Scott London, KPMG Partner Accused Of Insider Trading, Lied About Baseball Career

Scott London's bad case of tarnished credibility this week started when the partner at accounting giant KPMG was fired after federal prosecutors charged him with insider trading, alleging that he gave a golfing buddy tips about three client companies in exchange for cash and gifts.

Now, it appears London also stretched the truth about his prowess as a college baseball player.

London, 50, was previously active in a non-profit sports association, the Los Angeles Sports Council. A 2011 press release noting London's election as chairman of the non-profit organization asserted that he had been “a pitcher, shortstop and outfielder on the Cal State Northridge baseball team, graduating in 1984.”

That statement was later reported as fact by The New York Times and the Financial Times, among other media outlets, in articles about London's arrest.

In truth, London never suited up for the Matadors.

"There is no record of him ever playing baseball at Cal State Northridge,” Bob Vazquez, assistant athletic director at Cal State Northridge told The Huffington Post. “We checked our old media guides and media statistics. We want back from 1981 to 1986. His name is not listed.”

The fact that London did not play baseball for the college was first reported by the Los Angeles Times on Friday.

Mark Meyers, a spokesman for the LA Sports Council, confirmed the press release statement had been supplied by London.

“That was written a couple of years ago,” Meyers told The Huffington Post. “No one has found it interesting until now.”

London this week resigned from his post with the non-profit organization, Meyers said.

London’s lawyer, Harland Braun, confirmed that the details of his client's supposed collegiate baseball career were false.

“I asked him about the baseball thing,” Braun said, “He says he tried out and never made it. It was a mistake. I didn’t ask him how it was a mistake.

“He has a lifetime of other problems,” Braun added. “This is an aberration.”

According to Bloomberg, London plans to plead guilty to the insider trading charge at his next court date on May 17. He would face up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

“I regret my actions in leaking nonpublic data to a third party,” London said in a statement Tuesday. “What I have done was wrong and against everything that I had believed in.”

Original Article
Source: huffingtonpost.com
Author:  Eleazar David Melendez