Former NFL linebacker sentenced to prison after being convicted in $5 million Ponzi scheme

CBS News

11-03-2025

A former NFL linebacker was sentenced on Monday for his part in a Ponzi scheme that saw victims conned out of more than $5 million, according to federal prosecutors.
John Robert Lake, 43, of Plano, Texas, but who formerly lived in Marina del Rey, was sentenced to two years and six months in prison for the scheme that involved falsely telling victims that he was involved in lucrative luxury real estate investments, gold mines in Alaska and Ghana and other ventures. He promised them high rates of return if they invested with him, according to a statement from the U.S.Attorney's Office.
On top of his sentence, Leake was also ordered to pay $5.3 million in restitution, prosecutors said.
He previously pleaded guilty in Sept. 2024 in a Los Angeles federal court to one count of wire fraud and one count of transactional money laundering, according to court records.
Prosecutors say that from June 2015 to March 2020, Leake solicited money from his victims by falsely promising them that he was involving in the lucrative business ventures. He also said that he was subletting luxury real estate properties, offering them the opportunity to loan funds for him to invest, to which he said he would 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," the DOJ statement said. "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 would provide them with promissory notes "purporting to memorialize his promise to repay" at a fixed interest rate, they said, despite not having "sufficient personal assets and income to repay his victims."
Leake once used the victim's money to pay his personal expenses, including credi card bills, rent, car payments and gambling expenses, prosecutors said. They say that this was without the victim's knowledge or consent.
Prosecutors say that he received approximately $8,129,450 from six victims, which caused them a total loss of $5,314,059.
Leake played college football at Clemson University. He was undrafted in 2004 and signed with the Tennessee Titans shortly after. He never made his way off their practice squad, however.
In 2005, he split the season between the Atlanta Falcons and the Green Bay Packers. He re-signed with Atlanta in 2006, the final year of his professional career. He has 12 total tackles in the NFL.