It is 1990 and we're at the
regional semi-finals of the NCAA Men's Division 1 Basketball Tournament
:the Sweet 16. With only 1 second left -- yeah, 1
second -- Clemson leads the University of Connecticut 70 to 69. UConn's Scott
Burrell throws an inbounds pass about the length of the court. Within the
remaining second, UConn's Tate George grabs the ball in the corner, shoots from
15 feet out, the buzzer sounds, the ball arcs down, and swish! Game over! UConn pulls out an amazing win via what has
become known as The Shot. It's an amazing moment in college
basketball history. Watch and enjoy:
Tate George was the man of the
hour; but, as with so many hours in sports, this moment was destined to last
about one second and no longer. Although George was drafted 22nd in the
National Basketball Association's 1990 draft by the New Jersey Nets, in four
years, George's NBA career would be over after averaging a mere 4.2 points per
game with the Nets and the Milwaukee Bucks. He had his one-second of NCAA fame
but not a professional career. It's the stuff of Hip Hop, as poignantly noted
by Spearhead:
Why Oh Why Do Memories
Keep Chasin' Me? On September 21, 2011, Tate
George was named as a defendant in a one-count criminal wire fraud Complaint
in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
("DNJ"). United
States of America v. C. Tate George
(Complaint, DNJ, September 21, 2011). The
Complaint cited George's role in a purported $2 million real
estate development fraud. In March 23, 2012, George, then 43, was indicted by a
federal grand jury in Newark on four counts of wire fraud, for which he faced
20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine per count. United
States of America v. C. Tate George (Indictment,
DNJ, March 23, 2012). How could a love for this game bring so much
sadness?The Indictment alleged that Defendant George had held himself out
as the Chief Executive Officer of The George Group, which he
misrepresented to potential investors as having over $500 million in a real estate development portfolio. In reality,
The George Group had virtually no income-generating
operations. Further, George misrepresented that he had personal assets in
excess of $12 million. From that supposedly lofty perch, George solicited
investors to fund various real estate development projects. Some of the prospective
investors were told that their funds would be safe and sound in an attorney
trust account. For added security, George assured various investors that he
would personally guarantee the return of their investment with interest.
As more fully set forth
in the
Indictment:
8. It was further part of the
scheme and artifice to defraud that to induce potential investors to invest their money in The George Group, defendant C.
TATE GEORGE would falsely represent to certain investors that their money would
be used merely as "show money" - meaning that it would not be spent on real
estate development or for any other purpose, but instead would be used to show
that The George Group had sufficient assets to complete a real estate
development deal - and would be maintained in an "escrow account" or "trust
account" until returned to the investor with
interest."
Not surprisingly, we
learn that George converted and diverted investors'
funds:
12. Contrary to defendant C.TATE GEORGE's
representations, defendant C. TATE GEORGE did not use investors' monies to fund
The George Group's real estate development business, as promised. Indeed,
during the time period relevant to this Indictment, The George Group had
virtually no income-generating operations at all. Instead of using investor
money to fund real estate development projects, defendant C. TATE GEORGE used
investor money primarily (a) to pay defendant C. TATE GEORGE's personal
expenses - including funding home improvement projects on his personal
residence and paying day-to-day living expenses, such as meals at restaurants,
clothing, and gas - and, (b) to make principal and interest payments to
existing investors.
I Think I Must Have Placed Some Stupid
Bets Between 2005 and 2011, George obtained over $2 million in
investments for The George Group; said funds, however, were
deposited in both the The George Group's and Defendant
George's personal bank account. Moreover, rather than being invested in the
touted real estate projects, the funds were used to repay prior investors a la
Ponzi; and, other funds were used to pay for:
George's
daughter's sixteenth 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.
Additionally,
George gave money to family members and friends. He also spent $2,905 for a
reality video (posted on YouTube) about himself. See this YouTube video apparently shot in 2009 as part of a reality show promo for George:
But Off the
Court He Had A Few Temptations Copulations
Following a three-week
trial, after only four hours of deliberation, on September 30, 2013, a jury
convicted George on all four counts.
On January 21, 2015,
George was sentenced to 108 months in federal prison plus three years of
supervised release. Additionally, he was ordered to pay $2.55 million in restitution
to 17 victims (including one corporation) and the Court also entered a $2.55
million forfeiture money judgment. As
noted in "Former
NBA Player And CEO Of The George Group Sentenced To Nine Years In Prison For
Role In A $2 Million Ponzi Scheme" (Press Release,
United States Attorney's Office, 16-027, January 21, 2016)"
During the sentencing proceeding,
prosecutors asserted George had presented the court with fraudulent character
witness letters. The defendant 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.