"One thing many of us have seen since the financial markets melted down in 2008 is how difficult it can be to come up with cash in a time of need. Mariners minority owner Chris Larson is no exception to that.

Larson, who owns 30.6 percent of the Mariners, was in serious financial trouble in 2008 after a longstanding strategy of borrowing against his vast Microsoft stock holdings in order to finance a lavish lifestyle. That strategy worked real well in the 1990s, when Microsoft stock value kept rising.

But the trouble began right around the time of the tech crash in 2000, when Microsoft share prices fell but Larson's expenses kept rising. He was embarking on a plan to renovate his newly-purchased estate in The Highlands and the pricetag for that would eventually come in at around $160 million according to testimony in his current divorce trial."