Fantasy Gazette

Cleveland, OH – A fantasy football player and formerly upstanding citizen was arrested outside his Cleveland residence when the IRS determined he filed his 2021 tax return with a fantasy football trade calculator.

Sources to Fantasy Gazette confirmed 29-year-old Joshua Larkinson, a three-time dynasty champion, used the website TurboTax and DynastyTradeCalculator.com to defraud the federal government. Charles Rettig, the Commissioner of the IRS, had the following to say on today’s news:

“It’s unfortunate, but he broke the law. After submitting his wages & income, the perpetrator moved onto assets. At that stage, he submitted his shares of Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Herbert as nontaxable items. By the end, he said his stash of 2023 1st round draft picks qualified as unearned gains, and that the federal government would need to send him 3,000 dollars in cash as well as Justin Jefferson, Javonte Williams, and our 1.04 rookie pick for this year’s draft class. An offer that absurd warranted a felony charge. Let this be a warning for any dynasty players trying to pull a fast one. We would never send over Javonte in a deal like this without a QB in return, anyway. The criminal might’ve gotten away with it if he wasn’t so greedy during negotiations.”

To those who are unfamiliar, trade calculators assign values to players and rookie draft picks. They are NOT legal mediums for requesting funds or young WRs from the IRS. Today’s event is a serious warning to anyone thinking of doing the same thing.

At press time, Larkinson’s bail was set at Jaylen Waddle and a 2024 1st round pick.