Former NFL cornerback Will Allen—not to be confused with Steelers safety Will Allen—has been indicted in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts for his role in an alleged Ponzi scheme, which prosecutors say he ran with a woman named Susan Daub. Allen and Daub each face 23 felony counts including charges of wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.


The indictment lists six athletes who received fictitious or oversubscribed loans from Allen and Daub. Three played pro football, two played baseball, and one played hockey. All are anonymous—though “Athlete 1” is described in an email as “the [NFL team’s] best player” after an unnamed quarterback—but professional hockey player “Athlete 6” is probably the Blue Jackets’ Jack Johnson, who filed for bankruptcy last fall.

From the document:

26. Between April and May of 2014, ALLEN and DAUB collected millions of dollars for an April 2014 loan to a professional hockey player, Athlete 6, to whom CFP had made several loans in the past. ALLEN and DAUB provided at least some of those investors with purported loan agreements between Athlete 6 and Capital Financial Holdings, signed promissory notes, and signed direct deposit agreements, all of which showed a value for the loan of approximately $5.65 million. In fact, the value of the April 2014 loan was only approximately $3.4 million. 27. ALLEN and DAUB did not spend the investors’ money in accordance with the distribution schedule they had given to the investors. Instead, they used the money for other purposes, including to make payments to earlier investors; to fund loans to other athletes; and to make transfers for personal use, including to accounts related to their other businesses or investments. 28. Athlete 6 did not make timely repayment of his loan, and he entered bankruptcy in October 2014. ALLEN and DAUB thereafter concealed his nonpayment from investors in the loan, including by making purported loan repayments to those investors using money provided by other investors. 29. ALLEN and DAUB also sought to conceal their fraud by falsely telling investors that Athlete 6 was making payments, and that his loan was performing as expected. On or about November 21,2014, for example, DAUB sent an e-mail to investors with the subject, “[Athlete 6] loan.” The e-mail was signed “Will and Sue.” In it, ALLEN and DAUB falsely told investors, “Our loan with [Athlete 6] is performing as expected. All payments have been made in full and on time.” In fact, as both ALLEN and DAUB knew, Athlete 6 had declared bankruptcy and had not made all payments on time and in full.


Read the full indictment below.



Correction (July 15, 11:42 a.m.): An earlier version of this post stated that Will Allen was indicted by the Massachusetts District Court; he was actually indicted in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Photo: AP