NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Two people were indicted Friday, April 24 in connection with a $3.5 million fraud scheme to impersonate professional athletes and take out loans in their names.
According to the Eastern District of Louisiana, 42-year-old Albert Paul Weber of Harvey and 39-year-old Cyntrelle Lash of New Orleans are accused of impersonating athletes who were on the cusp of being drafted by NBA and NFL teams and paid multimillion dollar contracts. Officials allege that as early as 2016, Weber and Lash stole the identities of the athletes, their family members and others to defraud businesspeople and lenders who believed they were dealing with the athletes themselves.
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Weber and Lash are accused of defrauding these victims into transferring over $3.5 million to them and their co-conspirators, which they then allegedly laundered through multiple bank accounts. In May 2025, Weber and Lash were arrested for allegedly using fake identification to sign notarized documents for loans for an athlete.
After being released on bond, Weber allegedly began a new part of the scheme to defraud athletes involving trips overseas for basketball players. He allegedly kept the money he took for these trips that never occurred. Officials said Weber was confronted about this by his alleged victims and is accused of threatening them and demanding more money…