Former Football Player Cons Coaches and Teammates (NY Post)
A former college and professional football player who turned to white collar crime was sentenced to 40 years in prison for operating a $10 million fraud racket that victimized more than 50 investors.
According to The New York Post, Federal prosecutors say 37-year-old Merrill Robertson Jr. of Chesterfield. Va. was sentenced on Wednesday. Robertson, who played football for the University of Virginia and briefly for the Philadelphia Eagles, was convicted in August on 15 criminal counts including money laundering and mail and wire fraud.
The 36-year-old Robertson and a co-conspirator named Sherman Carl Vaughn, operated an investment firm called Cavalier Union Investments from 2009 to 2016, according to prosecutors. Robertson specialized in defrauding the elderly and coaches, players, classmates and teachers he knew through the NFL, University of Virginia and the Fork Union Military Academy.
Robertson told his victims that he was an experienced investor. Once he convinced his victims to allow him to manage their investment funds, he spent their money on expensive cars, spas, luxury goods and expensive vacations.
