I'm not quite sure how this works, but the IRS will soon sell the deferred salary the Mets still owe Darryl Strawberry, according to ESPN's Darren Rovell. The IRS has the right to sell Strawberry's paychecks because he has some unsettled tax debt.
Here's the IRS auction page and here's more from Rovell:
On Jan. 20, the IRS will auction off the right to collect what will amount to roughly $1.28 million paid by Sterling Mets LP, parent company of the Mets, in 223 monthly installments, assuming a realistic sale close date of May 1. As this sale is required through the court system, the winning bid, which cannot be less than $550,000, has to be approved by a judge before the buyer starts collecting.
How a fan could even buy what was originally due to the Mets slugger is a complicated story.
Strawberry was forced to give a portion of the deferred money account to his wife, Charisse, as part of their divorce settlement in 2006, but the payments were never made. In 2010, his ex-wife filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection and, as part of the proceedings, asked for what was owed. But in September of this year, a judge in the Northern District of Florida ruled that the annuity was the property of the IRS, not Charisse, because Darryl still had not settled his tax debt owed for 1989, 1990, 2003 and 2004.
According to Rovell, court documents show Strawberry failed to pay $542,572 in taxes from 1987-90 plus another $80,000 from 2003-04. That's a total of $622,572 in back taxes.
Strawberry signed a six-year contract worth $7.2 million with the Mets prior to the 1985 season. The deal included a $1.8 million option for 1990, of which $700,000 was deferred with interest. That $700,000 has since grown to $1.28 million, and that's the portion that is being sold.
So, if I'm understanding this correctly, the IRS is auctioning off $1.28 million spread across the next 18 years and seven months in exchange for an up front minimum bid of at least $550,000 to settle a $622,572 debt. Alrighty then. Hey, not a bad last-minute stocking stuffer.
