Florida lawyer sentenced to 14 years for defrauding former NFL players

Nov 7 (Reuters) – A Florida lawyer who admitted to defrauding former football players out of $4 million they had received from a settlement with the NFL over concussion injuries has been sentenced to 14 years in prison.

U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor in Tallahassee on Monday sentenced Phillip Timothy Howard, 62, after Howard pleaded guilty to racketeering in August.

Prosecutors said Howard, the owner of Howard & Associates, enticed his NFL player-clients to make investments in companies that he secretly controlled. He never told them that their investments never made a return and were actually used to fund his law firm, pay his mortgage and “personally enrich Howard,” prosecutors said.

“The defendant should have been protecting the interest of his injured clients, rather than swindling their investments,” Jason Coody, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, said in a statement.

A federal public defender for Howard declined to comment.

In addition to 14 years in prison, Howard was also sentenced to three years of supervised released and ordered to pay $12.64 million in restitution.

The National Football League in 2015 reached a $1 billion settlement with about 5,000 former NFL players who accused the league of covering up the dangers of concussions. The settlement, which was upheld by a federal appellate court in 2016, included monetary awards of up to $5 million per retired player.

Prosecutors said Howard and others fraudulently obtained $4 million from the former NFL players who invested in his companies. As part of that scheme, he gave them fake quarterly and year-end investment reports.

Howard also gave false information to third-party lenders, who gave $8 million to his law firm and clients in advance of the NFL settlement, prosecutors said.

Jumpstart your morning with top legal news delivered straight to your inbox from The Daily Docket.

Reporting by David Thomas

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Acquire Licensing Rights, opens new tab

David Thomas reports on the business of law, including law firm strategy, hiring, mergers and litigation. He is based out of Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @DaveThomas5150.

2023-11-07 22:48:00
#Lawyer #preyed #NFL #players #years #prison