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Darius Miles, who was the highest-ever National Basketball Association draft pick to come straight out of high school when he joined the Los Angeles Clippers in 2000, avoided a prison sentence for participating in a fraud scheme aimed at the league’s health care plan, Bloomberg News reported. Miles was given three years’ probation yesterday by U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan. He pleaded guilty in June and had faced a possible sentence of around two years in prison. The scheme’s ringleader, Terrence Williams, who was the 11th overall pick in the 2009 draft, was given a 10-year prison term in August. Miles was arguably the most famous of the 18 former NBA players charged in October 2021 with defrauding the health plan out of more than $5 million. They were accused of submitting false claims for medical and dental procedures they never received from 2017 to 2021. Many of those charged pleaded guilty, including Williams. Another high-profile player, Glen “Big Baby” Davis, who won a championship with the Boston Celtics in 2008, was found guilty by a jury in New York last week.

A Minnesota man pleaded guilty yesterday for attempting to evade his federal income taxes by submitting an incomplete bankruptcy filing, according to a DOJ press release. According to court documents and statements made in court, from 2000 until 2023, Robert Schlosser, of Prior Lake, owned and operated a business that installs Christmas lighting, special event lighting and decoration displays for its customers. In 2018, Schlosser filed for bankruptcy and listed the IRS as a creditor for his unpaid federal income taxes. As part of the bankruptcy, Schlosser was required to sign and file, under penalty of perjury, a bankruptcy petition and schedules providing information regarding his assets, income and other financial affairs. Schlosser attempted to evade the payment of his delinquent taxes by filing false bankruptcy schedules that concealed assets to hinder IRS collection efforts. In total, Schlosser admitted that his conduct resulted in a tax loss to the IRS of $429,848.

An Agoura Hills real estate developer was sentenced today to 41 months in federal prison for failing to disclose on a bankruptcy petition that he had earned nearly $2.3 million in income and for failing to report almost $6.9 million in income on his tax returns, according to a DOJ press release. Mark Handel was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II, who also fined Handel $20,000 and ordered him to forfeit approximately $3,545,712, which represents the proceeds of the sale of real estate in Alameda County. Judge Wright also ordered Handel to pay the IRS approximately $1,618,836 in outstanding tax liabilities, including penalties and interest. Handel pleaded guilty on February 23 to one count of making a false statement in bankruptcy and one count of subscribing to a false tax return. Prior to today’s hearing and pursuant to his plea agreement, Handel paid the IRS approximately $1,618,836 in outstanding tax liabilities, including penalties and interest.