A former Brigham Young University football player and his business partner are being accused of defrauding investors and lenders of millions of dollars under the guise of restaurant development.

A federal grand jury in Salt Lake City returned a 16-count indictment charging Alpine residents Aaron Wagner, 42, and Michael Mains, 46, of various financial crimes, including wire fraud and money laundering.

Mains and Wagner, who was a BYU linebacker from 2004 to 2006, allegedly engaged in a fraudulent scheme from March 2021 to the present in which prosecutors say Wagner convinced investors to send funds to Wagscap Food Services LLC for the development of various restaurants, including Hello Sugar, Dirty Bird, Crumbl Cookies and Everbowl.

Instead, the U.S. Attorney’s Office says funds were used on personal expenses or investments, or to prop up projects for other investor groups.

Court documents allege Wagner built a “false illusion of a successful business record” to lure in new investors, posting photos of his extravagant lifestyle on social media. In addition, prosecutors argue Wagner used his personal success story to attract new investors.

“In order to convince investors of his determination and ability to overcome hardship,” court documents claim, “he would tell a story of growing ‘From sports reject and broke college kid to playing the Rose Bowl to becoming a billion-dollar portfolio manager.’ But WAGNER never played in the Rose Bowl. And he never managed a billion dollar portfolio.”

According to the documents, Wagner’s misuse of investments often left insufficient funds to get projects going. In those cases, he allegedly falsely reported to investors how the funds were spent, or used money from new investors to prop up the failing project.

When projects were successful, prosecutors say operating funds were embezzled. Wagner and Mains allegedly siphoned approximately $400,000 out of eight Crumbl stores from 2021 to 2022 by booking the funds as “shift leads” to create the appearance that they were wages paid to employees.

Wagner and Mains allegedly brought in over $40 million from investors, much of which prosecutors claim was diverted to personal expenses, including a $4 million second home to Wagner and an $8 million personal airplane for Wagner and Mains.