Patrick Willis was still pretty much in his prime as a linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers and on his way to the hall of fame when he retired prior to the 2015 season. At the time he said there was other things in life he wanted to accomplish and felt the time was right to walk away from the game. Those things he referred to were getting into the tech world and being part of the silicon valley atmosphere. Unfortunately for Willis it appears he picked a very shady guy to be his partner and is now suing him to the tune of two million dollars.

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In the lawsuit, filed Oct. 26, the former linebacker who made the Pro Bowl in each of his first seven NFL seasons accused his business partner at the provider of data storage solutions where the two worked of defrauding him of some $2 million.

His claims his partner, Eren Niazi, the founder of Open Source Storage in Campbell, Ca, turned out not to be anything he said he was. Willis states Niazi used his money to purchase a number of real estate properties without him giving consent or evening knowing about it.

The suit alleges that Niazi manipulated the former NFL player into making “unsuitable and imprudent investments,” including the purchase of three homes in Morgan Hill.

Niazi, who did not immediately return several requests for comment, “earned (Willis’) complete trust and confidence” through a series of misrepresentations of how he was spending Willis’ money, the lawsuit states.

Niazi currently has more problems on his plate. The lawsuit comes about one month after he was arrested in Hollister, California, on what seem to be unrelated criminal charges. He is currently being held without bail at the San Benito County Jail, and he has been charged with use of a firearm, discharging a firearm, and endangering a child, a correctional deputy at the jail said.

Apart from damages, Willis in the lawsuit is seeking sole control of the disputed real estate properties purchased by Niazi, saying that his business partner “did not make his promised contribution” to cover his share of the cost of the contested investments.

A website for the California company appears to have been taken offline, and Inc.com reported the company’s office in Campbell was recently all but empty.

Moral of the story is do better research on people you do business with and stay on top of things as time goes on.