Former Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer has become embroiled in an alleged fraud scheme involving a former family friend who he says conned him and his wife out of nearly $1 million in a phony business deal. And although he has since filed a civil lawsuit in an Orange County Superior Court, the defendant has since disappeared before he could even be served.
According to a new report in The Athletic, Palmer, now 78, is claiming that Warren Michael Holmes misrepresented himself as a prominent British hair stylist, and that he and his wife Susan made business and personal loans in the amount of $985,000 to help him start a line of beauty products after meeting through mutual friends in 2015.
The lawsuit also claims that Holmes befriended his 27-year-old autistic stepson, Spencer, and formed a close bond with the family to the extent that he was even named Spencer’s guardian and the manager of his trust.
Although Susan is 21 years Palmer’s junior and in good health, she’s genetically predisposed to Alzheimer’s disease. The couple feel that their son was used as a pawn for Holmes to gain their trust.
