From College World Series Hero to $32M Ponzi Scheme

Sam Favata (0:00)

All the money's gone. It went to the Rio and overseas.

They went to the sports book. Remember all the bets I made in 05? It was $45 million in bets.

Mariana van Zeller (0:11)

No way.

Sam Favata (0:11)

And $145 million for the three years. I was spending it.

Mariana van Zeller (0:22)

Okay, Sam Favata, welcome to The Hidden Third. So Sam was one of the best college baseball players in the country, two-time All-American, scored the winning run in Cal State Fullerton's first college World Series Championship drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers. Then he was hit in the head by a fastball. Doctors said he might not live, might not walk, might not talk again. Yet, nine months later, he was back on a baseball field. What almost no one knew is that Sam had already placed his first bet, one that would eventually spiral into a massive gambling addiction.

To feed it, he ran a huge Ponzi scheme. He once placed one of the largest single sports bets on record. I wanted to make sure I put this in on this intro because it is so crazy. $1.5 million on one single hockey game, he lost. Eventually, it all came crumbling down and Sam ended up in federal prison.

So again, Sam, welcome. I'm so happy to have you on the podcast.

Sam Favata (1:20)

Thank you. Great to be here.

Mariana van Zeller (1:22)

Sam, I'd actually like to start, if you don't mind, with that day. What led up to that day that you were playing in the field when you got hit in the head? What was that day like?

What point of your life were you? What were your ambitions for the future?

Sam Favata (1:38)

I was newly married. I got married December of 80 So this happened in July 6, 1981

So within 6 months, my dream was to be a professional baseball player since I was 7

So here I am in my first full year with Stockton Ports. That's a single A team, my only team of the Milwaukee Brewers. So I go through routine practice and I felt good. I mean, I was really taking very serious not to miss one game. At that time, I went all the way and I still played every game. And then I let off the game and just another leadoff. I was a leadoff hitter for Stockton. The first two pitches, strike one, strike two.

And now I'm really guarding the plate because I have two strikes. I don't want to strike out and who does?

So the next pitch, I remember when he threw it, I just saw it come, but I flinch, you know, there was the background wasn't that good. The sun was still kind of in an area before it was a seven o'clock game, but it was, it was setting and I just turned and flinch and it, I felt the hardest bang against my left side of my helmet. And I had a helmet on, it hit and went kind of like back to the pitcher. They say, you know, I mean, I mean four feet, but I went down now as I'm down, I'm sitting there and I'm, it's hurting so, I didn't lose consciousness, but she, it was just like a bad headache. Like, oh my goodness. And they all ran to me, right? The umpire, the coaches, the players, and a couple of players were around me. And I looked up, there's like seven people right there. And I'm looking, I go, I'm okay. I'm trying to say, I'm okay. I go, okay. And it came out like, you know, ob-see, ob-shee-bah, and then one person, they call the ambulance. You know, I was, I was listening. Yeah, I was listening to myself. I'm talking like a baby.

Mariana van Zeller (3:35)

Oh, wow.

Sam Favata (3:36)

So I was going, ob-see. And then one of the guys, because I'm a prankster back in the day, and still to a point, like Sam, you're not messing. I go, ob-shee-bah, top that. And he goes, no. And then it's to a point where, oh my God. So just like that, it was so quick. The ambulance got there. And then I got loaded in. And I remember the story from my ex-wife. As the girls were pulling up, they just got there parking. And all of a sudden, they were a couple of minutes late, because I was first man up. I'm the visitors. I'm there. They pulled up and saw the ambulance. And my ex-wife said, I hope it's not Sam. And it was me. So I remember they loaded me in the ambulance.

She got in there too and took me to a doctor's hospital in Modesto, which is about a 10 minute, 15 minute drive.