Twenty-five days before voting for a controversial payday lending bill last year, then-state Rep. Ron Sailor Jr. accepted tens of thousands of dollars from a lobbyist pushing the bill.

Sailor, who resigned last week after admitting to money laundering, received at least $80,000 in February 2007 from a company controlled by retired Denver Broncos football player Willie A. Green.

John Spink/AJC (ENLARGE)

State Rep. Ron Sailor (left) and his lawyer, Bruce Maloy, leave the Russell Building on March 18 following Sailor's appearance before Judge Jack Camp.

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Green, a registered lobbyist for payday lending interests, said through his attorney Monday that the transaction was unrelated to the lending bill.

The attorney, Morris H. Wiltshire Jr. of Athens, said Green loaned Sailor $80,000 with the expectation he would be repaid $120,000 five days later. Green was never paid back, Wiltshire said.

"At this point," he said, "Willie feels like he's being hustled."

DeKalb County property records show a security deed dated Feb. 23 in which Sailor agreed to pay Green's company $120,000 by Feb. 28. The deed was recorded a few weeks later.

On March 20, 2007, Sailor was one of 11 Democrats to cross party lines and vote to allow short-term, high-interest loans known as payday lending. Green had lobbied for the bill, which failed on an 84-84 tie vote.

Green's attorney said the loan was an investment and was not intended to influence Sailor's vote.

"Willie did this in the normal course of business, investing in real estate with the intention of making a profit," Wiltshire said.

Wiltshire said his client now thinks the deal was "probably ill-advised."

Sailor, 33, a Democrat who represented portions of DeKalb and Rockdale counties, pleaded guilty in federal court last week to money laundering. Federal prosecutors said he is cooperating with a wider investigation of public corruption.

Sailor did not return calls Monday. His attorney, Bruce Maloy, had no comment.

Asked if Green had been approached by federal prosecutors, Wiltshire said, "absolutely not." The U.S. Attorney's office on Monday would say only that the investigation was continuing.

Sailor, a pastor, used a 54-acre farm owned by DeKalb Chief Executive Officer Vernon Jones as collateral for the loan, property records show. Wiltshire said Sailor claimed he had an agreement to buy the property.

Jones said Monday he knew nothing about the transaction and called for an investigation into the deal.

"If this happened, that's bizarre and that's fraud," Jones said.

Jones, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Saxby Chambliss, said he first heard about the deal Friday, when a Journal-Constitution reporter asked him about Sailor's use of the property as collateral.

Jones said the property had been for sale, and Sailor had said he might want to buy it.

"He expressed an interest in purchasing my property and he did not purchase it," Jones said. "Apparently he acted inappropriately and he is having to answer those issues."

Jones sold the property in May 2007 to Higher Hope Outreach Ministries Inc. for $770,000. Jones said there was no indication at the time of the sale that Sailor had pledged the property as collateral; DeKalb property records contain no indication that Jones had agreed to use of the property as collateral.

Jones said he was calling for an investigation by federal and state authorities into Sailor's actions. Jones said he only knew Sailor as part of his county's legislative delegation.

Jones said he did not know Green, a retired football player who has run payday loan operations in the South.

Payday loans are advances on a worker's next paycheck that usually come with triple-digit interest rates.

Consumer advocates argue that the loans are not good for consumers because they often can't pay them off when due, leading to a crushing cycle of debt.

Supporters argue they help people with poor credit who would not be able to borrow money otherwise.

Such loans are allowed in many other states, but not in Georgia.

Green, 41, played eight seasons as a wide receiver in the National Football League, winning Super Bowl rings with the Denver Broncos in 1998 and 1999. He had been drafted in 1990 after playing at Clarke Central in Athens and the University of Mississippi. He later retired to North Carolina and then moved to Georgia.

Rick Thompson, executive secretary of the Georgia Ethics Commission, said elected officials can legally take personal loans from lobbyists. However, lobbyists must disclose any such loans, which Green did not do, Thompson said. Each violation can be punishable by a fine of as much as to $2,000.

Wiltshire said Green intended to disclose his dealing with a legislator after the property sale closed. He said Green amended his reports with the state Ethics Commission to reflect the $80,000 transaction after Sailor pleaded guilty last week.

The AJC reported last week that Sailor had not disclosed more than $25,000 in campaign contributions over the years. Evidence of Sailor's failure to disclose the money was readily available in reports in state regulators' files, but officials did not investigate until launching an audit late last year.

Sailor was arrested in December for agreeing to launder $375,000 for a person he believed was a drug dealer. The person was an undercover officer working under the direction of the FBI.

Computer-assisted reporting specialist Megan Clarke and staff writer Carrie Teegardin contributed to this report.