Man Who Scammed NBA Star Dwight Howard Out of $7 Million for Fake WNBA Team Bid Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison

Calvin Darden Jr., the man who scammed former NBA player Dwight Howard out of millions for an investment in a fake bid for a WNBA team, has been sentenced to more than 12 years in prison.

Darden Jr. will serve a decade-plus for scamming NBA champion Howard, 39, and former Houston Rockets player Chandler Parsons out of $8 million in a fake bid to buy the Atlanta Dream, Matthew Podolsky, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said on Thursday, April 3.

Howard reportedly lost $7 million in the scam, while Parsons, 36, lost $1 million.

According to the Associated Press, Darden Jr. was not in court when his sentence was announced.

The district attorney said that Darden had been working with Howard's agent, Charles Briscoe, to see the scam through and had told Howard that a number of affluent names were also signing on as advisors, including Tyler Perry, Issa Rae and tennis star Naomi Osaka.

"In truth and in fact, those individuals and companies had never agreed to be advisors or corporate sponsors to the Dream and many had never even heard of Darden Jr.," the statement said.

According to the charging documents revealed by the district attorney's office, Darden Jr. laundered the money from Howard to "a number of different bank accounts he controlled" and the money was reportedly spent on a $3.7 mansion, three luxury vehicles, artwork by Jean-Michel Basquiat and additional luxury goods.

Howard reportedly learned he was not becoming an owner of the Dream when ESPN reported the team had been sold to a different buyer.

Parsons was deceived by Darden Jr. when the fraudulent businessman told him the $1 million loan would go to then-prospect James Wiseman, who was drafted in 2020 and last played for the Indiana Pacers. According to the district attorney's statement, Darden Jr. convinced Parsons he knew Wiseman and "forged a document" claiming Wiseman had agreed to let Briscoe represent him "in order to convince Parsons to send the money."

However, the charging documents say that Darden Jr. "did not know Wiseman" and instead, "spent his cut of the fraud proceeds on watches, a Mercedes and other personal expenses," the district attorney's office said.

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In 2005, Darden Jr. was previously convicted of fraud in New York State and again in the Southern District of New York in 2015, per the district attorney's office. His 2015 conviction involved a fraudulent sale of Maxim Magazine and a possible NBA exhibition game in Taiwan.

In addition to his 12 years, Darden Jr. was ordered to forfeit the $8 million, as well as his luxury cars and goods. He will also have to pay restitution in the amount of $8 million, the district attorney's office said.