The star of an upcoming reality show on CNBC has something of a shady past, Business Insider’s Tony Manfred reports.
The show is “Money Talks,” which follows Las Vegas sports handicapper Steve Stevens, it premieres in September. BI reports that Stevens’ real name is likely Darin Notaro, and that he has served prison time for a number of telemarketing scams. In addition, “Stevens'” claim that he has a 70% win rate is outrageously high, and would put him well above the top tier of handicappers (none of whom had ever heard of him).
Manfred also secures a response from CNBC after pointing out all of these things:
“We are aware of Steve Stevens’ 1999 conviction and while we are very clear in the press release that VIP Sports clients risk big dollars in the hopes that Stevens and his agents have the expertise to consistently deliver winners, viewers should tune in on September 10th at 10pm ET/PT to draw their own conclusions about VIP Sports. We are merely betting that viewers will be interested in the world of touts and handicappers and in no way endorse either Stevens’ picks or his business model.”