NHL Team Owner Gets 8 Years in Prison
September 8, 2009 by Jeanne Dupuis
Filed under NHL, Nashville Predators, News
William (Boots) Del Biaggio is going to jail for eight years after pleading found guilty of duping investors and banks out of millions of dollars.
If you have followed this storyline at all, it’s hard to believe how this member of a prominent San Jose family went from being golf buddies with Mario Lemieux to “forging financial documents to obtain $110 million in loans from several banks and two NHL owners – Craig Leopold of the Minnesota Wild and Los Angeles Kings owner AEG. Del Biaggio used the money to purchase a controlling interest in the Nashville Predators.” 
Honestly, the whole thing is so complicated that I don’t think I could fully explain it (read this article if you need to know every detail) but I can say that this man seriously burned basically every bridge since he not only screwed over strangers but he even took money from childhood friends and long-time business associates. Who does that? I know he had amassed about $4 million in debt in Las Vegas so I hope it was all worth it.
With the court ordering that Del Biaggio pay back every penny, he has filed for bankruptcy and many of his assets, including his Nashville Predators stake, will be sold by court order. I can already hear James Balsillie salivating over getting his hands on the Preds since his bid to buy the Phoenix Coyotes doesn’t look good and he had already been trying to get the Nashville team from Del Biaggio before.
At least he showed some remorse. I’m glad that he pleaded guilty to the charges and he also apologized and promised to pay everyone back while his parents and friends cried in the courtroom. “I was blinded by pride and ego,” Del Biaggio said. “Everyone makes mistakes. I will come back from this and I refuse to let this define my life.”
image: Zuma Press
