Post by Logan on Jan 21, 2016 20:40:11 GMT -6
UConn basketball icon Tate George was sentenced to the maximum of nine years in prison Thursday after being convicted of operating a real estate Ponzi scheme that cost investors $2.55 million.
George learned his fate on the sixth day of an unusually long sentencing hearing that showed that he had 17 victims in the long-running scheme, including former UConn star and NBA player Charlie Villanueva.
A former first-round draft pick in the NBA who is now 47, George had faced a maximum of 108 months behind bars under the complicated federal sentencing guidelines. He was also ordered to pay back the full amount of $2.55 million as restitution to the victims, as well as being subject to three years of supervised release after prison. The judge also ordered a forfeiture judgement of $2.5 million – meaning that George could eventually owe a combined total of $5 million if he won the lottery or received a business windfall after leaving prison.
U.S. District Court Judge Mary Cooper had strong words for George during the hearing in Trenton, where the trial had been held not far from where George grew up in Newark. George maintained his innocence since his arrest in 2011, but the chief prosecutor said the judge declared that George's "excuses were incredible.''
Continued at www.courant.com/breaking-news/hc-tate-george-sentencing-0122-20160121-story.html .
George learned his fate on the sixth day of an unusually long sentencing hearing that showed that he had 17 victims in the long-running scheme, including former UConn star and NBA player Charlie Villanueva.
A former first-round draft pick in the NBA who is now 47, George had faced a maximum of 108 months behind bars under the complicated federal sentencing guidelines. He was also ordered to pay back the full amount of $2.55 million as restitution to the victims, as well as being subject to three years of supervised release after prison. The judge also ordered a forfeiture judgement of $2.5 million – meaning that George could eventually owe a combined total of $5 million if he won the lottery or received a business windfall after leaving prison.
U.S. District Court Judge Mary Cooper had strong words for George during the hearing in Trenton, where the trial had been held not far from where George grew up in Newark. George maintained his innocence since his arrest in 2011, but the chief prosecutor said the judge declared that George's "excuses were incredible.''
Continued at www.courant.com/breaking-news/hc-tate-george-sentencing-0122-20160121-story.html .