Hall of famer John Elway $15 million Poorer from Ponzi Scheme

by David Kiley (RSS feed)
Oct 15th 2010 at 11:01AM

Hall of Fame Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway is $15 million poorer.

Elway, who has diversified business holdings including a large Toyota auto dealership invested $15 million last March with Colorado hedge-fund manager Sean Mueller who was charged this week in an alleged Ponzi scheme.

Mueller, 42, turned himself in this week to authorities a day after being charged by prosecutors with racketeering, securities fraud and theft in a scheme said to have bilked tens of millions of dollars out of investors.

Elway and business partner Mitchell Pierce said in a motion filed Tuesday they met with Mueller in Denver on Feb. 22 to discuss an investment with his company, Mueller Capital Management. In March, the Hall of Famer and and Pierce transferred funds to Mueller to be held in escrow until they agreed on where to invest the money, the men said in the filing. On March 30, Mueller advised them he was still setting up managed accounts in their names, they said.

About 65 people invested roughly $71 million since 2000 with Mueller Capital Management, according to an affidavit filed by the Denver district attorney's office. Mueller had less than $9.5million in cash and investments in April and liabilities to investors of $45million, said Colorado Division of Securities investigator Richard Rogers in the affidavit.

In their filing, Elway and Pierce ask the court to put their claim ahead of the others so that they may recapture their investment first. They said Mueller agreed to put their money in a trust and not mingle it with other investors' funds. That, of course, did not happen.

Tags: John Elway, ponzi scheme, Sean Mueller, Toyota

Filed under: Sports, Crimes and Misdemeanors

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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 6)

sonnype Oct 15th 2010 12:51PM

These people who swindle others should have their hands and feet and tounge cut off

lee Oct 15th 2010 12:53PM

he wants his claim "put in front of others".. talk about ego! let him wait like the rest of them!

hmtrouble Oct 17th 2010 5:02PM

You know nothing about the situation - maybe Elway and co put their money in first! Idiots making very severe about someone and something they know nothing about.

Kelly Oct 15th 2010 1:03PM

John and his partner were duped. Don't blame the victims. Unfortunately it is the world we now are forced to live in. What ever happened to honesty and integrity. Really a shame.

Jim Oct 15th 2010 3:00PM

The driving force here was GREED on the part of Elway. He wanted more, more and more regardless of the millions he already had. If he had a brain he'd have found out EXACTLY how secure his investment was and the history of the scammer involved. Trying toplace himself first in line to be paid is typical of the 'sport heros' that gives them a feeling that they are somehow above it all when it comes to risk and its consequences. He had better 'man-up' for once in his charmed life and deal with it like a man.

trmnatr2 Oct 15th 2010 6:19PM

The ponzi scheme started in the 1920s.Some type of scam has been done for thousands of yrs.As for scams being done in this day and age,they will be done for the future too.

Stanley Oct 15th 2010 1:07PM

Good no Football player is worth 15 Mill

chad.dawkins Oct 15th 2010 5:34PM

They are if they've made their team much more than that.

iviethodaurum Oct 15th 2010 1:38PM

So you've got 15 million dollars,thats enough to live on for 1000 lifetimes but your own greed makes you hand someone your hard earned money and now you dont have it anymore....OH WELL,lesson learned......

rfarmour Oct 15th 2010 1:58PM

HE DESERVERED TO GET RIPPED OFF FOR THE SIMPLE FACT THAT HE OWNS A TOYOTA DEALERSHIP WHEN HARD WORKING AMERICANS SPENT THIER MONEY TO SEE HIM PLAY FOOTBALL HE TURNS AROUND AND SUPPORTS A FORIEGN AUTO COMPANY I HOPE HE BECOMES HOMELESS WHAT AN A-----E!!!!!

Bob Hill Oct 15th 2010 4:13PM

Wrong....more US parts in a Toyota than most US cars...UAW workers are the problem....now the taxpayers own GM with no chance of getting our investment back....I bought Chevy Impalas all of my life until Obama bought GM with my tax dollars...now I own a Lexas....no more UAW made vehicles for me.

dubbsr Oct 15th 2010 6:03PM

where are ford and chevy built genius

ajschrod Oct 16th 2010 12:53PM

Toyota TAUGHT Detroit how to make small cars effeiciently, and also showed us how crooked and overpaid the unions and workers were. Now that incomes have come down, we should feel free to buy GM products again, but it's sickening to know the auto industry wasn't willing to do it themselves--it took the government to force the issue!

John Oct 16th 2010 2:12PM

People used to beat-up on me for driving a Nissan. However, mine was assembled in Tenn. by U.S. workers. Am I un-American?

Try to find a microwave oven build in the U.S. It's impossible! By the way, rfarmour,where was the computer you typed this on made?

rfarmour Oct 15th 2010 2:08PM

THIS IDIOT DESERVERED TO LOSS 15 MILLION AFTER MAKING ALL THAT MONEY FROM PLAYING FOOTBALL THAT WAS PAID FOR BY AMERICANS HE OWNS A TOYOTA DEALERSHIP... FUNNY I DIDNT KNOW FOOTBALL WAS SUPPORTED BY THE JAPANESE HE IS NOTHING BUT A JERK THAT GOT EXACTLY WHAT HE DESERVED