Man Poses as NFL Player to Defraud Women of $1.3 Million
A man posed as both a pro football player for the San Francisco 49ers and a wealthy Swiss real estate investor to defraud multiple women in the Pacific Northwest, co-conspiring with a teenager falsely posing as his financial advisor, according to the Justice Department.
35-year-old Daejon Labrayae Love and 18-year-old Taylor Jamie Chan were arrested in Idaho and charged in Oregon federal court with wire fraud. Federal authorities have found 26 victims so far, but believe there are many more.
According to the criminal complaint, Love would contact women via online dating apps, falsely creating what the victims thought were sincere romantic relationships. Love told victims he’d built his wealth by working with Chan, his purported investment advisor, and pressed victims to work with him so they could “build wealth and a future together.”
To further the scheme, Love portrayed a lavish lifestyle on social media, claiming he was an NFL receiver for the San Francisco 49ers or a real estate investor from Switzerland in the U.S. seeking properties for his family’s real estate business (or, in some victims’ cases, both). While some victims became suspicious of Love and searched for him online, Love’s false social media representations were so thorough that search engines and artificial intelligence occasionally fell for the ruse that he was a pro football player.
Love would purportedly tell victims that Chan helped him grow his fortune by millions within several years, and the duo touted investment vehicles that would generate huge returns for him and the women he courted (in reality, the vehicles never existed). According to the DOJ, Love and Chan would exchange investment-related electronic communications, during which Chan would impersonate Love’s financial advisor. Love would then screenshot these chats and send them to victims as further supposed evidence of the investment strategies. Chan and Love also hosted three-way FaceTime calls with victims.
If victims didn’t have the cash to give the alleged co-conspirators, Love would encourage them to take out personal loans, assuring them they’d be repaid quickly. However, if a victim had no more money or started asking questions about the scheme and Love’s background, Love would block communication with them and refuse to return their funds.
Federal investigators claimed that Love’s financial records over the past several years showed “no identifiable source of legitimate, non-fraud income,” with most of the income entering the accounts through cash deposits and online money transfers, similar to how he allegedly perpetrated the scheme. In total, federal authorities have uncovered $1.3 million in losses thus far.
According to the Justice Department, federal authorities issued arrest warrants for Love and Chan on August 17. Between July 15 and August 24 of this year, Love traveled to New Mexico, California, Oregon, Nevada and Utah.
On August 24, Chan flew from California to meet Love in Boise, Idaho, where Love planned to meet new victims, but law enforcement arrested the duo in the Boise airport. They had their first scheduled court appearance last week.
