Former University of Texas football player RussellErxleben is in federal custody.
The Dripping Springs resident was arrested this morning and accused of running a Ponzi scheme that generated more than $2 million, according a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas.
An eight-count federal grand jury indictment alleges that Erxleben used several companies to promote fraudulent investments, including one in post World War One German government gold bonds. Another of the alleged investments involved an early 20th-century French artist Paul Gauguin.
Most of the charges carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Erxleben entered UT in 1975. He went on to play in the NFL starting in 1979.
