HOUSTON (AP) — Former NBA player Dirk Minniefield will enter a federal diversion program to avoid a trial on fraud charges stemming from an alleged $10 million mortgage scheme in Texas.
Court documents show that the 51-year-old Minniefield agreed to enter the program and a federal judge in Houston cancelled his July 2 trial. He’s due back in court in January 2014, after the 18-month program.
An indictment alleged that Minniefield represented buyers without meeting them and that the buyers never visited properties they were buying. He was arrested in 2008.
His attorney said Tuesday that Minniefield never had malicious intent and simply got involved with the wrong people.
Minniefield was a star at Kentucky and drafted 33rd overall in 1983 by the Dallas Mavericks. He played three NBA seasons with four teams.
