NJ man says office sports pool ruined his life

As you hide from your boss and fill out your NCAA tournament bracket, try not to think about John Bovery, whose life was turned upside down by an office pool that got out of hand.

Bovery, 58, of New Jersey, started out in 1990 running an office football pool for the Wall Street firm where he worked, and kept at it even as it exploded over the next two decades into an annual event with more than 8,000 entrants and a purse of some $837,000. And while the pools are illegal, but generally tolerated, Bovery's came crashing down in 2010 after a reputed mobster he never met won $90,000 and a paper trail led investigators to his door.

A team of cops tore apart his condominium, certain there must be a hoard of cash hidden somewhere, Bovery told NJ.com. When they turned up nothing, investigators grilled a handcuffed Bovery about checks he had sent to Joseph LaScala, an alleged member of the Genovese Crime Family.

"You sent checks to a guy you never met?" the skeptical investigators asked, Bovery told the website.