The reunited New Kids on the Block are on the state's list as having property worth about $827 to claim.
(Peter Kramer/Associated Press)
Big names, small change
NKOTB, Nomar have funds to claim
The reunited New Kids on the Block are on the state's list as having property worth about $827 to claim.
(Peter Kramer/Associated Press)
By
John C. Drake
Globe Staff
/
September 8, 2008
- |
When New Kids on the Block hits Boston this month for the hometown stop of its reunion tour, one member might want to visit the state treasurer's office. Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill says the band has about $800 in unclaimed stock and a check worth $27 made out to NKOTB Inc.
The onetime boy band is one of 40,000 individuals and businesses newly added to the state's list of owners of abandoned property, which includes bank and brokerage accounts and other assets that have gone untouched for at least three years. The list also includes six accounts worth more than $100,000, 10 accounts between $50,000 and $100,000, and a total of 439 accounts exceeding $5,000.
"It's timely that we have money for New Kids on the Block, seeing as they are back on the road," Cahill said yesterday in a telephone interview.
Efforts to reach a spokesperson for the group's label, Interscope Records, were unsuccessful yesterday.
Former Boston Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra is on the list, too. Garciaparra, who is in the last year of a two-year, $18.5 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, has an uncashed check waiting for him valued at $121.40. The Dodgers did not immediately return a call for comment on the player's Bay State bounty.
Twice a year, the treasurer's office releases a new list of people with so-called abandoned property and has fun highlighting celebrities, athletes, and politicia ns as a way of drawing att ention to the list for residents who might really need the money.
Garciaparra's new teammate, former Red Sox slug ger Manny Ramirez, was added to the list in February, alongside Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and actors Ben and Casey Affleck. Ramirez's ever-dutiful agent later claimed the $10,000 check from Reebok on the outfielder's behalf.
When checks go unredeemed for three years, by law, banks have to turn the money over to the state. The money sits in the custody of the state treasurer and receiver general until claimed. In 2007, the treasurer's abandoned property division returned $57 million and 891,157 shares of stock, which Cahill's office said was the highest amount to date.
About a quarter of the people on the list are owners of stock, as opposed to cash. Cahill acknowledged that if the owners of stock haven't claimed their money in three years, they might want to let it sit a while.
"The problem is, now, the stock might be less than it was worth last year, given this market downturn, so the timing might not be great on that," he said.
Officials could not immediately say whether New Kids on the Block had turned a profit with their
The group is set to play TD Banknorth Garden Sept. 26. The treasurer's office will be open until 5 p.m. that day.
John C. Drake can be reached at jdrake@globe.com.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
