To all the Michael Johnson haters, court documents reveal that MJ may lose $2.2 million that he loaned the league

I never viewed him as a scammer...just someone in over his head who believed in something that shouldn't have been believed in

Dont buy it for one second.

Good to hear, only appropriate that he lose at least as much relatively as the athletes and vendors. He was responsible for the biggest decisions, several of which turned out to be pretty bad.

As the article says, this does indicate those poor decisions were just bad judgment, and not a scam. I guess that's nice to hear? It's too bad he was paying fools for advice. With several big changes GST could have been an asset to the sport.

Long story short - Michael Johnson screwed a lot of people. Including himself.

What a mess he made.

Bernie Madoff lost all his money too.

Yeah, sure.

Please.

These guys were just confident they would get more investors.

But the crazy part for me is how much money they spent. They were spending like they had another $40 million.

They raised $13 million in 2024 but somehow had to get a $4 million loan before the first meet. That's the part I don't get. Where did they money go? Salaries, consultants, lawyers, and presumably some appearance fees for the first racers who signed on in 2024 (Sydney, Kerr etc)? But if you don't have the money, don't spend like you do.

And the other thing we don't know is how much they actually paid their vendors. We just know what they didn't pay them.

The amount of money they were paying athletes was so above the norm for many athletes (but not Noah, etc). We should make a spreadsheet.

2 likes for this hate bait.

MJ is compared to Bernie Madoff: orchestrator of largest Ponzi scheme in history, 57 billion owed to thousands of defrauded investors, no legitimate investments, 11 felonies, imprisonment (had a release date of 2137).

O-K.

For the record, if you want to criticize Grand Slam Track, here is where you go

1) What were they telling everyone when they couldn't pay? If they weren't honest here, blast away.
2) Implying they had a lot more money than they did.
3) Lack of transparency
4) Hubris
5) spending like drunken sailors. I just don't see how they spent so much before the first meet. Doesn't give me a lot of confidence in the team.

Agreed. Imagine the incredible amount of self-belief someone needs to pursue Olympic gold medals and world records. This is a guy who became famous by defying the odds. He ran times and achieved a double that no man had ever done before and while wearing gold spikes to boot!

I don't think MJ set out to screw people. I think he really believed he could make GST successful. His belief that he could do the impossible served him well as an athlete; it clouded his judgement as the head of GST.

Yep. His account put some work in to get the numbers and paperwork just right.

you nailed it.

in business and finance, athletes and entertainers, have exactly the brain of a drunken sailor.

the extreme hubris is they dont any fundamentals.

its like they think you just can run 10 flat 100m metaphorically without training, a morning jog, is good ebourh to compete.

the analysis, again, is these people are morons.

if they learn and survive, that is the equivalent of high value training, and actually develop their game.

You have to pay big for production quality like this:

Bernie Madeoff and Bankman-Fried are not real. The names give it away. That people believe the latter says it all. Could you make it more obvious?

This is incredibly naive.

Brojos, dont you run your own company? Dont you have accountants?

Haven't you loaned LRC money in the past?

Its absolutely standard prctice to loan a company money on paper so you can finance your lifestyle.

It doesnt surprise me at all that MJ can show, on paper, that he loaned the cmopany money, but he used that money and much much more to fund a lavish lifestyle for him and his cronies.

Depends on how much 2,2 million is relative to his total fortune. If he has many millions it won't hurt that much. Especially if losing it can be dealt with via some form of insurance or tax or other kind of deduction.

Exactly. Burned through 22 millions, still owes 20 millions, but nobody scammed anyone? 😆 🤣

No. He lied and deceived to attempt to save his own *ss. This makes it worse

It seemed like a dumb idea, they apparently spent like they were the NFL but did not have the money or knowledge. Part ignorance, part scam, part hubris. Not sure how much of each.