Is Miracle Match a ponzi or charity?

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - A bankruptcy trustee accused Grand Rapids tennis pro Bill Przybysz of masterminding a "thinly disguised fraud" with his Miracle Match Foundation and some for-profit companies he created to work with the charity.  

Bankruptcy trustee Jeff Moyer made the allegation in papers he filed in court while trying to collect money Przybysz paid to some people so it could be put in the bankruptcy pot for all the creditors.

Przybysz said he beat leukemia and created the Miracle Match Foundation to help others with the disease. In 1999 he said, "The Miracle Match Foundation is an organization that sponsors blood and bone marrow drives and we help with a cure for, looking for a cure for leukemia."

He staged celebrity exhibitions around the country with tennis stars like Pete Sampras and John McEnroe. But in papers filed in court, Moyer said the only money going to fight leukemia came from donations from fans at the events and not from the tournaments. The last time Miracle Match filed a public accounting in 2004, they raised just $3600 for charity.

Moyer said people loaned Przybysz money or invested in for-profit companies that he created to work with the charity. But after Przybysz didn't pay them back, they sued him. In 2010, Przybysz filed for bankruptcy protection, claiming he owed $2.8 million.

Among the people who loaned him money was Sandy Webster, a fellow tennis player and transplant recipient. She loaned Przybysz $100,000 for 30 days to finance an event in 2007. She sued him, getting some of her money back, but she claims Przybysz still owes her $75,000.

Webster believes she'll never get it back.

"There were lots of excuses," she told Target 8 investigators by phone from her home in Hawaii. "Lots of reasons why he wasn't making these obligations. Blame was always on someone or something else."

Webster said Prybysz offered people big returns on their loans, and told her that it cost "$250,000 to hold this event but with the names that I bring in there's $600,000 return and you'll get your money back."

The tennis legends did appear -- for hefty, up-front fees -- but  promises of high ticket sales were not true, the bankruptcy trustee said. In 2004, the Miracle Match Foundation was $377,000 in the hole, according to the public financial report it filed with the IRS.

"Tons of promises to pay. Always a promise to pay," Webster said. "I don't think anyone ever got their entire payment all at once. It always seemed to come in small amounts."

Payments to some investors are the reason Moyer is calling the Miracle Match Foundation a Ponzi scheme. He said Przybysz used money from new investors to pay older investors, and he used some of the money "for his personal use for years" -- for travel, medical bills and other personal expenses.

Though he declined to speak at length with Target 8, Przybysz did say one thing when the trustee's allegations were mentioned.

"It's all been dismissed," he said.

Przybysz may have been talking about the trustees attempt to collect some of the money he did pay investors -- money the trustee wanted to put in the bankruptcy pot for all the creditors to share. A judge put limits on what the trustee could collect. But Trustee Moyer told Target 8 investigators the judge did not rule on his allegation that Przybysz was operating a Ponzi scheme.

The bankruptcy case continues.

And so does the Miracle Match Foundation. It recently got its IRS charity label back after losing it for failing to report its finances for years.

There are no money-raising events so far scheduled in 2013, according to the Miracle Match website.