Indianapolis Colts player Dwight Freeney has become the victim of an alleged multimillion-dollar fraud at the hands of a former financial advisor and business manager.
As reported March 26 by the Miami Herald, Michael Stern, a one-time Miami Beach developer, was arrested in Florida last week on federal wire fraud charges for his alleged role in swindling the NFL star in a California restaurant deal. Stern was charged along with Freeney’s Los Angeles business manager, Eva Weinberg. The pair is accused of siphoning money from Freeney’s accounts and then sending it to a fake account that Stern allegedly tapped for his own personal expenses.
Court documents show that Freeney discovered some unapproved wire transfers from his restaurant investment account last fall totaling more than $2 million.
Recorded phone conversations by the FBI reveal Stern apparently telling an undercover informant that he and Weinberg planned to flee the United States before their scheme could be detected.
In court papers, Weinberg is described as Stern’s “one-time live-in girlfriend.”
Today, federal prosecutors plan to ask a judge to extradite Stern from Miami to California to face trial for the alleged fraud.