Just like many young Hollywood entertainers, a Major League baseball player must now take his ‘stage parents’ to court after they allegedly stole millions of his earnings
By Ryan K Boman | March 31, 2026
We’ve seen it a million times before with kids who turn out to be successful Hollywood stars or Billboard singing sensations. They achieve Fame and money at a time in their lives when they aren’t capable of making adult decisions regarding their careers and their finances. Often, parents take control of their prodigy’s career, sometimes to disastrous effect — either by unintentional mistakes or just outright malice.
The latter seems to be the case when it comes to Philadelphia Phillies infielder Alec Bohm, who finds himself in a similar situation as those performing prodigies. Although cases like those are much more rare in pro sports as opposed to the entertainment world, Bohm looks to have drawn the shortest straw when it comes to the pair of people who raised him.
Bohm has filed a civil lawsuit against his parents, Daniel and Lisa Bohm, alleging they misused and essentially siphoned millions of dollars from his finances while managing his money. The lawsuit seeks at least $3 million in damages, and Bohm wants full control of his accounts restored and an independent audit of where all the money went.
The Bohms allegedly funneled much of their son’s money into LLCs that they had established in his name, and they have since cut off all contact with him in light of this recent turn of events.
According to the suit, the Bohms sought to freeze Alec out of four accounts, and that he now believes they “converted a sizeable amount” of his money from those accounts “to their own use.”
Now, it becomes a paper trail battle—accounting records, transfers, and legal definitions of control and ownership will decide everything. Meanwhile, Daniel and Lisa deny their offspring’s accusations and say they have only tried to look out for him.
“We did everything for him, and these claims are false,” the couple said in a statement.
When he originally signed with Philly in 2018, Alec Bohm received a $5.85M signing bonus, considered pretty massive at the time. Selected in the first round (third overall) in that year’s MLB Draft, the former Wichita State Shocker entered the pro ranks with high expectations. He didn’t disappoint, making it to the big leagues by 2020. Today, he’s a two-time All-Star and one of the most steady performers on the Phils’ roster.
In many ways, Bohm’s situation could be labelled as Financial Child Abuse, defined as the act of using money to take advantage of a minor. This is often done by stealing or exploiting a child’s money or identity for personal gain.
This is mostly in the case of preteen prodigies, but adult stars have been targeted by their own families as well. And in most instances, the abuse follows the same pattern: a young standout becomes the business and the breadwinner, and the family becomes the infrastructure around it.
While Bohm may be a legal adult at the age of 29, it’s clear this has been a long-term development, and could possibly stretch all the way back to the player’s amateur career. If that’s the case, most states have protection that extends for years. An adult child can take legal action against a parent for theft committed during childhood by filing a civil lawsuit for conversion, fraud, or breach of fiduciary duty, or by pursuing a remedial constructive trust to recover assets.
Much like child stars such as Macaulay Culkin or Selena Gomez, Alec Bohm is now in the uncomfortable position of having to sever his relationship with his parents legally, emotionally, and (as soon as possible) financially. It’s an unfortunate anomaly that can occur in a family dynamic, where the child becomes a provider for the parents. But in Bohm’s case, it appears to have gone far from providing and more like pampering.
With the NIL system in place now, and more and more athletes signing monstrous contracts at younger ages, it will be interesting to see how many of them continue to rely on their families as the foundation for their financial decisions.
The Sidearmer 