An impostor posing as Green Bay Packers’ two-time All-Pro Xavier McKinney scammed a lender to procure a loan worth more than $4 million, according to a lawsuit filed in Florida.
Aliya Sports Finance Fund, managed by the investment advisory firm Aliya Capital Partners, filed suit in February 2025 against Sure Sports, alleging that the sports industry loan broker was negligent and failed to conduct due diligence to verify the borrower’s identity. Both companies are headquartered in South Florida.
The lawsuit contains no claims against McKinney, who is not alleged to have had any involvement in the fraud.
In the complaint, Aliya Sports Finance Fund alleges that Sure Sports approached the fund in early 2024 about providing a $4,375,000 loan for McKinney in exchange for an underwriting fee of $87,500. “The individual that received the Loan is an unknown third party impersonating McKinney who has since absconded with the loan proceeds,” according to the lawsuit. Aliya Sports says it agreed to the terms of the loan based on the information provided by Sure Sports, a company that serves as a liaison between lenders and professional athletes.
The complaint says that in September 2024, Sure Sports president Leon McKenzie emailed an Aliya Sports representative, stating that he “had concerns around the source” that brought us McKinney and would “keep (Aliya Sports) updated as we learn more through the FBI investigation …”
The suit alleges that more than a month after McKenzie raised that initial concern, another Sure Sports representative told Aliya Sports that the loan might have been a scam and “that the funds may therefore have been stolen by a third party, and that the FBI was investigating the matter.”
According to court documents, a trial in the civil lawsuit has been set for July 13.
Fraud cases involving NFL players have made headlines in recent days. On Thursday, the NFL Players Association alerted certified agents that their athletes — along with some NBA players — might have been targeted by a man who allegedly posed as a female adult film star, and who is accused of running a phishing scam that prosecutors say evolved into a fraud and sex-trafficking scheme.
Kwamaine Jerell Ford, 34, of Buford, Ga., was charged with nine counts of wire fraud, seven counts of computer fraud, one count of access device fraud, four counts of aggravated identity theft and one charge of sex trafficking, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of Georgia.