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The Ohio State All-American wrestler met the OSU All-American football player at a hotel party in downtown Columbus in spring 1998.
Three years later, the wrestler, Dunyasha Mon Yetts, has become a central figure in an ongoing federal civil securities fraud case and a related criminal investigation.
And the football player, Antoine Winfield, is waiting his turn as a creditor in Yetts' voluntary bankruptcy case for return of a $1.35 million signing bonus from the National Football League's Buffalo Bills that he entrusted to Yetts for investment.
To some observers, the case of Winfield's financial loss highlights a need to more closely regulate sports agents and educate professional athletes about avoiding scams.
"It's harder to get an Ohio driver's license than to be a sports agent," said Marc Kessler, a Columbus attorney with Squire Sanders & Dempsey LLP who represents several professional athletes. "A lot of people jump into it to make a quick buck."
When Yetts, 31, arrived at the party at the Hyatt on Capitol Square, the Steubenville High School football standout of the late 1980s had just started a career as a sports agent. He had worked a few years selling annuities through an insurance company after graduating from Ohio State University with a bachelor's in education in 1994.
Winfield was a hot prospect, having been named an All-American player his junior year at Ohio State. Later that year, the corner back would become a two-time Associated Press All American and the first Buckeye to win the Thorpe Award as the nation's top college defensive back.
Yetts, who could not be reached for comment, stayed in close contact with Winfield through his final season at OSU, pursuing a friendship that included card games at Winfield's house, exchange of Christmas gifts, cash loans and play time with Winfield's infant son, according to Yetts' statements in a deposition last February.
In 1999, Winfield was selected in the first round of the annual NFL college player draft by the Bills.
Finally, in summer of 1999, Yetts persuaded Winfield to fire his agent, Lamont Smith, and hire Yetts' firm, World Wide Sports, based in Dublin, to represent Winfield to the Bills. Yetts also became Winfield's financial adviser through another firm he controlled, World Wide Financial,...