Cameron Colvin, the former Oregon football player and self-proclaimed billionaire, has been charged with federal wire fraud and transactional money laundering, according to a grand jury indictment.
According to multiple sources, Colvin, who lives in Surprise, Ariz., was arrested Thursday morning by agents from the FBI’s Phoenix field office. A spokesperson for the FBI did not immediately respond to an email seeking confirmation.
In a nine-page federal indictment, filed on Oct. 21, Colvin is accused of defrauding individuals of more than $1.25 million through purported investment opportunities and personal relationships, including with women he was romantically involved with.
“Colvin cultivated an image as a successful business mogul,” the indictment stated. “He presented to clients that he had completed billions of dollars in real estate transactions when in fact he held no assets in his name and owned no real property.”
Colvin’s attorney, Christopher Frost, did not immediately respond to an email and voicemail.
Sportico profiled Colvin’s exploits in an August investigation, followed by a September report that detailed his indirect ties to ClearTV CEO Henry Mauriss’ failed bid to purchase the Premier League club Newcastle United, as well as the unrelated stalled All Net Resort & Arena construction project in Las Vegas.
Before his alleged fraudulent activities, Colvin was known for his inspirational life story. After enduring a series of childhood tragedies—including the drug-related death of his father and the murder of his best friend and high school teammate—he rose to national attention and joined the Oregon football team in 2004 as a highly recruited wide receiver. Colvin’s story was later dramatized in the 2014 feature film, When the Game Stands Tall, about his high school program at De La Salle in California, which had a 151-game winning streak under former head coach Bob Ladouceur.
In a phone interview, Ladouceur told Sportico that he had become suspicious of his former player after he made an impromptu visit in the De La Salle locker room during an away game in Las Vegas.
“He was all dressed up in real slick clothes like he had stepped out of GQ,” Ladouceur recalled. “So, I started quizzing him, ‘Where have you been and what have you been up to?’ And he was pretty evasive, not giving a lot of information. He did mention he was buying up businesses. I asked him what kind of businesses, and he was kind of hesitant to reveal anything.”
After college, Colvin attended training camp with the San Francisco 49ers, but never made an NFL regular season roster. Despite this, he repeatedly referred to himself as a former NFL player—one of his many misrepresentations, the indictment alleges. Following his playing days, Colvin launched CamCo Commercial, a Scottsdale, Ariz.,-based real estate and venture capital company that recently boasted of having $4 billion under management.
The indictment notes that “to further a veneer of a successful self-made businessman,” Colvin pledged $200 million to Goodwill of Central and Northern Arizona despite having “no money to pledge.”
Over the past decade, Colvin has been repeatedly sued by former employees, business partners and romantic partners, who, despite winning judgments, have been unable to collect. Other individuals who feel they were deceived by Colvin, including Mauriss, said they ultimately decided against suing because they determined they would not be able to recover money even if they did win.
In March, a New York woman named Lori Miller filed a federal RICO lawsuit against Colvin, saying that he failed to pay her back more than $1.1 million she had loaned him from 2018 to 2023, while they were romantically involved. According to Miller, Colvin had promised to pay her back more than double that amount.
“We are glad that, in addition to our civil prosecution, there is now a criminal prosecution,” Miller’s attorney, Jeffrey Benjamin, said in a phone interview Thursday afternoon. “He belongs behind bars. He should have no money and he should have no freedom.”