Reginald Fowler was sentenced Monday (June 5) to serve more than six years in prison for his role in a $700 million cryptocurrency scam involving a now defunct professional football league known as the Alliance of American Football (AAF), the U.S. Justice Department announced.
Fowler, a former part owner of the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings, violated federal anti-money laundering laws, lied to legitimate financial institutions, and defrauded the AAF in connection with his acquisition of a significant ownership stake in the league, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said, adding that Fowler’s actions “exposed the U.S. financial system to serious risk” and “victimized a professional football league.”
In addition to Fowlers’ 75-month prison sentence, the court ordered him to forfeit more than $740 million and to pay restitution in excess of $53 million to the AAF.
“Reggie is extremely remorseful. The American Football League didn’t benefit from the investment that Reggie had planned to make. Reggie’s bank accounts were frozen, he could not secure the investment money, and he was not able to invest the large sum of money he promised to invest,” defense lawyer Edward Sapone wrote in a sentencing submission, according to the Associated Press.
Fowler, 64, was a minority owner of the Vikings before his involvement with the franchise ended in 2014. The AAF was an eight-team league that launched in March 2018 to complement the NFL during the league’s off season and to showcase local, developing talent, according to CBS Sports. But the new league went out of business in 2019 when it ran out of money.
Credit: Source link
