David Bunevacz: Once Olympic dreamer now chased by law

The former national team athlete faces up to 40 years in prison
by Bong Godinez
Aug 1, 2022
David Bunevacz
David Bunevacz (L) in 2010 when he renewed his wedding vows with Jessica Rodriguez (not in photo); the following photo was taken in 2011; the third one was taken in April 2020, the year he celebrated his 15th wedding anniversary with Jessica.
PHOTO/S: Jessica Rodriguez Bunevacz on Facebook

Former national team athlete David Bunevacz is making headlines once again.

News reports from the U.S. said David has pleaded guilty to securities fraud and wire fraud before a court in Los Angeles for swindling investors of their money.

David allegedly created several cannabis-related ventures way back in 2010, including the selling of vape pens, and asking potential investors to put money to fund the business in exchange for profit.

Court records show that David—through his dubious companies, namely, Caesarbrutus and CB Holdinghave “raised over $32 million from at least 40 investors.”

The court document states, “In some instances, he claimed to have binding purchase orders for large quantities of vape pens and provided investors with fake purchase orders and other fabricated documents to support these claims.

“In reality, Caesarbrutus and CB Holding were sham businesses, and the purported transactions did not exist.

“Instead of using investor funds for business purposes, Bunevacz misappropriated the vast majority of those funds for personal expenses, including millions of dollars spent gambling and on credit card payments, leaving investors with substantial losses.”

Included in the complaint against David is Hayca Bunevacz, his adoptive daughter and biological daughter of his wife, Jessica Rodriguez.

David, who was arrested in April of this year, is facing 40 years in prison should the court impose the maximum 20-year sentence for each of the crimes that he pleaded guilty to.

Judge Dale Fischer has set David's sentencing for November 21, 2022.

David’s latest legal trouble brought back to mind his past brushes with the law dating back to his time here in the Philippines.

Needless to say, he has always been a controversy magnet right from the moment he emerged on the scene in the early 1990s as a blue chip recruit from the U.S. by Philippine sports authorities.

Here's a look back on David Bunevacz’s complicated life story—one that started full of potential only to be marred by run-ins with the law, and is now on the verge of ending in a prison cell.

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PROMISING ATHLETE

Born on December 20, 1968, David is the son of Hungarian-American Joseph Bunevacz and Filipino Filomena Ismaela from La Union.

He grew up in Torrance, a city located in Los Angeles County in California, USA.

David’s interest in sports was supported by his father who was a track and field instructor and coach.

The young David was particularly drawn to decathlon, an athletics sport consisting of ten track and field events.

Decathletes perform a variety of disciplines including long jump, shot put, high jump, pole vault, and javelin throw.

The sport’s origin can be traced to the pentathlon contest practiced in Ancient Greece.

For David, decathlon provided him a platform to showcase his athletic abilities.

He started competing as a student at the Paraclete High School in Lancaster, California.

David showed great promise as a budding decathlete and continued to compete as a varsity player of University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), which, according to his LinkedIn account, is his alma mater.

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NOOD KA MUNA!

PLAYING FOR THE PHILIPPINES

Story has it that David was first intrigued with the thought of playing for the Philippines through another Fil-Am athlete named Ben Caesar.

It was said that David met with then Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association (PATAFA) head Go Teng Kok during a visit to the Philippines in the early '90s.

That meeting, along with the approval of Philip Juico, then chairman of Philippine Sports Commission, set the wheels in motion for David to join the Philippine national team for athletics.

There was a lot of hype surrounding David’s recruitment to the Philippine team.

It was clear right from the get-go that David was expected to boost the country’s gold medal bid in Olympic competitions, with the PSC plumping up resources to help its highly touted recruit achieve this goal.

David, however, fell short in his mission to win multiple medals for the country.

He did earn a gold medal during the 1997 Southeast Asian Games, but that was after the original winners were stripped of their medals following a failed drug test.

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HIS ALLEGED six-digit allowance as an athlete

Like many athletes, David supplemented his allowance by doing endorsements and modeling on the side.

Speaking of allowance, David’s compensation as an athlete became a source of controversy in 1995 when it was reported he was receiving an exorbitant rate as compared to other national athletes.

Wrote Isagani Cruz, the former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, “I was aghast at the report that David Bunevacz, a Filipino-American, has been given a monthly stipend of $6,740 by the Philippine Sports Commission to represent the country in the Southeast Asian Games.

“The allowance is broken down as follows: $3,600 for coaching fees, $700 for apartment rental, $690 for athletic equipment, $400 for physical therapist and masseurs, $350 for food, $350 for nutritional supplements, $200 for insurance, $150 for car insurance, $160 for gas, $100 for utilities and $40 for miscellaneous expenses. That’s about PHP170,000 a month.”

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He added: “In contrast, reports say, the track star Elma Muros and tennis ace Joseph Lizardo receive only PHP8,000 or about $320 monthly. They don’t get allowances for rental.

“The commission does not provide them with masseurs or insurance on their lives and their cars if they have any, which is unlikely.”

David eventually left competitive sports and pursued a career in the entertainment business where he was apparently at home with.

He appeared in the films Tusong Twosome, featuring Andrew E and Janno Gibbs, and Buhay Kamao, an action movie starring Robin Padilla and Rica Peralejo.

ANJANETTE ABAYARI CONTROVERSY

In 1999, David was in the news after it was revealed he sold the possessions of his girlfriend, the actress and former beauty queen Anjanette Abayari, without her knowledge.

Anjanette at the time was detained in Guam after authorities found traces of the drug methamphetamine or shabu in her makeup bag.

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With his girlfriend locked up overseas, David reportedly proceeded to sell Anjanette’s stuff, including a Rolex watch and a car.

He also planned to sell her embattled girlfriend’s condominium unit.

Recalled Anjanette in 2015 during a guesting at Startalk, “Well, yung pinakamalaking sanang gusto niyang ibenta [was] yung condo ko.

"Pinadalhan niya ako ng power of attorney, akala niya isa-sign ko or something... of course, I didn’t.

"And nalaman ko na lang sa huli na yung kotse ko at yung Rolex ko [ay binenta].

David, according to Anjanette, also pocketed the money donated by friends and fans meant to help her financially while incarcerated.

The actress revealed in Startalk, “Thank you pala sa lahat ng tumulong sa akin nun.

"I didn’t get any of the money, so hindi ko alam na maraming nagtulong sa akin.

“Lahat ng nagbigay ng tulong para sa akin, hindi niya ibinigay sa akin.

“Pati yung abugado nga sa Guam, hindi niya binayaran.”

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FAMILY LIFE

David married the actress and talent manager Jessica Rodriguez in civil rites on October 12, 2000, in California.

The couple held a grand church wedding that same year on December 9, at the NBC Tent in Makati.

They married again in Tagaytay City on their fifth anniversary, with David promising Jessica that he would marry her every five years to show his devotion.

In 2010, David and Jessica renewed their marriage vows with an elegant wedding ceremony at the poolside of The Peninsula in Beverly Hills in Los Angeles, California.

David and Jessica have three children: Hayca, Grant, and Breana.

The late entertainment columnist Ricky Lo chatted with Jessica in April 2020 about how they were coping amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said, “I know that a lot of people are hurting, emotionally, financially, and mentally because of the virus,

"But somehow this quarantine is relaxing for us and really brings us closer and makes us appreciate life, and get to know God.”

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The Bunevacz family was said to be residing in a luxurious house in the posh neighborhood of Calabasas in California.

Calabasas is home to several high-profile celebrities that include Justin Bieber, Brandon Boyd from the rock band Incubus, Kylie Jenner, and Khloe and Kim Kardashian.

It is also the location of the tragic helicopter crash that killed basketball superstar Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, and seven other passengers, on January 26, 2020.

ISSUES AND SCANDALS

David and Jessica got embroiled in a controversy in 2007 after they were accused of embezzling funds from the aesthetic and cosmetic surgery clinic Beverly Hills 6750.

David served as the company president, while Jessica assumed the role of marketing director.

The former athlete was charged with estafa for allegedly squandering company funds to finance his lavish lifestyle, something that became more apparent in the eyes of his business partners after David publicly gave Jessica a fancy BMW X5 as a gift.

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It got so bad that David was said to have been physically assaulted by his partners as payback, and to squeeze information directly from him to confirm their suspicions.

The incident prompted David, Jessica, and their kids to leave the Philippines unceremoniously to escape persecution.

Settling in the U.S. afforded the beleaguered couple a chance to pick up the pieces and start fresh.

That seemed to be the case as reports of their time in California painted a picture of a tight and happy family.

David and Jessica were said to be living life in the US as successful entrepreneurs.

However, news started going around that David was sued for perpetrating a ticket sales scam in connection to the 2010 Winter Olympics to be held in Vancouver, Canada.

David reportedly failed to deliver on his promise to provide 17,000 tickets to the Winter Olympics to reseller Gene Hammett who paid $3 million for the service.

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He was sentenced to 360 days in jail, three years of probation, and 300 hours of community service because of this.

A settlement agreement in 2014 was reached obligating David to pay $325,000 to Gene, who was the aggrieved party.

David, however, allegedly produced a counterfeit document of the settlement to trick investors of his cannabis vape business, claiming that the court sided with him and cleared him of any wrongdoings.

It was business as usual.

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David Bunevacz (L) in 2010 when he renewed his wedding vows with Jessica Rodriguez (not in photo); the following photo was taken in 2011; the third one was taken in April 2020, the year he celebrated his 15th wedding anniversary with Jessica.
PHOTO/S: Jessica Rodriguez Bunevacz on Facebook
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