Sentencing set in $50M scheme targeting NFL stars
Thursday, November 3, 2011
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- The former CEO of a Texas-based investment will soon learn his punishment for a scheme that used former NFL stars to bilk hundreds of investors out of more than $50 million.
Kurt Barton is scheduled for sentencing Friday in Austin. He was convicted on 39 counts in August, including more than a dozen each of wire fraud and money laundering.
Investors also included Barton's family and members of his church. They thought their money was for real estate deals and short-term business loans.
But prosecutors say the former Triton Financial executive spent it on himself, including a luxury box at University of Texas football games and a $150,000 car.
Defense attorneys have said Barton was trying to run a legitimate yet mismanaged business.
No athletes were accused of wrongdoing.
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