A bankruptcy trustee’s quest to recoup money for investors defrauded by a Ponzi scheme has left a major California university in an uncomfortable situation, the Wall Street Journal reported today. For five years, the scoreboard at California Polytechnic State University’s football stadium has prominently displayed the name of Moriarty Enterprisesa onetime financial services firm run by Al Moriarty, a former Cal Poly athlete and longtime supporter of the university. Now, as the San Luis Obispo Tribune reported, Moriarty is serving out a five-year prison sentence after pleading no contest to seven felony fraud charges tied to an illegal scheme that prosecutors say cost investors millions of dollars. In light of Moriarty’s fall from grace, Cal Poly would like the felon’s name removed from its football stadium. However, a bankruptcy judge in Seattle ruled last week that the sign must stay up while a trustee winding down Moriarty’s affairs negotiates with Cal Poly over the return of the $625,000 he paid the school for the naming rights, according to the Tribune.
