Former NC State Player, Harlem Globetrotter Sent to Prison for COVID Relief Fraud; Former NC State Basketball Player Sentenced to Seven Years for PPP Fraud, and other C-Virus related stories

Former NC State player, Harlem Globetrotter sent to prison for COVID relief fraud:

A former N.C. State University basketball player was sentenced to prison Friday after pleading guilty in a COVID-19 relief money scheme.

Quentin Allen Jackson, 58, was ordered to serve seven years in prison and pay $3 million in restitution. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering with respect to the fraudulent proceeds of Paycheck Protection Act (PPP) COVID-19 loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

“We in the Carolinas idolize our basketball stars, especially the ACC greats who played on Tobacco Road,” U.S. Attorney Michael F. Easley Jr. said in the release. “As a college point guard and Harlem Globetrotter, Jackson’s crossover was deadly. But he drew a foul when he used his talents and reputation to recruit people into a multi-million-dollar fraud on our nation’s pandemic relief program.”

Jackson was the point guard on N.C. State’s 1987 ACC championship team that beat North Carolina 68-67 in the ACC Tournament final in Landover, Maryland. He later worked as director of Basketball Operations during Sidney Lowe’s tenure as Wolfpack head coach, the release stated.

His sentence followed the recent guilty plea after four days of trial testimony of Earl Lamont Taylor, 52, who the Department of Justice said worked with Jackson and Edward Whitaker to obtain fraudulent PPP loans. --->READ MORE HERE

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Former NC State basketball player sentenced to seven years for PPP fraud:

A former N.C. State basketball player and Harlem Globetrotter is going to prison for seven years for acting as a go-between in a fraud scheme that targeted federal Covid-19 relief funds and roped in dozens of business owners in the Greater Triangle.

Quentin Allen Jackson, 58, pleaded guilty in 2022 to a charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering and was sentenced this week in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, according to a press release Friday from the Department of Justice. He could have faced a total of 20 years in prison after an investigation linked nearly $4 million in fraudulent disbursements from the Paycheck Protection Program to either Jackson or the more than a dozen individuals “he recruited to the scheme," according to federal prosecutors.

Jackson played basketball at N.C. State under legendary coach Jim Valvano. He was point guard for the 1987 team that won the ACC championship and was formerly the Wolfpack's director of basketball operations under head coach Sidney Lowe.

Jackson is described in court filings as both a borrower and a “middleman” in a larger scheme to defraud federal relief programs. The scheme ties back to a Texas couple, Edward Whitaker and Schunda Coleman, who already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and face up to 20 years in prison when they’re sentenced next year. Court documents claim they facilitated the fraudulent disbursement of more than $15 million in Covid-19 relief loans. Jackson brought borrowers into their scheme, according to court filings. --->READ MORE HERE

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