NFL
Mychal Kendricks Suspended Indefinitely After Losing Appeal
The NFL announced their decision Tuesday to suspend Mychal Kendricks indefinitely. The decision comes a month after Kendricks pleaded guilty to federal insider trading charges. Despite the plea, however, he’d been appealing his NFL suspension. According to federal guidelines, Kendricks could spend 30-37 months in prison. Surely, nobody will be hit harder by this news than Kendricks. Still, things just got worse for the Seattle Seahawks.
A Big Blow To Seattle
Seattle knew they would hear something from the league by Tuesday, but that doesn’t make their situation any better. The Seahawks will face the undefeated Los Angeles Rams this Sunday with an increasingly depleted defense. In Sunday’s matchup with the Cardinals, Seattle notably lost veteran safety Earl Thomas — who is now on injury reserve. Thomas fractured his tibia while making a play in the Seahawks win over Arizona. K.J. Wright is also missing this season, still recovering from a knee surgery in August. He probably won’t be ready for another two weeks. Kendricks was filling in for Wright and his presence will be missed. Kendricks managed 15 tackles and two sacks in his three games in Seattle.
Brief Recap
Between July 2014 and March 2015, Kendricks was given valuable non-public information by a bank analyst named Damilare Sonoiki. Interestingly, Sonoiki was also a former writer on the TV show Black-ish. The information given to Kendricks related to bank mergers. Insights on how the mergers would affect the prices of publicly traded securities were discussed. Mychal sold his stock options for a total of $1.2 million after the mergers were announced. What got the attention of the authorities was the increased value of his options, rising from 79% to a whopping 393%. That was pretty alarming for a novice investor with no access to private information. If that wasn’t enough, Kendricks also allegedly gave Sonoiki about $10,000 in cash. Along with the cash, Sonoiki was also given tickets to Eagles games and access to exclusive nightclubs.
Going Forward
Kendricks, 28, won’t be sentenced until January 24. As stated above, he faces 30 to 37 months in prison. While I’m sure that football will be the last thing on his mind behind bars, the hope for a comeback could be his silver lining. Given the likely time of his sentence, Kendricks would be 30 or 31 years old upon release. Coming back is not out of the realm of possibility. For now, though, Kendricks has more pressing concerns.
Photo Credit: John Martinez Pavliga via Flickr
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