ATLANTA, GA — A Georgia man has been indicted on federal charges for allegedly posing as an adult film star to defraud NFL and NBA players of thousands of dollars while orchestrating a sex trafficking scheme that secretly recorded athletes.
The NFL Players Association issued an urgent warning to certified agents Thursday after the FBI advised them that Kwamaine Jerell Ford, 34, of Buford, Georgia, had targeted professional athletes in an elaborate fraud and sex trafficking operation. Ford faces 22 federal charges including nine counts of wire fraud, seven counts of computer fraud, one count of access device fraud, four counts of aggravated identity theft, and one count of sex trafficking. The scheme allegedly began in November 2020 while Ford was serving time in federal prison for a similar 2019 conviction involving more than 100 hacked Apple accounts belonging to athletes and rappers.
According to the Department of Justice, Ford allegedly posed online as adult film performer “Teanna Trump” to lure athletes into providing sensitive login credentials for their Apple accounts. Prosecutors said Ford used a two-pronged phishing approach, offering to send sexually explicit videos to athletes while simultaneously spoofing legitimate Apple customer service accounts to request usernames, passwords, and multi-factor authentication codes via text message. “The FBI has advised that Kwamaine Jerell Ford, posing as a female adult film star, lured athletes into providing sensitive information,” the NFLPA stated in its memo to agents. “This individual was supposedly able to access many athletes’ iCloud accounts and stole victim information including credit cards.” Dozens of victims were allegedly tricked into providing their account credentials, allowing Ford to obtain credit and debit card information and spend thousands of dollars on personal purchases.
The allegations extend beyond financial fraud into sex trafficking territory. In May 2021, Ford allegedly recruited, tricked, and coerced a female victim into engaging in commercial sex acts with professional athletes based on false promises that the encounters would advance her modeling career, according to prosecutors. Ford allegedly advertised the woman to athletes, coordinated her travel to meet them, and negotiated payments from the athletes for sex while taking a financial cut from the transactions. Using additional fraudulent personas, Ford allegedly threatened the victim to maintain her continued involvement in the scheme. “Additionally, this individual posing as an adult film star, lured athletes into having sex with an adult female OnlyFans creator, being filmed without their knowledge or consent,” the NFLPA warning stated. Court documents allege Ford coerced the victim into secretly filming many of these encounters without the athletes’ knowledge or consent.
This marks Ford’s second conviction for targeting high-profile athletes through sophisticated online schemes. In March 2019, Ford was convicted of computer fraud and aggravated identity theft after hacking more than 100 Apple accounts belonging to athletes and rappers, spending nearly $325,000 using stolen financial information. Ford was released from Federal Bureau of Prisons custody in January 2022, according to online records. The current alleged scheme began while Ford was still incarcerated for his previous conviction, demonstrating what prosecutors describe as a pattern of escalating criminal behavior. U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said in a statement, “While serving time for stealing credit card numbers from athletes and celebrities to fund his lifestyle, Ford allegedly engaged in the same conduct again. Disturbingly, the indictment alleges that Ford went even further and used a fraudulent online persona to allegedly traffic a young woman and coerce her to produce hidden camera videos of commercial sex acts with unknowing individuals.”
Ford pleaded not guilty to all 22 charges on March 13 and was ordered held without bail pending trial by a U.S. magistrate judge. The specific NFL and NBA players allegedly victimized in the scheme have not been publicly identified and are referenced in court documents only by their initials. Peter Ellis, acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s Atlanta office, said, “Kwamaine Ford clearly did not learn from his prior conviction for a similar scheme. This time, he allegedly escalated his criminal activity — stealing identities and money while also moving into coercion and sex trafficking.” The NFLPA has provided certified agents with a secure link to help determine whether their clients were victimized by the fraud. Players who believe they may have been targeted are encouraged to contact their agent or the NFLPA directly to assist with the ongoing FBI investigation.
The case highlights growing cybersecurity concerns for high-profile professional athletes who are increasingly targeted through sophisticated social engineering tactics rather than traditional hacking methods. The FBI continues to work to identify all potential victims of Ford’s alleged schemes, which prosecutors say evolved from simple financial fraud into a complex operation involving identity theft, coercion, and sex trafficking. Ford’s trial date has not yet been set, and the Department of Justice has not released booking photos as they typically do not provide such images for federal cases.
