Sports fans across the nation are eagerly awaiting the official start of both the college football season and the National Football League season. Of course, as is often the case with football, there are currently just as many interesting headlines off the field as on the field.
To illustrate, consider a recent story out of New Jersey, where Bryan Thomas, a former linebacker with the New York Jets, recently filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey claiming that he has been victimized by a fraudulent investment scheme.
According to the complaint filed earlier this week, Thomas is the principal and managing member of Thomas Global Group LLC, and was approached in this capacity by an attorney from his native Birmingham, Alabama about the possibility of investing in his waste-to-energy company.
Specifically, Thomas claims that in March 2009, the attorney provided him with “highly optimistic representations regarding the profit potential and low risk of the investment opportunity.”
He goes on to claim that the attorney falsely informed him that former Secretary of State Condolezza Rice had agreed to serve as a board member on one of his affiliate companies and that his business interests were being promoted in the political realm by Martin Luther King III.
The compliant argues that these representations convinced Thomas, acting through Thomas Global Group LLC, to invest $1 million in the venture. To date, however, he claims to “have not been provided with any information or detail of any kind” and, more significantly, to have not made a single dollar.
It’s important to remember that if you believe an attorney has defrauded you out of money or committed any other type of legal malpractice that you have rights.
Source: Bloomberg Businessweek, “Ex-Jets linebacker Thomas sues Alabama lawyer over investment,” David Voreacos, August 15, 2013