---
title: "Finlete Review 2026: What You Actually Own When You Buy a Player"
url: https://altstreet.investments/platforms/reviews/finlete
kind: platform-review
updated: 2026-09-21
description: "Finlete review 2026: what you own when you buy a player. Fee split, the 67.5% dividend share, the Clase write-down to zero, and break-even from the filings."
publisher: AltStreet (https://altstreet.investments)
license: Public factual pages may be read, quoted and cited with attribution and a link. Bulk redistribution is not permitted.
---

# Finlete Review 2026: What You Actually Own When You Buy a Player

Finlete sells retail investors a class of preferred stock tied to one minor-league baseball player's future major-league earnings, for $300 and up, with 65.8% to 69.4% of each raise reaching the athlete and the rest going to the parent and the portal. Sixteen offerings have raised $804,739 since 2024, two were withdrawn without selling anything, and the largest of them, tied to Emmanuel Clase, has had its underlying contract written down to zero.

AltStreet score: 26.3 (F), scored September 21, 2026. Method: https://altstreet.investments/platforms

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Platform | Finlete |
| What it is | Regulation CF Issuer Platform (Athlete Income-Share, Preferred Stock) |
| Asset class | Athlete Future Earnings (Contractual Income Share) |
| Website | finlete.com |
| Review first published | September 21, 2026 |
| Last updated | September 21, 2026 |
| AltStreet relationship | None: no affiliate, sponsorship or partnership |

## The short version

Finlete is doing something genuinely new and disclosing it in unusual detail: the offering circulars state the per-share entitlement, the fee split and the break-even mechanics with more precision than most Reg CF issuers manage. The structure is also worse for the investor than the marketing implies, in four specific ways. A third of every dollar never reaches the athlete, and the parent's cut rose from 20% to 25.7% between the 2025 and 2026 offerings. Holders then receive only up to 67.5% of what the company collects, so on the Avila class the athlete would have to earn roughly $16.2M to $21.6M of major-league money to return the class's original capital in nominal terms, before the further deductions the dividend clause permits and with no discounting for a 25-year wait. Nothing is owed at all unless the athlete is Selected, a defined term that broadly means reaching the majors or a top Asian league, so a full career in the minors pays zero. And the flagship result so far is a write-off: the Emmanuel Clase class raised $315,924, the company put $237,258 into his agreement, and that contract carried $0 at December 31, 2025. The annual report gives no cause. The public record supplies one: Clase was placed on leave by Major League Baseball on July 28, 2025, thirteen days after the offering closed, and a federal indictment charging four felony counts over an alleged pitch-rigging betting scheme was unsealed on November 9, 2025. He has pleaded not guilty and goes to trial on November 2, 2026. The site says 'No loans. No equity.' Every offering sells preferred stock.

- **$0** The carrying value of the Emmanuel Clase athlete agreement at December 31, 2025, fully impaired, per the Future Earning Contracts note in the FY2025 annual report. Investors paid $315,924 into that class, the largest raise Finlete has closed, and the company had put $237,258 of it into the agreement. The class had already received $6,762 of dividends, the only distribution Finlete has ever disclosed. The filing states the impairment and gives no cause. Clase has been on leave since July 28, 2025, is not on the Guardians' 2026 roster and will not be paid his scheduled 2026 salary, and the class's entitlement is a percentage of his baseball earnings.
- **65.8% to 69.4%** The share of each maximum raise that actually reaches the athlete, from the Use of Proceeds table in each circular. The rest is a management fee to the parent, 20.0% on the 2025 offerings and 25.2% to 25.7% on the 2026 ones, plus 8.5% and a $1,000 activation fee to DealMaker Securities. The athlete's share fell as the parent's rose.
- **up to 67.50%** The share of what the company collects that Padilla and Avila holders are entitled to, less taxes and amounts subject to repayment, per the Dividend Rights clause. The other 32.5% is not allocated to that class, before the further deductions the clause specifies; the filings do not establish that all of it becomes profit to Finlete. The Mejia class is more generous at 82.50%; the Pitcher Bundle is 22.5% per athlete on four of six and less on the other two.
- **$804,739** Realized capital across all sixteen offerings since February 2024, reconciled to the Form C-U series. The distribution is a barbell, not a business ramping: two offerings sold nothing and were withdrawn, three closed between $10,118 and $10,669, and two account for 60% of everything ever raised, at $315,924 and $169,403. The $315,924 one is the Clase class, whose contract is now carried at zero.
- **$316,131** The FY2025 net loss of the issuing company, against $12,811 of revenue, $8,631 of cash and one employee. Impairment and amortisation of athlete contracts account for most of it: the $171,232 impairment is about 54% of the net loss on its own, and with $82,911 of amortisation the two total $254,143, about 80%. Running the business cost $74,799. The audit opinion contains a substantial-doubt-about-going-concern paragraph, and the company reports a working capital deficit of $52,301.

Data note: Offerings are grouped by SEC file number (020-NNNNN), which an offering's whole Form C family shares, so an amendment or progress update is never counted as a separate raise. Realized capital is the largest reported progress amount per offering, except where a closing update reports less, in which case the close governs. Live subscription levels are from the operator's own dashboard on September 20, 2026 and are platform-reported. Per-share entitlements, fee splits and agreement terms are quoted from the offering circulars and, for the Athlete Agreement, read from the filed image of Exhibit E.


## Key figures

| Figure | What it is | Context |
| --- | --- | --- |
| $0 | Carrying value of the Emmanuel Clase athlete agreement at December 31, 2025. | Investors paid $315,924 into that class. The filing gives no cause; the athlete has been on leave since July 2025 and faces trial in November 2026 on charges he denies. |
| 65.8% to 69.4% | The share of each maximum raise that actually reaches the athlete. | The rest is a management fee to the parent, 20.0% in 2025 and up to 25.7% in 2026, plus 8.5% and $1,000 to DealMaker. |
| up to 67.5% | The share of collections the Padilla and Avila classes are entitled to. | The other 32.5% is not allocated to the class, on top of the management fee already taken off the raise. |
| $16.2M to $21.6M | Gross major-league earnings needed for the Avila class to recover its capital in nominal terms. | Depending on whether the full $100,000 agreement is funded or only the $75,000 the Use of Proceeds supports. Undiscounted, and before the further deductions the dividend clause permits, over a 25-year term. |
| $804,739 | Realized capital across all sixteen offerings since February 2024. | Two sold nothing and were withdrawn, three closed just past $10,000, and two account for 60% of the total. |
| $8,631 | Cash at the issuing company at December 31, 2025. | Against $70,362 of current liabilities, a $316,131 net loss, one employee and a substantial-doubt paragraph in the audit opinion. |


## Verdict

Finlete is the most interesting structure AltStreet has reviewed this year and one of the worst deals in it. The idea, letting a fan buy a contractual slice of a prospect's future major-league earnings for $300, is real, legal and disclosed with unusual precision. The execution takes roughly a third of every dollar before the athlete sees it, leaves another 32.5% of whatever comes back unallocated to the class, requires an event that most minor leaguers never reach, and has so far produced one distribution of $6,762 and one contract marked down to zero. Buy it the way you buy a jersey, with money you have written off, or do not buy it.

**Best for**

- Baseball fans who want a stake in a specific prospect's career and can treat $300 as spent.
- Readers who want to understand a genuinely new retail structure and are willing to read the offering circular in full before deciding.

**Look elsewhere if**

- You need income, or any distribution at all on a schedule.
- You might need the money back inside 25 years.
- You are looking for sports exposure as an asset class rather than a bet on one named individual.
- You are relying on the site's return calculator or its 'No loans. No equity.' framing rather than the filings.

**Strengths**

- Offering circulars that state the per-share entitlement, the fee split and the break-even mechanics explicitly, with the Athlete Agreement filed as an exhibit.
- Audited financial statements and Form C-AR annual reports filed on time for both years, which many Reg CF issuers fail to do.
- Tax reporting on a 1099-DIV rather than a K-1, with no state filings and no partnership reporting.
- Share prices that vary materially by athlete, from $0.76 to $1.46 for an identical per-share entitlement, which may reflect differences in perceived stage and risk.
- No SEC or FINRA enforcement action located against either entity or its principals within the scan AltStreet ran across 33,872 actions on file.

**Limitations**

- Roughly a third of every dollar raised never reaches the athlete, and the parent's cut rose from 20.0% to 25.7% in a year.
- The class receives only up to 67.5% of what the company collects, putting the Avila gross payback threshold at $16.2M to $21.6M of major-league earnings, undiscounted.
- The flagship class, Clase at $315,924 raised, has its underlying contract carried at $0 after the athlete was placed on leave and indicted, and the annual report gives no cause.
- The issuer has $8,631 of cash, one employee, a $52,301 working capital deficit and a substantial-doubt paragraph.
- No secondary market, no redemption, and a 25-year term.
- The homepage says 'No loans. No equity.' while every offering sells preferred stock, and the return calculator shows the same default answer on every athlete page.


## Who it fits

| Investor | Fit | Why |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Baseball fans buying a small position for the involvement rather than the return | neutral |  |
| Retail investors looking for uncorrelated income | poor-fit |  |
| Investors seeking exposure to sports as an asset class | poor-fit |  |
| Anyone who may need the money back | poor-fit |  |
| Accredited or institutional investors | poor-fit |  |


## Questions

**What do you actually own when you invest in Finlete?**

Non-voting preferred stock in Finlete Funding, Inc., in a class designated for one specific athlete. You do not own any part of the athlete or any direct claim against them. The company owns a contract entitling it to a capped percentage of that athlete's pre-tax future professional baseball earnings for 25 years, and your class is entitled to up to a stated share of what the company collects under it: 67.50% on the Padilla and Avila classes, 82.50% on Mejia. The site's 'No loans. No equity.' line refers to the athlete not taking on debt or giving up ownership; what you buy is equity in the company.

**How much of my money actually goes to the athlete?**

Between 65.79% and 69.44%, stated in the Use of Proceeds table of each offering circular. The rest is a management fee to the parent company, Finlete, Inc., which was 20.0% on the 2025 offerings and 25.22% to 25.71% on the 2026 ones, plus an 8.5% commission and a $1,000 activation fee to DealMaker Securities LLC, the registered broker-dealer acting as Reg CF intermediary. On Mejia, the most recent single-athlete offering, the athlete's share is the lowest of the five at 65.79%.

**How much does the athlete have to earn before I get my money back?**

On the Avila class, roughly $16.2 million to $21.6 million of major-league earnings. The agreement buys up to 1% of his pre-tax professional earnings for up to $100,000, and the Use of Proceeds funds $75,000 at the maximum raise, which supports 0.75%. The class is entitled to 67.5% of what the company collects, so 0.50625% of his earnings, and $109,500 divided by that is about $21.6 million. If the full $100,000 is funded from another source the entitlement is 0.675% and break-even falls to about $16.2 million. Those are gross nominal thresholds, not true break-evens: the dividend clause pays 'up to' its percentage less taxes and amounts subject to payment or repayment, and neither figure discounts a 25-year wait, so the real hurdle is higher. The site's own calculator shows the same default answer on every athlete page.

**Has any Finlete investor been paid?**

One class has. The FY2025 equity statement shows $6,762 of dividends paid on the Emmanuel Clase class with $1,528 still payable, and no other class has a disclosed distribution. That is also the class whose underlying contract the company wrote down to $0 carrying value at December 31, 2025, having capitalized $237,258 of the $315,924 raised into it.

**What happened with the Emmanuel Clase offering?**

Finlete raised $315,924 from investors in a class tied to Emmanuel Clase's future baseball earnings, and that offering closed on July 15, 2025. Thirteen days later Major League Baseball placed him on non-disciplinary leave, and on November 9, 2025 a federal indictment was unsealed in the Eastern District of New York charging him with four felony counts over an alleged scheme to rig bets on his own pitches. He has pleaded not guilty, his attorney says he is innocent, and trial is set for November 2, 2026. Finlete's FY2025 annual report, filed April 24, 2026, carries the underlying athlete agreement at $0 and gives no reason. No investor bought into the class after Clase was publicly named, because it had already closed. AltStreet covers the sequence and what it says about Reg CF disclosure in a separate article.

**What happens if the athlete never reaches the major leagues?**

You receive nothing, and there is no recourse. The Athlete Agreement only obliges the athlete to pay if they are Selected, which requires signing a Major League Uniform Player's Contract and meeting one of four further conditions, or signing with Japan's NPB, Korea's KBO or the Chinese Professional Baseball League. A full career in the minor leagues, however long, triggers no payment. The class has no residual claim on any other asset of the company.

**Can I sell my Finlete shares?**

In practice, no. There is no secondary market, the filings describe no trading venue or matching service, and there is no redemption or repurchase right. Regulation CF restricts resale for the first year in any case, and the underlying agreement runs 25 years. Treat the money as committed for the life of the agreement.

**Is Finlete legitimate, or is it a scam?**

It is a legitimate, registered Regulation CF issuer. It files Form C through DealMaker Securities LLC, a registered broker-dealer acting as Reg CF intermediary, publishes audited financial statements, has filed its Form C-AR annual reports on time for both years, and AltStreet's scan of 33,872 SEC and FINRA actions found nothing against either entity or its principals. The objection in this review is to the pricing and the structure, not to the company's legitimacy: a third of the raise is consumed before the athlete is funded, a further share of collections is not allocated to the class, and the one class with a marked outcome carries a full impairment.

**Do I get a K-1 from Finlete?**

No. Finlete Funding, Inc. is a C corporation and you hold preferred stock, so you receive a Form 1099-DIV in any year a dividend is actually paid, and nothing at all in a year with no dividend. That is simpler than the K-1 regime on most fractional platforms. The cost of that simplicity is the possible second layer: the company may pay corporate tax on what it collects before any dividend reaches you, depending on its taxable income that year.

**How much has Finlete raised in total?**

$804,738.77 across sixteen offerings since February 2024, reconciled from the Form C-U progress-update series and grouped by SEC file number. Nine offerings have closed, two were withdrawn without selling anything, and five were open at September 2026. That counts closed offerings only. Adding the platform-reported subscriptions on the live offerings brings the comparable total to about $908,000, so the homepage's '$1.0M raised for athletes' is broadly consistent once live commitments are included. Note though that 65.8% to 69.4% of any raise reaches the athlete, so the amount actually raised for athletes is lower than either figure.

**What is the Pitcher Bundle and how is it different?**

It is a single preferred class attached to six pitchers rather than one, with a $215,000 maximum and an $860 minimum investment. The class is entitled to 22.5% of the Player Payments from four of the athletes and 11.25% and 7.5% from the other two, and the cash allocated per athlete runs from about $11,250 to about $38,750, so the largest position is about 3.4 times the smallest. It spreads athlete risk and does nothing about issuer risk, since all six sit inside the same company. At AltStreet's September 2026 capture the site showed the bundle with its Invest Now control disabled and no deal page behind it.

**Who runs Finlete?**

George Robert Connolly is Chief Executive Officer and the sole director of Finlete Funding, Inc., and holds 51.02% of the parent, Finlete, Inc. Maxwell Richmond Eisenberg holds 34.01% of the parent and is not an officer or director of the issuing subsidiary. The subsidiary reported one employee and the parent two. The company is based at 100 Park Plaza, Unit 318, San Diego, California.

**What should I read before investing in a Finlete offering?**

Three things in the athlete's own offering circular. The Use of Proceeds table, which states what share of your money reaches the athlete. The Dividend Rights clause, which states what share of collections your class receives. And Exhibit E, the Athlete Agreement, in particular Section 2.01 for the maximum payment and percentage, Section 2.02 for the fact that funding is discretionary and incremental, and the definition of Selected, which is the condition on which any payment at all depends. Then read the Future Earning Contracts note in the FY2025 Form C-AR.


## Evidence appendix

Platform website captured September 21, 2026.

Offerings are grouped by SEC file number (020-NNNNN), which an offering's whole Form C family shares, so an amendment or progress update is never counted as a separate raise. Realized capital per offering is the largest amount reported in that offering's Form C-U series, except where a closing update reports less, in which case the close governs; the total reconciles to $804,738.77 across sixteen offerings. Financial figures are read from the audited statements attached to the Form C-AR annual reports, not from the Form C cover page, which on the FY2025 filing reports stockholders' equity of $136,077 in the long-term debt field. Fee splits, per-share entitlements and dividend shares are quoted from each offering circular's Use of Proceeds table and Dividend Rights clause. The Athlete Agreement terms are read from Exhibit E of the Avila circular, which is filed as a flattened image and was read page by page rather than text-extracted. Live subscription levels are from the operator's own dashboard capture and are labeled platform-reported.

**Highlights**

- Use of Proceeds, athlete share at the maximum raise: 69.44% Padilla, 68.49% Avila, 66.28% Pitcher Bundle 1, 66.18% Zazueta, 65.79% Mejia.
- Management fee to Finlete, Inc.: 20.0% on Padilla and Avila (2025), 25.71% Mejia, 25.32% Zazueta, 25.22% Pitcher Bundle 1 (2026).
- Intermediary fee: 8.5% commission to DealMaker Securities LLC, stated identically on the Form C cover page and in the Use of Proceeds table of every offering AltStreet checked. The activation fee has changed: the 2024 Clase offering carried '8.5% commission, $7,000 activation fee, and $600/month in subscription fees', and the current offerings carry '8.5% commission, $1,000 activation fee'.
- Dividend Rights: 'up to 67.50% of the Player Payments under the Agreement received by the Company less amounts withheld for taxes and amounts that are subject to payment or repayment' (Padilla, Avila); 82.50% (Mejia); 22.5% on four athletes and 11.25% and 7.5% on two more (Pitcher Bundle 1).
- Athlete Agreement Section 2.01: up to $100,000 for up to 1% of pre-tax future professional baseball earnings for 25 years (Avila). Section 2.02: funding is in $1.00 installments each buying 0.00001%, at the company's discretion, with no guaranty that capital will be raised.
- 'Selected' requires a Major League Uniform Player's Contract plus one of four conditions, or a contract with NPB, the KBO or the Chinese Professional Baseball League. No payment is due otherwise.
- FY2025 Future Earning Contracts note: '$237,258 in Emmanuel Clase, (fully impaired to $0 carrying value as of December 31, 2025)'. That class raised $315,924.
- Clase offering timeline: Form C filed 2024-09-13 under file number 020-34769 against a $3,600,000 maximum, on an athlete agreement dated 2024-07-16 for up to $2,500,000 for up to 3%; closed 2025-07-15 at $315,924 and 28,471 shares, acquiring a 0.28471% interest; Form C-U filed 2025-08-19 reporting the close in one sentence; nothing further filed on that offering until the FY2025 Form C-AR of 2026-04-24, 248 days later.
- Public record the filings do not mention: Luis Ortiz, a teammate on the same pitching staff, pulled from a start 2025-07-03 amid a betting investigation; Clase placed on non-disciplinary leave 2025-07-28; indictment unsealed in the Eastern District of New York 2025-11-09 on four felony counts alleging a pitch-rigging betting scheme, which he denies; motions to dismiss the wire fraud count denied 2026-09-09; trial set for 2026-11-02. Clase is not on the 2026 roster and will not be paid his scheduled 2026 salary.
- AltStreet's arithmetic, not a filed figure: returning the $315,924 raised at the 0.28471% interest the company acquired requires at least $110.9 million of future baseball earnings, before the class's own share of collections is applied.
- FY2025 income statement: $12,811 revenue, $171,232 impairment loss, $82,911 amortisation, $241,331 gross loss, $74,799 operating expenses, $316,131 net loss.
- FY2025 balance sheet: $206,439 total assets, $188,378 net athlete contracts, $8,631 cash, $70,362 current liabilities including $45,088 due to the parent, $136,077 total stockholders' equity, no long-term liabilities.
- FY2025 audit opinion (Artesian CPA, LLC): substantial doubt about the ability to continue as a going concern, citing limited liquid assets, the net loss, a $52,301 working capital deficit and a $316,131 accumulated deficit.
- FY2025 equity statement: $6,762 of dividends paid on the Clase class, $1,528 payable. No other class has a disclosed distribution.
- Parent Finlete, Inc.: $922,579 net loss, $1,908,687 accumulated deficit, two employees, reviewed (not audited) statements, raising via SAFE at an $18,000,000 post-money cap as of July 21, 2026.
- Realized capital by offering: $315,924 (020-34769), $169,402.82 (020-36394), $101,713.04 (020-36009), $80,000 (020-33708), $75,986 (020-35295), $30,403.62 (020-36236), $10,668.90 (020-36127), $10,522.32 (020-36251), $10,118.07 (020-36066). Total $804,738.77.
- Two offerings, 020-36119 ($73,000 maximum) and 020-36252 ($109,500 maximum), were withdrawn by Form C-W without reporting any sales.
- Legal and enforcement scan: no SEC or FINRA action against Finlete, Inc., Finlete Funding, Inc., George Robert Connolly or Maxwell Richmond Eisenberg across 33,872 actions on file; EDGAR full-text search returns no third-party mentions.

**Primary source pages**

- FY2025 Form C-AR, accession 0001872856-26-000123, including the audited financial statements and the Future Earning Contracts note
- FY2024 Form C-AR, accession 0001872856-25-000090
- Form C for Luinder Avila, file number 020-36253, and its offering circular
- Form C for Yairo Padilla, file number 020-36250, and its offering circular
- Form C for Esteban Mejia, file number 020-37089, and its offering circular
- Form C for Christian Zazueta, file number 020-37126, and its offering circular
- Form C for Pitcher Bundle 1, accession 0001872856-26-000234, and its offering circular
- Exhibit E to the Avila circular, the Athlete Agreement, Sections 2.01 and 2.02 and the definition of Selected
- Form C for Finlete, Inc. (the parent), filed 2026-07-21, SAFE at an $18,000,000 post-money cap
- Form C-W withdrawals under file numbers 020-36119 and 020-36252
- The complete Form C-U progress-update series across all sixteen offerings
- finlete.com homepage and athlete pages, captured 2026-09-20 and 2026-09-21


## Related

- Full review (HTML): https://altstreet.investments/platforms/reviews/finlete
- Every platform review: https://altstreet.investments/platforms/reviews
- Methodology and scoring: https://altstreet.investments/platforms
- Category hub: https://altstreet.investments/categories/digital-ip-royalties

---

Source page: https://altstreet.investments/platforms/reviews/finlete
Machine index: https://altstreet.investments/llms.txt
AltStreet reads what platforms, funds and issuers file with the SEC and what they tell investors, and publishes the difference. Figures are as filed or as captured on the date stated; nothing here is investment advice.