At his divorce trial yesterday, Frank McCourt testified that splitting up assets--Dodgers for him, residential properties for her--was his wife Jamie's idea, reports ABC7. Under questioning from his own legal team, he said that's "because they were moving to California, which is a community-property jurisdiction. If Frank's gamble on the Dodgers soured, Jamie wanted to be sure her $60 million-plus in real estate was protected...She wanted her nest egg and she wanted it debt-free." That's sounding pretty reasonable, in light of the LA Times' big report this week that the Dodgers are massively leveraged and have been turned down for loans by Citibank, Chinese investors, and an infomercial magnate. The article also reports that the McCourts personally took $108 million out of the team between 2004 and 2009, using tools like Blue Land, a McCourt company that rented Chavez Ravine land to the Dodgers. Blue Land "took out a $60-million loan against the parking lots, according to [Dodgers Chief Financial Officer Peter] Wilhelm's declaration. The McCourts invested $10 million in the Dodgers and used about $50 million for personal mortgages and purchases of residential real estate, Wilhelm said."
· Frank McCourt: Jamie more concerned w/ homes [ABC7]
· Frank McCourt has taken Dodgers deep in debt [LAT]
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