Kirk Wright had the smarts, the background and the right connections to attract hundreds of clients willing to let him invest more than $150 million of their earnings and savings.

Even when the market tanked, Wright assured investors he was making money for them hand over fist, Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Anand said Tuesday.

"But it was all a lie," Anand said in opening statements of Wright's criminal trial. Wright is facing mail fraud, securities fraud and money laundering charges.

"The money wasn't there. His firm, International Management Associates, was little more than a sham. He had been lying to everyone for years."

One of Wright's lawyers, Michael O'Leary, countered that investors were told they were putting their money into high-risk hedge funds.

"Yes, people lost significant amounts of money," O'Leary said. "Yes, the management team, including Kirk Wright, committed a number of errors. ... But Kirk Wright did not knowingly and intentionally misrepresent returns to investors. Kirk Wright did not engage in a scheme to defraud."

Wright's investors included deep-pocketed clients such as professional football players and doctors, as well as others who placed hundreds of thousands of dollars from their nest eggs under Wright's control.

Among them was Lydia Gardner, 71, the prosecution's first witness. She said she has known Wright since he was 3 years old, growing up in her neighborhood in the Bronx. Gardner, a nurse, said she and her husband lost more than $160,000 in Wright's company.

Wright, with a masters degree in public policy from Harvard University, started in 1997 out of the basement of his Manassas, Va., home. Two Atlanta anesthesiologists, Fitz Harper and Keith Bond, persuaded him to bring his business to Atlanta. Both men, who have not been charged, left their medical practice and became top officers at International Management Associates.

Between 2001 and 2005, more than $150 million in investment money poured in, Anand said.

By the end of 2005, Wright was telling investors the firm was managing $192 million. In truth, however, the firm had just $206,000 in the market and $556,000 in the bank, Anand said.

Anand said Wright orchestrated a Ponzi scheme, in which he took in millions in investments, returned enough not to raise investors' suspicions and kept millions to finance a lavish lifestyle. This included spending $440,000 on luxury cars and $238,000 for his wedding, the prosecutor said.

Anand said Wright's house of cards tumbled when former NFL star safety Steve Atwater began asking questions about his investments. Atwater, who testified Tuesday, said he and a number of other NFL players had almost $20 million invested in Wright's company.

In December 2005, however, Atwater and his friends faxed in withdrawal forms demanding their money. Atwater said he and his family invested $2.68 million in Wright's company.

Asked how much he got back, the former Pro Bowl player answered, "Zero."

After Atwater and others filed lawsuits against Wright and his company, Wright disappeared. He was arrested in May 2006 by FBI agents while sipping cocktails at the pool at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Miami. He has been held without bond awaiting trial.