Before we get started, I have to point out here that SEC does not mean Southeastern Conference in this story; but rather Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC, a United States governing agency that oversees the trading of stocks and bonds charges that Daniel E. Ruettiger, the real life “Rudy” used a sports drink company for a pump and dump scheme that illegally pulled in $11,000,000.
Yes, that Rudy, the former Notre Dame walk-on who inspired one of the the greatest college football movies of all time, (even if it was part infomercial for the University of Notre Dame) agreed to pay $382,866 to settle the SEC charges that his sports drink was a vehicle for a pump and dump scheme. However, in paying out the settlement, Ruettiger does not admit or deny the allegations.
The nearly $400K consists of disgorgement of his profits of $185,750 from the alleged stock fraud scheme, a civil fine of another $185,750, and interest.
From Vegas Inc.com
Pumping and dumping is a practice in which penny stock promoters falsely tout the financial prospects of a company to drive up its stock price, at which point they then “dump” their own shares by selling them, causing the stock price to collapse and investors to be harmed.
“The misconduct at the heart of this case is a classic pump-and-dump scheme involving a penny stock called Rudy Nutrition,” the SEC lawsuit says. “Daniel ‘Rudy’ Ruettiger — the walk-on football player at Notre Dame who was the subject of the 1993 movie ‘Rudy’ — founded Rudy Nutrition to compete with Gatorade in the sports drink market.
Alleged white collar crime? The same type of corporate crime that the Gordon Gekkos of the world engage in. I guess Rudy’s come a long way from the guy who was so poor he had to sleep in the stadium groundskeeper’s break room. He may have been “5-feet nothing, a 100 and nothing, and hardly a speck of athletic ability,” but he seems to have made some big paper for himself. And he knows a thing or two about how to hold on to the possibly ill-gotten scrilla.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports
A Fulbright scholar and MBA, Banks has appeared on live radio all over the world; and he’s a member of the Football Writers Association of America, U.S. Basketball Writers Association, and Society of Professional Journalists. The President of the United States follows him on Twitter (@Paul_M_BanksTSB) You should too.