Jared Fogle’s weight loss success story made him famous. It also made him a millionaire.
Now he’s turning over some of his millions to the victims of his crimes.
On Wednesday, in agreeing to plead guilty to federal charges of child pornography and having sex with minors, Fogle also agreed to pay 14 of his victims $100,000 each.
Fogle has two days from the time his plea is filed to cut a check for $1.4 million. If he fails to do so, he could face more than the five to 12-1/2 years in prison dictated by his deal with the government.
He also agreed to pay federal authorities another $50,000 so that they wouldn’t seize vehicles he used as part of his illegal activities.
In a statement, Fogle’s lawyers said their client is “volunteering to make restitution to those affected by his deplorable behavior.”
“While Jared fully recognizes that such monetary contribution will not undo the harm he has caused, he is hopeful it will assist these individuals as they try to move forward with their lives,” Fogle’s lawyers said.
Fogle started working for Subway in 2000, soon after he was done with college, and it’s been a major source of his income ever since. Subway announced late Monday that he had been fired due to the criminal charges.
Privately-held Subway has never disclosed what it paid Fogle.
CelebrityNetWorth.com estimates his net worth to be $15 million.
Fogle, who weighed 425 pounds in college before he went on the Subway diet that caught the sandwich chain’s attention, has also started a charitable foundation to battle childhood obesity. The web site for The Jared Foundation was not working on Tuesday.
Tax documents filed by the foundation report that it received contributions totaling $520,000 from 2009 through 2013, the most recent year for which data is available.
Fogle did not receive a salary from the foundation. But a co-conspirator in the case, Russell Taylor, was the executive director of the foundation and was paid $40,000 in 2013.
