A player for a professional American football team has filed a lawsuit against his former business manager, alleging that he squandered money on bad investments including a $3m bitcoin mine.
Court documents filed in an Arkansas federal court and published by the Arkansas Times allege that Michael Vick spent as much as $15m belonging to Darren McFadden, a running back for the Dallas Cowboys, on a series of fraudulent investments.
McFadden has accused Vick of lying to him about the success of those investments, while at the same time using those funds to pay for a luxurious lifestyle and failed business ventures.
Vick allegedly used $3m to build the operation, which court documents say was aimed at “creating and manufacturing bitcoins”. McFadden further said that Vick guaranteed a profit on the mine, stating that he would “not lose any money”.
However, Vick would allegedly go on to keep the profits from the mine for himself, court documents assert.
The complaint states:
“…Defendant Vick used plaintiffs funds to start this bitcoin ‘business’, including using all of plaintiffs monies to purchase all the necessary infrastructure and materials, only to retain all the revenues generated or derived from the ‘business’ along with all the corresponding business assets purchased with plaintiffs money.”
McFadden accused Vick of fabricating financial documents to conceal the health and nature of the investments he was making in the player’s name, and for a time Vick held power of attorney. He further said in court documents that he ended the relationship after Vick tried selling him a property purchased using the player’s own money.
In an interview with The Dallas Morning News, McFadden said that he began working with Vick in 2008, and that the man was “an old family friend” whom he trusted.
“It’s just one of those deals with me as a young guy I wasn’t on top of my finances like I should have been and I trusted somebody to take care of everything for me and I don’t feel like at the time he had my best interest,” he told the publication.
Vick declined to comment when reached by The Associated Press, earlier this week, saying that he hadn’t yet seen the lawsuit.
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