PITTSBURGH -- Willie James Allen was relaxing at home last Monday night. After a meal, he reviewed materials for the Will Allen Foundation's Holiday Giving Program.
Then he checked his phone, and the nightmare that began in April 2015 resurfaced. At least 10 messages from friends and family were alerting him that the case of mistaken identity had returned.
The former NFL safety saw his playing picture plastered across the Internet next to headlines that said "Will Allen" was the perpetrator of a wide-ranging Ponzi scheme and had swindled many people, including former athletes, out of millions of dollars.