ATLANTA (AP) -A federal judge revoked bond Thursday for a hedge fund manager accused of bilking investors ranging from NFL players to his mother out of millions after a prosecutor disclosed the suspect kept a journal in which he mused about the best place to flee.
U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper said no amount of bail could guarantee that Kirk Wright would appear in court to face fraud charges. The decision reverses a magistrate judge's ruling in Florida to allow Wright to remain free if he posted $1 million bond.
Former Denver Broncos safety Steve Atwater and former Philadelphia Eagles safety Blaine Bishop, who say they were victims in the fraud scheme, were part of a group that clapped and cheered when Cooper announced his ruling.
``That's why I came. I wanted to see him,'' Bishop said. ``He was a coward and wouldn't look at anyone, which is what he is.''
Atwater and Bishop are among a group of seven current and former NFL players who have sued the league and the players' union seeking to recover the $20 million they lost in the scheme. The players claim the union endorsed the services of the investment firm Wright headed even though Wright had liens against him.
At the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Anand said that when Wright was captured in Miami Beach, Fla., on May 17, a journal was found in his possession in which Wright listed various U.S. cities and the ``pros and cons'' of hiding in each one.
The journal also included passport information and the phone numbers of embassies in Mexico and the Dominican Republican.
Nearly $30,000 in cash, several fake ID's and seven prepaid cell phones were also found in the hotel room where Wright was staying when he was arrested, Anand said.
But defense lawyer Natasha Silas said Wright was in almost daily contact with his previous attorney and was trying to negotiate his surrender. Silas said that if Wright intended to flee, he would have left the country, rather than staying in Florida, where his mother lives.
Cooper sided with the government, saying the ``preponderance of the evidence'' suggested Wright was a flight risk.
According to authorities, Wright and his company collected as much as $185 million from at least 500 investors since 1997 and misled some of them to believe the value of those investments was increasing, using false statements and documents.
As recently as Jan. 25, the firm reported $166.6 million in assets spread across five hedge funds it manages and advises. That money is now missing, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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