Overview

• A federal grand jury returned the indictment on Aug. 12 in Greeneville, charging mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, fraudulent use of Social Security numbers, money laundering, false statements to a probation officer, and possessing firearms after prior felony convictions.
• Court filings say he opened dozens of P.O. boxes across roughly 10 Tennessee cities, submitted hundreds of claims to administrators nationwide, and routed proceeds through a company called El Mundo Marketing, LLC.
• The alleged submissions targeted a range of settlements, including banking and contact lens pricing cases, as well as a Chicago-area racial discrimination settlement that generated at least five payments of $756.84.
• Prosecutors say he used identities of at least 25 retired or deceased baseball players, with clues pointing to defunct teams, and spent some proceeds on trips to Las Vegas and to casinos in multiple states.
• Ruth, 69, has a 2020 federal Social Security fraud conviction and recently concluded probation; a public defender declined comment, and the investigation included the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Social Security Administration, and Morristown police.