Eddie W. Rivera of Mukilteo made himself out to be a big-league sports manager, but Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies and the prosecutor think he may be more like baseball’s flimflam man.
Rivera, 31, was arrested Monday for investigation of six counts of first-degree theft for allegedly bilking local companies and investors out of cash, cars and services after purporting that he held endorsement contracts for numerous Seattle Mariners players.
At various times, Rivera allegedly told people that he had under contract such Seattle players as Ryan Franklin, Joel Pineiro, Ben Davis, Kazuhiro Sasaki, Shigetoshi Hasegawa and others, documents say.
The arrest came the same day detectives served a search warrant on his home seeking records, bank account information and computers.
He appeared briefly Tuesday in Everett District Court, where Judge Roger Fisher set bail at $150,000.
Seattle defense attorney Richard Hansen asked the judge to reduce or eliminate bail because Rivera has a wife and five children to support.
"This new arrest comes as a complete surprise," Hansen told the judge.
Deputy prosecutor Jim Townsend said Rivera drives an expensive car and is living in a leased $700,000 house, paid for by other people’s money.
"Mr. Rivera doesn’t make any money legitimately," Townsend told the judge.
This is the second time Rivera has run into trouble in Snohomish County.
In a separate case, Rivera is awaiting trial on nine counts of first-degree theft for allegedly representing that he was a Seattle attorney and taking $60,000 in payments from a Seattle man who wanted to file a lawsuit in Utah. The case was filed in February concerning incidents that happened in 2001.
In a 16-page affidavit filed Tuesday, sheriff’s detective Matt Trafford said Rivera apparently changed occupations in 2002.
He told a number of people he had various major league baseball players under contract, and sought promotional contracts with retailers for some of them through a company known as Sports Management International.
He allegedly accepted investments, but his company failed to carry out all the promises Rivera made, the document says.
Altogether, Rivera used $146,000 from his company’s funds to pay personal bills, including his lawyer in the 2001 case, court papers say.
He "scammed" a boat cruise on a large yacht with Olympic Boat Center, alleging that former Mariner Jeff Nelson, now with the New York Yankees, wanted to buy the yacht, Trafford said.
In August 2002, Rivera worked out an agreement with Harbour Pointe Lincoln-Mercury to use M’s pitcher Franklin in an advertising campaign. He was supposed to have opened a trust account so funds paid by Harbour Point would not be mixed with business or personal accounts, papers say.
Rivera never opened the account, and the dealership lost $70,000 that wasn’t paid to media companies, documents say.
Among others caught up in Rivera’s activities was Franklin’s brother, Jay Franklin, who became an employee of Rivera’s company.
Jay Franklin, who formerly worked for Scott Boras, one of baseball’s most successful player agents, was one of the people who brought Rivera’s recent activities to Trafford’s attention.
In other allegations in the affidavit, Rivera:
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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