Two people armed with a number of false identities managed to fraudulently obtain a quarter of a million dollars’ worth of loans in the name of Cam Ward, the quarterback of the National Football League’s Tennessee Titans, according to authorities.
Albert Weber, 42, and Cyntrelle Lash, 39, are facing charges of identity theft, bank fraud and forgery after their arrests in a case whose victims allegedly include the first overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft, his father and the business that loaned out the money in question, said Capt Jason Rivarde of the sheriff’s office in Jefferson parish, Louisiana, outside New Orleans.
While attempts to contact Lash for comment were unsuccessful, Weber vehemently denied wrongdoing, suggesting the actions attributed to him were carried out by someone else who falsely assumed his identity.
The case in any event highlights how increasingly common fraud involving professional athletes has become amid rises in their endorsement and salary income, as highlighted by a 2021 report from global accounting and consulting firm EY.
As Rivarde put it, beginning in March, Weber and Lash worked together to secure multiple loans cumulatively worth at least $250,000 in the name of Ward, whose four-year rookie contract with the Titans is reportedly worth about $48.7m. Investigators determined that the pair of Jefferson parish residents used a web of false identities to convince an out-of-state business to loan out the money, Rivarde said in an interview on Tuesday.
Rivarde added that Weber is said to have even posed as Ward’s father, Calvin, at least once while signing notarized documents in person aimed at obtaining the loaned money.
Weber and Lash eventually drew scrutiny from investigators – and on 16 May, they were arrested at a shopping center in the Jefferson parish community of Harvey, where they had planned to attend a meeting meant to facilitate their obtaining the loans, Rivarde said.
Both were subsequently released from custody on bail. Court hearings for Weber and Lash were tentatively scheduled, respectively, for early November and mid-December.
In an interview on Tuesday, Calvin Ward recounted first being 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 thought was a prankster – informed him someone had put two liens on his home in Texas, which had been fully paid, said Calvin Ward, a former college football player.
Calvin Ward subsequently learned that a private credit fund based in California had extended two high-interest loans to people pretending to be him and his son – despite lacking their social security or driver’s license numbers. The lender’s president apparently brimmed with pride when he saw the NFL draft and believed he had seen one of his clients get chosen 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 had taken steps to freeze Cam Ward’s credit when he finished playing collegiately at the University of Miami because they had heard that someone who walked into a bank impersonating an NFL rookie the previous year had managed to get a hefty loan in that athlete’s name.
However, Calvin Ward remarked, nothing had prepared him for “a heavy dose of how easy it is for someone to put a lien on your house without you knowing about it”.
Lenders place liens on homes to gain the ability to claim a property to pay off debts in cases of default. In the Wards’ case, the lender released the liens immediately upon learning it was all a ruse, Clayton said.
“My message is be as vigilant as you can with your [finances],” Calvin Ward said. “There’s schemers and scammers out there, and they’re always trying to put a plan in action.”
Records show Jefferson parish deputies seized a 2018 Bentley Bentayga from Weber after his arrest.
He subsequently filed documents asking that he be given back the Bentayga, contending that the vehicle – whose original base price on Carfax is listed at $195,000 – “could not be of any evidentiary value concerning [his] current charges”. That request remained unresolved on Tuesday.
Also on Tuesday, Weber argued that someone from outside Louisiana had unduly used his name in dealings involving Cam Ward.
“A person was painting themselves as me, but … it was not me,” Weber said when reached by telephone. “It was a misunderstanding. I don’t know what’s going on.”
Weber then insisted the case against him had been dismissed, and that to report on it would defame his character.
Informed of those comments, Rivarde said the case against Weber was “100% still open”. The case was also listed in Jefferson parish’s online court system as active.
Weber said he and Lash were friends. Social media accounts under their names present both as businesspeople.
At least one of Weber’s accounts allude to his past as a decorated high school basketball player who then played the sport for the men’s team at the University of Alabama during the 2004-05 campaign, as a 6ft 3in, 195lb shooting guard.
The case against Lash and Weber is one of two prominent matters recently handled by the Jefferson sheriff’s office that involved an NFL player.
Earlier in October, the agency said two suspects had been arrested and another pair were being sought after a burglary at the home of New Orleans Saints player Cam Jordan. The break-in occurred while Jordan was at a game, and it appeared to be one of a string of cases across the US targeting professional athletes while they were away from their homes competing.
