A former-Morgan Stanley advisor has been charged with stealing $13 million belonging to six current- and former-NBA players who were his clients, and funneling it into his own pockets and those of a financial advisor, an agent and a convicted fraudster, MarketWatch.com reported. Darryl M. Cohen of Chatsworth, Calif., is accused of running a wide variety of schemes with the three others involving high-priced life insurance policies, misappropriated charitable donations and a ploy to acquire a WNBA team, in which they all pocketed millions. All four have been charged with wire fraud and conspiracy and face up to 40 years in prison. “These defendants believed that defrauding their professional athlete clients of millions of dollars would be a layup. That was a huge mistake, and they now face serious criminal charges for their alleged crimes,” said Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York. Cohen, who had his securities license stripped last year by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, after refusing to cooperate with a probe into his activities, was also charged with investment advisor fraud. He was also separately hit with a civil suit by the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging he misappropriated at least $1 million from his NBA clients.
