Elway Will Have To Wait Just Like Other Victims
DENVER (CBS4) - A judge has told John Elway he will have to wait in line with everyone else in a bid to get at least some of his money back. The former Denver Broncos quarterback and a partner invested an estimated $15 million in what turned out to be a Ponzi scheme.
The investment was with Sean Mueller, who was sentenced to 40 years in prison this week for bilking more than 60 investors. CBS4 investigator Rick Sallinger obtained a tape of Mueller's testimony at the sentencing.
Mueller pleaded guilty to racketeering, securities fraud and theft. Before the judge delivered his sentence Mueller delivered an apology and explanation to Elway and all his victims.
"I'm sorry for the clients. With all my family and my friends here, I'm very sorry. This is on me. I have no one to blame but myself," Mueller said.
The apology may have sounded heartfelt, but it was too little too late for the dozens who lost their investments, in some cases their life savings. Mueller explained how it happened.
"I sent out a fictitious statement to start this off thinking I could make this back. It was the wrong choice obviously."
Those fictitious statements showed profits when really there were big losses for years.
Elway asked the court to allow him and his partner to go to the front of the line for any paybacks that might come saying their money had only gone into a trust in Mueller's investment company to be held there for investment. But the judge denied Elway saying he will have to file a claim like everyone else. That includes a woman that investor Eddie Calus told the court about.
"She was born without hands or feet. That's a sad story. And then to lose all of her money," Calus said.
Mueller is now starting his sentence after almost ending his life in April when he went to the top of a garage and nearly jumped.
"I was struggling to hold onto life. Each day since then, you know, I thought about going to a garage again," Mueller said.
Randy Lewis has been appointed as the receiver in the case. He says the deadline for filing claims was last week and Elway did file. The next step is to sort out those claims and find out how much money can be recovered, and then decide who gets what.
Mueller is also being asked to pay restitution in the amount of $65 million, but that's not final. It's doubtful he'll be able to do pay that much back.
