Multiple sources have confirmed to me that nine Gator football players have been involved in a credit card scheme.
Per the source, at some point this summer, Kadeem Telfort, Jordan Smith, Antonio Callaway, Jordan Scarlett, James Houston, Ventrell Miller, Richerd Desir-Jones, Keivonnis Davis, Rick Wells, bought approximately $15,000 worth of items on credit cards belonging to various people across the United States. How the players obtained these credit cards is not yet clear.
Different players had very different levels of involvement. The source went on to tell me that Telfort and Smith “committed the worst of the crimes, by far.” The others were merely roped into the ordeal by their teammates- which is still clearly not good on their part, but at this way-too-early stage of learning of the facts, that’s something that’ll be worth keeping in mind.
The precise nature of each of the crimes is still unclear, but what I do know is that somehow, Telfort took these credit cards that did not belong to him and added several thousand dollars to his UF bookstore account. With those funds in his account, he then made a laundry list of purchases in a textbook example of fraud. The source tells me that Smith is guilty of similar crimes. Those are all considered felonies.
The other players were involved in more benign variations of those felonies, the details of which I do not yet know. Nor do I know what will happen to them as it relates to either the legal system or their football careers. And I’d hate to speculate. But what I will say is that the non-Telfort/Smith players are significantly more likely to be seen in Gator uniforms again than Telfort and Smith.
I’ll have more information when it becomes available. But regardless of what exactly the crimes were, it looks like Jim McElwain has a mess on his hands.