Ex-UGA player charged with bank fraud

Savannah — Former NFL player Arthur James Marshall Jr. was arrested Wednesday on federal charges that he swindled more than $1 million from banks by using false information to obtain loans for real estate ventures.

Arthur James Marshall Jr. was arrested in Miami after a grand jury in Savannah indicted him last week, said Edmund A. Booth Jr., U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.

“We’re alleging that he provided false and fraudulent information to banks to get mortgage loans and construction loans,” Booth said.

Marshall, 40, played five years in the NFL from 1991 to 1996 as a wide receiver with the Denver Broncos and New York Giants. He played at the Unversity of Georgia from 1988 to 1991.

After retiring from sports, Marshall returned to the Augusta area, where he owned four real estate and construction businesses in nearby Martinez. Booth said he didn’t know where Marshall lives or why he was in Miami at the time of his arrest.

A 22-count indictment in U.S. District Court charged Marshall with bank fraud, money laundering and mail fraud. The indictment was filed June 4, but was sealed by a judge until Wednesday when Marshall was taken into custody.

The indictment says Marshall gave three banks false information on documents such as financial statements, sales contracts and pre-approval letters to qualify for loans to buy and build on seven properties in Augusta and nearby Evans. He took out then loans in 2007 and 2008.

The indictment also accuses Marshall of deceiving a mortgage lender in 2007 by having a fake buyer, whom Marshall supplied with falsified paperwork and a down payment, apply for a loan to buy a house Marshall wanted.

It says an unnamed couple paid Marshall $100,000 in 2008 to build them a house in Evans. Prosecutors say Marshall did little construction work on the home and refused to transfer the title for the property to the buyers.

Custom Contractors and Associates, one of the companies owned by Marshall, filed for bankruptcy last August, saying it owed $10 million to creditors. The company’s phone has been disconnected.

No home phone number was available for Marshall, and no one answered the phone Wednesday at numbers for his other businesses.

Benjamin McElreath, the Augusta attorney who filed incorporation papers for Custom Contractors, and James T. Wilson Jr., the lawyer who handled the company’s bankruptcy filing, both said they did not know who Marshall’s attorney would be in the criminal case.

Booth said Marshall was being held in Miami. His initial court appearance there was scheduled for Thursday.