discussion of

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Speaker 2: the Tampa Bay Rays. Then there's Grant Witherspoon, aged twenty

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Speaker 2: seven in twenty twenty four. He's from the Denver suburb

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Speaker 2: of Littleton, Colorado. He played ball with Jordan Kassar in

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Speaker 2: the Rays farm club system. Apparently he's still playing ball

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Speaker 2: in Mexico.

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Speaker 3: Now.

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Speaker 2: Oh, there's also Austin Bernard. He was twenty seven in

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty four. He's from San Diego suburb of Oceanside, California.

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Speaker 2: You know, I love that town. It's one of those

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Speaker 2: blue collar beach towns and like, yeah, I need to

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Speaker 2: go take a weekend down there. Anyway, we get back

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Speaker 2: to I'm aa drive the lane like I was. Evan Bernard, sorry,

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Speaker 2: Austin Bernard. So he was also on that same Pepperdine

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Speaker 2: team with Jordan Kassar. After that, he also managed to

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Speaker 2: get a spot in the farm system and he bounced

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Speaker 2: around the miners for a while. He's still knocking about

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Speaker 2: in baseball currently. Most recently he signed to play for

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Speaker 2: a team in India.

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Speaker 3: India India Baseball.

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Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, And last day there's Chase Lambert. He was

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty twenty four. He's from Malibu, which is also

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Speaker 2: where Pepperdine is located, so hometown. He played ball there

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Speaker 2: with Jordan Kassar and he's out of baseball now. He's

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Speaker 2: an electrician in Malibu and he coaches baseball.

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Speaker 3: He's making way more than ballplayers.

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Speaker 2: Yes, minor league ballplayers for real, So those are our

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Speaker 2: main players now. To be clear, Jordan Kassar and Grant

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Speaker 2: Witherspoon were the ones who were drafted by the Tampa

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Speaker 2: Bay Rays in twenty eighteen. They're the real goers. They're

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Speaker 2: the ballplayers professional griding right. Witherspoon was apparently the better prospect.

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Speaker 2: He went in the fourth round. Chase Lambert was also

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Speaker 2: then drafted later on by the Pittsburgh Pirates, so he's

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Speaker 2: also in the the minor league Major League farm system.

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Speaker 2: Now he knew Kassar and Bernard from their days at Pepperdine. Now, anyway,

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Speaker 2: Jordan Kassar Witherspoon, they joined the Tampa Bay Rays farm

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Speaker 2: system together. They become roommates on the road, they become

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Speaker 2: close friends. Later they become co conspirators. But that's lately,

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Speaker 2: you know. So what did my guys do? Great question, Elizabeth,

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Speaker 2: thank you. What were their crimes? It was financial fraud.

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Speaker 2: That was their swinging the big leagues of insider trading.

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Speaker 2: So at the moment they're facing twenty years in prison

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Speaker 2: and five million dollars in fines, and their cases are undecided,

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Speaker 2: all four of them still in the Southern District of

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Speaker 2: California federal court system. So at every point of today's story,

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Speaker 2: please imagine I'm saying allegedly.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, but a lot of is documentary.

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Speaker 2: A lot of is documented, but in any case, it's not allegedly.

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Speaker 2: So quick question, what do we know about the financial

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Speaker 2: life of a professional minor league ballplayer?

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Speaker 3: Oh it's tough, It's brutal, really actually tough.

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Speaker 2: I did a little reading up on life in the

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Speaker 2: minor leagues in twenty nineteen eighty six, percent of minor

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Speaker 2: league ball players live below the American poverty line, which

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Speaker 2: at the time was twelve four hundred and ninety dollars

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Speaker 2: a year. That means eighty six percent of minor leaguers

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Speaker 2: made less than twelve grand a year.

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Speaker 3: And they're like, think about it, these dudes are down

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Speaker 3: in like southern California totally.

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Speaker 2: They have to pay rent. Some of them are parents,

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Speaker 2: they got childcare, and they're making in the right. They're

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Speaker 2: a salary Bayscood ranch between six grand and fifteen grand

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Speaker 2: and else. Keep in mind, they get paid for six

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Speaker 2: months of work, but they have to do in the

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Speaker 2: rest of the year. Keep in shapes. They got to

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Speaker 2: pay trainers or at least a gym membership, all sorts

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Speaker 2: of things, right growth exactly, you gotta get your HDAs.

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Speaker 2: So minor leagues have pushed for a pay raise, and

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Speaker 2: they cite the number of sixty grand. That's what they

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Speaker 2: would like to ask for the reasonable living wage for them. Now,

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Speaker 2: Major League Baseball, it ain't hurting. In twenty nineteen, will

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Speaker 2: have some actual strong data. MLB brought in ten point

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Speaker 2: seven billion dollars in revenue.

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Speaker 3: I think they can break some off for them to give.

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Speaker 3: It's why, this is why not a big MLB fan,

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Speaker 3: I get it now.

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Speaker 2: It would cost each team about fifteen million dollars to

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Speaker 2: pay their minor leaguers a livable salary of sixty grand.

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Speaker 3: They've got that now.

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Speaker 2: Also keep in mind, twenty four out of the thirty

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Speaker 2: Major league teams the owners are billionaires. Yeah, so there's

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Speaker 2: that as well. It's not they're hurting, you know. It's

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Speaker 2: all they're like, this is how I gotta feed my kids

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Speaker 2: with the baseball team. You probably it's not happening now.

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Speaker 2: The US Congress did step into this pray to pass

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Speaker 2: new legislation. Only trouble was US Congress legislated on the

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Speaker 2: behalf of the billionaire owners. In twenty eighteen, US Congress

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Speaker 2: passed this thing called Save America's Pastime Act. The new

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Speaker 2: bill exempted minor league players from protections under federal labor laws.

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Speaker 2: Then that new law also allowed Major league understack. Like

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Speaker 2: minor leagues, are are contract players without a union or

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Speaker 2: collective bargaining, which means the owners they don't have to

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Speaker 2: pay them appropriately because they're just lucky to be pro athletes.

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Speaker 2: They got the dream, they got hope. That's what they

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Speaker 2: should be happy with.

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Speaker 3: I don't save the America's pastime.

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Speaker 2: Yeah so they Yeah, no, anyway, Now, to be fair,

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Speaker 2: in twenty twenty one, Major League Baseball did improve the

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Speaker 2: living standards for minor leaguers after the issue bubbled up

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Speaker 2: to the point that it was in the press.

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Speaker 3: Yeah during COVID, Yes, exactly.

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Speaker 2: So minor leaguer Cam Cursey, who's the infielder for Hillsboro Hops.

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Speaker 2: He told the outlet perfect union quote. So my housing

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Speaker 2: last year, I was living in a town home garage

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Speaker 2: and so I was on the bottom level living in

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Speaker 2: a garage. It was like eighty five square feet no heat. Nowhere.

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Speaker 2: Fast forward to this year. The Diamondbacks didn't out standing job.

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Speaker 2: They put all of us up in apartments for an

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Speaker 2: Wi Fi, own bedrooms, TV, anything you could need. They

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Speaker 2: got their own bedrooms, Elizabeth Wow.

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Speaker 3: And running water.

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Speaker 2: No. But I mean I joke, but I mean they

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Speaker 2: are making some concessions. But there's so much more room to.

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Speaker 3: Go and being with professional athletes, and they did it.

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Speaker 2: Mostly, as you point out, because of COVID.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, everyone saw it. But like you, with professional athletes,

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Speaker 3: I know that they're overpaid and like to an obscene extreme,

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Speaker 3: but they do need to make a lot of money

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Speaker 3: each season because their careers are so short as well.

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Speaker 3: You know, it's like not like if you're just in

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Speaker 3: the workforce and you got like, however many and proportional

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Speaker 3: to the value they create, the value they create, the

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Speaker 3: damage that they do to their bodies. For our entertain

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Speaker 3: they need to be compensated.

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Speaker 2: And they should be gloried a bit. I mean, we

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Speaker 2: all want them as heroes. That involves some compensation, right exactly.

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Speaker 2: There's that ancient gladiator who made like billions.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, let's get back to that.

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Speaker 2: So, uh, the big change, as I said, was housing,

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Speaker 2: but they still earn poverty wages. So there you go.

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Speaker 2: This which now brings us to our league ball players

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Speaker 2: who turned ridiculous criminals. So after these messages, I'll tell

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Speaker 2: you how they tried to improve their material conditions pull

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Speaker 2: themselves out of poverty with some old fashioned crime insider trading.

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Speaker 2: Yes back in two and two, Elizabeth, we're back. So

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Speaker 2: you're ready to talk minor league financial crimes, of course,

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Speaker 2: So first we need to get to hear some terms.

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Speaker 2: Since I know that neither of us have the skill

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Speaker 2: to well anyone would call financial literacy good zero right,

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Speaker 2: like I am financially illiterate. Like first up? Do you

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Speaker 2: know how the stock market has a ticker?

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Speaker 5: Right?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we're both good there, Buch. The companies they get

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Speaker 2: symbols that represent them on the ticker. You know about that, right,

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Speaker 2: and they get to pick their symbols as long as

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Speaker 2: nobody else has it. So today we have a couple

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Speaker 2: of companies, Del Taco, they had a stock market tick

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Speaker 2: or symbol. Do you know what theirs was? No Taco

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Speaker 2: Taco four letters taco because it's gotta be short. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: Taco is short, and Dell's lame because Dell already took

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Speaker 2: it computer company, I think. Anyway, but those days were

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Speaker 2: gone because in twenty twenty two, Jack in the Box

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Speaker 2: purchased Del Taco and turned it into a subsidiary, wiping

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Speaker 2: off them off the stock market. You want to guess

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Speaker 2: what the stock market symbol for Jack in the Boxes jack?

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Speaker 2: Yep is Jack four letters jack, which means Jack replaced

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Speaker 2: Taco on the stock market, which just seems like a

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Speaker 2: blow against whimsy.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.

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Speaker 2: Anyway, San Diego based fast food chain Jack in the

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Speaker 2: Box is now one of the biggest Burger chains.

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Speaker 3: It's space in San Diego. It was, Yeah, it's not good.

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Speaker 2: Shame on the state Diego. Nowhere else from love. So

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Speaker 2: it's the corporate culture of San Diego and Jack in

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Speaker 2: the Boxes where our story takes place. So you're gonna

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Speaker 2: love this, Elizabeth. The story is about, as I said,

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Speaker 2: southern California boys. But Austori also involves Del Taco, southern

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Speaker 2: California icon of food, and of course, insider trading, a

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Speaker 2: California tradition. So, according to the federal indictment documents, minor

407
00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:13,520
Speaker 2: league ballplayer Jordan Kasar was home in San Diego. It

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Speaker 2: was October twenty twenty one, and while he was home,

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Speaker 2: he went out with some friends for some drinks. One

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Speaker 2: of his friends was an old college friend from his

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Speaker 2: days back at Pepperdine. The old friend was now a

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Speaker 2: corporate executive. Specifically he worked at Jack in the Box. Okay,

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Speaker 2: but back at Pepperdine, the old friend was also on

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Speaker 2: the baseball team. So these are like jock buddies.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: And then but his dreams of being a pro athlete

417
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Speaker 2: didn't like wither and die there. He went on to

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Speaker 2: go play minor league baseball two for a while, but

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Speaker 2: eventually he put down his batting gloves and he picked

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Speaker 2: up a tie, and he went to work for Corporate America.

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Speaker 2: And so these two, though, they remained friends and now

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Speaker 2: they're hanging out. And according to the SECED indictment, the

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Speaker 2: friend is always referred to as finance employee, which to

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Speaker 2: tell you he's a cooperating witness. Yeah, yeah, what changed

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Speaker 2: between friendly drinks in October twenty one and cooperating witness

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Speaker 2: and federal court in twenty twenty five? Great question, Elizabeth,

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Speaker 2: thank you. So the deal was Jack in the Box

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Speaker 2: was planning on buying Deltaco. Yeah, No, one outside of

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Speaker 2: Jack in the Box Corporate was supposed to know that.

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Speaker 2: But the finance employee knew about it. He was the

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Speaker 2: financial analyst department for Jack in the Box, so he

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Speaker 2: was aware of the company's plans to acquire Deltaco. And

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Speaker 2: according to the sec complaint quote, the finance employee had

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Speaker 2: knowledge of the acquisition was responsible for, among other things,

435
00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:29,800
Speaker 2: tasks related to the acquisition due diligence process. Oh so, now,

436
00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:31,840
Speaker 2: normally when the old friends would get together for drinks,

437
00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:36,160
Speaker 2: they talk about the usual suspects, romantic hookups, travel, relationships

438
00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:39,439
Speaker 2: and how their personal money was affecting their lives. But

439
00:21:39,880 --> 00:21:43,240
Speaker 2: that October they talked about m and A, MNA and

440
00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:47,000
Speaker 2: finance talk. M and A stands for mergers and acquisitions. Yes,

441
00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:50,119
Speaker 2: and the finance employee let Jordan Kassar know about the

442
00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:53,080
Speaker 2: impending deal for Deltaca that he was all involved up in,

443
00:21:53,359 --> 00:21:56,600
Speaker 2: and how once Wall Street found out about this planned acquisition,

444
00:21:56,680 --> 00:22:00,000
Speaker 2: Deltaco's stock would skyrocketing value as soon it would be

445
00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:02,280
Speaker 2: Jack in the box stock. So, anyway, we need to

446
00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:05,479
Speaker 2: pause and discuss a few more financial terms. Do you

447
00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:07,040
Speaker 2: know what a stock option is.

448
00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:10,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's when you're given the like the option you

449
00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:14,080
Speaker 3: will be getting these stocks. Generally, it's like either your

450
00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:18,240
Speaker 3: employment or you know, part of that kind of package

451
00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:21,480
Speaker 3: or retirement. You know, I don't know if.

452
00:22:21,359 --> 00:22:24,480
Speaker 2: I'm right, You're basically right. I had to I did

453
00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:26,840
Speaker 2: not know how to define this well, so I'm going

454
00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:30,639
Speaker 2: to lean on the sec charging documents. Quote. A stock

455
00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:34,040
Speaker 2: option gives its purchase holder the right, but not the obligation,

456
00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:36,719
Speaker 2: to buy or sell shares of an underlying stock at

457
00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:40,479
Speaker 2: a specified price per share the strike price, but then

458
00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:44,280
Speaker 2: a specific period of time prior to the expiration date

459
00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:47,200
Speaker 2: the expiration. Now, if you want to buy an option,

460
00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:50,840
Speaker 2: they're sold as contracts switch. According to the SEC Charging documents,

461
00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:54,080
Speaker 2: the contract quote is, gives the option holder the opportunity

462
00:22:54,119 --> 00:22:56,600
Speaker 2: to buy or sell one hundred shares of an underlying stock.

463
00:22:56,680 --> 00:22:59,040
Speaker 2: This is on average. Now, there's also something called a

464
00:22:59,119 --> 00:23:04,240
Speaker 2: call option. Back to the SEC charging documents for our definitions. Quote.

465
00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:06,520
Speaker 2: A call option gives a purchase holder of the option

466
00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:09,679
Speaker 2: the right to purchase a security at a specified strike

467
00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:14,239
Speaker 2: price prior to expiration. A call option is out of

468
00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:17,119
Speaker 2: the money when the strike price is above the current

469
00:23:17,200 --> 00:23:21,000
Speaker 2: market price of the underlying security, and in the money

470
00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:24,320
Speaker 2: when the strike price is below the market price. Sure

471
00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:25,920
Speaker 2: is this all making sense so far?

472
00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:26,480
Speaker 3: Yes? Sure?

473
00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:28,480
Speaker 2: Okay. The idea is a buyer is out of the

474
00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:31,280
Speaker 2: money on their call option, then they anticipate a move

475
00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:34,199
Speaker 2: on the market and positions themselves relative to what they

476
00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:37,320
Speaker 2: believe is an undervalued price, or if there's insider trading,

477
00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:40,760
Speaker 2: what they know is an undervalued price because there's about

478
00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:43,040
Speaker 2: to be big news which will drive the price up

479
00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:45,840
Speaker 2: and drive it up before the option expires, or adversely

480
00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:47,560
Speaker 2: drive it down because there's about to be bad news.

481
00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:50,040
Speaker 2: But if you know some news. It's about a dramatically

482
00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:52,040
Speaker 2: effective price of a stock. You can get an option

483
00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:55,120
Speaker 2: ahead of time, or a bunch of them that are

484
00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:57,919
Speaker 2: set for a price. Okay, all right, so the options

485
00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:00,600
Speaker 2: are Lastly, options are listed in series, which means the

486
00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:02,840
Speaker 2: options on the stock have the same price and expiration date.

487
00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:04,560
Speaker 2: So you get a series of these options and they

488
00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:07,000
Speaker 2: all package together. All right. So that's all the finance

489
00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:09,360
Speaker 2: talk for now. Okay, back to Jordan Kassar and the

490
00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:12,920
Speaker 2: finance employee, now finance employee. He's a senior associate and

491
00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:16,399
Speaker 2: strategic finance for Jack in the Box. He's high up,

492
00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:18,880
Speaker 2: muckety muck. He's got the big title, long one.

493
00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:22,880
Speaker 3: He's like in the airport. He's got his blue tooth

494
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:24,560
Speaker 3: in and he's talking so loud.

495
00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:27,640
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, oh, you recognized the type.

496
00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:29,679
Speaker 3: And then you know he's like, I'm just gonna have

497
00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:31,480
Speaker 3: a cocktail. It's five o'clock somewhere.

498
00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:34,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's eleven am on a Tuesday.

499
00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:35,480
Speaker 3: In the airport.

500
00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:40,160
Speaker 2: Before September twenty twenty one, he learned about the finance employee.

501
00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:42,240
Speaker 2: He learned about the upcoming Del Taco deal, right, and

502
00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:44,920
Speaker 2: he's responsible for coordinating due diligence, as we said, So

503
00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:47,520
Speaker 2: it means he's going to do analysis and for this acquisition,

504
00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:51,040
Speaker 2: which means importantly, he knows the timing of the deal structure.

505
00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:54,520
Speaker 2: He knew when a potential sale would become news, and

506
00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:56,639
Speaker 2: he knew that if anyone knew what he knew, they

507
00:24:56,640 --> 00:24:59,280
Speaker 2: could buy a stock option and it would skyrocket when

508
00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:01,880
Speaker 2: the news broke and they'd be very, very well, much

509
00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:04,760
Speaker 2: wealthier than they were before. Now, Elizabeth, they call that

510
00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:08,040
Speaker 2: insider trading. Yes, they did all the rage today, you

511
00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:10,880
Speaker 2: see it all the time, but when some minor leaguers

512
00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:13,600
Speaker 2: try to get in on the action, suddenly it's a crime.

513
00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:17,639
Speaker 2: Al So, anyway, Jordan Kassar, he goes out drinking with

514
00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:20,400
Speaker 2: the old friend, finance employee. He hears about this upcoming

515
00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:22,880
Speaker 2: deal and his friend's bragging about it. And remember he's

516
00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:25,040
Speaker 2: making poverty wages. So what does he do with his

517
00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:27,520
Speaker 2: rare chance for a come up? You guessed it. He

518
00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:29,240
Speaker 2: buys Del Taco options.

519
00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:30,320
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, he does.

520
00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:32,360
Speaker 2: At the time, Del Taco stock was trading at eight

521
00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:34,919
Speaker 2: dollars and seventy four cents a share right, which was

522
00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:37,840
Speaker 2: inexpensive enough for an impoverished minor leaguer, he could get

523
00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:40,840
Speaker 2: into the stock market, get himself a series of options. Sure,

524
00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:43,760
Speaker 2: he's big balling it now, right only Jordan Kassar also

525
00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:47,560
Speaker 2: tried to hook up his friends, his fellow impoverished minor leaguers. Yeah,

526
00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:50,840
Speaker 2: so he tells his buddy and former Pepperdine teammate, Grant Witherspoon,

527
00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:53,439
Speaker 2: And he told a couple other minor league teammates. And

528
00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:56,520
Speaker 2: in October of twenty twenty one, Jordan Kassar, Grant Witherspoon,

529
00:25:56,560 --> 00:25:58,720
Speaker 2: they report back for baseball training camp. Right, so they're

530
00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:01,680
Speaker 2: down in Florida. So they talked to Taco and Jack

531
00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:03,720
Speaker 2: and how they could use that to make some easy

532
00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:06,960
Speaker 2: money from insider trading. Right. The trouble was they were

533
00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:10,359
Speaker 2: new to financial crimes in insider trading. They didn't know

534
00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:13,720
Speaker 2: how the action really goes down, so, or rather where

535
00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:16,359
Speaker 2: it goes down. Like there's a reason why CEOs do

536
00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:18,560
Speaker 2: business on the golf course. Yeah, you know what that

537
00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:22,280
Speaker 2: reason is. No microphones, no paper trail, no microphone, nothing

538
00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:24,800
Speaker 2: gets generated by a conversation at the tea box on

539
00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:27,000
Speaker 2: the sixteenth hole. Yeah, exactly, So they go out there

540
00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:28,800
Speaker 2: the conduct business where no one can hear them or

541
00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:32,040
Speaker 2: document it unless you're like wired. Right now, Kasar and

542
00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:34,359
Speaker 2: his fellow minor leaguers they don't know about golf and

543
00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:37,199
Speaker 2: insider trading because they decided to text about it. So

544
00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:41,760
Speaker 2: in their initial text they talk about potential insider trading,

545
00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:44,320
Speaker 2: and they talked about how from going forward this is

546
00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:47,479
Speaker 2: non public information, it could be considered illegal. So if

547
00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:49,159
Speaker 2: they act on this, So they text about how they

548
00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:52,800
Speaker 2: can create a convincing scrim like a beard if you will,

549
00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:55,200
Speaker 2: to hide their true intentions of insider trading.

550
00:26:55,320 --> 00:26:55,840
Speaker 3: Huh.

551
00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:59,040
Speaker 2: Now, not only did they document their crimes in text messages,

552
00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:01,560
Speaker 2: they also documented how they plan to hide their crimes

553
00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:04,600
Speaker 2: as well. Oh no, so that confirms for any federal

554
00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:07,960
Speaker 2: court that they were fully aware that they were doing crimes. Now,

555
00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:10,680
Speaker 2: the plan was they'd start texting about how good Del

556
00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:13,359
Speaker 2: Taco looked as a stock purchase. These minor leaguers suddenly

557
00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:14,879
Speaker 2: just took an interest in Del Tako.

558
00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:17,800
Speaker 3: Wait, so they're like texting back and forth. Here's how

559
00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:20,680
Speaker 3: we're going to establish a paper trail. As they're establishing

560
00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:21,320
Speaker 3: the wrong kind.

561
00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:23,640
Speaker 2: Then they like wait like a week and they're.

562
00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:27,560
Speaker 3: Like, okay, group chat exactly, Hey, guys, they's.

563
00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:29,520
Speaker 2: Need to discovery. They'll just start once we say Del

564
00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:33,879
Speaker 2: Taco and move forward. I guess so went back to

565
00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:42,920
Speaker 2: the Copper. They're on the baseball team. The Munch minor

566
00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:45,480
Speaker 2: leaguers now all over the country, start a text threat

567
00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:48,760
Speaker 2: about how hungry they are for Del Taco socks now,

568
00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:51,959
Speaker 2: despite the fact they'd never text about the stock market prior.

569
00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:54,800
Speaker 2: They thought this sudden interest in Del Taco would cover

570
00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:57,879
Speaker 2: them for their insider trading. Now. But do you remember

571
00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:00,200
Speaker 2: the Budweiser commercials where they are on a on a

572
00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:02,720
Speaker 2: group phone call and when new dudes would join, they say,

573
00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:04,320
Speaker 2: what's up right?

574
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:05,480
Speaker 3: Yes, you do what.

575
00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:07,199
Speaker 2: I want you to keep that energy in mind as

576
00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:09,879
Speaker 2: I tell you about the minor leakers text thread. But

577
00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:12,000
Speaker 2: rather than just tell you about their text thread, Elizabeth,

578
00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:14,199
Speaker 2: I'd like you to close your eyes. I'd like you

579
00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:19,919
Speaker 2: to picture Elizabeth. It's October fifth, twenty twenty one. You

580
00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:23,400
Speaker 2: are in an apartment in San Diego, California. A breeze

581
00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:25,680
Speaker 2: is blowing in the window. You can hear kids playing

582
00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:28,800
Speaker 2: whiffleball outside, and you can also hear the distant notes

583
00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:32,240
Speaker 2: of someone playing Sublime. Just loud enough, you can faintly

584
00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:35,919
Speaker 2: hear Bradley Knowles's voice as he sings about how he

585
00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:39,880
Speaker 2: don't practice Santaia. He ain't got no crystal ball. Now.

586
00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:41,600
Speaker 2: At this moment in the culture, the world is in

587
00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:44,120
Speaker 2: a weird place. At the box office, No Time to

588
00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:47,400
Speaker 2: Die is earning millions, so is the sequel venom Let

589
00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:50,200
Speaker 2: There Be Carnage. But in the culture, COVID nineteen is

590
00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:52,800
Speaker 2: still raging, So those numbers are rather impressive for a

591
00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:55,840
Speaker 2: box office in a pandemic. Now, Elizabeth, I'd tell you

592
00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:57,600
Speaker 2: the top selling albums, but I doubt you know any

593
00:28:57,640 --> 00:28:59,479
Speaker 2: of their names. It's a strange moment in the culture.

594
00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:02,000
Speaker 2: At the moment, you are just chilling because you are

595
00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:05,040
Speaker 2: Jordan Kassar's cell phone. Your lock screen is a photo

596
00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:08,040
Speaker 2: of the Del Taco signage, not your favorite, but you

597
00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:09,880
Speaker 2: get it. It's a joke because it seems that's all

598
00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:12,680
Speaker 2: Jordan Kassar is texting about these days, the stock price

599
00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:15,440
Speaker 2: at Del Taco. Your chill is interrupted, and you feel

600
00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:18,360
Speaker 2: Jordan's fingers wrap around you and lift you off the couch.

601
00:29:18,640 --> 00:29:23,120
Speaker 2: He's texting again, his fingers fly. A moment later, you

602
00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:26,960
Speaker 2: buzz with a responding text. It's his buddy Grant Weatherspoon.

603
00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:31,360
Speaker 2: You recognize his phone number. He texts often, and seemingly

604
00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:35,760
Speaker 2: also always about Tuttle Taco. So Witherspoon writes, check out

605
00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:39,400
Speaker 2: the stock guys, Del Taco start is looking bullish to me.

606
00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:42,480
Speaker 2: Might try to gamble on some options or something I'd

607
00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:46,160
Speaker 2: love to eat at Del Taco now. Jordan Kassar laughs

608
00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:48,680
Speaker 2: as he reads the text, and he quickly responds. You

609
00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:51,600
Speaker 2: feel his fingers punch out a response. He texts, I'm

610
00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:54,920
Speaker 2: thinking about it too. Chart looks prime to boom once

611
00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:58,840
Speaker 2: it's fifty two week high. A moment later, you vibrate again.

612
00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:02,720
Speaker 2: Witherspoon response, eleven ninety nine, could see it hitting ten

613
00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:06,800
Speaker 2: dollars easy, and then you feel Jordan Kassar finger out

614
00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:10,040
Speaker 2: his response. He writes back, if we break ten new

615
00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:13,200
Speaker 2: fifty two week eyes could follow. The payoff could be

616
00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:17,080
Speaker 2: ridiculous if we buy the January twenty twenty two call.

617
00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:20,000
Speaker 2: You wonder to yourself if he thinks this tissue paper

618
00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:23,200
Speaker 2: thin act will trick anyone. But mostly you're just glad

619
00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:25,520
Speaker 2: he's not asking you to play his normal playlist, which

620
00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:28,200
Speaker 2: sounds like the soundtrack for bottle Service for Douchebags out

621
00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:34,040
Speaker 2: Vegas casino, Elizabeth. After the text thread you just witnessed

622
00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:37,040
Speaker 2: and sent, everyone on the thread started to purchase Del

623
00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:40,400
Speaker 2: Taco call options. And this is my favorite part. Jordan

624
00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:43,000
Speaker 2: Kassar wrote in a text message to his future co

625
00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:46,320
Speaker 2: conspirators that quote every dollar I earned hustle and is

626
00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:49,400
Speaker 2: going to Taco as in the stock symbol for Del Taco.

627
00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:53,040
Speaker 2: And then one of his co conspirators texted back, might

628
00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:56,480
Speaker 2: take everything out of savings and go all in two witch.

629
00:30:56,560 --> 00:31:01,680
Speaker 2: Jordan Gisar texted back, yeah, and catch you case. Oh

630
00:31:02,360 --> 00:31:05,480
Speaker 2: very aware, no maybe line. So they're even talking about

631
00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:08,680
Speaker 2: catching cases in their cover scram in their little like story.

632
00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:11,640
Speaker 3: They can't totally go to jail for this, and that

633
00:31:11,680 --> 00:31:14,560
Speaker 3: would be terrible because there's no Dell Tako there man.

634
00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:17,120
Speaker 2: So Juring Kasar he buys.

635
00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:21,360
Speaker 4: He want sponsorships too. Is that the other angle don't get?

636
00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:23,360
Speaker 4: They're hoping Dell talk. I wants the back some minor

637
00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:26,680
Speaker 4: leaguers exactly. So Jordan Kasar he buys four hundred and

638
00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:29,360
Speaker 4: sixty five dollars worth of Dell Taco call options.

639
00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:32,640
Speaker 3: They don't need a lot of money. Four hundred and

640
00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:34,120
Speaker 3: sixty five that.

641
00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:36,400
Speaker 2: Free starts now, great, with thispoon, he had a little

642
00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:38,760
Speaker 2: more money saved up. He bought three thousand, six hundred

643
00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:41,560
Speaker 2: and eighty three dollars worth of stock options, like a

644
00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:42,880
Speaker 2: billion dollars.

645
00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:46,560
Speaker 3: Scam deals going on as you and I see.

646
00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:49,480
Speaker 2: At the presidential level, at the top level.

647
00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:53,240
Speaker 3: Multi national, and these guys are getting pinched.

648
00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:56,840
Speaker 2: Oh on, yeah, So they get their stock options. They're

649
00:31:56,840 --> 00:31:58,520
Speaker 2: set to expire in January twenty.

650
00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:00,000
Speaker 3: Twenty twenty eight bucks.

651
00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:04,160
Speaker 2: They got free dealt Taco until the next week they

652
00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:06,320
Speaker 2: buy some more options and then so they did others.

653
00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:09,880
Speaker 2: Jordan Kassar starts telling others about this upcoming acquisition. As

654
00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:12,600
Speaker 2: autumn rolls on, the minor leaguers who were in their

655
00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:15,280
Speaker 2: off season, they keep playing at the stock market. Right,

656
00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:18,880
Speaker 2: they're all texting each other about Taco stock option prices

657
00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:21,520
Speaker 2: and how they crept up to eleven or ten or whatever.

658
00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:24,120
Speaker 2: Now the real price of the stock is nowhere near

659
00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:26,000
Speaker 2: it's like staying around eight dollars eight to fifty. So

660
00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:29,280
Speaker 2: they're talking to early future markets, right. So the minor

661
00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:31,960
Speaker 2: leaguers need to get right is the expiration date on

662
00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:34,800
Speaker 2: their options. They need to be holding the options when

663
00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:37,440
Speaker 2: the merger is announced, and they keep expiring, and so

664
00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:39,200
Speaker 2: they're trying to go we have to time, that's right,

665
00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:40,840
Speaker 2: and they don't have the money to keep buying, so

666
00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:43,160
Speaker 2: it becomes a question, right they need to know when

667
00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:45,720
Speaker 2: will the merger be announced? As the best is he

668
00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:47,720
Speaker 2: could figure it. Jordan Kassar, I believe the deal was

669
00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:50,160
Speaker 2: thing to go down in late twenty twenty one from

670
00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:52,480
Speaker 2: what finance employee told him. He's got probably before the

671
00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:54,360
Speaker 2: end of the year, So that's what he's telling everybody

672
00:32:54,360 --> 00:32:56,880
Speaker 2: in the text, right or maybe early twenty twenty two.

673
00:32:57,080 --> 00:32:59,640
Speaker 3: They want to buy it at it's lowest. What do

674
00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:02,280
Speaker 3: you mean, like if it's eight dollars when they're talking.

675
00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:04,080
Speaker 2: They just want to be holding a price. They want

676
00:33:04,120 --> 00:33:06,800
Speaker 2: to be holding the stock options in the future, and

677
00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:09,600
Speaker 2: the then the the sooner the closer to right this

678
00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:11,440
Speaker 2: moment they can get them, the price will stay low.

679
00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:13,800
Speaker 2: The further in the in the future, the price will

680
00:33:13,840 --> 00:33:15,920
Speaker 2: start creeping up for the options because more and more

681
00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:17,600
Speaker 2: of this news will start.

682
00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:19,120
Speaker 3: Why wouldn't they just buy it all then?

683
00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:22,240
Speaker 2: Because they don't. They don't have the money to do that.

684
00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:25,200
Speaker 2: And also trying to buy options in a hundred in

685
00:33:25,240 --> 00:33:28,240
Speaker 2: groups one hundred or less, you know, the hundred is

686
00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:30,360
Speaker 2: the most they can do. Yeah, so or you know,

687
00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:33,600
Speaker 2: in a series. So at this point, Jordan Kassar he

688
00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:36,680
Speaker 2: texts his friend, the finance employee, and then they start,

689
00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:39,640
Speaker 2: you know, chatting. Turns out finance employe is gonna be

690
00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:42,040
Speaker 2: taking a long drive to La George's like, hey, i'll

691
00:33:42,080 --> 00:33:44,240
Speaker 2: ride with you. So he rides with him. He's like,

692
00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:45,640
Speaker 2: I don't know, man, I mean, I'm gonna be talking

693
00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:47,080
Speaker 2: on a zoom call most of the call. He's like,

694
00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:50,160
Speaker 2: i'll drive you just do the zoom call. So he

695
00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:52,320
Speaker 2: texts the others to let them know, Okay, I'll ask

696
00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:54,720
Speaker 2: about the taco deal. Well for the zoom call drive,

697
00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:57,280
Speaker 2: So he texts the group threat He texts them while

698
00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:00,240
Speaker 2: he's on the call, giving them updates and driving. Yeah, well,

699
00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:02,000
Speaker 2: I guess he's getting gas, you know whatever was just

700
00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:04,240
Speaker 2: say he's getting gas anyway, So he'll be like texting

701
00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:08,560
Speaker 2: four hour call, all right, and Witherspoon's responding, that's incredible, right,

702
00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:11,919
Speaker 2: And now Jordan Kassar is responding hopefully about the good

703
00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:13,480
Speaker 2: good four.

704
00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:14,360
Speaker 3: Hour zoom calls.

705
00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:18,359
Speaker 2: Four hour zoom calls about m and A. Yeah, So

706
00:34:18,360 --> 00:34:21,000
Speaker 2: so he texts, oh, have a full report on Saturday

707
00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:25,520
Speaker 2: for you guys, and Witherspoon responds, better be good because

708
00:34:25,520 --> 00:34:28,680
Speaker 2: I think they're getting financially stretched. He's like, I'm out

709
00:34:28,719 --> 00:34:31,440
Speaker 2: three thousand dollars, man, I can't afford that because that's

710
00:34:31,480 --> 00:34:32,600
Speaker 2: like half my salary.

711
00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:34,360
Speaker 3: Taco stuck.

712
00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:36,840
Speaker 2: And the trouble is, as I pointed out, Jordan Kassar

713
00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:39,200
Speaker 2: does not know when the deal's going down, and he's

714
00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:41,399
Speaker 2: hoping that he's gonna hear about it in this call, right,

715
00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:43,160
Speaker 2: So the minor leaguers, as they said, they don't want

716
00:34:43,160 --> 00:34:45,759
Speaker 2: to be holding worthless paper and expires in January. Now

717
00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:48,279
Speaker 2: it's clear he needs to pump finance employee for more

718
00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:51,239
Speaker 2: in from the insider trading, specifically when's the deal going

719
00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:53,879
Speaker 2: to go down? But after the four hour calls over,

720
00:34:54,160 --> 00:34:56,719
Speaker 2: Jordan Cassar doesn't know. He cannot tell from the call

721
00:34:56,760 --> 00:34:58,839
Speaker 2: because the date, no dates were mentioned. They were talking

722
00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:01,319
Speaker 2: about other aspects of du diligence. So he just straight

723
00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:04,920
Speaker 2: up has to ask about the impending timing of the acquisition.

724
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:07,759
Speaker 2: So like, hey, man, when's this all gonna get announced?

725
00:35:08,120 --> 00:35:10,920
Speaker 2: So you want me to change the station? So the

726
00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:13,480
Speaker 2: finance employee he tells them what he knows, like, he

727
00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:17,160
Speaker 2: tells him more non public information. Yeah, and he explains that, Kassar,

728
00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:20,040
Speaker 2: you know you overheard some of this in the zoom call, right,

729
00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:22,480
Speaker 2: So he's like, he explains what he overheard, then explains

730
00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:24,359
Speaker 2: how that affects the timing, and he tells him when

731
00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:27,239
Speaker 2: the timing will probably go down for the announcement. So

732
00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:31,000
Speaker 2: after that, Jordan Kassar bought more Del Taco stock options.

733
00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:33,600
Speaker 2: He went big time at this point. He bought four

734
00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:36,960
Speaker 2: ninety nine dollars of Del Taco stock options. I'm thinking

735
00:35:36,960 --> 00:35:37,760
Speaker 2: he borrowed money.

736
00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:38,120
Speaker 3: Yeah.

737
00:35:38,320 --> 00:35:40,440
Speaker 2: As they say in hip hop, once again, it's on.

738
00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:43,640
Speaker 2: So let's take a little break and after these messages,

739
00:35:43,680 --> 00:36:07,680
Speaker 2: I'll tell you about how Taco hit the fan. Elizabeth Saron,

740
00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:10,360
Speaker 2: we're back, ready to talk more about stock options and

741
00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:11,200
Speaker 2: strike prices.

742
00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:12,480
Speaker 3: Yes, sir, how would you.

743
00:36:12,440 --> 00:36:13,960
Speaker 2: Be handling all of this if you were one of

744
00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:14,680
Speaker 2: the ballplayers.

745
00:36:14,719 --> 00:36:17,480
Speaker 3: If I knew about this, Yes I would. I'd take

746
00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:23,080
Speaker 3: a trusted relative to lunch somewhere and very quietly explain

747
00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:24,600
Speaker 3: the whole thing and tell them they had to go

748
00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:26,360
Speaker 3: buy a bunch of stock. Hmm.

749
00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:29,719
Speaker 2: It's interesting. I have bad news for you that would

750
00:36:29,719 --> 00:36:32,720
Speaker 2: have probably gotten them on a list. Once insider trading

751
00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:35,240
Speaker 2: comes out, everyone who bought stock options in that period

752
00:36:35,239 --> 00:36:36,480
Speaker 2: of time, he becomes suspect.

753
00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:38,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, so, but it's not me.

754
00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:42,200
Speaker 2: You would not be. Now, before we get back to

755
00:36:42,239 --> 00:36:43,799
Speaker 2: the story, there's something I wanted to bring up, something

756
00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:47,319
Speaker 2: that bothered me. In the SEC charging documents, there's this

757
00:36:47,440 --> 00:36:51,720
Speaker 2: interesting narrative that's at work threaded all throughout and I quote,

758
00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:55,520
Speaker 2: the finance employee expected that Kazar would keep his additional

759
00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:58,800
Speaker 2: information confidential, and Kazar was aware that the finance employee

760
00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:02,520
Speaker 2: expected him to maintain confidentiality. Nevertheless, in breach of his

761
00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:05,720
Speaker 2: duty of trust and confidence to the finance employee, Kassar

762
00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:09,120
Speaker 2: divulged the additional information shared with him. Now, in case

763
00:37:09,120 --> 00:37:11,359
Speaker 2: you missed it, the SEC's point is, which they later

764
00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:13,840
Speaker 2: repeat to make sure it's clear and well. Here and

765
00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:18,080
Speaker 2: I quote, the finance employee trusted Khazar to maintain those confidences,

766
00:37:18,239 --> 00:37:20,960
Speaker 2: and Kassar knew that the finance employee expected him to

767
00:37:21,040 --> 00:37:24,560
Speaker 2: maintain those confidences and not to misappropriate information shared with

768
00:37:24,680 --> 00:37:28,680
Speaker 2: Kazar for his own benefit. So they're blaming Kasar for

769
00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:31,040
Speaker 2: this breach of trusts Right now, I refer back to

770
00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:34,320
Speaker 2: the SEC charging documents, where in earlier the Security Exchange

771
00:37:34,320 --> 00:37:38,160
Speaker 2: Commission wrote that in connection with his employment, the finance

772
00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:42,719
Speaker 2: employees signed a confidentiality agreement and understood that information he

773
00:37:42,840 --> 00:37:45,799
Speaker 2: received related to the exisition was confidential.

774
00:37:46,080 --> 00:37:46,400
Speaker 3: Yeah.

775
00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:50,720
Speaker 2: My question is finance employee signed a document contract whatever,

776
00:37:51,280 --> 00:37:54,480
Speaker 2: How did he not violate that trust by sharing non

777
00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:57,160
Speaker 2: public information with his friend Jordan Kassar.

778
00:37:57,320 --> 00:37:59,360
Speaker 3: Duty of care, duty of trust, like all of the.

779
00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:01,080
Speaker 2: Due diligence was literally his job.

780
00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:04,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, but it's just like he has like these fiduciary

781
00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:07,719
Speaker 3: duties totally and he's violated everything.

782
00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:11,480
Speaker 2: In the SEC shifts the responsibility to Jordan Kassar and

783
00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:14,359
Speaker 2: says that quote the finance employee expected the Kasar would

784
00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:17,839
Speaker 2: keep his additional information confidential, and Kassar was aware that

785
00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:21,360
Speaker 2: the finance employee expected him to maintain its confidentiality. Nevertheless,

786
00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:23,520
Speaker 2: in breach of his duty of trust, how is that

787
00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:27,200
Speaker 2: his duty of trust? Kassar is not employee, he's no

788
00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:31,040
Speaker 2: duty of trust his friend in a bar in San Diego.

789
00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:33,239
Speaker 3: Oh man, I'm telling you, like.

790
00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:35,520
Speaker 2: The finance employee is the one who breaches Jack in

791
00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:39,040
Speaker 2: the Boxes trust. There's the trust that was bridged the

792
00:38:39,080 --> 00:38:42,200
Speaker 2: minor League ballplayer. Was he an informant, would know nothing.

793
00:38:42,239 --> 00:38:44,840
Speaker 2: He's a cover operating witness. That's why they've changed this

794
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:47,080
Speaker 2: narrative to make it where he's like a hero in

795
00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:49,439
Speaker 2: this where he's the actual one. The minor leaguer would

796
00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:52,840
Speaker 2: know nothing about the Del Taco deal if finance employee

797
00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:54,680
Speaker 2: had been like, hey, I'll get the next round. Oh,

798
00:38:54,719 --> 00:38:56,279
Speaker 2: by the way, I gotta tell you what I'm doing.

799
00:38:56,360 --> 00:38:59,600
Speaker 3: Did finance employee give the government something on someone else?

800
00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:04,920
Speaker 2: No? I think he just helped bust these minor leaguers.

801
00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:06,480
Speaker 2: And there's a lot of them guys compared to the

802
00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:08,719
Speaker 2: one of him. I don't know. It doesn't make sense

803
00:39:08,719 --> 00:39:10,400
Speaker 2: to me. It really bothered me when I was reading.

804
00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:14,000
Speaker 3: So the SEC argue forty grand total is what we're

805
00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:14,479
Speaker 3: talking about.

806
00:39:14,719 --> 00:39:16,719
Speaker 2: I'll tell you that number in a second. I have

807
00:39:16,760 --> 00:39:19,719
Speaker 2: to assume that he chose also to testify against his

808
00:39:19,760 --> 00:39:22,880
Speaker 2: old college teammates and drinking buddy because he got pissed

809
00:39:22,880 --> 00:39:25,960
Speaker 2: that his buddy jeopardized his corporate career while he goes

810
00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:28,080
Speaker 2: out and gets to play baseball professionally. While the old

811
00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:31,279
Speaker 2: Pepperdin teammate is a former minor leger taking four hour

812
00:39:31,320 --> 00:39:33,040
Speaker 2: long Zoom calls about buying Del Taco.

813
00:39:33,440 --> 00:39:36,200
Speaker 3: They all say to each other, not cool broah, Like,

814
00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:37,880
Speaker 3: there was a lot of that flying around.

815
00:39:37,880 --> 00:39:39,960
Speaker 2: Not cool bro usually But what I know, I mean,

816
00:39:40,160 --> 00:39:41,480
Speaker 2: what I okay? Here's why I do know. I know

817
00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:45,839
Speaker 2: what happened next. In November, Witherspoon Grant. Wetherspoon bought more

818
00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:48,680
Speaker 2: call options after his first series expired, which explains why

819
00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:51,200
Speaker 2: he wanted the good news from Kasar. He was getting stretched.

820
00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:51,480
Speaker 3: Yeah.

821
00:39:51,520 --> 00:39:53,440
Speaker 2: Now, by the end of November, Witherspoon was holding a

822
00:39:53,480 --> 00:39:56,279
Speaker 2: fresh batch of two hundred and four call options, all

823
00:39:56,320 --> 00:39:59,000
Speaker 2: set to expire on January twenty first, twenty twenty two.

824
00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:02,440
Speaker 2: Kasar had on similarly. Now the minor leaguers wait for

825
00:40:02,480 --> 00:40:04,560
Speaker 2: the big news that Jack in the Box is gonna

826
00:40:04,600 --> 00:40:07,360
Speaker 2: buy Del Taca, and wait for Wall Street fat cats

827
00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:10,799
Speaker 2: to hear about it because they're on the inside. Here's

828
00:40:10,840 --> 00:40:14,160
Speaker 2: the big news at IF Teased Monday, December sixth, twenty

829
00:40:14,239 --> 00:40:17,600
Speaker 2: twenty one, Jack in the Box announces the corporation plans

830
00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:20,920
Speaker 2: to buy Del Taco. Wall Street goes nuts. Stock price

831
00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:23,920
Speaker 2: of Taco jumps to the tune of sixty six percent.

832
00:40:24,200 --> 00:40:24,839
Speaker 3: Wow.

833
00:40:25,040 --> 00:40:27,920
Speaker 2: Between October and December, when the deal was first announced,

834
00:40:28,160 --> 00:40:30,920
Speaker 2: the price of Deltaco was never higher than eight sixty seven.

835
00:40:31,560 --> 00:40:34,200
Speaker 2: When the jack in the box the deal goes through,

836
00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:36,560
Speaker 2: the stock shoots up to twelve fifty one.

837
00:40:37,120 --> 00:40:37,400
Speaker 3: Wow.

838
00:40:37,520 --> 00:40:39,560
Speaker 2: Okay, see it's some good amount, especially so you ask

839
00:40:39,640 --> 00:40:43,319
Speaker 2: how much the text thread all the minor leaguers, they

840
00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:46,320
Speaker 2: made a combined one hundred and eighty nine thousand dollars

841
00:40:46,400 --> 00:40:47,359
Speaker 2: in profit between them.

842
00:40:47,400 --> 00:40:47,680
Speaker 3: That's it.

843
00:40:47,840 --> 00:40:51,560
Speaker 2: Kasar made fifty six thousand, five hundred. Grant Witherspoon made

844
00:40:51,600 --> 00:40:54,839
Speaker 2: forty two thousand, eight hundred. So yes, they didn't make

845
00:40:54,880 --> 00:40:57,160
Speaker 2: a lot. They made enough to buy like a good

846
00:40:57,239 --> 00:40:59,360
Speaker 2: used car, maybe a little bit better than that.

847
00:40:59,480 --> 00:41:03,600
Speaker 3: But Pete, we have at the highest side us truck

848
00:41:03,920 --> 00:41:08,719
Speaker 3: these billions of dollars, hundreds of millions, billions of dollars

849
00:41:08,360 --> 00:41:11,520
Speaker 3: in crypto insider training, and these guys.

850
00:41:11,360 --> 00:41:14,120
Speaker 2: Go find like und this is the SEC is going after.

851
00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:16,239
Speaker 3: That's great, that's a great use of our read So.

852
00:41:16,400 --> 00:41:18,239
Speaker 2: Jordan Kasar, by the way, didn't just hook up his

853
00:41:18,239 --> 00:41:20,440
Speaker 2: homies with the insider trading before the deal went down.

854
00:41:20,480 --> 00:41:23,200
Speaker 2: He also spread the legal risk to his family. He

855
00:41:23,239 --> 00:41:25,279
Speaker 2: told his dad about the Del Taco deal, and his

856
00:41:25,360 --> 00:41:27,279
Speaker 2: father bought some Del Taco act.

857
00:41:27,920 --> 00:41:30,840
Speaker 3: Why didn't they all like, you get the Del Taco stock,

858
00:41:30,960 --> 00:41:33,400
Speaker 3: but then like buy a bunch of other fast food stock,

859
00:41:33,760 --> 00:41:35,839
Speaker 3: and then that's your cover. And you're like, listen, man,

860
00:41:35,920 --> 00:41:38,920
Speaker 3: that's pandemic. And people are they they want to go

861
00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:41,000
Speaker 3: to drive throughs. They can't sit in a restaurant.

862
00:41:41,640 --> 00:41:44,200
Speaker 2: Let me do the what you mafia accountant?

863
00:41:45,400 --> 00:41:48,080
Speaker 3: Oh wait, did you just tell her you do?

864
00:41:48,600 --> 00:41:50,239
Speaker 2: So some of the other miner they goes on that

865
00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:52,839
Speaker 2: text said they told their family and friends as well

866
00:41:52,880 --> 00:41:55,640
Speaker 2: about the Del Taco money tree, and many of them

867
00:41:55,680 --> 00:41:58,520
Speaker 2: bought Del Taco options before the deal was announced. You

868
00:41:58,560 --> 00:41:59,600
Speaker 2: can see where this is going.

869
00:42:00,160 --> 00:42:01,360
Speaker 3: The price up themselves.

870
00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:03,560
Speaker 2: Basically, there was so many people aware of this deal

871
00:42:03,840 --> 00:42:06,920
Speaker 2: that were buying stock options before the Del Taco announcement

872
00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:11,640
Speaker 2: that the trading volume became suspicious, so the SEC launched

873
00:42:11,680 --> 00:42:15,200
Speaker 2: an investigation. A list was generated of all the folks

874
00:42:15,239 --> 00:42:17,640
Speaker 2: who were purchasing stock options and sold them when the

875
00:42:17,680 --> 00:42:20,680
Speaker 2: deal was announced. Yea, And the list was passed around

876
00:42:20,680 --> 00:42:22,840
Speaker 2: at Jack in the Box headquarters, going, is any of

877
00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:24,360
Speaker 2: your friends or family on this list?

878
00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:24,600
Speaker 3: Oh?

879
00:42:24,719 --> 00:42:27,480
Speaker 2: No, and yes. So the implication was that there was

880
00:42:27,520 --> 00:42:30,919
Speaker 2: insider trading. So when the finance employee was shown the list,

881
00:42:30,960 --> 00:42:34,719
Speaker 2: he recognized He recognized two names his old teammates from Pepperdine,

882
00:42:34,800 --> 00:42:37,640
Speaker 2: Jordan Gisar and Grant Witherspoon, And so then he got

883
00:42:37,680 --> 00:42:40,040
Speaker 2: apparently got mad. Apparently that's when he decided to become

884
00:42:40,040 --> 00:42:42,520
Speaker 2: a cooperating witness for the SEC. And maybe it was

885
00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:44,560
Speaker 2: to protect himself from the scrutiny, you know, once they'd

886
00:42:44,560 --> 00:42:46,239
Speaker 2: figure out like, wait a minute, they both know you.

887
00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:48,760
Speaker 2: Or maybe because he was just genuinely embarrassed and angry

888
00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:51,560
Speaker 2: and didn't expect Kassar to pull insider trading. I don't know.

889
00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:53,719
Speaker 2: Perhaps he knew that they might do this because they

890
00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:56,439
Speaker 2: knew that they were impoverished minor leaguers, and that's why

891
00:42:56,440 --> 00:42:58,439
Speaker 2: he got out of being a minor leaguer and joined

892
00:42:58,480 --> 00:43:00,960
Speaker 2: Corporate America. And he just got pissed when it circled

893
00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:03,560
Speaker 2: back to threaten his life in Corporate America. He's like, no,

894
00:43:03,920 --> 00:43:06,160
Speaker 2: you boys of Summer don't get it. Do this, you know.

895
00:43:06,520 --> 00:43:09,480
Speaker 2: I don't know, but I'm just speculating. I don't know

896
00:43:09,480 --> 00:43:10,960
Speaker 2: what the dude was thinking a feeling. I just know

897
00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:14,160
Speaker 2: his testimony will likely be key to busting sold teammates. Now,

898
00:43:14,280 --> 00:43:18,040
Speaker 2: December fifth, two one twenty four, three years and four

899
00:43:18,120 --> 00:43:20,440
Speaker 2: days after the announcement of the Del Taco news hit

900
00:43:20,480 --> 00:43:23,520
Speaker 2: Wall Street, the SEC had the big announcement of their own.

901
00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:27,920
Speaker 2: The Commission obtained a final judgment against Jordan Kassar, Grant Witherspoon,

902
00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:31,959
Speaker 2: their co defendant, Austin Bernard. Kassar was ordered to pay

903
00:43:32,000 --> 00:43:34,359
Speaker 2: back the fifty six thousand, four hundred and seventy dollars

904
00:43:34,400 --> 00:43:37,040
Speaker 2: in profits, but not only that, he also had to

905
00:43:37,040 --> 00:43:39,799
Speaker 2: pay a nine nine hundred and eighty six dollars in

906
00:43:39,840 --> 00:43:43,560
Speaker 2: pre judgment interest. He had to pay sixty three thousand,

907
00:43:43,600 --> 00:43:46,400
Speaker 2: one hundred and ninety four dollars in civil penalties. So

908
00:43:46,440 --> 00:43:48,320
Speaker 2: that's a grand total of one hundred and twenty nine thousand,

909
00:43:48,440 --> 00:43:51,160
Speaker 2: six hundred and fifty dollars. The other co defenders had

910
00:43:51,160 --> 00:43:53,320
Speaker 2: to do the same, return the profits and pay civil

911
00:43:53,360 --> 00:43:56,080
Speaker 2: fees and interest. But that wasn't all, because in March

912
00:43:56,080 --> 00:43:58,560
Speaker 2: of twenty twenty four, the US Attorney's Office for the

913
00:43:58,600 --> 00:44:02,960
Speaker 2: Southern District of California decided to file criminal charges against

914
00:44:03,120 --> 00:44:06,399
Speaker 2: the minor league inside traders. So now Jordan Kassar Grant,

915
00:44:06,440 --> 00:44:09,319
Speaker 2: whether it's been Austin Bernard and Chase Lambert are all

916
00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:13,879
Speaker 2: having to face these charges criminally. Thus I say, allegedly

917
00:44:14,040 --> 00:44:14,879
Speaker 2: they did these things.

918
00:44:14,960 --> 00:44:15,200
Speaker 3: Yeah.

919
00:44:15,320 --> 00:44:17,560
Speaker 2: What's wild to me is how they all have baseball

920
00:44:17,600 --> 00:44:20,800
Speaker 2: sounding names totally right, you know, like they all sound

921
00:44:20,840 --> 00:44:21,800
Speaker 2: like ballplayers.

922
00:44:22,280 --> 00:44:25,399
Speaker 3: Yeah, Chase Lambert space like.

923
00:44:25,640 --> 00:44:27,680
Speaker 2: Austin Bernard, that's on more basketball because of how he

924
00:44:27,760 --> 00:44:30,479
Speaker 2: keeps saying it. But Jordan Casar, they're all ballplayer names.

925
00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:32,600
Speaker 2: Their case is in still in federal court, so I

926
00:44:32,600 --> 00:44:35,320
Speaker 2: don't know I'm pulling for them. I'm pouring for you guys.

927
00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:36,360
Speaker 3: Unless they're terrible people.

928
00:44:36,440 --> 00:44:40,080
Speaker 2: They're in twenty years in federal prison. That's the maximums

929
00:44:40,120 --> 00:44:42,960
Speaker 2: the same thing that the President calls a golf outing.

930
00:44:43,320 --> 00:44:45,719
Speaker 2: They're looking at It just doesn't seem fair to me.

931
00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:48,520
Speaker 2: I mean, sure about ever six months in minimum security

932
00:44:48,560 --> 00:44:50,319
Speaker 2: federal facility. I get it, we need to like slap

933
00:44:50,360 --> 00:44:52,040
Speaker 2: them on their wrist, but twenty years is ridiculous.

934
00:44:52,080 --> 00:44:54,520
Speaker 3: The ain't get a heads up on a tariff carve.

935
00:44:54,280 --> 00:44:56,800
Speaker 2: Out, No, they don't have enough to buy one now,

936
00:44:57,200 --> 00:44:59,880
Speaker 2: So I'd say that's all I got for you, Elizabeth.

937
00:45:00,840 --> 00:45:01,879
Speaker 3: That's ridiculous.

938
00:45:02,320 --> 00:45:04,439
Speaker 2: So what's our ridiculous takeaway here?

939
00:45:04,600 --> 00:45:08,600
Speaker 3: You've got to think of your cover man, like, don't

940
00:45:08,600 --> 00:45:11,400
Speaker 3: do it on options, just going on a buying spree

941
00:45:11,440 --> 00:45:14,120
Speaker 3: of a bunch of fast food and then just hold

942
00:45:14,160 --> 00:45:16,560
Speaker 3: it and it's not you. It's like you know your

943
00:45:16,600 --> 00:45:18,640
Speaker 3: cousin that you trust.

944
00:45:18,800 --> 00:45:20,440
Speaker 2: Options is you don't have to buy it. You know.

945
00:45:20,800 --> 00:45:23,200
Speaker 2: That was they went a little cheap on the.

946
00:45:22,680 --> 00:45:27,319
Speaker 3: They cheaped out. You know, it takes money to make money, baby,

947
00:45:28,400 --> 00:45:29,480
Speaker 3: what's your takeaway?

948
00:45:29,800 --> 00:45:31,960
Speaker 2: They should remember that they were not players. They were

949
00:45:32,000 --> 00:45:34,320
Speaker 2: ball players, Like you know, you're not big money players.

950
00:45:34,320 --> 00:45:37,520
Speaker 2: Come on now, like they're talking about like strike crisis

951
00:45:37,560 --> 00:45:39,879
Speaker 2: and stuff like, come on, like you got to stay

952
00:45:39,880 --> 00:45:42,440
Speaker 2: in your lane, you know, like drive that lane.

953
00:45:42,600 --> 00:45:45,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, I talk big, I'm not I'm not buying all

954
00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:48,520
Speaker 3: these things. No, I know up from down. No, I

955
00:45:48,960 --> 00:45:49,920
Speaker 3: don't have the money for it.

956
00:45:50,040 --> 00:45:52,640
Speaker 2: There's that as well. Yeah, you the move for a talkback?

957
00:45:52,800 --> 00:46:04,440
Speaker 2: Yes a d Can you favor us with one? Hell get.

958
00:46:07,239 --> 00:46:07,520
Speaker 3: Hello?

959
00:46:07,640 --> 00:46:12,600
Speaker 5: Ridiculous Crime Central. M Allen reporting from the field in

960
00:46:12,640 --> 00:46:16,120
Speaker 5: regards to your recent EPI about David O.

961
00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:17,040
Speaker 2: Russell.

962
00:46:17,880 --> 00:46:21,720
Speaker 5: It recalled for me the time in college when I

963
00:46:21,840 --> 00:46:24,040
Speaker 5: was assigned to watch that film and report on the

964
00:46:24,120 --> 00:46:28,879
Speaker 5: experience that film being spanking the monkey. Now I had

965
00:46:28,920 --> 00:46:31,600
Speaker 5: purchased nachos, not knowing what kind of film it was.

966
00:46:31,840 --> 00:46:34,400
Speaker 5: I was crunching nachos when it was very awkward.

967
00:46:34,800 --> 00:46:35,800
Speaker 3: Many were leaving.

968
00:46:39,760 --> 00:46:46,319
Speaker 2: That's amazing for taking us back to that awkward, awkward moment. Yeah, yeah,

969
00:46:46,480 --> 00:46:49,800
Speaker 2: the theater eating the natchos when the bad thing starts

970
00:46:49,800 --> 00:46:52,200
Speaker 2: happening on screen, and then the old couple gets up

971
00:46:52,200 --> 00:46:54,520
Speaker 2: and walks out, and the middle aged couple gets up

972
00:46:54,560 --> 00:46:55,120
Speaker 2: and walks out.

973
00:46:55,800 --> 00:46:58,920
Speaker 3: Why do they sell nachos for the theater so loud?

974
00:46:59,080 --> 00:46:59,920
Speaker 2: That is a good point.

975
00:47:00,040 --> 00:47:02,680
Speaker 3: Thank you. Yeah, I don't know, I'll take it up

976
00:47:02,680 --> 00:47:03,400
Speaker 3: with management.

977
00:47:04,760 --> 00:47:07,360
Speaker 2: That's always you find us online Ridiculous Crime on the

978
00:47:07,400 --> 00:47:10,960
Speaker 2: social media's We also we have a Ridiculous Crime pod

979
00:47:11,080 --> 00:47:14,239
Speaker 2: on YouTube. Go check that out and recommend people and

980
00:47:14,360 --> 00:47:16,560
Speaker 2: you know, go, you know, listen to it. We also

981
00:47:16,600 --> 00:47:19,400
Speaker 2: have our website, ridiculous Crime dot com and we obviously

982
00:47:19,480 --> 00:47:22,120
Speaker 2: love your talkback, so please go to the iHeart app,

983
00:47:22,200 --> 00:47:25,160
Speaker 2: download it and leave a talkback. Maybe we get to

984
00:47:25,160 --> 00:47:27,439
Speaker 2: be favored by your voice, wouldn't that be nice? Also,

985
00:47:27,440 --> 00:47:29,160
Speaker 2: you can email us if you like at ridiculous Crime

986
00:47:29,160 --> 00:47:32,000
Speaker 2: at gmail dot com. Please start the email Dear producer

987
00:47:32,080 --> 00:47:35,040
Speaker 2: d Well, that's all I got for you. Thank you.

988
00:47:35,160 --> 00:47:43,479
Speaker 2: We'll catch you next time and next crime. Ridiculous Crime

989
00:47:43,560 --> 00:47:46,200
Speaker 2: is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton, m Zennie Brinette produce an

990
00:47:46,320 --> 00:47:49,520
Speaker 2: edited by the Ivan Bosky to our Enron Accounting Department

991
00:47:49,760 --> 00:47:53,759
Speaker 2: Dave Gustin and starring Analy's Rutger as Judid. Research is

992
00:47:53,760 --> 00:47:56,480
Speaker 2: by the inventor of the credit default swap versus Brown.

993
00:47:56,680 --> 00:47:59,080
Speaker 2: Our theme song is by Thomas who wants to buy

994
00:47:59,200 --> 00:48:03,239
Speaker 2: derivative us at Lee An Travis who were all these

995
00:48:03,239 --> 00:48:07,480
Speaker 2: corporate welfare queens Dutton. The host wardrobe provided by Botany

996
00:48:07,520 --> 00:48:10,520
Speaker 2: five hundred, guest hair and makeup by Sparkleshot and the

997
00:48:10,560 --> 00:48:14,919
Speaker 2: miss Andre. Executive producers are Ben I've always preferred Del

998
00:48:15,000 --> 00:48:19,040
Speaker 2: Taco to Taco Bell boldin Panol. Yeah, Well, I prefer

999
00:48:19,200 --> 00:48:21,240
Speaker 2: Jim Boys Tacos Brown.

1000
00:48:26,360 --> 00:48:32,080
Speaker 3: We cry say it one more time, Geek Cry.

1001
00:48:33,200 --> 00:48:36,560
Speaker 1: Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio four more podcasts.

1002
00:48:36,680 --> 00:48:39,840
Speaker 1: My heart Radio visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

1003
00:48:39,840 --> 00:48:41,640
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.