He cheated his friends and lost everything: this ex-NFL player will go to prison for multi-million-dollar fraud
A former linebacker in the NFL has been sentenced to prison and ordered to pay restitution after operating a Ponzi scheme.
A former NFL player was this week sentenced to federal prison for operating a Ponzi scheme that duped victims out of millions of dollars.
How much money did the Ponzi scheme steal from victims?
John Robert Leake was jailed for two and a half years at a California court on Monday, after defrauding six victims out of more than $5 million by promising them big-money returns if they invested in business ventures he claimed he was involved in.
Among the ventures Leake purported to be participating in were luxury real estate projects, and gold mines in Alaska and Ghana.
“Leake knew these investment opportunities often were fabricated and non-existent and were devised by Leake to defraud victims and trick them into giving him money,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in statement.
The Attorney’s Office added that Leake used some of the money he received from victims to cover personal costs such as “credit card bills, car payments, rent, and gambling expenses”. He also used some of the funds to pay victims fictitious returns on their investments.
Leake “stole millions of dollars from friends and acquaintances through bald-faced deception,” federal prosecutors said in court filings, per USA Today.
Leake told to pay millions of dollars back to victims
In addition to handing Leake jail time, U.S. District Judge John F. Walter has ordered the former linebacker to pay his victims $5.3 million in restitution.
Leake, who ran his Ponzi scheme between 2015 and 2020, had pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and money laundering in September.
Who did Leake play for in the NFL?
The 43-year-old’s short NFL career saw him have stints with the Tennessee Titans, the Atlanta Falcons and the Green Bay Packers between 2004 and 2006.
Before joining the NFL as an undrafted player, the Texas native spent his college football career with the Clemson Tigers.
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