Kwamaine Jerell Ford, a 34-year-old from Buford, Georgia, allegedly operated a scheme from prison that combined phishing with impersonation of a 'well-known adult film star' to defraud professional athletes, according to federal prosecutors.
Prosecutors say Ford used a two-pronged approach: first, he offered sexually explicit videos while pretending to be the adult film star; then, posing as Apple customer service, he requested usernames, passwords and multi-factor authentication codes as a purported security measure. Once in control of the victims' Apple accounts, he used their card details for thousands of dollars in personal spending. The phishing campaign is said to have begun as early as November 2020.
Ford was jailed in 2019 for an earlier identity theft scam in which he spent nearly $325,000 stolen from victims. 'While serving time for stealing credit card numbers from athletes and celebrities to fund his lifestyle, Ford allegedly engaged in the same conduct again,' said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. 'Disturbingly, the indictment alleges that Ford went even further and used a fraudulent online persona to traffic a young woman and coerce her to produce hidden camera videos of commercial sex acts with unknowing individuals.'
According to the indictment, in May 2021 Ford recruited a woman through his fake adult film star persona, coercing her into commercial sex acts with the athletes by promising to help her modelling career. He allegedly negotiated payments from athletes, arranged her travel to meet them, and secretly filmed several encounters without their knowledge or consent. He also took a financial cut from the acts and used other fraudulent personas to threaten the victim into compliance.
On March 13, 2026, Ford appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to charges including nine counts of wire fraud, seven counts of computer fraud, one count of access device fraud, four counts of aggravated identity theft and one count of sex trafficking. FBI Georgia Acting Special Agent in Charge Peter Ellis said: 'Kwamaine Ford clearly did not learn from his prior conviction for a similar scheme. This time, he allegedly escalated his criminal activity - stealing identities and money while also moving into coercion and sex trafficking.'
