Posted on 06/23/2024 4:35:50 PM PDT by Libloather
It is fair to say Oklahoma pickleball referee Ron Ponder has changed his opinion of Rodney 'Rocket' Grubbs quite dramatically in recent years.
When the pair first met at a tournament in Italy in 2018, Grubbs was a 'really nice guy' and 'very outgoing'.
Now, Ponder describes his erstwhile friend as an 'a**hole' and a 'psychopath'.
He is not the only one.
Grubbs, of Brookville, Indiana, allegedly ensnared hundreds of people and many of his close friends in an $47.5million fraud in which he lured investors into pumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into his pickleball business.
The man once dubbed the sport's 'ultimate ambassador' travelled to tournaments across the world touting Pickleball Rocks as 'the world's most recognized pickleball apparel brand'.
But authorities say he was issuing promissory notes to people across the country - usually for $25,000 at 12 percent interest over 18 months - that were rarely fulfilled.
The scandal has caused shockwaves across the genteel world of pickleball - a game better known for its friendly face than the big money antics of other established sports.
As Grubbs' victims demand their former friend be slung in jail, they are left wondering how a retired AT&T worker with an affable, bumbling and God-fearing demeanor could have pulled off such an extraordinary ruse.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
P.T.Barnum, paging Mr P.T.Banum, pick up the white courtesy phone please.
😆🤣😀
Pickleball is ping pong outside where you stand in the court.
“slung in jail”
Sounds painful.
Investment scam artists need a special kind of punishment—many years of hard labor in the hot sun or freezing cold.
If they are old and infirm—double duty!
Exactly right. Around hear we had an affinity fraud targeted at religious people to support a religious music festival. I don’t know if the guy why ran it started out with good intentions or not, but he ended up taking a million dollars from people.
He actually might be both, but mostly he’s a con man who has connections, and always had connections from birth.
“...jimmy carter. generic food. maliase index. gas lines.”
If you ever read the can of generic beer, Read the small print... in my area it was Falstaff, and if you think about it the only thing that the company’s saved was paint because the cans no longer had to be printed in fanciful design.
As for the gas crisis I was in college and had my Raleigh 10-speed, to be honest I didn’t even feel the effects of the gas “crisis” and thankfully so I might add!
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