Scott Erickson, a former baseball star and ex-partner of convicted child killer Rebecca Grossman, is reportedly claiming financial hardship as he potentially faces a significant punitive damages bill. This comes on top of the $176 million a jury has already determined he and Grossman owe.
Despite these claims, Erickson, a World Series-winning pitcher, acknowledged in court on Friday that he holds a stake in a sports company valued at a billion dollars.
Earlier in the week, a jury mandated that Erickson, 58, and Grossman, 64, pay $176 million in compensatory damages to Nancy and Karim Iskander. The Iskanders are the grieving parents of Mark, 11, and Jacob, 8, who tragically lost their lives when Grossman hit them with her car during a street race with Erickson.
During the punitive damages phase of the trial, which has spanned eight weeks, Erickson testified that his financial resources are limited to $9,000 in a bank account, a $13,000 monthly MLB pension, $242,000 in a retirement fund, and $200,000 in equity in his Las Vegas condominium.
However, while under questioning from the Iskanders’ attorney, Brian Panish, Erickson admitted that he invested $250,000 in 2021 into Perfect Game, a company owned by his close friend and sports agent Rick Thurman, expecting it to grow into a billion-dollar enterprise.
Erickson, sporting a tanned look with a casual dark jacket, pants, and an open-necked cream shirt, told the jury of eight women and four men that he accumulated $42.5 million over his 17-year professional baseball career, which concluded in 2003.
‘Where is all that money?’ Panish asked him.
‘Taxes, real estate I no longer own, I made some bad business decisions,’ replied Erickson, adding: ‘I got divorced and paid my wife.’
In court on Friday, Rebecca Grossman’s ex-lover Scott Erickson claimed his assets are limited and don’t cover the money he’s been ordered to pay
Erickson was ordered to pay compensatory damages in the wrongful death lawsuit brought by Nancy and Karim Iskander over the deaths of sons Mark, 11, and Jacob, 8, who were struck and killed while crossing a street in Westlake Village in September 2020
He admitted not disclosing information about a trust of which he is both the trustee and beneficiary.
And he claimed to have ‘no idea’ about what happened to numerous sums of money withdrawn from his bank accounts, including one for $237,000.
But when Panish accused him of ‘suppressing’ the true nature of his financial status, Erickson said, ‘I’m not suppressing evidence.’
He added that he felt ‘true remorse,’ about the deaths of the Iskander children.
‘I feel terrible about what happened, about my actions. I made some mistakes. I have not been very honest.’
Jurors determined that Erickson was ‘negligent’ and that his negligence was a ‘substantial factor’ in the deaths of the boys. Judge Huey Cotton, presiding in the case, already ruled in a directed verdict that Grossman was negligent.
And the jury also decided that Grossman and Erickson had ‘acted in concert’ leading up to the deadly crash.
Earlier Friday, Panish played the court a video deposition of Grossman’s husband, well-known plastic surgeon Dr Peter Grossman who runs three multi-million dollar burns hospitals in three states.
Grossman and Erickson were photographed attending a fundraising event in 2020 shortly before the accident. Erickson was charged with misdemeanor reckless driving and his criminal case was resolved in February 2022
Erickson, a former World Seeries winner, has vehemently denied any responsibility for the horrific pile-up for which his former lover, Rebecca Grossman is serving at least 15 years in prison
Karim and Nancy Iskander were seeking nearly half a billion dollars in damages for the loss of their two boys
Panish has accused the Grossmans of trying to hide millions in assets – including their $13.5 million home – by transferring properties to trusts in order to avoid paying the Iskanders.
And during the deposition, when Dr Grossman was asked for details about family trusts, his earnings, his business assets and many other financial issues, he repeatedly answered: ‘Have no Idea, ‘ ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I don’t recall.’
Evan though he and his wife filed joint tax returns, when asked about how much she earns, he replied: ‘I don’t know.’
On Thursday, Rebecca’s attorney, Ester Holm, claimed in court that her client ‘had not earned income for many years prior to the accident …and she was doing charity work where she was not being paid.’
Grossman’s speeding white Mercedes SUV collided with both children, fatally injuring them, at a pedestrian crossing in Westlake Village, near Los Angeles, in September 2020, after she and Erickson both drank margaritas at a local bar.
Grossman was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison after jurors at her February 2024 criminal trial convicted her of two counts each of second degree murder and vehicular manslaughter, plus one of hit-and-run.
Erickson was only charged with misdemeanor reckless driving and that was dismissed after he made a public service announcement on the importance of safe driving.
But the 6ft 4in ex-athlete Erickson confessed on the witness stand during the civil trial that he lied to police about how much alcohol he had to drink before the deadly crash and admitted that he was convicted of DUI in Nevada 12 years ago.
Then and now: Rebecca Grossman arriving at court in 2024 and in her mugshot following her imprisonment
He also admitted that when police asked him to turn in the vehicle he was driving at the time of the crash, he produced the wrong car for inspection (at the time he owned two black Mercedes SUVs, illegally bearing the same license plate number).
Despite the lack of criminal charges against Erickson, the Iskanders named him as a defendant in their civil action, saying he bore equal responsibility with Grossman for the fatal crash.
Erickson was having an affair with Rebecca when she was separated from her husband, who is also a defendant in the lawsuit as the owner of the Mercedes she was driving at the time of the crash.
