DEVELOPING: Donnan Found Not Guilty On 41 Counts

((HT: AJC/Tucker))

Jim Donnan was found not guilty on 41 counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and securities fraud in his case in and around Greg Crabtree's GLC Holdings. GLC sold out-dated and closed-out merchandise out of a West Virginia warehouse and promised investors a big return. But GLC eventually would pay early investors with later investor dollars.

Thus, the prosecution's thoughts that GLC was a Ponzi scheme and that Donnan was at the heart of it. A lot of high-profile coaches, athletes, and boosters were brought into GLC by Donnan's relationships with them through collegiate athletics like Frank Beamer and Billy Gillispie.

Donnan's attorneys said that Crabtree was the one in charge of the whole thing as the business lost over $20-million overall.

Here's part of the Joyce Oscar story that compared Donnan to a sports-version of Bernie Madoff from 2011
((HT: Southern Free Press))


From Tucker:

Jury foreman Artis Ricks said, “Mr. Donnan was as big a victim in this as some of the investors.”
Ricks said the government did not prove its case against Donnan.
“I just never saw that smoking gun that proved his guilt,” he said
On the way out of the courthouse Donnan told reporters, “I feel vindicated, and I hope I can get my life back.”

Crabtree pled guilty to one count of "conspiracy to commit fraud in the sale of a security."
He could get five years in prison when he is sentenced in Athens on June 24th...

Shabazz Muhammad's Dad Indicted On Fraud

((HT: LA Times/Bensinger))

And, now, the HQ knows where part of former UCLA one-and-done Shabazz Muhammad's rookie contract will go- defending his father against mail and wire fraud charges brought against him in Las Vegas.

Ken Bensinger's piece refers us to a Las Vegas Review-Journal piece where Muhammad's father, former UCLA star Ronald Holmes, and others used fraudulent information and so-called "straw buyers" to get home mortgages and buy and sell houses, keeping any kind of funds that were either distributed before or profit from the transaction- if a house was ever bought or sold.

The activities took place in a three-year period- 2006 to 2009. The complaintants are looking to recover more than $2.5 million.
And, apparently, this is not the first time Holmes has been accused in activity like this...

From Bensinger:

In 2000, he was sentenced to six months house arrest for fraud involving multiple mortgages in Los Angeles County that were obtained in the early 1990s using false information.

The details of that case bear remarkable similarities to the current charges. According to U.S. Atty. Daniel G. Bogden's complaint, Holmes lived in two houses obtained with fraudulent mortgage applications, and seldom made mortgage payments.

He also allegedly conspired to have straw buyers file bankruptcy petitions to delay foreclosure of homes he was occupying.

The lenders that underwrote the mortgages include Citibank, JP Morgan Chase and Centralbanc Mortgage Corp., the indictment says.

The LVRJ piece by Colton Lochhead says the plea agreement with Holmes was to pay restitution of $78,000...

Here's one of those alleged all-access pieces on Shabazz from a year ago...
((HT: courtcred.com))


It will be interesting to see which NBA team takes a flier on Muhammad- considering his apparent moodiness, self-centered behavior on the floor, and the falsifying of information involving his actual age when he enrolled in UCLA and participated in AAU ball.

Hmmmmmmm...

Federal Fraud Charges Now On Schlichter

Former tOSU QB Art Schlichter was charged with bank and wire fraud in connection with a scam that involved scalping college football tickets, including the 2011 Sugar Bowl. He was also charged with filing a false tax return, according to the U.S. District Court.

Back in April, a Franklin County ((OH)) grand jury indicted Schlichter on 13 counts with, at least, 12 different victims. He has been in jail since February, and is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday.

He was in prison in Indiana from 1994 to 2006 for fraud and forgery related to gambling, and has never been able to shake the demons that got him in trouble in the first place- even with all of the different tours of prison he has had.

Here's the story from the time of the original indictment, thanks to our friends at NBC4 in C'bus...