Investment Gaffes of Celebrity Investors Mr. T, Bono & Others

Just because they're famous doesn't mean they're good with money

Oct 20, 2010, 3:30 pm EDT | By Jeff Reeves, Editor of InvestorPlace.com

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Investing With the Stars: 5 Stars Stumble Down Wall Street

Sportscaster Erin Andrews took third place in last year’s Dancing with the Stars, proving she was better at the cha-cha than both Pam Andersen and Shannen Doherty. But does that mean she has a future as an instructor at Arthur Murray? Probably not. She won a game show, and that’s not much of a resume.

Similarly, just because Lenny Dykstra and Mr. T. may talk about stocks online or on Bloomberg TV, that doesn’t mean they have more insight on Wall Street than Yogi Berra or Murdoch — or more to the point, that they are any more a market expert than you are.

But despite the lack of Wall Street pedigree, somehow a handful of sports, music and entertainment icons have managed to fool the public into thinking they are some kind of stock-picking genius simply because of their fame. And while some haven’t done badly, a few of these celebrity investors have allegedly made moves that are criminal if charges and SEC filings prove true.

In case you’re curious about what TV stars and baseball players are buying and what they’ve taken a bath on, here are the misadventures of five celebrity investors.