Ex-Morgan Stanley investment advisor Darryl Cohen and three accomplices were charged with allegedly defrauding current and former NBA players out of millions of dollars.
In the indictment, which was unsealed on Thursday, Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Michael J. Driscoll, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said Darryl Cohen, NBA agent Charles Briscoe, financial planner Brian Gilder, and Calvin Darden were involved in “two schemes to defraud professional basketball players.”
The DoJ said Cohen, Briscoe, Gilder, and Darden were all arrested yesterday morning.
COHEN and GILDER were arrested this morning in, respectively, Chatsworth, California, and North Ridge, California, and will be presented later today in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. BRISCOE was arrested this morning in Katy, Texas, and will be presented later today in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. DARDEN, JR. was arrested this morning in Atlanta, Georgia, and will be presented later today in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
Cohen, the former Morgan Stanley advisor, allegedly directed basketball players to contribute to a nonprofit, which the defendants then used for their own personal gain. The DoJ reported the fraud scheme amounted to over $13 million, affecting four professional basketball players.
Williams said the four “defendants believed that defrauding their professional athlete clients of millions of dollars would be a layup.” He added:
“That was a huge mistake, and they now face serious criminal charges for their alleged crimes.”
FINRA filings from 2021 show Morgan Stanley fired Cohen due to “transactions not disclosed to or approved by Morgan Stanley and use of an unapproved platform to engage in inappropriate communications with clients.”
Source: ZeroHedge
