Hedge fund boss guilty of bilking former Broncos

Atwater, Davis, Crockett among many defrauded

Rocky Staff And Wire Reports

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Kirk Wright reported phony investment gains.

Erik S. Lesser / Bloomberg News/2006

Potential buyers inspect the exterior of the seized home of hedge fund manager Kirk Wright in 2006 in Marietta, Ga.

John Amis / Associated Press/2006

Ex-NFL Pro-Bowler Blaine Bishop was among a group of players who sued the NFL and NFL Players Association.

Kirk Wright, the money manager who lured former Denver Broncos players into his hedge fund, was found guilty of money laundering and fraud that cost investors more than $150 million.

A federal jury in Atlanta found Wright, founder of International Management Associates, guilty on all counts after a two-week trial, U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said in a statement. Wright faces a possible life term and a fine of as much as $16 million when he is sentenced Aug. 26.

Ex-Broncos Steve Atwater, Terrell Davis and Ray Crockett poured millions of dollars into Wright's funds. Veteran wide receiver Rod Smith, who is on the reserve/retired list, also entrusted money to the Harvard-educated hedge fund manager.

Atwater, a defensive back who earned eight Pro Bowl selections, put about $3 million of his family's money into International Management Associates funds, and even went to work for the firm as a "client liaison," helping to recruit new investors, court papers showed.

IMA collapsed in February 2006 after investors, including former NFL players Davis and Clyde Simmons, sued after receiving distribution checks that bounced.

Wright, who went into hiding, was arrested three months later at the pool of the Ritz Carlton in Miami Beach, Fla., where he was staying under an alias.

"A measure of justice was served today for the hundreds of investor- victims in the stunning collapse of International Management Associates," Nahmias said in the statement. "Those victims poured over $150 million into Wright's hedge funds over the years, only to find in 2006 that the money was gone and that Wright had lied to them."

The evidence showed that Wright, who started IMA in 1997, had been lying to investors since at least 2001, Nahmias said. Wright reported substantial investment gains almost every month, when in fact he lost almost every dollar invested, according to court documents.

Wright, 37, also reported balances in client accounts that were as much as 200 times greater than what actually existed, according to court records. At the same time, he diverted millions of dollars of investor money for personal expenditures, including cash, home renovations, jewelry, a $500,000 wedding, luxury vehicles and real estate, mainly in Atlanta and California, according to Nahmias.

Wright was ordered in February 2007 to pay $19.9 million in a lawsuit brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission. He had fraudulently raised as much as $185 million from hundreds of investors over nine years, the SEC said.

Atwater and six other players sued the NFL and the NFL Players Association in June 2006, claiming that those entities had recommended IMA to them.

Staff writer James Paton contributed to this report

• May 22, 2008

  12:33 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  User77 writes:

  $50 million still unaccounted for. It seems the FBI still has its work cut out for it.

• May 22, 2008

  6:37 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  dillard writes:

  Somehow I can't find much sympathy for professional athelets who are paid outrageous salaries. I stopped watching these guys 25 years ago when I realized what they get paid. On the otherhand a theif is a theif. At least he didn't rip off some poor senior citizens.

• May 22, 2008

  10:07 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  mstar71 writes:

  If it sounds too good to be true...