A federal jury has convicted a former personal assistant to Gilbert Arenas of stealing $2,188,170 million from Arenas from 2008-2011.
According to court documents obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, the assistant made unauthorized transfers from one of Arenas’ bank accounts and used the money for mortgage payments, a Ferrari and Range Rover, among other expenses.
He faces dozens of years in prison when he’s sentenced in November.
More from the Sentinel:
A federal jury in Orlando on Wednesday found a personal assistant to former Magic guard Gilbert Arenas guilty of stealing more than $2 million from Arenas while he was playing in the NBA.
U.S. Attorney A. Lee Bentley III announced that John A. White, 40, of Windermere, was found guilty of 11 counts of wire fraud and four counts of filing a false tax-related document. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison for each wire fraud count and up to three years for each false document charge.
White was employed as the personal assistant to Arenas from 2006-2012, according to the evidence presented at trial.
During 2008-2011, White stole approximately $2,188,170 from Arenas by making unauthorized online banking money transfers from one of Arenas’s bank accounts into three different bank accounts that White controlled.
Court records show White spent these funds on his own personal expenses. He used them for mortgage payments for his home in Windermere and to buy a Ferrari and a Range Rover.
White also filed false joint income tax returns with the IRS for each of these years, according to the evidence. In these tax returns, he and his wife never reported more than $60,000 in gross income, when in fact their joint income was significantly greater due to the money White stole from Arenas, the court said.
