The man of Georgia who swallowed Dwight Howard obtains 12 years in prison

NEW YORK – A Georgia businessman who won the former NBA players Dwight Howard and Chandler Parsons on millions of dollars were sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison on Thursday.

A Manhattan jury, in October, condemned Calvin Darden Jr. de Tricher Howard – who had been one of the most dominant players in the NBA at his peak – out of $ 7 million in a scheme of false to buy the dream of the WNBA.

The 50 -year -old Atlanta resident was also found guilty of having destroyed $ 1 million from the former NBA striker Chandler Parsons in a separate cunning involving the development of the prospect of NBA James Wiseman.

A judge of the Manhattan Federal Court ordered Darden on Thursday to lose $ 8 million, as well as several luxury articles he acquired with the badly acquired gains, including a Atlanta manor of $ 3.7 million, $ 600,000 in works of art by Jean-Michel Basquiat, a Lamborghini and a Rolls-Royce.

The lawyers of Darden, who was not present in court when the sentence was pronounced, refused to comment.

Darden was authorized to leave the procedure after renouncing his right to be present and to tell the judge that he had undergone a concussion last week when he was in detention, according to the American prosecutor of the South District of New York.

Howard testified during the trial that Darden had cheated on him to give him $ 7 million by convincing him that it was an investment for the purchase of the dream.

But the eight time All-Star and triple defensive player of the NBA of the year admitted that he had only learned that he had not owned The Dream when ESPN reported that the team had been sold to a group of investors who included the former dream guard Renee Montgomery in 2021.

The prosecutors said that Darden and a sports agent had also made parsons to send $ 1 million who was to help the development of Wiseman, who was drafted by the Golden State Warriors as the second overall choice of the NBA 2020 draft.

But the two did not know Wiseman, and the player never agreed to be represented by the agent as they claimed in Parsons. Wiseman played for the last time for the Indiana Pacers before being exchanged at the Raptors of Toronto, who gave it up earlier this year.

Darden was finally found guilty by a jury in October of fraud by wire, banking fraud and accusations of money laundering.

He has already been sentenced to a year in New York federal prison for usurped his father, Cal Darden, a former manager of United Bâl Service, based in Atlanta, in an attempt to buy Maxim’s magazine.

Howard played for seven franchises after the Orlando Magic took him with the n ° 1 selection in the 2004 draft. He won his only NBA title with the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2019-20 season assigned by the pandemic.

Parsons had a nine -year career in the NBA for Houston, Dallas, Memphis and Atlanta.

The dream was once a co -owner by the former American Republican Kelly Loeffler, but it was in a hurry to sell after having faced the players against her opposition to the initiatives of the Racial Justice of the League.