Ex-Fins safety Jones awarded $9.5M in fraud suit

Former Miami Dolphins information Reshad Jones has settled a suit against Merrill Lynch for $9.5 cardinal aft a erstwhile fiscal advisor allegedly stole $2.59 million from the two-time Pro Bowler. The colony occurred successful August but nationalist reporting was delayed until this week.

According to a June 25 apprehension report, Isaiah Williams -- Jones' erstwhile fiscal advisor and a erstwhile worker of Merrill Lynch -- utilized his presumption to summation entree to Jones' idiosyncratic fiscal accounts to bargain $1.56 cardinal successful 133 abstracted transactions. Another $1.03 cardinal was stolen done a analyzable laundering strategy involving slope and currency app transfers betwixt Williams and a Georgia-based woman, Octivia Monique Graham. Jones told investigators helium had ne'er met the woman.

Court records allege Williams utilized the wealth to wage for idiosyncratic expenses specified arsenic hose tickets and hotels, portion clubs, cars, jewelry and duty-free buying successful Mexico.

Investment News archetypal reported the colony connected Wednesday. Merrill Lynch declined comment. Jones' lawyers, Chase Carlson and Jeff Sonn, declined to remark and referred ESPN to a erstwhile connection wherever they called the concern "another troubling illustration of a nonrecreational jock being exploited."

According to documents from BrokerCheck, an online database that compiles accusation astir brokers and fiscal institutions, Jones primitively asked for $16 cardinal successful damages successful an arbitration filing against Merrill Lynch, BrokerCheck reported.

The Palm Beach County, Florida, sheriff's bureau booked Williams successful June connected 4 counts, including first-degree organized fraud and archetypal grade expansive theft, which are some punishable by up to 30 years successful prison. Williams is presently retired connected $1 cardinal enslaved and awaiting trial, according to the sheriff's bureau database.

Jones was a fifth-round draught prime retired of Georgia successful 2010. He spent his full 10 twelvemonth NFL vocation with the Dolphins, wherever helium played 128 games, starting 113. According to Over The Cap, Jones made implicit $56 cardinal successful his playing career.