Man Gets 12 Years in Prison After Scamming Dwight Howard, Chandler Parsons Out of $8M

A Georgia businessman was sentenced to more than 12 years in federal prison Thursday after scamming former NBA players Dwight Howard and Chandler Parsons out of millions of dollars, per the Associated Press (h/t ESPN).

Calvin Darden Jr. was convicted by a Manhattan jury in October of scamming Howard out of $7 million in a fake scheme to purchase the WNBA's Atlanta Dream. Darden was also found guilty of cheating Parsons out of $1 million in a separate act regarding the development of James Wiseman, who was, at the time, a top NBA prospect.

Darden was required to surrender the $8 million he got from Howard and Parsons, along with several other luxury items he had received through different schemes. Such items included a $3.7 million mansion in Atlanta, $600,000 in artwork, a Lamborghini and a Rolls-Royce.

According to the Associated Press, Darden was granted permission to leave the proceedings after waiving his right to be present and telling the judge he suffered a concussion in custody last week.

During the trial, Howard testified that he was manipulated into giving Darden $7 million with the belief that it was an investment toward purchasing the Dream. Howard said he only learned Darden was not an owner of the Dream when ESPN reported the sale of the team in 2021.

Parsons, who last played in the NBA in 2020, was conned into sending Darden and a sports agent $1 million that he believed was being used to aid the development of Wiseman, prosecutors said.

Darden and the sports agent did not know Wiseman, nor did Wiseman agree to be represented by the agent.

The jury convicted Darden of wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering charges in October.