Lawyer: Joe Montana refused to cooperate in FBI sting

Former 49ers and Chiefs QB Joe Montana threw for 273 TDs in his Hall of Fame career. (Jason Kempin/Getty Images) NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana

Former 49ers and Chiefs QB Joe Montana threw for 273 TDs in his Hall of Fame career. (Jason Kempin/Getty Images)

NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana declined to be part of a fake investment scheme when an undercover FBI agent tried to lure Montana into a sting, reports Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross of the San Francisco Chronicle.

The FBI agent, posing as a real estate agent, contacted Montana during an investigation of California state Sen. Leland Yee and Chinatown tong leader Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow. Yee was one of more than two dozen people arrested in a federal corruption probe involving bribery and weapons dealing.

According to the report, the agent set up a meeting in efforts to discuss a possible investment in Montana's planned hotel development next to the San Francisco 49ers' new stadium in Santa Clara, California. Montana had signed a term sheet with the city to develop a 200-room hotel, offices and a restaurant on 9.5 acres next to the stadium.

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Last month, the paper reported that the FBI looked into Montana, who retired after the 1994 NFL season, and dropped its inquiry when it came up empty.

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"It shows the deepest lack of judgment I can imagine," James Brosnahan, an attorney involved in the Yee case, said. "The agent presented himself as an honest businessman who wanted to invest in Montana's hotel,

He said he didn't know if the agent was wearing a wire when he met with Montana a couple of years back at a South Bay restaurant, though the feds regularly did that during the investigation that resulted in the indictments in March of Yee, the now-suspended state senator from San Francisco, and 28 others.

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