Renegade Miami Football Booster

[CivicDew]

It hurts that my team The Buckeye's are tied up in NCAA investigations but nearly every NCAA football team is under investigation right now. The latest buzz is surrounding the Miami Hurricanes football program.


KEARNY, N.J. – A University of Miami booster, incarcerated for his role in a $930 million Ponzi scheme, has told Yahoo! Sports he provided thousands of impermissible benefits to at least 72 athletes from 2002 through 2010.

In 100 hours of jailhouse interviews during Yahoo! Sports’ 11-month investigation, Hurricanes booster Nevin Shapiro described a sustained, eight-year run of rampant NCAA rule-breaking, some of it with the knowledge or direct participation of at least seven coaches from the Miami football and basketball programs. At a cost that Shapiro estimates in the millions of dollars, he said his benefits to athletes included but were not limited to cash, prostitutes, entertainment in his multimillion-dollar homes and yacht, paid trips to high-end restaurants and nightclubs, jewelry, bounties for on-field play (including bounties for injuring opposing players), travel and, on one occasion, an abortion.

FULL STORY:
http://sports.yahoo.com/investigati...miami_booster_details_illicit_benefits_081611

Nevin Shapiro and a second source said this photo of the booster and Kellen Winslow Jr. was taken in Shapiro’s VIP section of Opium Garden nightclub in 2003.

 

[webby]

A Florida businessman with a penchant for luxury cars, philanthropy and socializing with professional basketball players was charged in federal court today with orchestrating an $880 million Ponzi scheme authorities say bilked at least $80 million from investors in New Jersey and elsewhere.

Nevin K. Shapiro, 41, surrendered to agents from the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service in Newark and was charged with securities fraud and money laundering for allegedly defrauding more than 60 people. Authorities say he spent up to $35 million of the proceeds on himself, including buying $400,000 seats to watch the Miami Heat professional basketball team, leasing a $4,700-a-month Mercedes-Benz and giving diamond-studded handcuffs to a "prominent" professional athlete.

"This case is a perfect example of greed run amok," said Michael B. Ward, head of the FBI’s Newark office.
Shapiro of Miami Beach is founder and chief executive of Capitol Investments USA Inc. Authorities say he promised investors returns of up to 26 percent for using their money to buy wholesale groceries and resell them for a profit. In many cases, he made good on those returns, paying roughly $769 million to investors, according to a civil complaint filed today by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.

But in truth, authorities say, Capitol Investments had little to do with wholesale groceries. Instead of investing, Shapiro used funds from new investors to repay existing ones — making for a classic Ponzi scheme, authorities said.

Shapiro marketed his alleged scheme primarily through contacts he met met through the grocery industry, according to the SEC complaint. Most of his alleged victims reside in Florida and Indiana, said Amie R. Berlin, senior trial counsel for the agency. One alleged victim owns a company in New Jersey and invested roughly $5.4 million with Capitol Investments, according to the criminal complaint.

Meanwhile, authorities say Shapiro used millions to support what U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman called a "luxury lifestyle built on a house of cards." That included buying a $1.5 million dollar Riviera yacht, a $5.3 million home and donating upward of $150,000 to the University of Miami, which named a student-athlete lounge in his honor, they said. A university spokesman did not return a call for comment.

Last year, a group of investors filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition against Shapiro after he failed to make payments. Authorities say the firm owes more than $80 million to investors.

If convicted of securities fraud, Shapiro faces up to 20 years in prison, Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin W. Arnold said. U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo ordered Shapiro detained until court officials finish reviewing a proposed $10 million bail package. Shapiro’s lawyer, Michael Tein, left court without commenting.

============
awesome ...

 

[webby]

if I were investing... I'd love to have heard where the groceries are marked up 26%+ to pay out profits