Jim Donnan charged in Ponzi scheme
ATLANTA -- Former Georgia football coach Jim Donnan is accused of orchestrating an $80 million Ponzi scheme, using his own prominence to get high-profile college coaches and former players to invest, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday.
Donnan and business partner Gregory Crabtree, of Proctorville, Ohio, convinced investors to pour millions of dollars into a business they said was unique and profitable with huge potential and little risk, said William P. Hicks, associate director of the SEC's Atlanta office.
Donnan and Crabtree sold investments in West Virginia-based retail liquidation company GLC Limited and promised high rates of return that didn't materialize, federal regulators said. The pair raised about $80 million from nearly 100 investors, but only about $12 million of that was used to buy merchandise for liquidation, the SEC said.
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