Former Philadelphia Eagles and Seattle Seahawks linebacker Mychal Kendricks was sentenced to one day in jail, three years of probation, and 300 hours of community service on Thursday.
The charges stem from a 2018 insider trading case that Kendricks pled guilty to. He will also have to pay a $100,000 fine, according to the Philadelpia Inquirer. The pleas were for one count of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud.
The 30-year-old was fed the trading information by Damilare Sonoiki, a Goldman Sachs employee, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission complaint. Sonoiki told Kendricks about corporate acquisitions his bank was advising before they were announced publicly. Kendricks, who is currently a free agent, then purchased securities in the four companies that he was told. He made about $1.2 million in the deal.
After Kendricks serves his one day in jail, he will be free to return to the NFL. Kendricks was on the Washington Football Team’s roster and appeared in three games. He received 27 snaps in Washington’s 31-23 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in January. He racked up six total tackles. Other teams have shown interest in the free agent. He won a Super Bowl with the Eagles during the 2017-18 season.
Mychal Kendricks will serve one day in jail for insider trading. AP“I think there was over 150 letters of support ranging from — I won’t name names — but head coaches in the NFL to general managers to the league office, the union, players on down to high school coaches and so forth and so on,” Doug Hendrickson, Kendricks’ agent, said. “So everybody was really supportive and behind him in terms of that. I’d like to think hopefully that went into part of the decision for people to understand who Mychal is.
“Certainly he screwed up and made a bad decision and he owned up to it, and now that chapter is over and now he’s free to keep playing. He’s got a lot of football left in him.”
At the time of the charges in 2018, Kendricks was a member of the Cleveland Browns. He was released after the reports surfaced, a month before the season. He was then picked up by the Seahawks, however, he served an eight-game suspension that season for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy.
The former second-round pick by the Eagles has played for nine seasons. He has 548 career tackles, 19 sacks, seven forced fumbles, and five recoveries. He will turn 31 in the middle of the upcoming season.
