As older Dopers will recall, Art Schlichter was the Ohio State phenom QB who wrecked his career by betting on NFL games, getting suspended by the NFL and quickly cut after attempting a return. His gambling debts were so big that he actually turned himself in to NFL security for protection from his bookies. He has been in and out of jail over gambling-related fraud schemes for several years, and news articles tend to mention the fascinating fact that he has spent time in 44 different prisons.
Well, he’s back in court. This time he allegedly convinced investors to put up $1 million to buy Super Bowl tickets early and resell them close to game time for high prices, and instead he gambled it all away. The money apparently included the life’s savings of the widow of the former Wendy’s CEO, who was supposedly also manipulated into bringing in other family members.
Part of me wants to say, “who in their right mind would invest in Art Schlichter?” How do these people turn over such big money without doing even a Google search of his background? But that’s blaming the victim. Schlichter must be weirdly charming, and a rich widow may not be very sophisticated.
Not sure what my point is in starting this thread, except to marvel at how thoroughly great promise could be thrown away. Prison might be the safest place for him, frankly; losing millions of dollars over many years has got to leave a lot of angry people in one’s wake.
