Tuberville named among victims in Donnan fraud case

Tom Groeschen, tgroeschen@enquirer.com 8:43 a.m. EDT May 9, 2014

University of Cincinnati football coach Tommy Tuberville was among prominent names reportedly lured into an $80 million fraud investment scheme by former University of Georgia coach Jim Donnan, with Donnan on trial this week in U.S. District Court in Athens, Ga.

An indictment said Donnan and Gregory Crabtree, of Proctorville, Ohio, ran the scheme through GLC Limited Inc., a West Virginia-based company that dealt in closeout merchandise. The pair sold short-term investments and promised investors rates of return ranging from 50 percent to 200 percent, prosecutors said.

Among the coaches Donnan was accused of helping attract were Tuberville, Texas State football coach Dennis Franchione, Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer, ex-Dallas Cowboys and Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer and North Carolina State basketball coach Mark Gottfried, according to filings in a separate federal case.

Tuberville may be giving testimony at some point. Via telephone, Tuberville declined comment to The Enquirer when asked about the case.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/ucathlet...e/8889571/

I don't understand these people. They are already multi-millionaires set for life, yet they do stuff like this. How much money do they need?

In lamens terms, was Tuberville named by victims as someone who scammed them, or he was named a victim and he himself was scammed by Doonan?

"lured into"...he lost money

50 to 200 percent returns? If anybody guaranteed me that I'd laugh in their face. Shame on you, Tommy.

Not even crack dealers get that kind of return.

A fool and his money......

if anyone guarantees you a return if you invest with them go the other way.

Tuberville testifies in Donnan fraud trial

Tom Groeschen, tgroeschen@enquirer.com 5:44 p.m. EDT May 12, 2014


UC coach Tommy Tuberville testified at the trial of former Georgia coach Jim Donnan. (Photo: Enquirer file)

University of Cincinnati football coach Tommy Tuberville testified Monday in Athens, Ga. at the trial of former Georgia coach Jim Donnan, who is accused of 41 counts related to fraud.

Tuberville and his wife invested $1.9 million, according to the Macon Telegraph, though how much Tuberville got back or lost wasn't made clear during questioning.

"It wasn't a forceable sell, like 'You've gotta put money in this,' " said Tuberville, who according to The Telegraph has known Donnan for about 20-25 years. "(Donnan said): 'Don't take my word for it, call Dennis Franchione, and feel him out because he's been in it for awhile.' And that's what I did."

Franchione is the former Alabama and Texas A&M head coach who now is head coach at Texas State.

North Carolina State men's basketball head coach Mark Gottfried testified about losing around $337,000, the Telegraph reported, saying Donnan invoked the names of other big-name coaches, such as former Dallas Cowboys and University of Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer, Tuberville and former Kentucky basketball coach Billy Gillispie.

The Telegraph also reported that Tuberville, asked by a prosecutor whether he came into some money in late 2008, answered: "I got an exit fee from Auburn, yes sir." That prompted some laughs from the gallery.

The Telegraph also reported that defense attorney Ed Tolley was going over Tuberville's moves -- Auburn to ESPN to Texas Tech to Cincinnati -- when Tuberville interjected: "It's hard to keep up with us."

Tuberville, in a pre-trial conversation with The Enquirer, said he would be giving testimony at the trial but otherwise declined comment.

Donnan, 69, is charged with 41 counts related to fraud, with an alleged scheme in which investors lost almost $23 million. This is the second week of the trial, and attorneys have told U.S. District Judge C. Ashley Royal that testimony might be wrapped up by Friday.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/ucathlet...l/9009567/

Just keep his wife off the road and you are fine

(05-14-2014 10:54 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  Just keep his wife off the road and you are fine

Would you care to expound on that?

(05-14-2014 11:03 PM)ctipton Wrote:  

(05-14-2014 10:54 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  Just keep his wife off the road and you are fine

Would you care to expound on that?

google his wife

I found this. I presume this is what you refer to. No charges filed?


Man in accident with Tommy Tuberville's wife dies
Posted on: February 22, 2012 12:44 pm
Edited on: February 28, 2012 1:36 pm


Posted by Jerry Hinnen

An 87-year-old man who sustained injuries in a Nov. 1 car accident involving Tommy Tuberville's wife, Suzanne Tuberville, died in an assisted living facility Friday, the Lubbock-Avalance Journal reported.

Sgt. Jonathan Stewart with the Lubbock Police Department told the Avalanche-Journal in November that Suzanne Tuberville had run a red light while driving in Lubbock and struck the vehicle driven by Nelda Purdy, 73. Her husband, Ira Purdy, was a passenger in the vehicle and sustained "a significant head injury, a broken leg, [and] broken ribs," according to Purdy family attorney Bradley Pettit.

Ira spent time both at the local Covenant Medical Center and a rehab facility before being transferred to the assisted living facility.

No charges have been filed in the case and Stewart said no citations have been issued. But Stewart did say that the investigation into the case remains ongoing. UPDATE, Feb. 28: Stewart has now said that the investigation has been closed, with no charges yet filed.

Both Pettit and a source speaking to Texas Tech student newspaper the Daily Toreador said that a citation had been issued to Suzanne Tuberville some time after the crash.

A Texas Tech spokesman said the Tubervilles had no comment other than to wish the Purdy family their condolences.

The Lubbock Medical Examiner's office has been asked to determine Ira Purdy's cause of death, Pettit said. Stewart confirmed the autopsy but did not say when its results might be released.

“The medical examiner was called in, they’re reviewing the case and we’re waiting for their findings," Pettit said. "We’re very confident they will find that he died as a result of the injuries from the Nov. 1 accident."

Tommy Tuberville's Red Raiders recently began spring practice and are gearing up for their spring game on March 24. But it seems unlikely Tuberville is entirely focused on football right at this moment.

http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry...8/34946025

Lubbock police unable to answer questions in Tuberville case

Posted: Thursday, March 1, 2012 12:11 am

By Ioanna Makris and Caroline Courtney
Staff Writers | 4 comments

A well-known Lubbock criminal attorney questioned Lubbock police rationales for closing the investigation of Suzanne Tuberville’s crash.

Lubbock police said the investigation into Tuberville’s November car crash on 57th Street and Slide Road was closed without an autopsy report on a crash victim who later died, and on the basis of a 30-day rule.

“They (the police) apparently said (they) can’t do anything because it’s (the crash victim’s death) outside 30 days? That’s just bull****,” said Rod Hobson, the special prosecutor in the Brett Walrath case.

Ira Purdy, who sustained serious injuries from the car wreck with Suzanne Tuberville, wife of head football coach Tommy Tuberville, died Feb. 17, 109 days after the wreck. Suzanne Tuberville was cited for running a red light.

Sgt. Jonathan Stewart of the Lubbock Police Department said the Suzanne Tuberville case was not considered a traffic fatality since there was no death within 30 days of the wreck, which is the determinant on whether a supplemental report must be filed, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.

However, a TxDOT employee in the open records division said the TxDOT ruling does not govern the case. The Texas Penal Code governs it and the penal code does not contain a 30-day rule.

But Stewart said the police did use the Texas Penal Code.

“The Texas Penal Code did play into what we could do with this case and we did go by the Texas Penal Code,” Stewart said. But he could not provide The Daily Toreador with the section of the penal code that contains the 30-day rule.

Hobson said he believes the 30-day rule is a departmental policy.

Hobson, a criminal defense attorney, was chosen to prosecute the Walrath case because Walrath was a former assistant to then-Criminal District Attorney Bill Sowder. Walrath was hit by a drunken driver in 2003 and died five months later as a result of his injuries. The driver was initially charged with intoxicated assault. After Walrath died, the charges were raised to intoxication manslaughter and aggravated assault.

Sgt. Stewart said intoxication made the difference between the two cases. According to the TxDOT crash report filed by LPD, the police did not perform any alcohol or drug tests on Suzanne Tuberville.

Patrick Metze, an associate professor of law at Texas Tech and the director of its criminal defense clinic, said according to the Texas Transportation Code, the police have the discretion to take a specimen of a person’s breath or blood.

Hobson said if the autopsy results reveal Purdy’s death was related to the injuries sustained in the car accident, it would only be one part of a two-part process to charge Suzanne Tuberville with criminally negligent homicide. The police would also have to prove she was speeding, texting, eating, talking on the phone or doing something else to cause a distraction.

Stewart would not comment on whether police examined Suzanne Tuberville’s phone records to see if she was texting or talking on the phone while driving.

The Lubbock police TxDOT crash report did not list Suzanne Tuberville’s speed at the time of the wreck.

When questioned on whether the police investigation into Suzanne Tuberville’s wreck will be sent to the District Attorney’s office, Stewart repeatedly answered that the “case is closed. We don’t anticipate any further charges to be filed.”

Hobson said in most cases the Lubbock District Attorney decides whether charges will be filed.

“In my line of work, most of the time police are not decision makers,” he said. “They compile the reports, they send them to the D.A., and the D.A. makes some kind of call.”

District Attorney Matthew Powell would not speak directly to The Daily Toreador, but his secretary said to her knowledge, no investigative reports on the Suzanne Tuberville crash have been sent to the District Attorney’s office.

Quetha Derryberry, the senior investigator for the Lubbock Medical Examiner’s office, said Purdy’s autopsy report is not complete.

Stewart said Purdy’s autopsy report was not needed to complete the investigation because there was no evidence of any further charges.

Hobson said he thought the autopsy report was pertinent to the investigation.

“I don’t know how they could really decide on that issue — whether the injuries were related to the accident — until they had the autopsy,” he said.

Suzanne Tuberville received a citation for running a red light. The Purdys’ lawyer said she was issued the citation Dec. 1 and had it dismissed Feb. 15, through a defensive driving class.

The Daily Toreador called the Tuberville residence in an attempt to reach out to Suzanne Tuberville. No phone calls were returned.

http://www.dailytoreador.com/news/articl...f6878.html

Our former First Lady killed a guy in a traffic accident. They're called accidents for a reason.