ATLANTA, USA – Former Philippine athletics team member David Bunevacz found himself in the news again.
On July 1, 2022, the US District Court in California said Bunevacz agreed to plead guilty to two criminal charges for scamming investors of over $32 million for a cannabis vape business.
The 53-year-old Bunevacz, who reportedly has been in federal custody since his arrest on April 5, could face up to 40 years in prison.
This isn’t the first time, though, that the Filipino-American decathlete found himself in the spotlight – and on the wrong end of the spectrum again.
With his good looks and education, the one-time showbiz personality managed to charm a lot of people not just in the United States, but also in the Philippines.
Here’s a lookback on how the once promising Bunevacz fell from grace.
Flag and country
Bunevacz was a student-athlete at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), whose performances in track events proved quite impressive that he reached the radar of Philippine sports officials.
He earned a degree in Business Management, specializing in Sociology, in 1993 and soon arrived in the country after the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA) recruited him as a potential medalist for decathlon – an athletics event that consists of 10 track and field competitions
In a personal blog back in 2012, Bunevacz recalled that his specialty among the 10 events were shot put, discus…
