Denny McLain, who won two Cy Young Awards with the Detroit Tigers, was convicted today of looting the pension fund of a company he bought with a partner.
His one-time partner in the Peet Packing Co., Roger Smigiel, also was convicted as charged on counts of money laundering, conspiracy, theft and mail fraud.McLain, baseball's last 30-game winner, hung his head as the verdicts were read, but shook hands with Assistant U.S. attorney Steve Robinson before leaving the courtroom.
McLain, 52, and Smigiel, 45, face up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine on the money laundering charge alone. The other charges each carry up to five years in prison.
McLain's sentence could be increased because of a prior conviction on drug and racketeering charges in Florida.
U.S. District Judge Patrick Duggan allowed both men to remain free on bond, pending sentencing. A sentencing date was not immediately set.
Jurors in the two-week trial began deliberations about 10 a.m.
The star witness was their former financial adviser, Jeffrey Egan, who was indicted with them but testified against them. Egan struck a deal with the government and pleaded guilty in August to one count of theft from a pension fund as part of the plea bargain.
Neither McLain nor Smigiel testified.
Egan said Monday that all three men conspired to skim assets from the $13 million pension fund, then discreetly refinance it.
McLain's attorney, David DuMouchel, told jurors Egan was a liar. He said his client's mistake was to trust his business colleagues, saying McLain often signed documents without reading them "as if he's signing an autograph."
Defense lawyers contended McLain and Smigiel trusted Egan, and were betrayed when he drew them into an scheme to steal about $3 million from a meatpacking company's pension fund.
Robinson said if Egan was to benefit from the scheme he would have taken the money and spent it himself.
McLain was found guilty in 1985 of racketeering, drug-dealing and extortion. He served 29 months of a 23-year sentence before an appeals court overturned the conviction.
In 1988, McLain pleaded guilty to federal racketeering and drug charges in a plea agreement that avoided a retrial in U.S. District Court in Tampa, Fla. On Dec. 15, 1988, he was sentenced to time already served and five years of probation - a sentence he called "an early Christmas present."
McLain led the Tigers to the world championship in 1968. He finished his 10-year major league career in 1972, with a 131-91 lifetime record.