Former Cy Young Winner and World Series champion Barry Zito, in a lawsuit, claims that he was tricked by a friend into investing millions for a fitness software money-making scheme which never got off the ground.
Zito, who is playing out the final year of his $126 million contract with the San Francisco Giants, filed two California Superior Court complaints against dotFIT LLC., Global Health Solutions LLC, NEFC FitInnovations LLC, Lafayette Holding Company LLC and New Evolution Ventures LLC, according to Courthouse News.
In addition, the three-time All-Star also sued his friend Michael Clark, fitness expert Neal Spruce and bodybuilder Odd Haugen.
In the suit, Zito claims that Clark convinced him to invest $3 million in dotFIT, which was trying to start a $20 million equity campaign that would allow the company to exploit and market a valuable software interface that they would sell to health clubs around the world.
Clark added that there were other partners ready to invest with dotFit and encouraged Zito to invest before losing out. The problem, Zito claimed in the complaint, was that dotFIT "now claims that it never sought to raise $20 million in equity (and never had $20 million in capital)."
As a result, instead of getting a 15 percent minority share, the money invested by Zito, the 2002 AL wins leader (23-5 win-loss record), ended up paying for the repayment of loans, profit sharing, and salaries and bonuses for others.
Zito is seeking monetary compensation for his investment losses.
On its website, dotFIT states that they provide supplements, nutrition products and online programs to consumers and fitness centers to clients in the U.S. and worldwide.
Yahoo! Sports reports that dotFIT was sold in 2011 to ShareCare, an online interactive Q&A platform for healthcare experts. The company is owned by Dr. Mehmet Oz, of "Oprah" fame, and WebMD founder Jeffrey T. Arnold; neither of them are being sued by Zito.
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