Jose Lambiet

Gossip extra

Ponzi scheme targeted football players, suit alleges

 

Gossipextra.com

Just days after his Baltimore Ravens won the Super Bowl, star receiver Anquan Boldin was grilled in a lawsuit against a company accused of running a Ponzi scheme in which as much as $30 million vanished.

The company, Hawk Systems Inc., targeted South Florida-based NFL players who may have invested millions, according to court papers.

The alleged scam was even flagged by NFL security, which issued a fraud alert to its players.

Boldin, 32, poured $250,000 into the Boca-based company and became a shareholder.

His name may have been used to lure other NFL players into investing. Among them: Former Washington Redskins star Phillip Buchanon, former Pittsburgh Steelers DB Bryant McFadden and current Pittsburgh defender Ike Taylor.

Now, a former Hawk Systems director accuses company founder David Coriaty, an ex-strip bar bouncer and bodyguard, of using the investors’ money to fund gambling jaunts, among other things. Coriaty denies the accusations, according to four lawsuits against him and the company.

“Anquan seems to have been a victim like the rest of us,” said Mark Spanakos, the former director and a plaintiff in those lawsuits. “We wanted to find out what Anquan’s relationship with the company’s owner was. He couldn’t have been more accommodating and helpful.”

Spanakos, a commodities trader who lost his $4 million investment, said the company was to manufacture fingerprint trigger devices for security systems.

Social scene

As part of one of the busiest social season weekends of the year, Saturday’s Voices for Children Foundation gala at the Mandarin Oriental in downtown Miami brought more than 450 donors to provide guardians ad litem to abandoned children, as well as cash for the children’s basic needs.

This was the first gala for actor Christian Slater ( True Romance, Interview With The Vampire) after he — and fiancée Britanny Lopez — joined the foundation board.

“They attended last year’s gala and were moved by some of the stories,” said foundation COO Tania Rodriguez.

The Hollywood star, who’s now living in Miami Beach, attended court sessions with guardians, then donated $10,000.

The Palmetto Bay-based Everglades Foundation, meanwhile, traveled to Palm Beach for its big yearly bash Friday.

With more than 650 in attendance, the star-studded affair has become one of South Florida’s biggest society galas.

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld and rockers ZZ Top performed — free of charge. Seen pressing the flesh: singers Jimmy Buffett and Thalia, TV home improver Bob Vila, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and golf legend Jack Nicklaus.

Read more Jose Lambiet stories from the Miami Herald

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