The whole topic of concussions and CTE has been big in the news over the past few years, most notably regarding NFL players, past and present. The six-year class action suit against the NFL for hiding the long-term effects of concussions ended in December, and applications for compensation are due this August. In this time frame, some of the players have been approached by (and been victim of) scam artists. This article is from my all time favorite news source (NY Post), so I'm guessing that some of this is embellished, but I would imagine at least some of the details about the scammers are true. Beyond fake organizations claiming to speed along the compensation process by taking a fee upfront, players are being offered "predatory loans" with interest rates between 7% and 24%.
About 10 percent of those in the settlement class, which comprises about 20,000 former NFL players, have taken out loans against their expected awards, according to an estimate by one lawyer representing the players.“It’s worrisome but there are these guys lenders that have taken advantage of the former NFL players,” said the lawyer, who asked not to be identified amid the pending litigation. “Most of these guys [players] have bad credit. I have dissuaded a few of them from taking loans.”
Not looking at the validity of the case or what the NFL did/didn't do, I feel pretty bad for the older guys that are 50+ and really hurting physically/mentally. These guys' brains are more or less mush, they have enough trouble just functioning as humans. After lawyers fees, the players are expecting to get about 70% of the payout, and scammers are trying to rip them off. I wouldn't feel as bad (or at all) for them if they were regular people who just managed their money poorly, but I would imagine that keeping track of finances would be pretty tough with the problems caused by CTE (not to mention the doctors' bills over the years).
What do you guys think? Do you feel bad for these players getting scammed?
The concussion/CTE topic is really its own debate.
