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June 28, 2017 at 11:12 AM
A federal judge in Texas gave a four-year prison sentence to the former financial advisor of retired NBA star Tim Duncan for fraud. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery also ordered Charles A. Banks IV to pay Duncan $7.5 million in restitution.
Banks, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud earlier this year, could have received a 20-year sentence, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Duncan’s current financial advisor said in court that the athlete had given Banks access to $24.1 million of assets and received about $7 million in return, according to a report Wednesday by ABC affiliate KSAT 12.
Duncan filed a $1 million lawsuit against Banks in federal court in 2015, arguing in a court document that the advisor had committed “egregious breaches of his trust.”
The basketball star had been urged to loan $7.5 million to Gameday Entertainment in 2012 and to guarantee a separate $6 million loan made to the sports merchandiser. At the time, Banks was chairman of Gameday.
“I … prided myself on not being the stereotypical dumb athlete that can easily be taken advantage of,” Duncan said in a prepared statement delivered in court on Tuesday and cited in coverage by the San Antonio Express-News.
“My biggest fear is that you will give him a sentence that will allow him to go out into the world and tell everyone as he has continued to do since his guilty plea that he did not do anything wrong and he proves by having very little to no jail time,” the now-retired athlete explained.
“I respectfully ask you, do not do that. I promise you, that if he has any excuse to get back into this line of business, he will be out hustling and doing the same to others,” Duncan added.
The basketball star, who tries to keep himself out of the limelight, said he hopes that his words and actions in court would keep other athletes from becoming fraud victims.
