NFL’s No 1 draft pick Cam Ward victim of identity theft in $250,000 scheme | NFL

Two people armed with false identities managed to fraudulently obtain a quarter-million-dollar loan in the name of Cam Ward, the quarterback for the National Football League’s Tennessee Titans, authorities say.

Albert Weber, 42, and Cyntrelle Lash, 39, face charges of identity theft, bank fraud and forgery after their arrest in a case that allegedly involves the victims of the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft, his father and the company that loaned the money, said Capt. Jason Rivarde of the Jefferson Parish, La., Sheriff’s Office outside New Orleans.

Although attempts to contact Lash for comment were unsuccessful, Weber has vehemently denied any wrongdoing, suggesting that the actions attributed to him were carried out by someone else who falsely assumed his identity.

Regardless, this case highlights how fraud involving professional athletes has become increasingly common amid their rising income and salary income, as highlighted in a 2021 report from global accounting and consulting firm EY.

As Rivarde said, starting in March, Weber and Lash worked together to secure multiple loans with a cumulative value of at least $250,000 in the name of Ward, whose four-year rookie contract with the Titans was reportedly worth about $48.7 million. Investigators determined that the two Jefferson Parish residents used a network of false identities to convince a foreign company to lend money, Rivarde said in an interview Tuesday.

Rivarde added that Weber even allegedly impersonated Ward’s father, Calvin, on at least one occasion by personally signing notarized documents seeking to obtain the loaned money.

Weber and Lash eventually came to the attention of investigators — and on May 16, they were arrested at a shopping center in the Jefferson Parish community of Harvey, where they had planned to attend a meeting intended to make it easier to get loans, Rivarde said.

Both were later released on bail. Court hearings for Weber and Lash were tentatively scheduled for early November and mid-December, respectively.

In an interview Tuesday, Calvin Ward described being first called by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office while attending an event for NFL rookies and their families before his son was drafted by the Titans in April. An investigator — whom he briefly considered a prankster — informed him that someone had placed two liens on his Texas home that had been paid in full, said Calvin Ward, a former college football player.

Calvin Ward later learned that a California-based private lending fund had made two high-interest loans to people posing as him and his son – even though they did not have Social Security numbers or driver’s licenses. The lender’s president apparently overflowed with pride when he saw the NFL draft and thought he saw one of his clients being picked No. 1 overall.

The fraudsters also convinced the fund’s president that his son would eventually receive a signed helmet from Cam Ward as a gift, said attorney Josh Clayton, who represents the quarterback and his family.

“It’s scary,” Calvin Ward said. He said his family took steps to freeze Cam Ward’s credit when he finished playing collegiately at the University of Miami because they heard that someone who showed up at a bank posing as an NFL rookie the year before had managed to obtain a large loan in that athlete’s name.

However, Calvin Ward noted, nothing prepared him for “a heavy dose of how easily someone would put a lien on your house without you knowing.”

Lenders place liens on homes so they can claim property to repay debts if they default. In the Wards’ case, the lender immediately released the liens after learning it was a ruse, Clayton said.

“My message is to be as careful as possible with your [finances]”, said Calvin Ward. “There are schemers and con artists, and they’re always trying to carry out a plan.”

Records show Jefferson Parish deputies seized a 2018 Bentley Bentayga from Weber after his arrest.

He then filed documents requesting that the Bentayga be returned to him, claiming that the vehicle – whose original base price on Carfax is listed at $195,000 – “could have no probative value regarding [his] current charges”. This request remained pending on Tuesday.

Also Tuesday, Weber argued that someone from outside Louisiana improperly used his name in dealings involving Cam Ward.

“A person introduced himself as me, but…it wasn’t me,” Weber said when reached by phone. “It was a misunderstanding. I don’t know what’s going on.”

Weber then insisted that the charges against him had been dismissed and that speaking out about it would smear his reputation.

Informed of the comments, Rivarde said the case against Weber was “still 100% open.” The case was also listed as active in the Jefferson Parish online court system.

Weber said he and Lash were friends. The social media accounts under their names both feature businessmen.

At least one of Weber’s stories alludes to his past as a decorated high school basketball player who later played the sport for the University of Alabama men’s team during the 2004-05 campaign, as a 6-foot-3, 195-pound shooting guard.

The case against Lash and Weber is one of two major cases recently handled by the Jefferson Sheriff’s Office involving an NFL player.

Earlier in October, the agency said two suspects were arrested and two others were wanted after a burglary at the home of New Orleans Saints player Cam Jordan. The break-in occurred while Jordan was participating in a game, and it appears to be a series of cases across the United States targeting professional athletes while they were away from home competing.