A Tennessee man named George Herman ‘Babe’ Ruth has been charged after allegedly using names of dead professional baseball players in a six-figure fraud scheme. The indictment, handed down in Greeneville, Tennessee, on August 12, details his alleged use of the names of baseball icons and Social Security numbers of unsuspecting victims to submit false claims for payouts in class action settlements. The 69-year-old Morristown man is accused of obtaining over $550,000, including claims ranging from contact lens pricing to racial discrimination allegations against a staffing agency, through his scheme.
Ruth faces 91 counts, including mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, fraudulent use of Social Security numbers, money laundering, making false statements to his probation officer, and possessing firearms after prior felony convictions. He is accused of opening more than a dozen P.O. boxes in several Tennessee cities for himself and for bogus companies to submit hundreds of fraudulent claim forms to class action administrators across the country.
The names of the players Ruth pretended to be were not listed in the indictment. A public defender representing him declined to comment on the charges. Ruth has been associated with identity theft in the past. He previously pleaded guilty in an Indiana federal court to a scheme to commit Social Security fraud. In 2020, he was sentenced to prison before going on probation from October 2023 until July 2025, court records show.