PMI's William "Tank" Black was indicted yesterday by a
grand jury in U.S. District Court and "accused of scamming
NFL players out of millions of dollars since" '96, according
to Boedy & Korth of the ST. PETERSBURG TIMES. Black and
four associates were charged with conspiracy to commit mail,
wire and bank fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering
and criminal forfeiture and "face a maximum of" $750,000 in
fines and 25 years in prison. The 20-page indictment
includes "new allegations of agent tampering," alleging that
former Univ. of FL and current NFL players Fred Taylor, Ike
Hilliard and Jacquez Green were "given money from Black
through one of his employees before their college
eligibility had expired" (ST. PETE TIMES, 2/29). In
Jacksonville, Matt Hayes writes that the "revelation" that
the three aforementioned players were paid by Black is "only
a small part of the government's case" against Black and
"brings the total to six UF players paid by Black since"
'96. The indictment also claims that Black "gained control
of money paid" to his former NFL clients by their teams,
"funneled it into accounts and then used it for his own
benefit" (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 2/29). In Tampa, Joey Knight
reports that Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerome Sanford "argued
Black is a flight risk and should be jailed until his
arraignment." But U.S. Magistrate Gary Jones "released
Black into the custody" of his attorney Peter George until
Thursday's detention hearing (TAMPA TRIBUNE, 2/29).
Yesterday's charges are "almost similar to those levied"
against Black in an SEC civil suit (USA TODAY, 2/29).
