Attorneys for former Kansas City Chiefs LB Kendrell Bell have claimed that his former college coach at the University of Georgia, Jim Donnan, deceived him into investing $2 million dollars into a Ponzi scheme:
"James Donnan guaranteed (Bell) that his investment was safe and that James Donnan would protect him," according to legal documents filed by Bell’s lawyers. "James Donnan was a father-figure to (Bell), and (Bell) trusted him implicitly."
"James Donnan, as one of the two architects of the Ponzi scheme, was the prime salesman and largest beneficiary of the scheme," according to Bell’s attorneys. "In short, James Donnan duped (Bell) into investing $2 million, and then diverted his money from GLC to (Jim and his wife Mary Donnan) or other investors."
GLC Limited was a company that claimed to use investors money to buy discontinued appliances and furniture for resale, but court documents indicate that of the $82 million they received from investors, only $12 million was used to actually purchase things, with the rest going to healthy returns for initial investors like Donnan.
According to Bell's lawyers, Donnan received a 15-20% fee for every investor he brought to GLC, and of his initial $5.4 million investment, his family received over $16 million.
Bell was the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2001 for the Pittsburgh Steelers, but injuries shortened his seven-year career, with his final stop coming in Kansas City from 2005-2007, where he could never reclaim the promise he showed when he first came out of Georgia.