A federal jury in New York has convicted a financial advisor and an associate in connection with a multi-million dollar investment fraud that victimized several NHL players, among others.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced on Friday that after 10 weeks of trial, a federal jury convicted financial advisor, Phillip Kenner and and associate Tommy Constantine on charges of wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy after they pocketed millions of dollars in several schemes that targeted several NHL players and other investors.
According to the U.S. attorney’s office, Kenner, a one-time college hockey player, was introduced to several NHL players through his former college teammate and future NHL star, Joe Juneau in the 1990’s after Kenner began working as a financial advisor in Boston. This helped him to build a clientele that included notable players such as Michael Peca, Bryan Berard, Darryl Sydor, Bill Ranford, and Sergei Gonchar, among others, as clients.
The players joined other investors to fund various ventures including a real estate development venture in Hawaii and a start-up credit card business based in Arizona. However, they were defrauded in several of these schemes, prosecutors alleged.
“Driven by personal greed, Kenner and Constantine spent years lying to investors and stealing their money and then attempted to conceal their fraud by repeatedly and brazenly avoiding responsibility, shifting blame, and scapegoating others. Today, their scheme has been brought to an end,” stated acting U.S. attorney, Kelly Currie.
The defendants, who will be sentenced on Nov. 20, face a maximum of 20 years in prison on each count, along with the possible forfeiture of up to $30 million in proceeds derived from the frauds.