This story is not about Packers safety Xavier McKinney. It’s about someone posing as McKinney to swindle $4.375 million from a lender, and the effort by the lender to get the money back from the broker who was duped.
In an item for the Guardian, veteran sports business reporter Daniel Kaplan writes that Aliya Sports Finance Fund has sued Sure Sports for alleged negligence in failing to perform due diligence when introducing the McKinney imposter to the lender for a seven-figure loan.
Kaplan notes that, per the lawsuit, the FBI is investigating the transaction.
The civil complaint was filed a year ago in Florida, where both companies are based. Trial is set for July 13, 2026.
Sure Sports made $87,500 for introducing the fake McKinney to ASFF for the loan.
From the lawsuit: “ASFF has come to learn that the borrower apparently was not McKinney, but rather a third party who impersonated McKinney to facilitate the disbursement and theft of the Loan proceeds.”
McKinney had signed a four-year $67 million contract with the Packers on March 14, 2024. The deal included a $23 million signing bonus. The loan closed on April 2, 2024.
And here’s the kicker: Kaplan reports that McKinney was one of the victims of the person about whom the NFL Players Association recently warned NFL agents, following the recent indictment of Kwamaine Jerrell Ford for allegedly posing as an adult film star to scam NBA and NFL athletes. The reporting does not link Ford to this specific theft.
McKinney is not a party to the current lawsuit. His agency, Athletes First, declined Kaplan’s request for comment.
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