By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
Former NFL player Reed Kyle Diehl, who pleaded guilty to clipping investors in a $5 million Ponzi scheme, is headed off to prison.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter of Santa Anna, Calif., sentenced the 31-year-old former offensive lineman for the Tennessee Titans on Monday to 4 years and 9 months in prison, saying his scheme had caused “extraordinary” harm, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Diehl of Coto de Caza, Calif., pleaded guilty in July to fraud charges in connection to a Ponzi in which he “collected funds with promises of high rates of returns on investment loans”, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Diehl posed as a banker who made short-term cash loans to businesses or individuals.
“Instead of using investor funds to make loans, he used investors’ money to repay earlier investors and to fund his lifestyle,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release issued in July.
Authorities say Diehl was originally arrested in March 2008 and released on bond. In January, his bond was revoked after he got involved in a real estate transaction involving a $3.5 million home using a false name and Social Security number, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
