LOS ANGELES (WTAQ-WLUK) — A former Green Bay Packers linebacker was sentenced Monday to 2.5 years in federal prison for running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded victims out of more than $5 million.
John Robert Leake, 43, of Plano, Texas, played in three games for the Packers in 2005. He also spent time with the Atlanta Falcons.
Leake pleaded guilty in September 2024 to one count of wire fraud and one count of transactional money laundering.
According to officials, during a five-year period from 2015 to 2020, Leake solicited money from his victims by falsely claiming he was involved in “lucrative luxury real estate investments, gold mines in Alaska and Ghana, and other ventures.”
He encouraged the individuals to “loan him funds for him to invest in these purported ventures in exchange for a high rate of return.”
In fact, 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.
Leake duped his victims by lying that he had invested large amounts of his own money in the purported business ventures he promoted. Leake rarely invested his own money into them.
He also 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. Leake’s lies to his victims included his claims that his business ventures were successful, and he had accumulated substantial personal assets and income. In fact, Leake lacked sufficient personal assets and income to repay his victims.
Authorities say once the victims provided Leake with their funds, he used some of it — without the individuals’ consent or knowledge — to pay his own personal expenses, including credit card bills, car payments, rent and gambling expenses.
“To continue his scam, Leake also used some of the victims’ money to lull victims by making purported “interest” and “capital” payments on the promissory notes. Leake used a small amount of his personal funds to make these payments,” a news release states.
In total, Leake received more than $8.1 million from six victims, causing them a total loss of over $5.3 million.
Along with his prison sentence, Leake was also ordered to pay more than $5.3 million in restitution.
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