ATLANTA — An Atlanta man was convicted of scamming two NBA players out of $8 million, including a scheme that involved lying about buying the Atlanta Dream basketball team, federal prosecutors in New York announced.
According to prosecutors, Calvin Darden Jr. scammed former NBA players Dwight Howard and Chandler Parsons in two separate frauds. But underpinning both schemes were, according to prosecutors, lies and deception.
With the fraudulent funds, they say he used the money to instead buy a Porsche, a mansion and paintings by artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.
They say Darden convinced Howard — who played for the Lakers — to send him $7 million for the purpose of buying the Atlanta Dream. It wasn't until Howard saw on ESPN that the Dream was purchased by somebody else that he realized he had been scammed.
Prosecutors say Darden lied about numerous companies and celebrities who were lining up to sponsor or become advisors to the Dream if Howard bought it.
Darden mentioned people like Tyler Perry and companies like Aflac and Starbucks. But in reality, those statements were lies and many of them had never even heard of Darden or the effort to buy the Dream, prosecutors say.
When Howard did send the $7 million to a shell company Darden controlled, they say he went on a spending spree, purchasing a $3.7 million mansion, multiple luxury cars, a painting by artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and other luxury goods.
The scam, however, fell apart when Howard saw on ESPN that someone else had purchased the Atlanta Dream.
According to federal prosecutors, Darden helped facilitate the fraud through Howard's agent, Charles Briscoe.
Prosecutors say Briscoe also helped Darden scam Parsons out of $1 million.
Darden lied to Parsons, saying that they knew 2020 NBA draft prospect James Wiseman and he had agreed to sign Briscoe as his agent, the press release said.
They say that Parsons agreed to send him $1 million as a purported loan for Wiseman.
But as was the case in the fraud against Howard, Briscoe and Darden didn't even know Wiseman and the agreement between Briscoe and Wiseman didn't even exist, prosecutors said.
With his money, however, Darden bought watches, Mercedes and used the funds for other personal expenses.
After an 11-day trial, Darden was convicted on conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, which could carry up to 30 years in prison. He also was convicted on many other charges which themselves carry decades in prison.
According to prosecutors, they say Darden had previously been convicted on fraud charges related to a fraudulent bid to buy Maxim magazine, a fabricated effort to put together an NBA exhibition game in Taiwan, among other schemes.