Tennessee Man Accused of Fraud Using Names of Baseball Legends
In Greeneville, Tennessee, a man with the same name as New York Yankees legend Babe Ruth is facing charges for allegedly using the names of hundreds of deceased or retired professional baseball players to make fraudulent claims in class action settlements.
George Herman Ruth is charged with 91 counts in the indictment filed in the United States District Court in Greeneville, Tennessee, on August 12, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office late last week. The 69-year-old man, originally from Morristown, is charged with mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, fraudulent use of Social Security numbers, money laundering, making false statements to his probation officer, and possession of firearms after having previously been convicted of felonies.
The indictment indicates that Ruth obtained or attempted to obtain more than $550,000 through this scheme. She sought payments in lawsuit settlements ranging from allegations about contact lens prices to claims of racial discrimination against a staffing agency, according to the indictment.
Ruth opened more than a dozen post office boxes in several Tennessee cities for him and for fake companies, then submitted hundreds of fraudulent claim forms to class action administrators across the country, according to the indictment. She used the names of former baseball players or variations of her own name and the Social Security numbers of unsuspecting victims, prosecutors said.
The accusation does not list the names of the players Ruth claimed to be, but it does describe some of them. For example, some played for defunct teams such as the Philadelphia Athletics, the St. Louis Browns, and the Kansas City Packers.
A public defender representing Ruth declined to comment on the charges.
Ruth had previously pleaded guilty in a federal court in Indiana to a scheme to commit Social Security fraud. In 2020, she was sentenced to prison before entering parole from October 2023 to July 2025, according to court records.
