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Agent is sentenced to more prison time

Tank Black gets five years and now faces a total of almost 12 years in jail.

Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times
published May 8, 2002

GAINESVILLE -- Agent William "Tank" Black was sentenced to five years in federal prison Tuesday for swindling up to $12-million from 14 athletes he represented.

Black, 45, was convicted of defrauding former Bucs receiver Reidel Anthony, Jaguars running back Fred Taylor, Giants receiver Ike Hilliard, former player Robert Brooks and others.

The five years was the maximum Black faced.

U.S. District Judge Stephan Mickle made Black's sentence consecutive to the six years, 10 months he received last summer in Detroit when he pleaded guilty in federal court to laundering $1.1-million in drug money.

Mickle also ordered Black to pay $12,228,077 in restitution to the players, although he has no money.

The judge said many of the players who testified said he was a father figure and they had "trusted their lives and their families' lives" to him.

Black, in a sobbing statement, blamed it on investments in a car title loan company, Cash 4 Titles. It was later shut down by the Securities and Exchange Commission as an illegal pyramid scheme.

"Had I known Cash 4 Titles was not legitimate, I would have never asked my players and my friends to invest in it," Black said.

When he learned about the company, Black said: "It was the worst thing that ever happened to me."

Black's attorney, Jon Uman, who plans to appeal the conviction and sentence, urged leniency: "Mr. Black is shut down. He will never be a sports agent again. It will be a long time before he makes a living again."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry Sanford, who plans to prosecute Black again in October on a money laundering charge, urged the judge to make the sentence consecutive: "The man has no integrity. The man has no honor."

Uman has filed a challenge with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the money laundering charge, arguing it is double jeopardy with the Michigan conviction.

Mickle set an Oct. 21 trial date for Black and co-defendant Linda Wilson on that charge, if the 11th rules the charge was proper. The appeals court already has ruled against Wilson on the same grounds.

Wilson, 45, who was convicted with Black on Jan.31, also was sentenced to five years in prison on conspiracy to commit mail fraud and obstruction of justice. It will be concurrent to a 42-month sentence in the Detroit case.

The Jaguars' Taylor reported a loss of $3.1-million of his $5-million signing bonus. Hilliard lost $2.1-million. Anthony, who played college football at Florida and now is with the Redskins, lost $1.39-million.

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