'All-Stars' of financial fraud: Tarkenton, Dykstra, Schlichter (oh, my!)
Former NFL cornerback William "Will" Allen was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission this week with running a Ponzi scheme. Allen co-founded Boston-based Capital Financial Partners, which raised $31 million from investors and allegedly used the funds to pay for personal expenses and misled investors about terms of the loans.
Professional athletes are often the target of financial scammers, but Allen joins a growing list of former stars who've been accused of perpetrating financial frauds, including:
Fran Tarkenton
The NFL Hall of Fame QB agreed to pay more than $154,000 in 1999 to settle SEC charges that he directed an accounting fraud at KnowledgeWare Inc. The former Minnesota Viking agreed to pay a $100,000 fine and $54,187 in restitution. Tarkenton, an elusive scrambler duing his playing days, did not admit any wrongdoing.
Lenny Dykstra
The former MLB All-Star and wannabe financial guru went to jail in 2013 on charges of federal bankruptcy fraud after he pled guilty to bankruptcy fraud, concealment of assets and money laundering. Dykstra's prison term ran concurrent with a three-year sentence for pleading no contest to grand theft auto and providing a false financial statement, USA Today reported.
Art Schlichter
A star QB at Ohio State University who played in the NFL in the early 1980s, Schlichter was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2012 for running a million-dollar sports ticket scheme and violating probation from a 1997 forgery and theft conviction.
Jim McMahon
The former Chicago Bears QB was one of seven former board members of Illinois' Broadway Bank who faced a lawsuit from the FDIC seeking to recover $104 million bad loans written by the bank.
Willie Gault
In 2011, the SEC charged the former Chicago Bear WR and U.S. Olympic sprinter with multiple counts of securities fraud over his alleged involvement to pump up the stock of Heart Tronics, a cardiac device-maker where he served as President and co-CEO. Earlier this year, a jury found Gault not guilty of intentionally misleading investors but he was found liable for three less serious charges, including filing false financial statements, Fortune reports.
Doug DeCinces
The former Baltimore Orioles third baseman agreed to pay $2.5 million in 2012 to settle SEC charges that he engaged in insider trading on the takeover of Advanced Medical Optics, a medical supplier. DeCinces' former Oriole teammate, MLB Hall of Famer Eddie Murray paid $358,151 to settle charges he trade on insider information provided by DeCinces.
Tate George
The former NJ Net and UCONN Basketball star was charged in 2012 that his real estate development company was little more than a $2 million Ponzi scheme.
Daniel Ruettiger
The Notre Dame football walk-on who inspired the 1993 movie "Rudy," paid $382,000 in 2012 to settle SEC charges that he took part in a $11 million pump-and-dump scheme involving the stock of Rudy Nutrition, a company he created to promote a sports drink, named (what else?) "Rudy."
Christian Laettner
The former Duke basketball star, member of the 1992 U.S. Olympic "dream team" and 1997 NBA All-Star, is having a 'moment' this spring with AT&T ads during March Madness and an ESPN documentary. But he's faced a series of lawsuits in recent years over failure to repay loans made to a real estate investment firm he co-founded with former Duke teammate Bryan Davis. Among the defendants, former Duke captain Johnny Dawkins, former NBA All-Star Scottie Pippen and former NFL All-Pro linebacker Shawne Merriman.
Just one more reason for (some) people to hate Christian Laettner.
Aaron Task is Editor-at-Large of Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter at @aarontask or email him at altask@yahoo.com.
Correction: An earlier correction stated, "an earlier version of the video wrongly included an image of NFL player Will Allen. Former NFL player Will D. Allen is the person facing S.E.C. charges related to an alleged Ponzi scheme." That was incorrect, the image used in our video was indeed Will D. Allen. An image used to promote the story on yahoo.com showed the wrong Will Allen.
