Jared Fogle: the rise and fall of the Subway man

Editor's note: this post was originally a 2013 profile of Jared Fogle as Subway's famous weight-loss pitchman. It has been rewritten to tell the whole story — because in 2015, the story changed completely.

The rise

Jared Fogle went on a weight-loss journey by eating Subway sandwiches and became a star. He lost 245 pounds, shared his story with the world, and Subway made him its brand ambassador — the face of the chain's longest-running ad campaign. (Nation's Restaurant News)

For roughly 15 years he kept the weight off, got free Subway food with his "black card," and by 2013 was reportedly worth around $15 million. Subway's sales had jumped some 20% after his first campaign aired. "His story still resonates," said Tony Pace, Subway's chief marketing officer at the time. "It sounds a bit hokey, but we consider Jared an essential part of the family."

All he had wanted, he said, was to lose weight and get on a healthy lifestyle.

The fall

In July 2015, federal and local law enforcement agents raided Fogle's suburban Indianapolis home in a child pornography investigation. (Nation's Restaurant News)

A month later, he pleaded guilty to one count of traveling to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor and one count of distribution and receipt of child pornography. He admitted paying for sex with girls as young as 16 and receiving child pornography produced by Russell Taylor, the former director of his own Jared Foundation charity. (AP, Indianapolis Business Journal)

In November 2015, US District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt sentenced him to 15 years and 8 months in federal prison — more than the 12½ years prosecutors had requested — and ordered him to pay $1.4 million in restitution to his 14 victims. (AP)

Subway quickly suspended its relationship with Fogle and then broke all ties, as franchisees removed his likeness from their restaurants. (Nation's Restaurant News)

What a gift, Judge Pratt said of his Subway windfall — adding that he had been living a double life for many of those years.