BREAKING: A Tennessee man named George Herman Ruth, sharing a name with baseball legend Babe Ruth, has been charged with a staggering 91 counts of fraud. The U.S. attorney’s office announced the indictment, filed on August 12, 2023, in U.S. District Court in Greeneville, Tennessee, revealing a complex scheme involving fraudulent claims linked to deceased baseball players.
Authorities allege that the 69-year-old from Morristown orchestrated a fraudulent operation to obtain over $550,000 in class action settlements. Ruth reportedly exploited the names of hundreds of dead or retired professional baseball players, submitting fake claims to class action administrators across the nation. These claims involved various lawsuits, including allegations related to contact lens pricing and racial discrimination.
According to the indictment, Ruth opened more than a dozen post office boxes in multiple Tennessee cities, creating fictitious companies to facilitate his deceitful activities. He used the names of historical baseball players, many from defunct teams such as the Philadelphia Athletics and the St. Louis Browns, alongside the Social Security numbers of unwitting victims.
The range of charges against Ruth includes mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, fraudulent use of Social Security numbers, money laundering, and making false statements to his probation officer. He is also accused of illegally possessing firearms due to prior felony convictions.
Ruth’s legal troubles are compounded by his history; he previously pleaded guilty in an Indiana federal court for a different scheme involving Social Security fraud. He was sentenced to prison and is currently on probation until July 2025, having been released in October 2023.
A public defender representing Ruth has declined to comment on the charges at this time. The unusual case has garnered significant attention, given the notorious name and the elaborate nature of the fraud scheme. As the situation develops, further details are expected to emerge, revealing more about the extent of Ruth’s alleged activities and the impact on the victims involved.
This urgent update highlights the critical intersection of identity theft and fraud in America, drawing attention to the vulnerabilities within class action settlements and the exploitation of deceased individuals’ names.
Stay tuned for more updates on this developing story as it unfolds.
