By Phil Yacuboski
Kansas City, MO (WorkersCompensation.com) – A former NBA player has pleaded guilty in federal court, to charges related to a charity fraud scheme that involved payments to a workers’ compensation attorney.
Kermit Washington, 66, of Las Vegas, NV pleaded guilty to two counts of making a false statement in a tax return and one count of aggravated identity theft at the beginning of the month.
Washington played for several NBA teams in the 1970s and 1980s "and is best known for throwing a punch that fractured Houston Rockets player Rudy Tomjanovich's face and left him unconscious during a 1977 game," according to The New York Times.
According to the Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Larson of the Western District of Missouri, Washington referred professional athletes to Ronald Mix, a California attorney, so he could file workers’ compensation claims in the state of California on behalf of the athletes. Mix, according to Larson, would then make donations to Washington’s charity, The Sixth Man Foundation, which operated under Project Contact Africa.
Prosecutors said Washington used the money on lavish vacations, jewelry and other personal expenses.
"Washington profited by diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations that were supposed to benefit a clinic in Africa for needy families and children, but instead bankrolled his own personal spending," said Tammy Dickinson, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
Mix, 78, a member of the NFL Hall of Fame, pleaded guilty last year to filing a false tax return.
An ethics expert that spoke with WorkersCompensation.com argues cases like this need and should be investigated.
“I think particularly in light of changes in the federal government, the whole issue of enforcement when it comes to fraud, has to be looked at when it comes to how vigorously cases like this are investigated and prosecuted,” said Ron Berenbeim, an adjunct professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business and ethics expert who has written several books on anti-corruption. “That is probably the real issue. Washington seems to be more ingenious to what’s going on, but I don’t know.”
While he said he was happy to see the case being investigated by the federal government, he questioned the future of these types of cases.
“What has happened with anti-corruption I believe (is) (sic) fewer of these types of cases are being prosecuted,” said Berenbeim, who added that he believes there was more aggressive prosecution under the Obama Administration than under the Trump Administration.
He said when it comes to corruption cases, those responsible need to be held accountable.
“They would settle for large sums of money and no one would be held responsible either criminally or civilly and no one would be held liable,” he said. “And the victims were never compensated. The money just went into the U.S. Treasury as a fine.”
Mix also pleaded guilty in a separate, but related case, in 2016 to filing false tax returns, admitting that he made donations from $5,000 to $25,000 for referrals of athletes.
Under federal statutes, Washington could spend up to six years in federal prison. He also may have to pay back the money he stole.
No date has been set for sentencing.
