Cameron Colvin, an ex-NFL player, has been indicted on federal charges of wire fraud and money laundering.
The nine-page indictment alleges Colvin, who lives in Arizona, engaged in a broad fraud scheme "making false promises" about his business ventures.
Colvin was arrested in Arizona on Thursday by the FBI. He played for the University of Oregon and touted how he became an NFL player with the San Francisco 49ers.
ABC15 found that he signed as an undrafted free agent but never played during a regular season.
Court documents allege Colvin defrauded multiple people out of more than $1.2 million with his company, CamCo Commercial Inc., by fraudulently obtaining investor funds by promising returns. However, the indictment states Colvin would never return the principal and interest. He’s facing nine counts of wire fraud and 10 counts of transactional money laundering.
The ABC15 Investigators have reported exclusively on past employees and business partners who say Colvin owes them money.
The documents allege that Colvin “cultivated an image as a successful business mogul” but went on to say that “he misrepresented to clients that he had completed billions of dollars in real estate transactions when in fact he held no assets in his name and owned no real property.”
Colvin calls himself a businessman, real estate developer and philanthropist with a large portfolio of investments. Court documents allege he would obtain funds for large projects, but in reality, used the money "to support a veneer of a lavish lifestyle."
ABC15 is committed to finding the answers you need and holding those accountable.
Submit your news tip to Investigators@abc15.com
The federal indictment says that Colvin would portray himself as an expert investor in commercial property, but "he held no investments in this asset class."
Some of the promises were detailed on social media. Court documents allege Colvin created a new entity called CamCo Akimel, and was developing a $150 million theme park in Scottsdale
“This was false as no such development was ever funded by Camco,” the indictment alleges.
ABC15 could not immediately reach Colvin or his attorney for comment.
The indictment also alleges that Colvin "leveraged romantic relationships with certain women in order to obtain short-term business loans from those women with the promise of repayment" but never returned any of the money.
According to court records, Colvin lives in Surprise but was previously living in Scottsdale with offices in Scottsdale, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom.
Colvin's website shows more than a dozen different business ventures, including CamCo Ventures, CamCo Restaurants, CamCo Aviation, CamCo Crypto, and more. His website says that Colvin is the Chairman & CEO of CamCo that was founded in 2014 and has a global reach.
The ABC15 Investigators previously reported Colvin received publicity after he pledged to donate $200 million to Goodwill of Central and Northern Arizona. A news release from Goodwill in 2020 said that the first installment of $10 million would go to Goodwill and follow in increments for the next 20 years.
A spokesperson for Goodwill wrote in an email to ABC15 in 2023, “Goodwill of Central and Northern Arizona did not receive any money from Cameron Colvin.”
The federal indictment alleges that to further "a veneer of a successful self-made businessman, Colvin promoted himself as a billionaire philanthropist."
Court documents say Colvin never honored the Goodwill pledge because "he had no money to pledge."
The indictment says that the fraud scheme, including fraudulent financing claims, dates back to November 2018.
