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 5 of 6)

smnjack Oct 16th 2010 2:42PM

15,000,000 is a lot of chips. If John had directed this money into a trust, and it should have been put there, then he should be out nothing. He should get his money back first, as it was not comingled, it was just stolen from him by the invester, and their is still a direct link to it. The Judge should just return the stolen money from where ever it is. This would be Justice and a proper application of law and equity. Now, reality sets in. The Judge, who is of course an attorney, will let all sides fight it out with multitudes of filings which the Judge will never rule on. From here on out only the attorneys will benefit from whatever the proceedings may bring. As for Mueller, he will be allowed to use his clients money in his defense too, so rest assured, nothing will be left for the victims. They are going to continue to be victimised until every cent of their investment is spent. The wonder of it all, Capitolism is great, isn't it? And what a great Justice system we have.

blueman Oct 17th 2010 10:20AM

He should go to www.mafiahalloffame.com for help?

luis Oct 16th 2010 3:56PM

How gullible can people be. EVERY ONE KNOWS YOU CAN NEVER TRUST A DAMN JEW !

celtics2win Oct 16th 2010 4:40PM

I know everyone has heard the phrase, "If I got a nickel for everytime someone blogged something stupid over the internet I would be a millionaire". Well I am going to test that theory. I set up a paypal account celtics2win@aol where people can deposit their nickels for when they read a completely stupid blog that makes no sense. I am going to track it for one year.

brigittepj Oct 16th 2010 5:03PM

I feel no compassion for people who are already rich and get burned by being greedy and taking risks in trying to get richer. Hope he doesn't recoup anything. Serves him right.

Dennis.... Oct 16th 2010 5:54PM

After my favorite quote from "Titanic" made by Bruce Ismay

John Elway, Who is He? A passenger?

HAHAHAHAHAHA... LOSER

Trey_ Dawg Oct 16th 2010 6:51PM

Im sure john has another 15 mill somewhere...you leave all your millions in the bank and the interest you get will be enough to live comfortably..GEEZ!!! john how many more mills you want?

Meanstr Oct 16th 2010 10:37PM

The name of the game is greed 15 Million so he could Double his money in no time I think if someone were to give me one Million I could live the rest of my life nicely just by puting it in the Bank and living off the Interest.

usmaels1 Oct 17th 2010 10:23AM

I hope the guy who took John on this deal was a Kansas City Chief's fan. Elway ruined the hopes of Chief's fans many times. He was an awesome QB, but I did not like it when we played him. Go Chief's!

Donna Oct 17th 2010 10:31AM

He should of known better.

migsat Oct 17th 2010 11:34AM

all he nead ta do is ast him for da monay back...da all...than they git it back...ok?

jnzcram Oct 17th 2010 12:33PM

Not a real bright boy is Johnny

alybaly Oct 17th 2010 2:20PM

These people should be tortured first and then srtung up in public. That being said to invest that kind of money without doing very stringent backround checks etc. is just plain stupid and they deserve it.....

Tom Hall Oct 17th 2010 2:29PM

NOT TO WORRY! Just wait until November, when the Tea Party Republicans win and take over. They will outlaw reporting on such scams. After all, interfering with Ponzi schemes is interfering with business and free enterprise. So we have to end all regulation of such schemes and end prosecutions of scammers (ie: businessmen). Then, we end the rights of left-leaning media to write stories that are critical of scammer/businessmen. After that, everything will be all right!

Ed Sorrels Oct 17th 2010 3:42PM

LOL, This is what happens when you go thru college playing football instead of getting an education, Along comes this "Wimp" of an MBA (Master of Business Art's) and takes all your money, This is hysterical !

hmtrouble Oct 17th 2010 5:04PM

Have you looked at interest rates lately?

Roger Fulton Oct 17th 2010 5:44PM

Elway, my favorite football q/back of all time. The Broncos, my best team ever, saw every game, each time they played when I lived there. Denver - it was heaven when i lived there!!! So sorry, snakes still live in the grass. Met Elway briefly when I workeed in the hotel Biz on Colorado Blvd, wonderful guy. As good as they get. Too bad, so sad, it can happen to the best of us.
The "perp" needs jail time to contemplate his sins. Simple as that, they have a good one there among the high mountains, wind blows colder than h#$$. Give him a few years to contemplate his navel.

Roger Fulton Oct 17th 2010 5:45PM

confirmed

Denise Oct 17th 2010 7:36PM

Mr. Ed, I mean Mr. Elway; really, put your case ahead of others, glad you were shot down!

gor Oct 17th 2010 7:40PM

they want to be paid first because the scammers told them that their money would not be mingled with the other people being scammed? hahhahahha. I laugh at that. I sympathize that he got scammed but so did other people. get in line for a portion of what you lost. hard lesson learned.

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