Get 125% / $2,500 on 1st deposit!
New players only. Exclusive Welcome Bonus of up to $2,500
John Robert Leake, a former NFL linebacker, was found guilty of masterminding a fraudulent investment scam and received a 30-month sentence in federal prison. Leake duped investors by promising large profits on fictitious real estate and gold mining businesses, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which announced the sentence on Tuesday.
In addition, the 43-year-old Texan is required to reimburse his victims $5.3 million. Prosecutors believe that Leake enticed investors with promises of lucrative prospects in Ghana and Alaska. These projects, however, never materialized.
In September, Leake entered a guilty plea to one count of transactional money laundering and one count of wire fraud. Investigators discovered that he had misappropriated investor monies for gaming expenses and had made fraudulent “interest” and “capital” payments to previous victims using part of the stolen funds.
From June 2015 to March 2020, Leake convinced investors that he had personally invested large sums into lucrative business ventures. However, prosecutors confirmed he knew these ventures were fabricated from the start.
The U.S. Attorney’s statement highlighted Leake’s deceptive tactics: “[Leake] fraudulently offered to personally guarantee return of the victims’ loans and provided them promissory notes purporting to memorialize his promise to repay the victims at a fixed rate of interest.”
He falsely assured victims that his businesses were successful, and he possessed significant personal wealth. In reality, he lacked the assets or income to repay them. Investigators found that six victims invested approximately $8.1 million, suffering losses exceeding $5.3 million.
Before his legal troubles, Leake played for the Tennessee Titans as an undrafted free agent in 2004. He later appeared in 25 games across two seasons with the Atlanta Falcons and Green Bay Packers, recording 12 career tackles.
His football career began at Clemson University, where he spent three seasons as a backup. He was part of the 2003 Peach Bowl-winning team, led by Charlie Whitehurst, famously nicknamed “Clipboard Jesus” for his long NFL career as a backup quarterback.