In spring football, one thing is guaranteed; it’s always interesting. When the Alliance of American Football (AAF) was working towards kickoff it was headed up by Charlie Ebersol and Reggie Fowler as their main investor.
When the AAF was raising money, Fowler raised his hand to commit the lion’s share. It’s said Fowler agreed to fund the league with up to $170 million of his own money. The banks named in the fraud charges affirmed Fowler’s liquidity, but if the charges are true, the money represented as Fowler’s at the time was never actually his.
Fowler was out shortly after the season begun, and ended with league co-founder Charlie Ebersol agreeing to a deal with Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon to buy the league. Dundon committed to funding up to $250 million, but pulled the plug after losing approximately $70 million in eight weeks.
Now, it’s being reported that Reggie Fowler has pleaded guilty in a cryptocurrency scheme. The the Associated Press reports a U.S. attorney said in a statement that Fowler:
helped process hundreds of millions of dollars of unregulated transactions on behalf of numerous cryptocurrency exchanges, skirting the anti-money laundering safeguards required of licensed institutions that ensure the U.S. financial system is not used for criminal purposes.”
The lawsuit shows that Fowler had lied to AAF executives about the amount of liquidity he had access to. Prosecutors say he told Ebersol that he had accounts with “tens of millions” from his real-estate investments and government contracts.
It’s been three years since the AAF hit the field, but the story continues. Fowler is facing up to 90 years in prison for this charge, which is essentially a life sentence.
It’s unlikely that he’ll face that time in prison, but it’s looking more likely that justice may be served.
We’ll keep you posted as more information comes out on this situation.
