A lawsuit alleges that an impostor posing as two-time All-Pro safety Xavier McKinney of the Green Bay Packers tricked a lender into providing a loan worth more than $4 million.
According to a lawsuit filed in Florida, Aliya Sports Finance Fund (ASFF) claims Sure Sports contacted the fund in early 2024 about lending Xavier McKinney $4.375 million in return for an underwriting fee of $87,500.
“Based on the information Sure Sports provided to ASFF, including its due diligence as to the identity and creditworthiness of McKinney and his company, XMK Companies, LLC, ASFF agreed to the terms of the Loan,” Aliya wrote in the complaint, according to The Guardian. “ASFF has come to learn that the borrower apparently was not McKinney, but rather a third party who impersonated McKinney to facilitate the disbursement and theft of the Loan proceeds.”
The lawsuit also claims, “The individual that received the Loan is an unknown third party impersonating McKinney who has since absconded with the loan proceeds.”
The FBI is conducting an investigation into the matter
Sure Sports’ business is to conduct due diligence prior to transactions and then connect athletes with lenders. According to the lawsuit, Sure Sports founder Leon McKenzie contacted ASFF on 10 September 2024 to inform them of a concern about “the source that brought us McKinney” and made mention of an “FBI investigation.”
Sure Sports later allegedly told ASFF “that the Loan may have been a scam perpetrated by someone other than McKinney, that the funds may therefore have been stolen by a third party, and that the FBI was investigating the matter.”
In a filing to dismiss the case, Sure Sports argues that Aliya had its own responsibility to perform due diligence on the loan.
“ASFF’s Complaint is completely devoid of any allegation showing that Sure Sports should have objectively reasonably anticipated that an impersonator – who, it should be noted also scammed Sure Sports during the course of its provision of underwriting services – would facilitate the disbursement and theft of the Loan,” the filing reads.
A judge turned down Sure Sports’ request for dismissal. A judge has set a trial date for July 13.
Another recent high-profile fraud case involving NFL players
Multiple NBA and NFL players were allegedly the focus of a Georgia prison inmate’s phishing campaign, which turned into fraud and identity theft.
A man named Kwamaine Jerell Ford allegedly pretended to be an adult film star as part of a complex phishing scheme as well as a sex trafficking conspiracy that targeted the players.
Ford reportedly promised to send the players graphic recordings while posing online as a well-known adult film star. He also allegedly impersonated real Apple customer service accounts, pretended to be an Apple customer support representative, and texted the victims asking for their username, password, and/or Multi-Factor Authentication codes.
By doing this, he allegedly duped numerous victims into providing him with their login information using this technique. Ford then obtained credit and debit card information after taking over their Apple accounts and then used them to pay for thousands of dollars in personal expenses.