Read this excellent article in ESPN Magazine by Kevin Arnovitz about Jeff David, a former executive with the Sacramento Kings who stole $13 million from 2012-2017. David stole the money by creating phony invoices and funneling payments to a bank account for a shell company he created called Sacramento Sports Partners (“SSP”). After David left the Kings for the Miami Heat, his scheme was accidentally discovered by someone in the Kings HR department. The Kings contacted the FBI who did a “knock and talk” with David at his home. As I’ve explained on YouTube, a “knock and talk” is when law enforcement shows up at your front door, shows you a badge and starts asking you questions. Most people have never had an encounter with a detective or agent and will invariably start talking and incriminate themselves. Since you are at your own home, it’s not considered a “custodial” interview and agents don’t need to read you your Miranda rights which include the right to an attorney and the right to remain silent.
The article also details how the feds froze David and his wife’s bank accounts before he was arrested. This is easily done through a federal seizure warrant based on both civil and criminal forfeiture statutes. Through federal grand jury subpoenas, the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California were able to identify two homes purchased with criminal proceeds, one in Manhattan Beach and the other in Hermosa Beach. The homes were eventually sold for about $15 million and used to pay restitution to the victims and satisfy a forfeiture money judgment against David. Note the extra $2 million recovered went to the government, not back to David. Yes, the government gets the benefit of any appreciation that can be linked to criminal proceeds.
Finally, we see that David got a sentence in the Bureau of Prisons of 7 years or 84 months. Since David’s Presentence Report is confidential, I don’t know his Federal Sentencing Guidelines score. My review of the docket in this case shows that David was initially charged with wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft. In the plea agreement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office agreed to dismiss the money laundering counts and only charge David for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Aggravated identity theft involves the misuse of another person’s means of identity (i.e. driver’s license, social security number, date of birth) to commit a crime. Here the means of identification was the signatures of two Sacrament Kings executives used by David on phony invoices. If you are convicted of aggravated identity theft the judge must impose a two-year sentence consecutive to any other sentence imposed in the case. After giving credit for acceptance for responsibility, David’s plea agreement recommended a sentence within the 78-97 month guideline range for wire fraud followed by a 24 month sentence for aggravated identity theft. The Court ultimately gave David 60 months for wire fraud so David ended up with an 84 month or 7 year sentence. Without the sentencing transcripts we don’t know if the judge departed within the guidelines or simply exercised his discretion to award a variance under Section 3553. Either way, it’s more than the 24 months David’s lawyers were asking for at sentencing. Like a lot of cases, it could be worse particularly since David was designated to one of the prime locations for white-collar criminals in the BOP, the Federal Correctional Institution in Morgantown, West Virginia. FCI Morgantown is a minimum security institution only because it has a Special Housing Unit or SHU and is referred to as “Camp Cupcake.” David’s release date is August 8, 2025.
