The Bankrupt Premier League Footballer Jailed Over a £15m Pyramid Scheme — beragampengetahuan – Beragampengetahuan

beragampengetahuan has covered countless stories of footballers who turned to crime, but there aren’t many tales of players cheating friends, family and fellow professionals out of millions of pounds…

But that’s exactly what Richard Rufus did! Crippy Cooke tells the full story.

Rufus was a born-again Christian and respected one-club man who became a Hall-of-Famer and ambassador for his local club, but he ended up disgraced after incarceration for fraud.

His former manager regarded Rufus as one of the best players not to receive an England cap while supporters hailed his charity work to help disadvantaged groups, but it was uncovered that he abused his position to enrich himself.

So, what on earth happened?

Academy Boy to Charlton Legend

Rufus was born only three miles from Charlton’s stadium, The Valley, in a South-East London borough called Lewisham. Like Nathan Ashton, he joined the Addicks as a teenager in the early 1990s and was on the first team by 1994.

The centre-back made his Charlton debut against Derby County on October 29, coming off the bench as a 19-year-old – the Addicks drew the game 2-2.

Rufus would be given many opportunities that season and he quickly became a mainstay after impressive performances.

Rufus was a first-team regular in his first full season at Charlton, featuring in 41 of 46 games and leading the Addicks to the playoffs.

Charlton missed out on promotion, but Rufus was named in the PFA Team of the Year while being called up by England to represent the U21s.

Charlton were miles off the pace in 1996/97, finishing in the bottom half of the table, but they turned things around a season later.