On Friday, October 9, 2015, a minor league player in the New York Yankees farm system filed a lawsuit alleging that a man posing as a sports agent cheated him out of $100,000.
The player, Angelo Gumbs, was drafted by the New York Yankees in 2010, and currently plays second base for the Tampa Yankees in Florida. According to the complaint, Richard Earl Davis, Jr. represented that he was a baseball agent certified by the Major League Baseball Players’ Association (MLBPA). Gumbs then signed a seven year deal with Davis, and over the next few years, Davis took over $100,000 of Gumbs’ $750,000 signing bonus. Gumbs claims Davis convinced him to invest in business ventures, and provide money for documentaries and websites, among other “representations to . . . extract other payments and advances.”
Gumbs “began to realize that Davis was not looking out for [his] professional interest” and “turned to the MLBPA.” After an investigation, the Yankees and the MLBPA told Gumbs that Davis is not, and was never, a certified agent with the MLB. Gumbs filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court, and is alleging fraud by intentional misrepresentation, fraud by concealment, and fraud by promise without intent to perform.