Former UConn great and NBA star Tate George was sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in orchestrating a $2 million investment-fraud scheme. His sentence may have been impacted by false character reference letters he submitted.
George had been convicted after the jury deliberated for four hours, back in Sept. 2013. In addition to prison time, George was also sentenced to three years of supervised release, was ordered to pay $2.6 million in restitution and entered a forfeiture money judgment of $2.6 million.
The U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of New Jersey said in a statement George, a former player for the New Jersey Nets and Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA, held himself out as the CEO of The George Group and claimed to have more than $500 million in assets under management. He pitched prospective investors, including several former professional athletes, to invest with the firm and told them their money would be used to fund The George Group’s purchase and development of real estate development projects, including projects in Connecticut and New Jersey.
The government said instead of using investments to fund real estate development projects as promised, George used the money from new investors to pay existing investors in Ponzi-scheme fashion, as well as paying for his daughter’s 16th birthday party, extensive renovations on his New Jersey home (that has since been foreclosed), the mortgage on a New Jersey home, the mortgage on a Florida home, taxes to the IRS, and traffic tickets.
George apparently did not help his cause by submitting false letters of reference. The U.S. Attorney’s office said during the sentencing proceeding, prosecutors asserted George had presented the court with fraudulent character-witness letters. He claimed the letters, which contained suspicious similarities, were sent to the court in support of a more lenient sentence. Some of the individuals who purportedly sent the letters signed declarations stating that they did not write the letters nor did they authorize the letters to be sent to the court on their behalf.
