Written by Dan Wismar

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Leopards....spots....

Art Schlichter?  Swindling people to support his gambling habit? Say it ain't so!

From a Columbus Dispatch report:

Former Ohio State quarterback Art Schlichter, already known as one of the nation's most compulsive gamblers, is the target of an investigation by local and federal authorities that centers on a sports ticket scheme that has swindled dozens of people out of millions of dollars, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Sources said Schlichter began soliciting people for money as part of an "investment opportunity" involving brokering and selling tickets for Ohio State football games and other prominent sporting events to various people about two years ago.

[...]

Since 1994, Schlichter has served time in 44 prisons or jails, mainly for fraud and forgery for having swindled people out of money or writing bad checks to feed his addiction to gambling on sports and horse races. Those close to him estimate Schlichter has flushed away millions while gambling.

[...]

The big payoff in the ticket-selling operation was supposedly to come around the Super Bowl, when Schlichter was going to sell dozens of the prized tickets for hundreds of thousands of dollars. But Schlichter wasn't able to deliver the Super Bowl tickets, sources said, and some people promised tickets to the game have been left in the Dallas area without any way into the game.

Update 2/5: More details in the latest Dispatch story